Stay by My Side

"Qumiii ... " Esa stomped her foot, then walked into her office room. She threw her bag away to the desk.

Qumi Laila immediately ran toward her boss's office as soon as she heard Esa calling out her name. "Y-yes, Miss Esa," the girl stuttered as she hurried over to Esa.

Seeing Esa who was on her hips and glared at her fiercely, Qumi's guts shrink. The girl quickly bowed her face down.

"Where's the new bag that you packed yesterday? Why isn't it in the storehouse anymore?" Esa asked in a high-pitched voice. Her chest seemed to rise and fall due to irregular breathing.

The girl who was asked still bowed her head in silence.

"Answer me, Qumiii!" Esa asked with an intimidating sound.

"Uh-oh ... The bag? It was ... it was taken by the usual courier yesterday, Ma'am." Qumi answered with a low voice, too afraid to face the woman in front of her.

Esa slammed the desk, causing Qumi Laila to slightly jump in surprise and step back unconsciously.

"How many times do I have to tell you? If an order comes in, you must tell me first. You can't send the goods without my approval." Esa's anger overflowed as she said this. "Just so you know, the proof of payment that was sent by the customer yesterday was fake. How could you not see the difference?" she kept scolding her.

Qumi did not even dare to look at her boss and just nodded slowly.

"I don't care what method you use but you must find the courier now and take back all the packages you sent yesterday. Hurry up and go!" Esa gave the order.

"Right away." Qumi rushed out of Esa's office room.

Esa who was worried about the loss of her money just paced around in the room. Last month, her underlying, Qumi had already made that same mistake.

The girl who was in charge of managing customers in Esa's online shop sent the ordered goods without confirming the information about the proof of payment when the customer bought the product. However, as it turned out, the screenshot of the payment transfer sent by the customer was fake. It was too late when Esa knew about this case. To prevent this happen again in the future, Esa punished Qumi by cutting her salary every month. Esa thought she could breathe a sigh of relief now but to her surprise, Qumi repeated the same mistake today. No one knows how upset she was when she about it. Without a doubt, Esa's anger overflowed.

A few minutes after checking the data, Qumi came back to Esa's office room again. "I am so sorry, Miss Esa. I really am but the package had already been sent to the customer," she regrettably informed.

"What did you say? Why did it send to the customer so quickly?" asked Esa in surprise.

"The customer asked to be sent using express delivery," Qumi answered.

Esa shook her head in disbelief while rubbing her forehead. "How is that even possible? Qumi... what have you done?" she complained. "I don't care about you anymore. From now on, I won't allow you to take care of customer orders in my online shop and your position will soon be replaced by Wills. I will cut your salary again until I get all my money back!" Esa said, anger bubbling inside her stomach. It's as if she was about to spit blood. She did not want to let her swindler get away with it, but at the same time, she was mad at Qumi. Thus, she preferred her sloppy employee to responsible for her business loss.

Realizing that it was all her fault for causing another trouble, Qumi silently accepted Esa's bad treatment of her. As a new employee, Qumi was a slowpoke. Esa had been eager to kick Qumi out of her online shop for a long time but she could only patiently wait until Qumi's compensation was completed. If it wasn't for getting her money back, she would fire her from the beginning.

"What's going on? What's all the fuss?" Galih asked when he came into Esa's room. "Keep it down, would you? Your voice was so loud that it reached outside. And you should calm yourself down."

"Calm down you say? That's impossible!" Esa pointed her finger at Qumi. "This girl ... this new employee that you recommended has made me lose money several times. How can I calm down?"

"Qumi," Galih called out to the employee's name as he looked at her, giving the code for the girl to leave Esa's room. The girl immediately nodded and left the room.

The man helped Esa to sit in the chair. Esa, whose mind was suddenly chaotic, just obeyed and sat down. She landed on her favorite executive chair.

"You should calm down. Don't think too much about it or you'll get sick again." Galih said, trying to console her. He put a small bottle of mineral water at Esa's front desk.

Esa quickly opened the lid of the bottle and gulped the water down. As soon as she emptied the bottle, she threw the bottle away into the trash in the corner of the room. Unfortunately, her throw was not on target. Esa snorted in annoyance.

