The general manager—Harriet Yates herself calls for me. She was worried and cautions me to take some time off work. No one connected me acting strange to the ’handsome and enigmatic’ Crimson Group President. I am glad that they did not. "You are soon getting married now. You need to learn to take care of your health better to start a home. Who knows? A bun could already be baking in the oven." My smile falters at her statement. Should I tell her that the wedding has been cancelled? My mouth twitches to tell her. But the words just does not come out. Why had I announce it to them in the first place? Recalling how excited I had been when I broke the news to the handful of colleagues who then circulated it until even the unseen microorganisms knew of it. How am I still going to break the news that the wedding will not be happening?

Mrs Yates is a very close friend—acquintance and one of the first set of persons I told. If it wasn’t for her, I would not have this job right now. She is the daughter and only heiress of Bill and Julie’s Co. She immediately took over after her father died and her mother stepped down from management—according to what I heard. She is an excellent leader. Her only mistake was giving her husband a major position in the company. The bastard not only embezzled company funds, but also divorced her for a younger woman. Leaving her to clean the mess he made.

A chance meeting with Mrs Yates ended up in me working here. I met her at this coffee shop where I used to work at. That day, a usual regular customer was outrightly being rude and making work difficult for me all for rejecting his advances. The man even raised his hand to hit me. I dodged. Then suddenly someone appeared from behind the man and twisted his raised hand with so much strength that I heard it snap. She was also the one who called police for the bastard to be taken in to custody. During the course of the police investigation, other of his crimes came to light. Stalking, robbery and sexual abuse of both female and male victims. Turns out he had been stalking me too. Pictures of me was found on his computer. I would have been one of his victims if Mrs Yates had not stepped in the way she did. My boss fired me afterwards. Saying that it was my fault that his customer got incarcerated. He wasn’t sorry for the former victims or the fact that I almost became one myself. He only cared about the damn pennies that the man spends on cheap coffee whenever he comes. Mrs Yates and I became very close through that incident. I thought of her as extremely nosy then. I wondered why she was interested in me so much to know what is going on in my life. She had my best interest at heart. She didn’t fully believe in certificates and diplomas. She saw potential in me that I could do well if given the chance to.

Now I will have to eventually tell her and every other person I told that there will be no wedding to attend. Wait—I haven’t even told my mother. I should call her later to let her know she should no longer be expecting a son in law.

"Thank you very much, ma’am." I said, "You are much welcome."

"Gweneth." She called me when I was almost at the door. I immediately turn to face her. "Yes ma’am?"

"Come sit. There is something I have to discuss with you." I did as she instructed. She sighs, interlacing her fingers awkwardly. "You are the first person that I am sharing this with. . . and I hate to be telling you this, but it is best you know so you can start looking into other opportunities."

"I. . . don’t understand what you are saying."

"What I am saying is, you know as well as I and everyone else that things are bad for the company. It getting acquired by Crimson Group did good at first. But now the president wants a return of forty percent. He believes he had been ripped off into buying an empty shell." There is a hurtful look on her face. Those must have been Calyx’s exact words. Unsurprisingly cruel.

"How could he say that?" I am mad. "We aren’t at our best right now, but we are not doing that bad."

She shrugs. "I guess he is indeed an asshole as the rumors say." Not just any average asshole, an A-grade one. I silently add.

"In order to complete the forty percent return he asked for, we need to give everyone a salary cut. We might also have to lay off some workers. Just know that."

"Am I going to be laid off?" That could be the reason she is telling me this.

"Not really. But if it comes to that, I would have no choice."

Mrs Yates words stuck to my brain. I was pondering on it so deeply that I almost missed my stop on the bus. I always knew I was at the risk of being laid off. The surprise is that it is coming from the management I am under and not the new one like I had thought.

"Cheer up girl. There is always a way. One door closes for another one to open." Annie recites her mantra when I told her.

"Annie, you don’t understand. With my certifications, no other company would employee me as a cleaning staff much more a corporate worker."