At exactly eight o’clock, the Operations Division began filling with the overlapping sounds of keyboards clicking and phones ringing.
Yubi had been sitting neatly at her desk for fifteen minutes. Her work laptop was already on. Her small notebook lay open beside the keyboard, with her pen aligned along its right edge.
She had kept that habit since college. To her, a tidy desk helped keep her thoughts organized too.
Mr. Dimas came over again. “Have a good day at work.”
“Yes, sir.”
Without saying much, Dimas placed a stack of folders on Yubi’s desk.
“These are the distribution records from the past three months.”
Yubi looked at the stack of folders, nearly a foot thick.
“Check all of them.”
“All of them, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Before lunch.”
Several employees who overheard them exchanged glances.
A new employee was usually given only one or two folders to study.
Yubi had been given nearly the entire archive.
But she only nodded.
“All right.”
Dimas turned and walked away without explaining anything.
Not long afterward, whispers came from the neighboring desks.
“I kind of feel sorry for her.”
“That’s just how Mr. Dimas is with new hires.”
“Especially that one…”
Yubi pretended not to hear.
She opened the first folder.
She examined each sheet carefully.
Every so often, she jotted down notes about the patterns in the goods distribution.
On the tenth floor, the Business Development office was much quieter.
The room was dominated by glass walls and several modern discussion tables.
A shoulder-length black-haired woman was explaining the presentation results to three staff members.
“If the target for the eastern region rises by five percent, distribution needs to be adjusted accordingly. Don’t just look at the sales figures.”
Her tone was calm. Yet everyone immediately paid attention.
The woman was Aurelia Wijaya, the Business Development Manager.
At only twenty-six, she had already been trusted to lead hundreds of employees.
Not because of connections.
But because of her ability.
“If there are no questions, the meeting is over.”
All the staff members stood.
One of them said quietly,
“Ms. Aurelia, I heard there’s a new employee in Operations.”
“Hmm.”
“He’s still part of Mr. Kenan’s family.”
Aurelia only gave a brief nod.
“That’s HR’s concern.”
As far as she was concerned, a person’s background didn’t matter as long as they did their job well.
She closed her laptop, then walked toward the pantry.
Eleven o’clock.
Yubi finally finished all the files Dimas had given her.
She had even found two shipping records that didn’t match the warehouse report.
Hesitantly, she took her notes to Dimas’s desk.
“Sir…”
Dimas looked up.
“What is it?”
“I found two records that seem to have been entered incorrectly.”
Dimas took the notes carelessly.
At first, he looked uninterested.
But after reading for a few seconds, his expression changed.
He opened the data on his computer.
It was true.
There were two errors the team had missed for nearly a week.
Dimas turned to Yubi.
“You found these yourself?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I compared the shipping numbers with the warehouse report.”
Dimas fell silent.
He hadn’t expected a new employee to find an error so quickly.
But before he could say anything, the phone on his desk rang.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Dimas, Ms. Aurelia wants the distribution data for the Sentosa project.”
“All right.”
He hung up and immediately handed Yubi a flash drive.
“Take this to the tenth floor.”
“All right.”
Yubi stepped out of the elevator and looked at the room directory.
Business Development.
She knocked on the half-open door.
“Excuse me.”
A woman who was arranging several documents looked up.
“Yes?”
“I’m from the Operations Division.”
“I have the data Ms. Aurelia requested.”
The woman pointed toward the office at the very end.
“Go on in.”
Yubi knocked again.
“Come in.”
A calm female voice answered.
When the door opened, Aurelia was standing in front of a presentation screen.
She glanced over.
“Yes?”
Yubi stepped inside.
“The distribution data you requested.”
Aurelia accepted the flash drive.
“Thank you.”
Her gaze lingered for a few seconds.
“You’re the new employee?”
“Yes.”
“Your name?”
“Yubi.”
“Hmm.”
Aurelia returned her attention to her work.
“Well, thank you.”
Yubi nodded politely.
“Excuse me.”
As soon as the door closed, Aurelia opened her laptop again.
Yet for some reason, the name felt familiar.
Yubi.
Meanwhile, Yubi let out a quiet breath after leaving the office.
“That manager is so serious.”
She smiled faintly. • •
Yubi had just returned to the Operations Division when the wall clock showed five minutes past twelve.
The atmosphere in the office had become more relaxed. Several employees began standing, tidying their desks, and walking in groups toward the company cafeteria.
“Let’s eat.”
“Let’s head downstairs.”
“I heard they’re serving rendang today.”
Invitations and laughter came from all corners of the room.
Yubi looked to the right and left. She didn’t really know anyone yet, so she chose to stay seated and reopen the distribution report she had brought with her.
Her stomach was beginning to growl, but she preferred to wait until the cafeteria was a little less crowded.
Not far from her desk, two female staff members watched her.
“That new girl isn’t going to eat?”
“Who knows?”
“Maybe she’s shy.”
“Or maybe she’s just showing off how hardworking she is.”
Yubi heard the whispers. She only gave a faint smile, then returned her focus to the computer screen.
A few minutes later, Dimas passed by with his phone in hand.
“You haven’t eaten?”
“Not yet, sir.”
“Good.”
Yubi raised her head.
