First day

Had Vi slightly overdressed? The few glances she gets and confused looks from her new colleagues suggest so. She runs her hand over her chest and down her abdomen. The white button up blouse tucked into a navy pencil skirt. Her legs covered by a pair of black tights. The women’s blazer she has on sits a bit uncomfortably, the colour matching with the skirt. There’s a possibility that Vi shouldn’t have gotten her idea on how to dress from suits. She’s not even working at a law firm after all.

Vi had a decent amount of trouble finding a blouse that fit over her chest, the majority she tried on at the shops ended up stretching way too tight and leaned way too deep into inappropriate territory. She had to settle on a looser blouse and paid to have the sleeves tailored down to fit her body.

Vi glances over her monitor, the laptop connected to the dock humming softly. She’s only been in the office for two or so hours. And she has never been so mentally exhausted. The situation she finds herself in is alien and haphazard. Cramped into a corner on a floating desk, a thin layer of dust on it, Vi theorised that these desk usually goes to unpaid interns…. Which is the work she’ll most likely be doing… At least she’ll get a bit of money. Not that any of it matters. The poor girl was positively **** into this position, her modelling was doing decent, she was enjoying her life, but no. Her father called her, informed her of an upcoming first day and orientation at some bullshit real estate business and that he expects to hear his contact report that she arrived 15 minutes early and dressed to impress.

Every single fibre of her being wanted to just avoid coming, not show her face, piss her dad off, invite his ire. But she just couldn’t. She woke up at 6:45, showered, did her make up, dressed herself, drove out, sat in her car, waited, and entered the office at 8:45, exactly 15 minutes before. She smiled wide for the kind old man she would be working under, enthusiastically introduced herself to his colleagues and beamed wide when they told her about how proud her dad must be.

She makes her way to the kitchen area, finding an empty table, she sits, dissociated as she pokes at her salad. She knows she doesn’t deserve to be here, people work hard to get here, and the rest of the team smile at her but it’s soulless. Resentful of the way she got into this office. The isolating darkness from her childhood pricks at her eyelids, she can feel it. The strings she had shedded when she moved across the country starting to lift her arms up again, hooking into her flesh again, the control she had escaped making an aggressive return.

She’s knocked out of her thoughts as a young man sits a down on her table, a chair separating them, he gives her a crooked smile, his small eyes crowing at the edge as he leans forward into her eye line.

“Hi!” He extends a hand, “Nice to meet you, newbie. I’m Taro.”

Vi holds out a hand, straightening as she notices the limpness of her wrist, she puts on a smile, the last thing on her mind of playing the flirty girl that Erik would enjoy her to be, “Hi. I’m Vi.”

Taro grins, his smile is lopsided, stretching a bit more on his right. Late 20’s? Maybe? He has dark brown eyes, thick eyebrows typical of a Japanese man, his black hair matching the typicalness. His jawline is sharp and his eyes are soft, inviting, warm. Vi feels her face brighten as he speaks to her, leading the conversation.

“I hope you don’t mind that I just sat down.” He shrugs playfully, “I don’t want to overstep, we just met, but I know that look on your face.” He smile turns sympathetic, “First proper day?”

Vi nods, laughing, “Yeah. That obvious?”

He nods, “The loner aesthetic is pretty telling. I started pretty recently too. 6-7 months ago, I’d say.” He put his hand on the table, “You’re ….’s daughter right?”

Vi feels her head go fuzzy, her brain blocking the sound of her dad’s name. She was never allowed to refer to him as anything other than ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’, “Yeah. You know him?”

He nods, ‘Yes. My dad met him when he came to Japan years ago. My dad reached out when I finished university, and he was kind enough to get me an entry level job, as a gesture of goodwill.”

Of course, Vi thinks, “Yeah… He’s a good man.”

“Terrifying though.” Taro says, grinning at Vi.

This pulls a genuine laugh out of her, she covers her mouth daintily, looking away, “That is also true.”

They speak for a bit longer. Taro explaining that he moved here for university 6 years ago. He studied english in Japan and fitted in perfectly. Vi feels grateful for Taro’s approach. She enjoys the stuff she does with Brandon and Max and etc, but it’s nice to speak to someone, and just being platonic. Taro eventually taps on the table lightly as he looks at his phone, checking the time. They say goodbye and head to their respective desks. Taro might have approached Vi for the sole intention of being nice, but he’s still a man, and he still sneaks a glance at the way her pencil skirt hugs her ass.

Vi sits at her desk, an earphone in, no ones going to talk to her anyway, she’s useless as it stands, she continues her IT setup, alone. The sunsets through the window, autumn already bringing the sun down earlier than summer. A message pops on her slack.

Taro: Congrats on your first day! Send me a message whenever you need a hand! See you around :)

Vi smiles to herself.