Destination San Fran : Career meets Love

Chapter 5 - And we all meet!

I woke up refreshed next morning. After my morning routine, I intend to head to the kitchen for breakfast and some filter coffee, Indian style. But when I open the door to my room, the hallway is filled with chatter and conversation. It sets my heart racing. The first thought - There are intruders - PANIC. Oh my god. I should have learnt self-defence. Now what do I do?

I slowly head towards the source of the conversation, grabbing a vase on my way. I peek from the corner towards the living room. I see John, standing in front of the sofa. There are three people sitting on the sofa and John is sharing the key cards with them. John’s eyes catch mine. He doesn’t waste any time and quickly comes my way. All three turn to my direction.

“Good Morning Miss Roy. A vase?” He looks at me questioningly. I look back sheepishly, “ I thought there were intruders. I have never lived alone before.”

“That explains. Well, now you won’t be living alone. Your colleagues are here. Come let me get all of you introduced. This is Lysa, Ace and Sean.”

I shake hands will all three. Lysa and Sean give me a warm friendly smile and Ace, a flirty one I think…  It is good to know I have another girl. It would have been awkward to share this apartment with only male colleagues.

John’s baritone voice breaks my flow  of thought, “It’s a full house now. The pantry is well stocked. Please feel free to make whatever you all like. There are a couple of takeaway menus kept as well, in case if you would like to order takeaways.  Make sure you all get good rest today. Tomorrow we start early! I will be here to fetch you all at 7:30am. Work begins at 8. Mr. Coleman is very particular about punctuality. Anyone has any questions?”

“Could you help me with getting money exchanged? I have Australian currency with me at the moment”, Ace asked.

“Ahh. Yes. That gets me to another very important part of this internship. For the next six months, you all would be getting a stipend. But Mr Coleman has issued all of you one month’s stipend as a bonus or you can say start up cash. Which is already loaded on the company accounts that we have got made for all of you.”

What?? I was amazed with this kind of generosity. It sounds like one big party… Yey we have preloaded cards for expense… I haven’t heard of any company doing this before. I am sure I was looking like a child in a candy shop… When John gave us the cards he also mentioned that we had spending limits of around a thousand dollars on our cards.

I am not a spendthrift. But hey, all women do like a bit of retail therapy!

But my priority at the moment was to get myself prepared for tomorrow. I had researched about Coleman Mediaworks and about Jacob Coleman. He was surely one of the youngest achievers and was a force to reckon within the advertising industry. His media campaigns were all case studies.

John mentioned that there was a supermarket just a block away in case we would like to get ourselves some basic necessities. With that, this man whom I had grown a little friendly with, he left us on our own.

Lysa was one chatty little girl. All the way from Philippines, she shared her selection process and we got talking about how lucky we were to be here. Ace with his thick Australian accent was saying something about how noisy this house is going to be because of Lysa. Looking at their exchange of choice words, I knew they are going to be the Tom and Jerry in this house. Sean came and stood by my side, " These two have been like this on our ride here as well. Imagine my plight."

I laughed at his expression, he faked his offence, "What? I didn't have a moment of peace with them in the car." I just looked at him and said, " Don't worry now all you have to do is lock yourself in your room!" He gave me a hurt expression and said, " Sorry. I wouldn't be leaving you alone to deal with them. My manners won't allow for me to do that." that made me laugh more. I had some crazy people living with me. These six months are surely going to be fun with these guys.