I finally decided to download the dating app everyone was going crazy over. They said it was super easy to find a guy there. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about getting matched with Adrian at the office anymore.
And it turned out finding a virtual boyfriend wasn't complicated at all. If things stayed like this, my life would be safe and hassle-free.
“Hey, guys! I finally have a boyfriend.”
I opened the office door and saw that Mr. Bayu had been telling the truth: today, the sales staff were sharing a room with the marketing staff.
“Salma just got a boyfriend?” Adrian asked. He looked like he was entering some of his items into his laptop.
I nodded. “Of course. After being single for way too long, I finally have someone to adore, too.”
I chose a chair and started opening up my work.
“Adrian, if there are any rejected products later, report them to me right away, okay? That way I can complain to Mr. Bayu.”
Adrian didn't answer. I turned toward him and saw that he was already giving me a thumbs-up.
Being on the marketing staff had its pros and cons. The nice part was not having much to do when work was slow. The bad part was dealing with complaints from every direction, even though they were usually caused by the sales staff being careless.
“Wow, already hanging out together at the office just because you're in the same room.”
Guess whose rude mouth had just said that to me? That's right—Riko's completely uncivilized mouth.
Instead of opening his laptop to work on his weekly report, Riko flopped down on a beanbag with several other sales staff.
Everyone on the sales staff at Jaya Perkasa Group was a man, so some of them were obviously close with Riko.
“Deadlines, hey. Deadlines,” I teased gently, trying to get Riko to move from his lounging position.
Combining the marketing staff with the sales staff hadn't made the work go more smoothly. It had only given me an even bigger headache.
“Hey, is there anyone on the sales staff who's single?” Riko got up from his beanbag and glanced at me.
Here we go again with this one anomaly. Ugh, and now the only women in the room were Friska and me. Wasn't I just going to feel even more cornered if this kept up?
Angga had just arrived and immediately answered. “Hey, who's looking for a single guy? There are some single guys on sales. Yan, Adrian—you’re single, right?” Angga shouted.
Adrian still didn't turn around. I could only hope the two anomalies' babbling wouldn't get a response from him.
“Hey, the new guy sure works hard. He never even turns around.”
“Who exactly is single?” asked Bagas, who had just appeared through the door before quickly joining the others at his desk.
Riko immediately stood up and pointed at me with his chin. “There, Salma. What do you say we match her up with Adrian?”
Everyone in the room immediately shouted, “Agreed!!!” including Friska, who had just arrived.
Oh no. This was like the apocalypse for me. I couldn't even gossip about the sales staff anymore. Now I was the one getting set up.
It was true: karma knew no place or time.
We were now all busy with our respective work. An email from Mr. Bayu telling us to turn in our reports soon had the marketing staff focused on replying to client messages, while the sales staff were busy compiling their sales records.
“Good morning, everyone.”
Mr. Bayu seemed to be especially diligent about stopping by the marketing staff. There had to be another work-related ambush coming up.
“So? Is it fun having everyone together like this?”
“It is, sir!!!”
We answered in unison, temporarily abandoning our work to focus on Mr. Bayu.
“I came here to let you know that there will be a client meeting at this office this afternoon. Is anyone from marketing or sales interested in giving the presentation?”
As soon as he said that, I immediately pulled out my trick for pretending to be busy.
“Salma, sir. She's the best when it comes to presentations. She can spit out twenty thousand words a day when she's chewing me out over my work.”
Of course it was Riko. Seriously. During our break, I was going to tape his mouth shut with a tire so he couldn't keep sacrificing his friends without thinking.
Mr. Bayu nodded. “Okay, from marketing, I'll choose Salma. Now prepare a PowerPoint presentation to explain this afternoon.”
Another extra assignment. The moment I heard it, my stomach wanted to give me diarrhea.
“And for sales?” Mr. Bayu's eyes now shifted toward the row of sales staff, who looked busy with their data.
Angga raised his hand, and I immediately felt relieved. Thank goodness it wasn't Adrian volunteering.
“Adrian, sir. He's good at explaining things. Even though he's new, I've seen that he's pretty skilled when negotiating with clients.”
I instantly went limp when Mr. Bayu nodded in agreement. I was doomed. After this, I'd definitely become the butt of everyone's jokes because I'd have to spend half the day alone with Adrian.
My attempt to find a Virtual Boyfriend suddenly felt completely pointless.