Adrian's POV
This was my second week at Jaya Perkasa Group, so I had to work as hard as I could. When it came to love, though, I was the kind of person who couldn't be bothered to respond.
Basically, I worked, got paid, and went home. As for the rest, I just went with the flow. I already had enough on my mind dealing with the world as it was.
[Adrian, there's someone from marketing named Salma. Please help her out in the warehouse.]
Mr. Bayu's message came through on my phone, and I quickly replied. I was determined to be a disciplined new employee, after all.
[Okay, Mr. Bayu. No problem.]
That afternoon, I was back at Rak Ban when I heard a woman talking to my friend, Angga. This must be Salma, the one Mr. Bayu had mentioned earlier.
I immediately walked over to her.
“Salma, right?” I asked, slipping both hands into my pants pockets. I was trying to look cool, obviously.
The woman immediately turned toward me.
I introduced myself right away. “I’m Adrian. I just got a WhatsApp from Mr. Bayu saying someone from marketing was looking for me. Is there something I can help with?” I said as politely and courteously as possible.
The woman got straight to the point and told me what she wanted to discuss.
“So, I have a list of products that need to be returned. Can you help me?” Salma immediately explained everything in detail. There was no asking each other’s ages or anything like that, okay?
My daydreaming was instantly interrupted, and I asked her to repeat herself.
“So there are five products?” I asked, pretending to be a little slow on the uptake.
“That’s right. They’re at Toko Merekah Satu, Toko Dua Lingga, Toko Bagi Berkah, Toko Banyak Guna, and Toko Ada Aja,” Salma explained.
Then she looked at me seriously.
“You’re bringing the products back too, right?”
I was the kind of person who liked to mess around sometimes, so I deliberately tried to provoke the woman in front of me. Just to keep things from getting too awkward, of course.
“Oh? I have to bring the products too, Sal?”
Salma’s face immediately twisted into annoyance. She was so cute when she got mad.
I quickly changed the subject.
“I’m kidding, Salma. Okay, I’ll go check the inventory first, then? After that, I’ll head straight to the stores.”
After returning from the stores Salma had told me to visit to exchange the products for new ones, I sat down in the sales staff’s private room. Our room wasn’t in the warehouse.
The warehouse only stored product samples.
Angga—my friend—offered me a drink, and I took it right away.
“I’ve been watching you and Salma. You two are actually a good match,” Angga said.
I immediately brushed off his comment. “Nah, no way. She’s like a lion, Ngga. She’s totally not my type. I’d hate it if I ended up falling for her.”
Angga burst out laughing.
“If you two start dating, you’re treating me, okay?”
I just smiled at Angga’s comment. A lot of my friends had tried to set me up with this person, that person, and someone else, but none of them had been a good fit for me. It wasn’t that I was picky. I was just tired of dealing with this kind of thing.
Getting to know someone new, only to become strangers again.
To be honest, Salma was my type: fair-skinned, tall, sweet, and a little funny.
She only had one flaw: she was always getting inexplicably mad at me. And since I liked to mess with people, why not have a little fun with her? When else would I get the chance?
“Adrian, this is a report with a mistake from one of the marketing staff. Try asking someone in marketing where the error is.”
When Mr. Bayu approached me, I had only one thought: ‘It might be fun to work on this with Salma.’
It’s not like I had a crush on Salma. We’d only just met. I was just getting closer to her, that’s all. As long as I was working in sales, marketing and sales would be dealing with each other all the time.
Salma was fun to be around, so I figured it was worth giving it a shot.
Angga came to my desk and handed me a flash drive.
“Well, Mr. Bayu just gave you the green light. I’m totally rooting for you if you want to make a move on Salma.”
I pushed my chair back a little, then turned toward Angga. “While we’re at it, I might as well suggest putting marketing and sales in the same room, huh? It’s crazy how everyone keeps trying to set us up. I barely even know her.”
I didn’t realize Mr. Bayu was still in the sales staff’s room, so I was startled when I heard his voice.
“That’s a good idea—putting sales and marketing in the same room. Good idea, Adrian. I’ll announce it when we move to the marketing room.”
I immediately nudged Angga. Because of him, I was going to have to share a room with Salma. I hated arguing with people, and now I’d have to deal with her all the time.
This was all Angga’s fault.