A Code For Love Read Online Chapter 3 – Despite the raging headache from my late-night adventures, I woke up bright and early.
My car would arrive by the end of the week, so I relied on the subway to get me to work. After getting lost more times than I would ever admit, I recognized the building I had seen on my Maps app. It was a few decades older than the pictures they had online.
I stepped into the creaky building that looked ready to sink along with its crumbling foundation. Dodging the questionable stains at the entrance, I pushed open the heavy door. The screech was deafening, apparently only to my ears because the people in the lobby continued as if they heard nothing.
Soothing down my silk blouse, I noticed I was completely overdressed. My blush pink ensemble swam brightly in a sea of boring beige. Clearly, everyone but me had received the dress code memo. The receptionist eyed my outfit before handing me a key and pointing to the elevator.
Ignoring the dated setup of the building, I made my way up to the third floor in the squeaky metal box. There was no way this thing was safe. Squinting at the inspection chart, I assessed the browning paper, curling on the sides and suffering some serious water damage under the plastic cover. The last entry scrawled on the paper was from six years ago.
I was not an elevator inspector, but a six-year miss seemed excessive. I decided to opt for the stairs from now on unless I wanted to add elevator death to my list of fears. Cautiously stepping out, I read the numbers on each door, finding only one of the rooms belonged to Cypher and not the entire floor.
My weak research and the vague employment description didn’t reveal they were located in a decade-old six-hundred square foot workspace. Neither had my new manager, Sylvia, bothered to mention how small this company actually was.
But I shook away the warning signs and decided to keep an open mind. I was blessed and grateful to have landed this job. It didn’t matter how many stains I dodged on the carpeted hallway or how sticky the doorknob was, I would enjoy my time here.
The front desk was jammed right by the entrance, forcing me to squeeze through as I barely missed the sharp edge. The woman, who I assumed was the receptionist, gestured for me to sit on one of the chairs that looked like someone had taken a bite right out of the foam cushion. I was almost certain this building was covered in asbestos, if not termites. Given the nature of the job and the decent salary, it was nothing like I expected. It was like getting hired as a big-shot attorney and being handed a losing case.
Just as I got comfortable, with the gaping hole right under me, I saw Sylvia.
“Ms. Singh, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”
“You too. I’m excited to start working and using my software.”
Knowing they were trying to integrate my app was the most shocking news. During the interview, she informed me that my role would heavily rely on how I envisioned my app to run in the workplace. That was all I needed to accept her offer. It almost felt too good to be true.
I followed her behind the receptionist’s desk and around the corner to a small room. The wood panels on the walls were splintering, and the same carpet that covered the halls was plastered on the floor of this room. Although this one didn’t have any stains, so I guess that was a win.
“It’s a bit of a mess. We’ve been backlogged since we had to, uh… relocate,” she trailed off, taking the stack of papers off the chair so I could sit. I didn’t ask why they moved, but I probably should have. If this was the upgrade, I couldn’t imagine where they worked before.
Sylvia dropped the heavy stack in front of me with a loud thump. As cramped and messy as the space was, it was still my own office, and I could barely contain the childish joy that sparked through me.
“As you know, this position is temporary, but I know you’ll gain some valuable insight.”
And there it was. The truth about the job that I kept hidden from everyone.
I was here on a temporary basis making a permanent move, adding another nail to my coffin full of mistakes. To say I was screwed would be an accurate depiction. However, I was ignorantly optimistic that I would find something when this was over. Call me irresponsible, but there was no way I could wait around at my parents’ house to land a permanent opportunity.
“Sarvenaz, you’ll work here alongside our developer. You have had a chance to read our job description, yes?” Sylvia asked as I was busy gathering the mess on the desk to locate the computer mouse.
“Right, yes I did,” I lied. I hadn’t thoroughly sifted through their background like anyone with half a brain would, but I wasn’t worried. It was like hitting the star in Mario Kart and being on a winning streak, nothing could ruin it.
