Assistant Natalie Foster led Evelyn to the secretary's office to check in.
It was a spacious, private office with five desks. Four of them were already occupied.
Natalie greeted the secretaries, then guided Evelyn to a desk on the right. "Ms. Harper, this is Evelyn Vance, the new intern. I'll leave her in your care."
"Of course!" Amelia Harper replied with a warm smile. She turned to Evelyn. "You're Evelyn, right? You'll be working with me from now on."
"Thank you, Ms. Harper!" Evelyn answered quickly.
"Just follow Ms. Harper's lead and do your best," Natalie added.
"Yes, thank you, Ms. Foster!" Evelyn nodded.
Once Natalie left, Ms. Harper introduced the other secretaries to Evelyn. Evelyn learned they each handled secretarial work for different districts.
After the introductions, Ms. Harper asked Evelyn to sit at the empty desk in front of hers. She handed Evelyn some company brochures and introductory materials. "Evelyn, take a look at these first. If anything's unclear, just ask. I'll arrange your tasks this afternoon."
"Okay, thank you, Ms. Harper!" Evelyn took the materials.
Ms. Harper nodded and returned to her work.
Evelyn studied the documents carefully. Whenever she came across something she didn't understand, she jotted it down in her notebook to ask Ms. Harper later.
As she was concentrating, the phone on her desk rang.
Evelyn glanced at Ms. Harper, unsure if she should answer it.
"Evelyn, pick it up. That's your phone from now on!" Ms. Harper looked up and explained.
"Okay." Evelyn answered and lifted the receiver. "Hello? This is Evelyn Vance speaking."
"Miss Evelyn, it's Lily. Mr. Sterling asked me to bring your phone to the office. I'm in the lobby now. Could you come down and get it?" Lily said on the other end.
"I'll be right down. Please wait a moment." Evelyn paused, then replied.
After hanging up, she asked Ms. Harper for permission before heading downstairs to get her phone.
It turned out Alexander had called Evelyn that morning. Lily, who was cleaning, heard the phone ring. She saw it was Miss Evelyn's phone.
Mr. Sterling had told his wife that Lily was the one who answered the call.
Alexander asked Lily to deliver the phone to Evelyn in the company lobby. He also told Lily she could reach Evelyn by calling this office line.
When Evelyn got downstairs, she saw Lily waiting for her in the lobby.
Evelyn walked over. "Lily!"
"Miss Evelyn, your phone!" Lily turned and handed it to her.
"Thank you, Lily. I appreciate it." Evelyn took the phone.
"You're welcome, Miss Evelyn. If there's nothing else, I'll head back now." Lily smiled.
"Okay. Be safe on your way back." Evelyn nodded.
"I will, Miss Evelyn." Lily said.
Lily turned and walked out of the lobby.
Evelyn watched Lily's figure disappear through the turnstile. Then she looked away and went back upstairs.
Thank goodness Lily had brought the phone to the lobby. If she had delivered it directly to the president's office, the title "Miss Evelyn" would have caused awkward questions. Evelyn had no idea how she would explain that.
When lunch break came, Ms. Harper said she wouldn't go to the staff cafeteria with Evelyn. She had brought her own lunch today. She told Evelyn she could join her tomorrow.
Ms. Harper also mentioned Evelyn could bring her own lunch in the future, if it was convenient.
If not, she could use her employee card to swipe for meals in the staff cafeteria downstairs. The meal fees would be deducted from her salary at the end of the month.
The food in the staff cafeteria was pretty good. Sometimes, when Ms. Harper was too busy to run back and forth, she brought her own lunch too.
After thanking Ms. Harper, Evelyn tidied up the materials on her desk. Once she left the office, she called Emily.
She wondered if Emily was off work yet.
"Evelyn?" Emily's hesitant voice came through the phone.
"It's me. My phone was delivered. Are you off work?" Evelyn asked with a smile.
"Just got off. I was about to grab lunch. I was actually wondering how to reach you!" Emily laughed.
"I'm heading downstairs now. Let's meet at the restaurant entrance."
"Okay, I'm going downstairs too!"
After making plans with Emily, Evelyn stepped into the elevator. She sent a text message to Alexander: "Time for lunch. Don't forget to eat."
Just as she was about to put her phone away, it rang.
Evelyn picked it up and saw it was Alexander calling. She quickly answered. "Hello—"
"Wait for me for five minutes."
"No, no. I was just reminding you to eat. I'm already downstairs, heading to the staff cafeteria for lunch!" Evelyn explained. She wasn't inviting him to lunch!
"You're not eating with me?"
"No, no. We still don't know each other here!" Evelyn replied.
Alexander chuckled on the other end.
"Alright, go eat first. Make sure you eat enough."
"I will. You should take a break and eat too!" Evelyn urged.
"Okay," Alexander said.
After Evelyn hung up, she looked up and realized she had forgotten to press the button for the staff cafeteria floor. She had gone straight to the first floor.
The elevator doors slid open, and someone stepped in.
Evelyn pressed the button for the cafeteria floor and went back up.
The other person turned to look at her, clearly puzzled by her going down and then back up.
Evelyn lowered her head and secretly stuck out her tongue. When she reached the right floor, she quickly walked out of the elevator.
"Evelyn—"
Hearing Emily's voice, Evelyn smiled and walked over.
"Why are you so slow?" Emily said, taking her arm.
"I forgot to press the right floor. I went straight to the underground parking lot and had to come back up."
"You're hopeless!" Emily rolled her eyes.
The two of them went to line up at the order counter.
"Which department are you interning in?" Emily asked.
"The secretary's office," Evelyn replied.
"Which secretary's office?" Emily pressed.
"The president's."
"Evelyn, you're actually interning for the president!" Emily exclaimed.
"No, I'm interning in the president's secretary's office!" Evelyn corrected. She wasn't interning for Alexander, but for his secretary.
"The president's secretary's office. That's such a high-level place!" Emily said enviously.
"But I'm just doing chores!" Evelyn admitted.
"Come on, that's nonsense. What intern gets to do important stuff right away? You have to start from the bottom. And you might learn a lot there. If you do well, you'll have a good chance of getting a contract." Emily scoffed.
"You have a point." Evelyn smiled.
"Of course I do!" Emily replied righteously.
"What about you? Which department?" Evelyn asked.
"Sales."
"The sales department is a great place to grow. How are you finding it? Let's work hard together!" Evelyn nodded.
"Come on, I think I'm more suited for sales!" Emily said, and couldn't help but laugh.