"Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort."
- Norman Kolpas
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It was Friday morning and Delilah was relaxing in her cubicle, leaning against her chair and her legs crossed under her in her seat. It was a slow week where there wasn"t much work to be done. She had already submitted her work to Howard and Matt. Hence why she loosen up a bit.
She was munching on a chocolate bar, watching an old episode of "Friends" on her mobile phone when she noticed that there was an email notification coming in.
Pausing the video, she opened up her email and saw it was an email from Jafar, one of the project officers in the company.
Clicking open the mail, she reads the content. She began to frown as she continued to read. Apparently, Rachel, one of Jafar"s subordinates, has been working under expectation. It became a growing concern that Jafar had decided to seek the HR"s help in regards to this. Reading on, she noticed that Jafar did not specifically mention the reason why. He only mentioned that Rachel"s work has been dwindling; coming in late, late reports and daydreaming on the job. There were also times where she would go to the restroom and returned back to her cubicle very late.
Delilah began to tap her fingers as she thought of the problem. She then decided to email Rachel, asking her to meet her when she"s free.
Soon after, she received a reply from Rachel, who had answered that she will be free later that afternoon.
Delilah then replied back, saying that she will meet up with her at the meeting room on her floor after lunch. She then emailed Bella, saying that she wanted to book a meeting room later. After sending an email to Bella, she then got up from her chair and walked over to Ally"s cubicle.
Standing before Ally"s cubicle, Delilah could see the latter working hard, typing on her computer, a look of concentration on her face. She then knocked softly on the cubicle wall.
At first, Delilah thought that Ally probably could not hear her. She was about to knock once more when Ally finally turned around in her seat.
She looked surprised to see Delilah and asked with a confused smile, "h.e.l.lo Delilah. Can I help you?"
Delilah smiled politely. "h.e.l.lo Ally. I want to ask whether you"re available this afternoon for a counseling session?" she asked, tilting her head. She remembered that Ally had once done a counselling session for one of the employees here. Although she was not a full-time counselor, she has a certificate of psychotherapy, which makes her eligible to do a counselling.
The Kang Company doesn"t actually have a full-time counselor. It was not that they do not see it as unimportant but they hardly make use of counselling unless necessary. Hence why they only have part-time. Ally was one of the employees who does counselling at work.
"Is there something wrong?" Ally asked, looking concerned.
Delilah quickly gave a brief summary of the email she had received. She explained the situation and the concerns of the supervisor.
Ally nodded as she listened. She then said that she will join the session later.
Before Delilah walked away, Ally called her and asked why she didn"t just call her.
Delilah laughed awkwardly and admitted that she doesn"t know her extension number.
Ally laughed and gave her the number.
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That afternoon after lunch.
Delilah was already inside the room, together with Ally. The two were discussing Rachel"s situation and how to handle it. Because Jafar had sent an email regarding the problem, it has now become the HR case. And since Delilah was in-charge of the employees" well-beings, it was no surprise as to why she was involved as well.
It was a couple of minutes after two o"clock when Rachel finally entered the meeting room.
Delilah was surprised to see how untidy she looked. Although her clothes looked ironed and neat, her hair was a mess as if she hasn"t combed for days. She did not wear any makeup so her eye bags were visible. It looked like she hadn"t slept for days.
Delilah frowned as she was displeased at how Rachel did not find the time to make herself neat. It was one of the company policies where every employee should dress neatly and smart.
Rachel suddenly looked nervous as her eyes darted from Delilah to Ally and back again. She wasn"t sure why Delilah had called her over but she surely did not expect Delilah to bring another person to their meeting.
Delilah invited Rachel to take a seat. She then introduced Ally to her and began talking. "h.e.l.lo, Rachel. How are you?" she asked.
"I"m… quite good…" Rachel answered slowly, not meeting her eyes.
"Oh, that"s good," Delilah murmured. "How is your work? Everything is alright?"
Rachel nodded silently.
"Any problems?"
Rachel shook her head.
Ally then leaned forward in her seat and said, "I"m glad that there isn"t any problem with your work. But I a.s.sume there"s some problem personally?"
"What do you mean?" Rachel asked nervously, though her eyes held some kind of defiance.
"Please be a.s.sured that everything that has been discussed here will be kept confidentially," Ally said, lacing her fingers together.
At first, Rachel was quiet. It seems like she was reluctant to tell the whole story to Delilah and to someone she just met. After much persuasion from Ally, she finally confessed.