“Great, then you know we get contracts. Those contracts ask us to build a website, and we deliver. You’ll be in charge of the front-end and back-end given your expertise. You will get to split the work with the developer, who you will meet sometime this week.” She smiled, then impatiently tapped her foot and glanced at her watch. I waited for her to mention how I would put my app to use, but she continued to outline work for an entry-level developer. Work that sounded like she had no clue what my job actually entailed.
“We don’t want to waste time. Here are the project logins.” She dropped the folder in front of me. The next file had training written across it and the other contracts. “Sign everything. I’ll need your banking information right away to get the direct deposit sorted. If you have questions, let me know.”
She walked out of the office before I could respond. I sat there, blinking at the door she had zoomed out of. Sylvia seemed to be in a rush, but I chalked it up to the backlog she mentioned earlier.
I should have researched contracts before throwing myself head first into a corporate gig. Skimming the main parts of the fine print, I signed the papers. After organizing the area around my desk and setting up the computer, I headed to the break room. If you could even call it that.
It was a wooden table with a coffee pot and a few packets of sugar, placed in the middle of the office. Not that I was expecting a buffet, but I was hoping for a sink where I could get some water. Although, I was warned by Linh that New York tap water would not benefit my immune system. I noticed a water cooler by the corner, but when I pressed down on the lever, the jug was empty.
Peeking around the office, I noticed eight employees all crammed into one space. There were only two offices, one of which I was now occupying. It resembled more of a storage closet but was still more secluded than the area where the rest of the employees worked. Everyone was a lot older, at least in their forties, and it did not look like they wanted to be bothered.
After a lonely lunch at my desk, I started on the first website contract. This was simple back-end and front-end coding I had done countless times in the past. It was long, tedious work that made my brain feel like it had eroded by the end. When the clock struck four, I packed my things and dropped the contracts on Sylvia’s desk. She wasn’t there, so I couldn’t use all the courage I mustered to ask her about my app.
On my way out, I bumped into the developer Sylvia mentioned. I introduced myself to Gabriel, a short man with large black-rimmed glasses and thinning hair, who said he was the senior developer at Cypher. I tried to strike up a conversation with him since he seemed more approachable than anyone else.
“It’s nice to finally talk to a colleague,” I smiled, and he nodded. “So, did you go to school here, or are you out of state?”
He shifted awkwardly. “School?” he repeated. “Yeah, as in what college?”
“You wouldn’t know it.” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “Oh. Well, do you have any specific language specialization?”
“Nope, just coding.” He smiled like he was proud of that answer. It was vague, like a chef saying their specialty was food.
I shot him a skeptical look. The interaction trickled unease into my belly, and I wasn’t sold that he was a developer. Instead of prying further, I waved goodbye, which seemed to bring him a great amount of relief.
In the subway, I ranted to Linh on the phone about the job that was not as advertised. Through the spotty service, I heard bits and pieces of her encouraging words. She tried being optimistic, reminding me of the opportunities it could give me for my app and the reasonable salary.
The salary was the main thing that drove me to the job. That probably wasn’t the most humble way to approach a career, but I was desperate. It was my passion, but I wouldn’t be too eager to learn it if I was paid the same wage I was getting as a busboy—or busgirl. That year-long job during high school had prepared me for things a teenager should never have to see.
So, Cypher was one of the few openings for a new software engineer that paid that amount. Although the job was temporary, I would still go insane if I edited website bugs all day. The site issues were tedious like they wanted to waste my time.
Tuning onto my street, I stopped by the coffee shop below my apartment and ordered an iced latte. After taking my order, I was headed into my lobby when my phone vibrated, and with my luck, it was shoved into the depths of my purse. Balancing my coffee, keys, and laptop case in one hand, I dug through it.
Everything after that happened in slow motion.
