Thursday, January 12, 2012

"Finding Life's Sweetness" Chapter 3

"How about this jacket?" Quinn held up a black jacket for Vince to see, who was lying on her bed.  It was her first day of work as the O.A., and Vince had encouraged her to dress to make a good impression.

As a result, Quinn had been digging through her closet all morning trying to find something appropriate for the office while Vince gave her input.  Most of her pieces were bright colored and fun.  Having never worked in an office before, she came to the realization she didn't have any proper work attire.

Clothes were sprawled all over her bed.  "I never noticed how much your clothes resemble that of a hippie's before", Vince laughed.  "Do you even have a button down shirt?  That'll go with the the jacket and the skirt", he advised.

"Oh, I think I do somewhere", Quinn answered, continuing to look through the mess of her closet.

"Be right back, I need to use the bathroom", Vince said.

"Found it!" Quinn yelled.  The shirt was very wrinkled and clearly hadn't been worn in forever.  She'll just ask Vince to iron it for her.

Before Quinn could change out of her pajamas, she heard a knock at the door and went to open it.

A young female in a floral dress stood at the door step looking confused.  "Who are you?" she asked.

"Who are you?" Quinn asked back.

"What are you doing here?" the female interrogated in an increasingly angry tone.

"I live here?" Quinn replied, in a tone that yelled "Duh!".

The female looked at Quinn, who was only dressed in a tank top and pajama pants and started to freak out.  "Where's Vince?!" she demanded.

At the moment, Vince finally walked out of the bathroom.  "Who's at the door?" he asked as he approached the living room.  "Angie?"

"Vince, who is this?" Angie asked angrily, pointing at Quinn.  Quinn put her finger down,  "I'm his friend, who are you?"

"I'm his girlfriend!  Vince, what is a girl doing living in your apartment?" Angie yelled.  Vince looked at the two in desperation, clearly freaking out and unsure of what to do.  "Um...Angie, I'd like you to meet someone.  This is my good friend Quinn", he introduced with uncertainty.

Angie didn't look too happy.  She held up her handbag and started hitting him.  "Jerk!" she yelled in a huff, and left.

Vince collapsed onto the couch with his face in his hands.

Quinn looked at him and bit her lip. This wasn't the first time a girl had stormed out of Vince's life after seeing he had a female roommate.

She sat down next to him and playfully punched him. "There will be other girls. Besides, you're Vince the ladies' man!" she exclaimed, in an effort to cheer him up.

Vince smiled halfheartedly back. "I didn't like her that much anyway," he replied. "Go get dressed for work, you don't want to be late."

***********
Quinn strolled into the office. Ella happened to be in the open office area talking to one of her subordinates.

"Ms. Yeung!" Quinn called. Ella looked up from her work. "Quinn, you're here just on time. Come with me to my office", she said.

"Did you get here alright?" Ella asked after they settled down in their office. "Yes, thanks for asking", Quinn replied. She appreciated her boss' politeness but felt rather uncomfortable with the formalities.

"I'd like you to copy these papers for me and enter these accounts into the computer", Ella said and handed her two folders of papers. "Before you get to work though, let me show you around and introduce you to everybody", she said.

Quinn nodded. "That'll be great", she said and followed Ella out.

"Simon!" Ella called. "Come here, I want to introduce you to someone", she said.

Simon approached them and put his hand out to Quinn for a handshake. "Hello, you are?" he asked.

Quinn shook his hand. "Quinn Tong, the new office assistant. And you?"

Kristy showed up next to them. "He's the big man's son who doesn't have anything better to do than bum around here", she told Quinn.

"I help out too, I just bum around on the side", Simon corrected. "I'm Simon. This pretty little devil here is Kristy, the assistant manager", he said.

"Hello Simon and Kristy", Quinn said with a smile.

"Ella, I'll show Quinn around for you", Simon offered. "Good, get you off my back for a while", Kristy smirked. "He's your problem now", she whispered to Quinn.

"I can hear you, you know", Simon replied. Ella laughed at the two's bantering. "That'll be great, thanks Simon. Any problem with that, Quinn?" she asked.

"A tour given by a charming guy like him? Why would I have a problem with that?" Quinn laughed.

"See, everyone agrees I'm charming except you", Simon said to Kristy, who only replied with a roll of her eyes.

Simon showed Quinn around and then back to her office space. "This will be your office space, but you'll probably spend a lot of time in the copy room. If you have any questions or need help, I'm usually hanging around here in the early afternoon", he said.

"Just curious, what exactly do you do around here?" she asked.

"I'm usually here from 12 to 2. I run a bar and don't have to go to work until 6. I spend an hour or two a day here just helping out", he explained.

"I'd love to go to your bar sometime. You have so much time though, why would you spend it here?" she said.

"Like you said, I have so much time. I have people to run the bar so I don't even have to go to work if I don't want to. I like the people here and my dad appreciates me helping out with the agency whenever I can, so why not? It's play and work at the same time", Simon replied.

Quinn nodded. "I see. You're quite a filial son then. I should get to work now, thanks for showing me around!" she said.

"No problem", he replied.

**********
It was a couple hours into the work day, and Quinn felt herself nodding off at the computer.

There was an hour of work left and she had finished all her tasks. They were tedious, but relatively easy to do once she learned her way around the computer program and copy machine.

There was no boss breathing down her back either, which was a huge bonus. She still felt restless though, and started squirming in her seat.

"I'm bored", she mumbled to herself. She pinched herself to stay awake.

She peeked over at her colleague's desks to see what they were up to. To her amusement, Lily was painting her nails and Eric was playing online poker.

Quinn logged onto MSN Messenger and IMed her friends until it was time to leave work.

Heh, maybe working in an office wouldn't be so bad after all. Certainly better than working as a waitress or busboy.

**********
"I'm home!" Quinn called.

"You're still employed aren't you?" Vince asked nervously.

"Yes I am", Quinn said in an "in your face" tone.

"Oh good", he answered, relieved. "Wait...you are employed at the same job right? Not a different one?" he asked.

"Yes, silly!" she said.

The two sat down to have dinner and chat after a long day like they always do. Only today, the atmosphere was a little awkward. Quinn and Vince kept staring down at their plate.

"I'm sorry about what happened this morning", Quinn apologized.

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't your fault", Vince replied quietly.

"Maybe I should move out. I think I'm the reason why so many of your relationships don't work out", Quinn said in a low voice.

Vince put down his fork and looked up for the first time during their whole meal. "Don't be crazy! I told you, it's not your fault", he argued.

"But..." Quinn started.

"No, end of discussion", Vince said. "Besides, you pay me rent. I'm not going to just kick out my tenant", he added as he mustered up a smile.

"Ok then", Quinn said.

Vince sighed. The truth was, Quinn definitely was the reason why so many of his relationships didn't work out. What girlfriend would be comfortable with their boyfriend living with another girl? At the same time, Vince couldn't imagine what it'd be like to not live with Quinn anymore. He wouldn't be able to tell her to leave. What was he going to do?

===========================

Author's Note: This chapter was very focused on Quinn, as well as Quinn and Vince. Of course, there was also some more bantering between Simon and Kristy! The next chapter or two will begin focusing on Ella and Kristy. Friendships between the characters will start developing as well. Hope this chapter didn't bore you too much!

Originally posted on TVB Interaction.

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