“While you’re at it, match the warehouse data against the shipping report. It needs to be finished this afternoon.”
Yubi glanced at the time on her computer screen.
That task was usually handled by two people over the course of a day.
“All right, sir.”
Dimas simply walked away.
A male staff member named Beni slowly shook his head after Dimas had gone.
“Yubi…”
Yubi turned.
“Yes?”
“That’s just how Mr. Dimas is.”
“But don’t let it get to you.”
Yubi smiled politely.
“It’s okay.”
Beni looked like he wanted to say something else, but ultimately thought better of it.
An hour later.
Yubi’s stomach began to growl softly.
She gave a wry smile.
“I forgot to eat a decent breakfast.”
She opened her bag and took out a piece of bread she had bought the night before.
Before she could take a bite, someone let out a painful groan.
Yubi turned.
An office attendant around fifty years old stood there carrying two large water jugs.
The man looked exhausted.
Without thinking, Yubi immediately stood up.
“Let me take one.”
“Oh, no, miss.”
“It’s okay.”
Yubi lifted one of the jugs while the office attendant carried the other.
They walked toward the pantry at the end of the room.
“Wow… thank you, miss.”
“Sure.”
Yubi smiled.
“If you have anything heavy again, just call me.”
The office attendant looked touched.
“You just started working here?”
“Yes.”
“It’s rare to see a young person willing to help with something like this.”
Yubi only smiled.
“If I need help sometime too, maybe you’ll be the one to help me.”
They both chuckled.
They didn’t realize that someone was watching from the glass office across the corridor.
Aurelia.
At first, she had only wanted to get some coffee.
But she happened to see Yubi helping an office attendant with something that wasn’t even part of her job.
She watched for several seconds.
“Interesting,” Aurelia murmured.
That afternoon, the entire Operations Division began bustling as everyone prepared the daily report.
Yubi was still wrestling with the data Dimas had given her.
Her eyes moved quickly as she read through the numbers one by one.
Suddenly, she found another discrepancy.
The same shipping number appeared twice, but the distribution destinations were different.
Yubi opened the old archives.
Compared the documents.
Then wrote down her findings.
“Mr. Dimas.”
“What is it now?”
“I found a possible duplicate entry.”
Dimas sighed as if annoyed.
“Where?”
He took a quick look at the document.
A few seconds later, his expression turned serious.
“Damn…”
The error was real.
If it slipped through, the company’s monthly report could be compromised.
Dimas stared at Yubi for a long moment.
“You’re thorough.”
Yubi gave a small nod.
“I was just matching the data.”
“Hmm.”
Though he was reluctant to admit it, Dimas was beginning to realize that Yubi’s abilities were far from ordinary.
But before he could say anything more, a staff member hurried over.
“Mr. Dimas!”
“What is it?”
“Mr. Kenan wants the distribution report right now.”
Dimas immediately picked up the folder.
Before leaving, he turned to Yubi.
“Keep going.”
“All right.”
Five o’clock.
One by one, the employees began shutting down their computers.
“Let’s go home.”
“We’ll continue tomorrow.”
The room gradually grew quieter.
But Yubi was still sitting in front of her screen.
There were still a few records she wanted to organize so that tomorrow’s work would be easier.
About fifteen minutes later, the sound of high heels stopped beside her desk.
“You’re not going home yet?”
Yubi looked up.
Aurelia stood there holding a tablet and a thin folder.
“Oh—yes. Good evening, ma’am.”
Aurelia nodded.
“Still have a lot of work?”
“Almost finished.”
Aurelia glanced at her computer screen.
“This isn’t a new employee’s job.”
Yubi smiled faintly.
“It’s okay.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Yubi was silent for a few seconds before answering.
“Everyone has been new at some point.”
“If I learn more today, maybe I won’t be such a burden on my coworkers tomorrow.”
Her answer left Aurelia momentarily speechless.
It was rare to find an employee who thought that way.
Usually, they were more concerned with calculating whether their work matched their job description.
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Yubi nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Aurelia was about to walk away, but paused for a moment.
“Oh, right.”
“Thank you for helping Mr. Hasan earlier.”
Yubi looked slightly confused.
“You saw that?”
“Just for a moment.”
Yubi smiled shyly.
“It was nothing.”
“Maybe to some people.”
Aurelia returned her smile with a faint one of her own—the first smile Yubi had seen from her that day.
“Good evening, Yubi.”
“Good evening, Ms. Aurelia.”
After the woman left, Yubi turned her attention back to her computer screen.
She had no idea that their brief conversation had marked the beginning of Aurelia’s changing opinion of her.
Meanwhile, on the top floor, Kenan had just left the conference room.
As he passed a window overlooking the Operations area, he saw that nearly every desk was empty.
Only one light was still on.
Yubi’s desk.
Kenan stood there for a while.
“She still hasn’t gone home?”
Raka, walking behind him, looked in the same direction.
“If she isn’t just trying to get attention, then she really is hardworking.”
Kenan didn’t answer.
He continued watching Yubi, still busy staring at her computer screen as darkness began to fall outside.
For some reason, for the first time since Yubi had come home, a small question arose in his mind.
“Why did Yubi suddenly come home now?”