While pulling out my phone, I slammed into a hard wall. So hard, a flash of white blinded my vision when my ear struck the surface. My piercings stabbed into my skull, and a faint ringing sounded in my ear. A gasp escaped my throat when the coldness of my iced latte met my silk blouse, the wet ice cubes slipping inside my shirt and at my feet.
My phone had flung out of my hand and was surely shattered somewhere on the floor. My victimized ear began throbbing, and the probability of a concussion was looking bright. When I tried to pull back to see how I managed to walk into a wall, I couldn’t move. I was stuck. My earring had caught onto something.
Or rather, someone.
Awkwardly angling my head, with my ear still attached to the stranger, I saw the brooding asshole from last night.
Grey Sweats stared down at me with those piercing honey-brown eyes and stoic expression, sending my heart rate galloping into a horse race. My eyes widened, and I froze, hoping he wouldn’t recognize me since the look on his face that night was nowhere near pleasant. Sure, I felt a little bad for yelling, but there wasn’t any part of me that wanted to apologize. Averting my eyes, I desperately tried to unhook myself from this mess. My earring stuck to a button on his dress shirt. However, when I moved so much as an inch, my ear violently flared.
A strong arm held me in place, forcing a yelp of surprise from me. “Hold still. You’re going to hurt yourself,” the gruff voice ordered.
I stilled, stunned by the arm around me and the voice that caused goosebumps to rise on my skin. Despite the warning, I tried to jerk back again, but only intensified the pain I was trying to avoid.
He exhaled a noisy breath at my futile attempt and tightened his hold on my waist in response. One side of my hip pressed into him, and I was positive I would go up in flames any second now. His warm fingers grazed my aching ear and slowly began undoing whatever kept me bound to him.
The soft touch startled me, and the way my body reacted was unnerving. I couldn’t take it. There was no way I would stand here while he took his sweet time with my face plastered on his warm chest. That too, in the middle of our lobby, in broad daylight.
I pushed aside my racing thoughts and yanked myself from the evil button. There was a snap of thread and a pop from my ear. I had irritated it enough to draw out a burning sensation and surely have it swollen for days.
Brows furrowed at my recklessness his hand shot out to run his thumb over the tender skin of my ear. At this point, I was willing to hand him my ear and disappear into a dark hole. But when his eyes met my widened ones, he pulled back, something obscure skittering through his features. Our eyes stayed locked, and a crack of electricity bounced through my veins and almost knocked me to the coffee-coated floor.
As if in warning, an ice cube slid down my shirt, jolting me out of my stupor. Stepping away from him, the weight of the arm around my waist dropped as I roughly dug the ice cubes out of my shirt, annoyed by the collision that had turned my white blouse into a brown mess. I couldn’t help but notice not a drop of coffee had gotten on him.
“Watch where you’re going!” I snapped.
He blinked at me, confounded by my sudden irritation. His gaze flickered to the ice cubes on the floor, then to my narrowed eyes, seemingly disoriented by the ordeal.
He cleared his throat. “I think you were the one who wasn’t paying attention,” he replied calmly, his eyes lingering on the coffee-stained chest that had made my white blouse see-through. I might as well have entered myself in a wet t-shirt contest, and with the way he was looking at me, I probably would have won.
“Even if I wasn’t, you could’ve moved out of my way.” I crossed my arms over my chest, forcing his eyes back to my face. I knew it was my fault, but there was no way I would admit that to him.
“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
“I would rather we not make a habit of this,” I said with a glare. “Promise?”
I ground my teeth, ignoring his taunt. “If you will excuse me, I need to retrieve my phone from across the lobby.” I moved past him, intentionally bumping his arm before I walked over to where my phone was on the floor. Luckily, there were no cracks, just a few scratches on the side.
I gathered a wad of paper towels from the front desk to clean up my mess and hoped no one would walk into the lobby to see me drenched in the brown liquid. I turned back to notice Grey Sweats had already left, with no offer to help me clean up.
Who said chivalry was dead?
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