Rise of Jayden Fernando

Chapter 5

The manager had left to use the restroom. She had come out just in time to see the receptionist slap the young man in front of her.

She had wondered who it was, and what his offense was, that would make the receptionist slap him.

She had hastened to get to the scenario, but halted to check her phone that had just beeped, indicating that she had a message. It was an email with an attachment.

She had been informed about the CEO beforehand, but the email she received was a short description of the CEO, as the the heading was titled, 'CEO'.

She had clicked it open, and it showed his picture.

Her heart sank when she saw his picture.

He was the same person the receptionist had slapped. The delivery guy she was talking about.

"This is worse than I thought," she said.

She needed to stop her from causing any further problem. 

The receptionist turned to tell the manager that he was the man they were looking for, "Ms. Here is the man that broke—" she paused. She just met what seemed to be the shock of her life.

It was the manager with a phone in her hand, and in the phone was the picture of the person she had slapped.

She walked closer to be sure she was not dreaming. She saw his picture, and a short description stating that he was the new CEO.

"No, no. This cannot be true!" She muttered slowly, covering her mouth.

She looked at the manager whose facial expression had changed. She did not have any excuse for her actions. Before she could utter a word, the manager had given her a slap. The guards were confused as to why the manager slapped her. 

Ms. Fiona rushed to Jayden, and apologized. She knew he was offended, even she, would feel totally embarrassed.

"I… We are very sorry, sir. Please, forgive us."

She went on her knees to beg him. Such actions could result to losing their jobs.

Jayden looked at them, especially the receptionist, in utter disgust, and disappointment. He wondered who employed such incompetent person. Receptionist were always supposed to be nice. It was one of the qualities they needed to possess.

"Why do you all respect money, rather than people? No matter what, you are supposed to show respect to every human being on Earth, even a kid. You do not know a single thing about me, but because I am dressed in a delivery uniform, you think you can talk to me in the manner you like? I walked up to you, calmly, to explain myself to you, but what did you do? You damaged my phone without an iota of remorse, like you intentionally did it. You did not give me any chance to explain anything, and to top it off… you slapped me!" He said, stressing the last sentence.

She bowed down her head in shame. She knew what she did was wrong, but she had no excuse, whatsoever to justify her deeds.

"You embarrassed me… to think that you are just a mere receptionist. Imagine that you belonged to the upper class, or what if you were the manager, or secretary? You would have done worse," he paused, and faced everybody, "this should serve as a lesson to all of you. You, no matter who it is, must respect everyone. I am the new CEO of this company, and there will be many changes, starting from you," he said, pointing at the receptionist, "you are fired!"

She began to cry, and plead, but no one cared. "I'm really sorry, sir. Please, pardon me. It will not repeat itself again. Please, do not fire me."

"Who employed you all?" He asked, looking around.

"I… I did, sir." Ms. Fiona said, already on her knees to plead for forgiveness. 

"I'm really sorry, sir. I promise to do better. Please, don't fire me, I beg of you."

"You better do," he said to the manager. He turned to the receptionist, and said, "tch. Have a taste of how it feels to be in that position. Next time, you will not wall over others, and treat people the same." He left. He had told the guards not to follow him, and they had no choice, but to obey.

Immediately he left, the manager heaved a sigh. She had thought he would fire all of them. 

"Pack your things, I do not want to see you here, when I come back."

She turned to the guards, who had their heads facing the floor, and glared hard at them. 

"Your salary will be cutt off by 15%. Get lost! All of you," she yelled, and they all dispersed to their station.

She sighed, and went back to her office, while the receptionist packed her things into a brown box. There was nothing she could do. Maybe, this will be a lesson that she will never forget. 

She walked out of the company, and gave it one last look at the building. She had only worked there for a few months, and she lost it due to her ill mannered attitude.

Jayden rode in his scooter to the bank. He could just go back home to get changed, or go to the mall, but he needed to go to the bank first, and do some verification, then withdraw some cash. It was already 3pm.

He made a U-turn back to the company, he had forgotten his card in the office.

He met the receptionist outside, but he did not spare her another glance. She had a pitiful look on her face, hoping he had come back to reconsider. She was left in disappointment, as he did not even utter a word to her.

He went straight to the elevator, not saying a word to anyone. The manager peeped through the window, afraid that he had changed his mind.

"I forgot my card," he said, picking it up from where he had kept it, and left.

He arrived at the bank, and sighed.

"Time for another drama."