Sammy, aka Sam, works at a multinational company as an assistant manager. She had been working at XX company since she moved out of her parents’ house at age 23. When she arrived at PP city, she rented an apartment. Eventually, she bought that apartment and modified it into a three room apartment. Then, she rented one of the rooms to her friend, whom she met at a local bar. Several years later, her friend Rose came to PP city after she accepted a transfer order to that city as she will be promoted as well. Rose is a close friend of Sam, whom she has studied with since university and stayed as a roommate for four years. After graduating, both of them rarely keep in touch. After moving to PP city, she rented an apartment that was near her office. One day, she posted an Instagram story about having lunch at a mall near her office. Sam looked at Rose’s story and noticed the place seemed to be familiar to her. Thus, Sam messaged her and asked about her whereabouts. Later, they made an appointment to meet during their free time.
On Sunday of the following week, Sam and Rose met at a shopping mall. When Sam looked at Rose, her eyes were sparkling and overjoyed, clearly seen on her face. Sam was the one chatting continuously throughout that gathering, and they talked about their past and current situations. Rose also mentioned that she was living alone in her apartment and felt insecure about renting her house to an unknown person. Sam offered Rose to stay with her, but Rose declined the offer as Sam stayed with other people, and it might be inconvenient for her if she stayed along with them. Thus, Sam lived with Rose upon looking at her insecure face until she found a reliable tenant. Even though Rose felt guilty, she thought Sam might need a friend to accompany, and to share some time together.
After one week staying with Rose, Sam thought it might be helpful if she rented one of her rooms to others. So, she posted online about finding a housemate and shared it with her acquaintances. During the same week, a new employee named James joined the company and started working as an intern. He was incharge of handling all the paperwork required for a meeting and also needed to prepare drinks for those who attended the meeting. Sam’s manager executed a meeting about their new project, and he handed over the preparation work to James. Sam noticed James looked like he was in an uncomfortable situation. On the morning of the meeting, Sam rechecked all the preparation by James and came across that the number of copies of paperwork required for that meeting was insufficient. Sam tried to look for James however, he was not in the office. Despite that, Sam prepared all the materials required before the meeting began.
The meeting began and after half an hour, a young man was panting at the door of the meeting room and knocked the door.
He said, “Excuse me, sir. These are the extra copies of paperwork for today’s meeting.”
Mr. Robert, the manager, looked curiously while frowning at that man and said, “James, the paperwork copies are enough. You may leave now.”
“Okay, sir. Sorry for the inconvenience,” James said softly and left the room.
After the meeting ended, Sam went to James’ workstation and saw the seat was left empty.
Out of curiosity, she saw a woman sitting beside James’ table and asked, “Hi, there. May I know where James is now?”
That lady, without hesitation, said,” Hi, I think he might be on the rooftop.”
Sam went to the rooftop and saw a man standing in the corner of the building.
She placed a cold coffee drink on his face and the coldness startled him.
Sam asked, “Having a deep thought, is it?”
“Hrmmm...” he sighed.
For about ten minutes, both of them just stared at the sky while drinking coffee peacefully. Out of nowhere, Sam got a phone call and left the scene with a patting on James’ shoulder.
Later, James, spiritless, walked down towards his table and heard some officers gossiping, “Hey, did you hear that the company owner’s son was working here secretly?”
When James came down the staircase, they immediately became quiet and whispered to each other. He just passed by them with a stern face and sat at the table to continue with his work. During lunchtime, he went to the company’s cafeteria and sat at the corner table. Since he had no appetite, he was drinking a cup of coffee. After buying her lunch, Sam looked for a table to sit down and saw James sitting alone at a table. Sam approached him and asked for his permission to sit together. He nodded to her as a sign for her to sit.
She started the conversation as “Let me introduce myself properly. Hi, I’m Sammy. You can call me Sam.”
He replied, “Hi, nice to meet you, Sam. I’m James.”
While having their lunch, Sam told him about what happened this morning and asked if he faced any problems. James remained quiet and drank his coffee.
After she finished her lunch, Sam got up to leave the table and James said, “Thanks and sorry for what happened,” while looking down at his coffee and stirring it. Frustrated, Sam just left the place.
The next morning, Sam passed by the meeting room and glanced at it. She saw James being scolded by another department manager, who was supposed to have a meeting that morning. Sam was curious about this situation, knocked on that room’s door, and went inside to know what was happening. The manager informed her that James didn’t prepare enough copies of paperwork for this meeting. She settled the matter by discussing smoothly with the manager and asked James to apologize for his mistakes. It was almost dinnertime once Sam finished her work and when she left her office's main door; she saw James sitting at the staircase.
She breathed heavily and approached him by patting his head
She asked, “James, why are you sitting here?”
He looked gloomy and stressed. So, Sam asked him to join her for dinner at a local bar. They went to one of Sam’s favorite bars, named XY bar because they can have dinner and drink there. Upon arriving at that bar, James hesitated to enter, but Sam convinced him that this was one of the best local bars. While looking through the menu, Sam took some pictures and sent it to Rose if she wanted any food to eat. However, she said she had already eaten her dinner. They waited for their food to prepare, but before that their drinks were already placed on the tables. James, because of frustration, drank his beer and also Sam’s beer in one shot. He even ordered more beers. Sam was dumbfounded by his actions.