Galih sat in the chair in front of Esa. "Tell me ... how much money did you lose because of Qumi's recklessness?"

Esa strained her ears. She looked at Galih in astonishment, not expecting him to know about the money she lost.

"I heard what you said when I was outside." The man said, seemingly knowing what Esa was thinking.

"Don't act as if you care about me. I don't need your pretense." Esa snorted.

"Why did you say that? I do really care about you. After all ... you will be my wife in the future. Your problem is mine too, you know." He said. "If something happens, we should help each other." Galih frowned. What he said was true.

"You know how I feel about you, so it's better not to expect too much from me," Esa said the same words she always said to him when it came to this matter.

Galih was aware that it was almost impossible for him to win Esa's heart. Despite that fact, he always had so much patience to face any obstacle that got in his way.

"You said those words for million times already that I've memorized it. You don't have to tell me about that again. I'm here because I want to take responsibility as your future husband." There was an emphasis in Galih's tone when Galih spoke.

"And I'm here to tell you that I will never agree to marry you," Esa responded nonchalantly, not wanting to lose an argument with him.

Galih looked into her eyes intently. "Why? Is it because you are still waiting for him to come for you? He's gone now and you don't even know where he is." He stated.

Esa glared at Galih sharply. "You don't have to bring up about Satya here," she rebutted.

Galih leaned his back against the back of the chair. "Esa, I think it's time for you to accept the reality that he is gone. If he really loved you so much, he would not leave you and walked away. If he cares about you, he would not disappear all of sudden without telling you anything." Galih said casually.

Having Heard Galih's words, Esa's mind is even more messed up. Her face felt as if it was burning when she had to remember the bitter truth.

"Don't speak nonsense! I know Satya must have a reason. I will wait for him to come back and hear his explanation when he comes back to me." Esa's heart collapsed in an instant after saying those words. She could no longer hold back the tears that were jostling each other to escape.

"Yeah. Whatever. I won't say anything about him again next time. You should get some rest, Let me drive you home." Galih rose from his seat.

"I can go home by myself," Esa refused him quickly. She was still crying.

Galih took a deep breath. "I'm worried about your condition, you look so pathetic. I can't let you go home alone with that condition." He grabbed some tissue and put it in Esa's hand.

Instead of wiping her tears with a tissue, Esa covered her face with both hands. Her tears fell. Galih gently patted Esa's shoulder, trying to calm her down.

"It's my fault. I didn't mean to make you sad like this." Galih regrettably said. "Let me help you to take care of your online shop to make it up to you. Once you have calmed down and refreshed your mind you can go back to work." Galih gave her uplifting words. He landed on the chair.

"You should clear your mind. Don't think too much about it, you'll get sick again." Galih suggested. He put a small bottle of water minerals at Esa's front desk.

Esa wiped her tears with a tissue. "I don't need your help. I'd rather wait for Satya and let him take care of this online shop," Esa refused so quickly.

"Why does it has to be him?"

"You know it, don't you? Satya and I built this online shop from the ground. We built this online shop together. You are not part of this."

"Okay, I get it. I know both of you built this online shop since you were in high school, you worked so hard with Satya to grow your business. I know that well. But please, don't forget my role here. I am your future husband. There is nothing wrong with us working together for the future. We're the better ones, right?" said Galih at length.

Esa shook his head, still not accepting Galih's statement. That woman was so stubborn. However, Galih still did not lose his patience with her. He was sure that one-day Esa would open her heart to him.

"Come on, I'll drive you home. Let the driver take your car and you come with me. I will be responsible for paying for all your losses too. I know it was my fault for bringing Qumi here. Wait until a new employee comes, I will ask Qumi to work elsewhere."

Esa did not say anything else. She remained silent and let Galih take the decision. The more she thought about what Galih said, she realized that Galih was right. Galih was the one who brought Qumi to work in Esa's company so it was only natural for Galih to take responsibility and gave the compensation for her losses.

Three seconds after she thought about this, she accepted Galih's help and let him take her home.