Third

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"You resigned?!" Elise exclaimed; her reaction was worse in person than over the phone.

Hearing her voice was not enough to prove her exasperation.

When we started working on our separate jobs, we'd been living together for a year; we'd managed to pay for the bills and other expenses with our monthly salary. Now that I'd filed a resignation from my current job, it was time to look for another work so I could support my daily necessities. I won't ask for money from my parents. I'd been working for so long now, and I still have my savings just in case I won't find another job immediately.

I'd lost count on how many times Elise asked me if I did vacate my position in the office today. I almost regretted telling her about my resignation. Should have just said that I was terminated, maybe she would not react too much.

"Yes. Yup, Yes, and yes again. What kind of yes do you want to hear from me?" I managed to respond calmly.

"I thought you love your job, Nikki. You enjoy what you do. Why quit suddenly?"

The sadness on her face was easily noticed as she spoke.

"I do love my job. I hate my boss. End of story. Goodnight, Elise." I deadpanned.

I was hoping to dismiss the topic and wish not to start an argument with Elise. She was quite persistent whenever she wanted to fish for information about something, especially when it concerned me. We treated each other as though we were biological sisters.

I waged an uphill battle and it was enough to prove how exhausting this day was. I just wanted to have a good rest. So that I could forget that this day had ever existed.

"No way. You need to explain," she said with an authoritative voice, not letting me off the hook.

I exhaled before finally letting the words out of my mouth. Then I started to explain what had happened. One way of letting her know that I was waving my white flag, a symbol of truce and defeat; and while I was talking, Elise was smiling at me. She knew when to give up on me and it was not today.

She knew I needed someone to listen to my problems right now. Whenever there was something that had been bothering me, I tend to isolate myself and not talk about it, because that was me. I was afraid of venting out my emotions to others, scared that they might not understand me. I thought I could find solace because I chose to keep my problems within me.

Life was being nice to me, for giving Elise as my permanent fixture. Elise never let me handle problems on my own. She was always there for me, ready to give me a hand, willing to lend me an ear. I wonder how she could easily figure out if something was off in me. Maybe that was the magic thing genuine friendship could offer. We could see through each other as if we already bared each other's souls.

I further explained my dilemma, the type of boss I have, and how she seemed to be unmanageable, it was one of the reasons why I decided to leave my job. Being her 24/7 secretary was not the primary issue here, neither responding to correspondences and emails nor handling her schedule, but the fact that she was treating me as a personal assistant was out of the line. She was getting at me whenever she felt like criticizing how I work as well as the submitted outputs. I could not seem to fathom if she was just a perfectionist, or it was also part of my job to deal with her impossible to control work attitude.

It may seem unreasonable for some people that I was complaining about a very trivial matter; it wore me out. I got tired of being screamed at whenever she wanted to; when she was stressed out with her workload, or when she was too workaholic that even I couldn't apply for a leave on my birthday. I experienced working overtime on my very birthday. Maybe that kind of career was not suitable for me. I could persevere with my job and work like a dog, but not with the emotional effect of her attitude towards me.

There were countless sleepless nights; I had stayed up all night just thinking of what would possibly happen the succeeding days, would she be nicer to me today or worse than being worst? At some time, I could hear her petulant and angry voice anywhere. It was not bettering me. So, I decided to quit my job.

If things don't better you, stop doing it. Quitting was not me being weak. I chose to let go of the thing that hindered me to grow. My workplace was not the right battlefield for me.

Butterflies need to get out of their cocoon to see a brighter world.

"How did she react? She will lose half of her life when she lets you go, Nikki. Quite a brave move for quitting. I commend you."

"Well, she doesn't want me to leave, and I lied about receiving an offer from a company near our area."

My boss was worried about who was going to step on my shoes once I formally leave work. I was certain the Human Resource Staff would do their job in looking for someone who would assume my responsibility.

"Do you think she was convinced?"

"I don't want to think about what she has in mind. Can we just sleep and let this pass? I'm calling it a day."

"Fine, fine. Night Alexander Dominique," she winked then hugged me to cheer me up before finally saying good night.