King of my heart

First day at work

Although my alarm went off at 6.30 this morning for work, I had already been up for an hour. I don't know why but I was really nervous about the whole thing so I couldn't sleep much. I had spent the extra time on my phone, scrolling through instagram whilst watching some Netflix on my laptop. Just as I was about to put my phone down to go and get ready, a notification popped up on my phone. I clicked on it and saw that Charles had messaged me on instagram. It was only short but it was really sweet: 'Bonne chance aujourd'hui y/n! Charles :)'. I read it over a few times with a huge smile on my face, how did this man manage to make me feel this way when I barely even knew him. I promised myself that I wouldn't fall for anyone, but here I was falling for some famous driver who was way out of my league. I sent him a reply to say thank you and that I'd let him know how it went later on today. After that I did finally get out of bed to have a long shower and prepare for my first day in the office.

I made myself breakfast and ate it whilst sat out on my small patio in the morning sun. I then quickly made my lunch before packing my bag and heading out the door. As it was only a 25 minute walk and the sun was shining I didn't bother getting a taxi, so I made sure to wear a comfortable pair of shoes and pack my work shoes in my bag. The streets were busy as usual with people trying to get to work or drop their kids off to school. I had my earphones in with some Coldplay playing as they were one of my favourite bands. That was one thing I had always loved doing on my way to work, just zoning out and listening to music to block out the noise around me. As I neared the office block, I started to get a little bit more nervous. I had no clue what to expect or if the people would like me there. I'd also never been that great at making friends, even when I was a child I only had one good friend. I guess that's what having a tough childhood and trust issues gave me. My mind wandered back to the message that Charles had sent me this morning and somehow it once again reassured me that I would be ok. No need to stress myself out with my overthinking and negative thoughts I told myself.

Within no time I had arrived at the entrance to the large office building so I then proceeded to take out my earphones and place them back in their case. I took one last deep breath before walking into the building and locating the reception to sign myself in.

"Bonjour, comment puis-je vous aider?" the woman at the front desk asked. "Bonjour, je m'appelle y/n je suis la nouvelle comptable." I told her politely. I had rehearsed that line in  my head since this morning as I wanted to make a good impression that I at least knew some French and was willing to learn. "Ah y/n ravi de vous rencontrer. Je m'appelle Alexandra, je suis la réceptionniste ici si vous ne l'aviez pas déjà deviné. J'ai votre dossier ici et il est dit que vous venez d'arriver d'Angleterre, n'est-ce pas?" (Ah y/n nice to meet you. My name is Alexandra, I'm the receptionist here if you hadn't guessed already. I have your file here on the records and it says you have just arrived from England is that correct?) she replied with a small smile. "Oui c'est vrai. Je suis arrivé ici récemment. Je suis désolé mais parlez-vous anglais? Mon français ne parle pas encore couramment." (Yes that's correct. I arrived here recently. I'm sorry but do you speak English? My french is not yet fluent.) I answered with a few stutters as my french started to fail me. I had praccticed a few bits this morning and last night in an attempt to not make a complkete fool of myself but this was my limit. I only understood a few key words of what Alexandra was saying now so I hoped that she would be able to speak some English otherwise it may be slightly difficult. "Oh no worries, I'm impressed with your french though, I thought you were fluent." she said with a laugh. "Ha not yet, I'm trying to learn though" I told her as she stood up from behind her desk to make her way round to me. "Here is your ID badge which you need to access the building and the different rooms. If you follow me, I can show you up to your office and introduce you to a few people who will help you get used to this new place. We have a few English speaking workers here as well as French." Alexandra informed me on the way to the lift. "Thank you." I replied "I've been a bit nervous about starting here as I wasn't sure if many people would be able to understand me." I added with a chuckle. "Ah now worries. Nothing to be worried about, everyone is friendly here." she replied as we arrived on the correct floor. "Here is where you shall be working." Alexandra informed me when we arrived at a small office with minimal furnishings. "It's a bit plain but feel free to decorate it as you please... I'll introduce you to Theo, your new boss." she added as I continued to look around the room before she lead me into another. 

