Underneath It All

It's bad enough that the old Michelle (whom I loathe so much) has come out to play.

Now she has disappointed everybody who trusted her.

Clarissa (not her real name) finally talked to me yesterday after days of silence. When she told me what she thought of me and how she felt about the situation, I was biting my lip to hold back tears.

Nobody had ever told me off like that before. I felt misunderstood but I didn't even try to defend myself for some reason. I just accepted her criticisms although some of the things she mentioned weren't entirely true. I felt incredibly bad for disappointing her. I knew she had high hopes in me and I crushed them without realizing it... *sighs*

"Way to go, Mich," I thought to myself as she looked at me grimly.

For the rest of the day, I was trying my best not to burst into tears. I put on a veneer of normalcy and nobody else suspected a thing except for one person: Calister (not his real name).

Maybe he's just the kind of person who can see right through people. Or maybe it was written all over my face. Either way, I was touched by the fact that he cared enough to ask how I was doing.

He's one of the top guys, if ya know what I mean. I was supposed to have a chat with him about something yesterday but he didn't say anything to me after my talk with Clarissa so I thought he had forgotten about it. Right before I left the place, I glanced at him but he seemed occupied so I left without a word.

However, right after I walked out the door, he came running out after me and we talked downstairs for a good 10 mins, while waiting for my parents to pick me up.

Our convo went something like this:

Cal:

Are you okay?

Me:

*shrugs*

Cal:

Oh, cheer up... *punches me lightly on the arm*

Me:

She finally talked to me just now. We talked for nearly 2 hours, man. I was trying hard not to burst into tears.

Cal:

Maybe you should have made a scene, yelled hysterically and left the place in a huff or something. Then we would capture everything on video and upload it online.

Me:

*gives him a small smile*

Cal:

Cheer up, okay? *punches me lightly on the arm again*

Me:

I can't... I feel like I've disappointed everybody.

Cal:

Everybody? I'm not disappointed.

Me:

Well, not yet...

Cal:

Oh, c'mon... don't be like that...


At that moment, I felt slightly better already. More like relieved. Then we went on talking about presentations and appointments and we teased each other a lil' till I almost forgot what happened earlier.

I've never met such a humble superior in my entire life before. He cheered me up, made me laugh and even offered to hold my heavy bag (that was full of documents). And he waited with me till my parents arrived. He's one of the few people in that place who make my working life bearable cuz he doesn't pull rank on me (not all the time anyway). For that, I'm thankful... =)