Lucy arrived before 10 am at the location Mr. Winsky had sent her last night.
The building of the Southwest Branch was fully constructed with a semi-modern and classic design. It had twenty floors and each floor was dedicated to satisfying every customer. From what she read in an article, Landon’s goal was to deliver a perfect place for people to go to and spend time with family.
But because it had not been opened to the public yet, the building looked intimidating and abandoned, with wooden covers gating the corners to prevent trespassers from entering.
As she stepped toward the gate, a security guard stopped her.
"Miss, this is a no-entry zone."
Lucy glanced at the guard, letting her eyes fall on the nametag attached to the chest of his uniform. "I’m looking for a Mr. Paul Winsky. He said I should be here before noon. Is he here?"
"Mr. Winsky?" the guard did a once-over of her before taking his walkie-talkie out of his pockets. After a minute, the guard set it back down and asked, "You’re the hired painter?"
Lucy nodded.
"You don’t look like one, though?"
"Not all interior painters wear caps and bodysuits," she said.
"Well, I don’t know anything about painting. But I’ll let you in for now."
Passing through the entrance, Lucy followed the instructions of the guard and finally arrived on the eleventh floor of the building.
As soon as she stepped out of the elevator, she saw Mr. Winsky with two people. They were in a serious discussion as she neared them.
"The opening of this branch mustn’t be delayed any longer. So, you two be in your best behavior!" Mr. Winsky ordered. "Do not let a repeat of yesterday’s mistake happen again."
As Lucy got closer and closer, she recognized the two people from the three. They were the ones who had come to the airport to pick her up, but left before they could do their tasks.
As for the one who had just spoken... he must be Paul Winsky, an associate manager from the HQ branch.
"But, sir. What happened yesterday was not only our fault!" the female employee started. She ignored her colleague’s tugging of her sleeves to stop her and continued, "If they arrived at the airport already, why didn’t they call us?"
The female employee felt it was unfair that they were the only ones being scolded. They only left their post for a minute to grab some food to fill their stomach. What was so wrong about that?
Besides, had that person called ’Corone’ waited a bit longer for them to come, this wouldn’t happen!
The female employee became even more confident when the associate manager didn’t reply.
She said, "I think you’re being too lenient with this person. Is it because they’re someone who entered through a connection? Delaying their job for a month and not appearing on time for their first day on the job. If this doesn’t scream privilege, I don’t know what is!"
It was extremely weird that they had to be dispatched to pick up a painter from another country. What’s even more puzzling was that they were ordered to behave appropriately!
They had been an employee from the HQ branch for three years now. And most of their acquaintances praised and envied them for securing a job in the number 1 company in the country. But to think they have to bow down to a mere painter? What was the HR department thinking when they hired this interior painter?
But the female employee didn’t know that it was not the HR department that hired the interior painter, but their president!
Mr. Winsky wanted to reveal this to them, but he held back. It was different now that he found out that Corone was a woman.
Mr. Winsky narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "Erica, will you take responsibility if your words get out of here?"
Erica, the female employee, bit her lips, not speaking any further. But the suspicious action and words of the associate manager only made her convinced of her assumption.

Erica stuttered. What she imagined an interior painter would look like was a bearded man in his 40s wearing a cap and bodysuit. The kind anyone would ignore as they passed by. Someone who screamed ordinary. Not this beauty!
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