"Bonjour madamoiselle y/n. Je m'appelle Theo." the man said as we entered his office. "Bonjour Theo, je suis la nouvelle comptable d'Angleterre." I replied with Alexandra stood behind me to translate if needed. "It's great to meet you. I hope you will feel comfortable here. If you need help with anything you know where to find me." he replied as a small smile appeared on his face. "Thanks, I appreciate it." I said, reciprocating the smile he gave me. Alexandra then lead me back to my room and handed me a few envelopes full of accounting documents for me to work through. She let me know that they were all in French but I could scan them and convert them into English if I needed to, which was highly likely considering I was far from fluent. She then left me alone in the room presumably to go back down to the reception. 

I sat down at my desk and opened up one of the envelopes to begin with. I could understand some of the text and most of it was numbers but I still though it would be a good idea to scan it in and translate the entire thing to ensure that I wouldn't go making any mistakes. I picked up the pages and left my office to go find that scanner which was located near the staff room at the end of the corridor. Thankfully I found it without any issues and I began setting up the scanner to what I wanted. "Hey, you must be y/n. I'm Katherine, also somewhat new here although not as new as you as this is my 3rd week." a quiet voice called from behind me. I turned round to be met with a small blonde woman with curly hair and square glasses. "Oh hello! Yes that's me, lovely to meet you Katherine." I replied sweetly. "So what brings you to Monaco all the way from England?" she asked. "Oh um I just wanted to have anew start in life and I thought that here would be the perfect place. I've kinda wanted to move here for a few years but I only just got round to it after saving up as much money as I could." I told her honestly. "Ah that sounds nice. I moved out here with my boyfriend 3 weeks ago for his work. He's a co-owner for a big business here and they wanted him a lot closer so he could help out a bit more." she stated. "Oh wow. I bet it was nice moving here with someone you know though." I half questioned. "Definitely I can't imagine doing this all on my own. We've been together for 4 years though so it made sense to move with each other though. How about you, did you move with anyone?" Katherine asked. "Nope it's just me, I broke up with my boyfriend a few months before moving here. It's not as bad as I thought it would be though." I told her with a smile as my printing finally finished. "Aw that's too bad. Well if you ever want someone to hang out with, my office is just down the hall to your right, room 14." she said before walking away. "Thank you!" I called after her. 

***

Once 4.30 finally arrived, I put away my work for the day and wrote myself a list of things for me to do tomorrow before packing up my things. I then made my way towards the elevator and pressed the button to go down. It was only a short wait before it arrived at my floor and the doors opened to a thankfully empty lift. I pressed the button for the ground floor and then put my earphones in to resume listening to Coldplay like I had been this morning. I opened up my instagram and quickly messaged Charles to let him know how my day had been. 

First day done and I am so tired not gonna lie! 

Aw well I'm glad it went ok. Did you make any new friends?

Kinda yes... I was in my office most of the day though and I ate my lunch in there so I didn't meet many people though :)

That's not too bad then. Let me know when your lunch is tomorrow and I'll see if I can join you. Can't have you by yourself now can we ;)

You don't need to do that Charles, I'll be ok but thanks :)

But I insist ma cherie ;)

 Ok... it's at 1 till 2

Perfect I will meet you outside the building then y/n/n :)

I smiled at the texts before turning off my phone and starting my 25 minute walk home under the setting sun of Monaco. I had the same feeling once again that everything was going to be ok. New job and new friends and no more of my toxic past. For the first time in what felt like forever I was happy, I just hoped that it would stay that way. 

A/n: So this was my longest chapter so far compared to my previous slightly shorter ones. Let me know which you prefer as I don't mind writing either. Also, feel free to leave any feedback and I'll try to take your ideas on board. Thanks for reading! 

Izzy :)