Page 13 of Bossy Grump's Secret

"How was today's shift?" I ask as non-confrontationally as I can.

She shrugs and emits a disgruntled huff.

"Did I say something wrong?" I ask. I know work wasn't that hard today; it was continuous, with no overstated breaks when they worked the bona fide housekeeping shift.

"You separated me from my best friend..." she says, and I roll my eyes. This again... "and you're asking me if I'm okay? I'm fine." She shrugs with passive aggressiveness.

Do I really have to deal with this?

"Listen, Ava. It's company policy. It helps the staff master all the skills before we sort everyone into their long-term positions. And even that isn't permanent." I explained.

"You don't understand. Lily needs to be by my side... always."

I take a long, unblinking look at her. "You two are in a relationship?" I arch a brow. That would be unsurprising.

"No! It's different...you...you wouldn't understand."

Of course, I wouldn't.

"Well, help me understand then , " I encourage her.

"Just put us back together or …" Ava begs, but her tone doesn’t even sound pleading.

"Ooh, I'm scared," I say sarcastically and walk away, but she tugs at my arm. It's subtle enough to force me back like an elastic band let go after a stretch.

"Let me go, now," I demand.

"Why don't you listen? My friend is struggling, and you're acting like it's nothing." Her voice is strained, like she's doing all she can to keep from yelling. She'd better do her best to keep it so.

She seems very much like the one going through the breakdown, however. Lily was doing fine when I checked on her earlier.

"Only on the outside," she counters.

I give her a dry look and hum.

"You're not being a fair person," she says.

Ha!

"Me? No, no, no. You're the one that isn't fair. You have one thing to do." I shake my finger at her. She finally got me angry enough to show it. "It's that simple. I've given you the least amount of work. I'll be queried if I'm seen doing the amount of work I do to cover up. But I do it anyway because overworking the staff is not where I see productivity. Yet here you are bickering about me not being fair for taking away your emotional support companion."

"She's not my emotional support, whatever it is you might think. I need to protect her. " She wants to say something but holds back and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Protect yourself from your own entitlement first," I say, because that's all I see here. The company owes nothing to her feelings. I am responsible for Lily's safety and I don't understand why Ave paints Lily as helpless and in dire need of her companionship.

If looks could kill, I'd be dead, but luckily for me…or her, it just looked. Nothing more. "No problem, sir. I’m sorry I brought up the matter in the first place,” Ava says and takes a huge swallow before trying to move around me.

This is passive aggression, and something about her agreeing with me doesn't seem right. If she has a grievance, we should talk it out. Hence, I won't let her get far. I'm the one to stop her now. Like it or not, I don't like my subordinates being aggrieved. It makes work burdensome and every future conversation awkward.

“Listen, Ava. You understand that I have to do it, okay? You guys will be together again in a few weeks. "

Even though she nods silently, the words don't seem to have an effect. She gently pries my hand from hers and continues her journey into the hall. At least she didn't make a scene; that would've been worse.

Well, that isn't how I expected the conversation to go...

Ava

When I wake up, the first thing I do is curse him silently in my mind. By doing this, I can mentally prepare myself to have less resentment towards him when we meet for our duty assignment. or perhaps to mask the resentment.

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