It seems that she has a personal problem where she had just broken up with her fiance. Apparently, she had just gotten engaged a couple of months ago. The wedding was supposed to be next month but she had called it off when she found out that her fiance had cheated on her. Not with another woman, but rather, cheated her out of her money. As in, he had stolen her money and disappeared.
Delilah was surprised when she heard this. She felt sad and angry for Rachel to be duped like this. Not only that, she was also surprised that Rachel was engaged and she did not know.
It seems that not everyone knew of her engagement. Hence, it was less of an embarra.s.sment for Rachel. But her other colleagues were surprised to see how she changed.
The talk took almost two hours. Most of the time, Delilah was quiet whereas it was Rachel and Ally who did the talking. Rachel talked while Ally advised.
Once they were done with the session, Delilah was secretly pleased to see Rachel looking more bright than before. It looked like the counselling session was a success.
Rachel felt grateful with the advice and help she received from Ally and Delilah. She thanked them enthusiastically, shaking their hands with a big smile on her face.
After Rachel had left the room, Delilah turned to Ally and thanked her too for her great counselling. Ally smiled and accepted her thanks.
The two then left the room together and Delilah immediately texted Bella to inform her that she was done using the room.
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Few days later.
Delilah was inside her cubicle, playing her game on her phone when she heard a knock behind her.
She turned around and saw Rachel smiling sheepishly at her, holding two small boxes.
"Hi Rachel, what can I do for you?" Delilah asked, smiling back.
Evidently, the session worked pretty well as the Rachel that Delilah currently was looking at, doesn"t resemble the Rachel she saw days ago. She looked pretty smart, wearing her white blouse and dress pants, with her hair neatly tied in a high ponytail.
"Hi Delilah," she greeted. She then handed her a box. "I just want to thank you for the other day. I brought some cupcakes for you to eat."
Delilah took the box from her with a look of awe on her face. The last time someone brought her some cupcakes was Shazzy [See chapter 2]. And she remembered how delicious it was.
She looked up and smiled at Rachel. "Thanks. You shouldn"t have…"
Rachel smiled back. "No worries," she said. She then raised her other hand which held another box and continued, "Alright. I"m gonna go and send these too to Ally. Thanks again, Delilah."
With a wave of goodbye, Rachel walked away, heading towards Ally"s cubicle.
Turning back to her computer, Delilah looked down at the box. She opened the box and drooled at the sight. There were different types of cupcakes inside. She just couldn"t wait to try them.
She quickly grabbed a plastic bag and placed the box inside. She then wrote her name on the plastic bag with a marker pen before heading towards the pantry to place it in the fridge.
Few hours later when she finally arrived home, instead of going straight to her room, she went to the kitchen.
She placed her handbag and work bag on the chair and put the box of cupcakes on the dining table.
She rubbed both of her hands together with a look of glee on her face. "Yum yum," she said as she opened the box.
There were six cupcakes in the box. From the looks of it, she could tell that each cupcake is of different flavours; nutella chocolate, red velvet, banana, blueberries, matcha and salted caramel.
She looked at each of the cupcakes and was thinking which one to try first. Just as she picked up the red velvet cupcake, Munier walked in, apparently, just got back from work.
He looked surprised to see Delilah in the kitchen. He walked over and narrowed his eyes at the box of cupcakes. "What"s that?" he asked, pointing at the box.
Delilah rolled her eyes, holding the red velvet cupcake. "Nothing. Just a box," she said sarcastically.
Before she could say anything more, Munier took one of the cupcakes and bit into it.
"Woi!"
He licked his lips as he tried to guess the flavour. "Hmmm. Banana?"
Delilah shrugged. "Probably."
She then took a bite of hers. And suddenly her eyes widened. Delicious chocolate liquid flows into her mouth just as she bit into it. The sweetness of the red velvet mixed beautifully with the rich and thick chocolate that melts in her mouth. The cream cheese frostings tasted velvety yet thick, which melts in her mouth as well. As she chewed on the soft sponge of the cupcake, the sweetness never stopped bursting in so many flavours in her mouth. She especially loved the chocolate flowing from the inside of the cupcake, similar to a chocolate lava.
After the two had finished their cupcakes, both Delilah and Munier decided to cut the other cupcakes into half so that they can each have a taste.
Sometimes, just eating with someone in a warm and cosy silence can be comforting itself. Especially when eating with good food.