Lunch hour has passed. The soft chatters slowly subside as people retire to their desk and continue their work. On the other hand, I can’t seem to brush off the nervousness I’m feeling with every passing hour. Although it doesn’t hinder my work, since I’ve gotten used to working under pressure, I can’t stop my brain from overthinking every possibility that could go wrong after my conversation with Dolores.

Many things come through my mind. Maybe I’m making a huge mistake. I don’t think I'm a suitable person to train anyone. No! Dolores has put her trust in me for this job. I can’t back out now. My skills, knowledge, and experience in the field should be enough to prepare everything I need to guide and teach any new recruit coming my way; however, what if I couldn’t get along with them—and so on.

Dolores has informed me that she will bring them to the office after lunch hour. My pulse has been rising gradually while I keep switching my attention from the office door and the clock in my monitor. When I try to focus back on my work, Dolores enters the office space and claps both of her hands loudly a few times to get the attention of everyone in the room. Most of them stop what they’re doing to look at her (including me), while some just give her a quick glance and keep working, but they’re listening. Although all eyes are on her, it’s obvious everyone is more interested in the stranger that’s now standing beside her.

Dolores clears her throat before speaking up. “Good day, everyone. I’m sorry for interrupting your work, but I would like you guys to give a warm welcome to the newest member of our team.” She turns to the new hire. “Please introduce yourself.”

The man nods. He takes a step forward, giving a brief look of his surroundings before flashing a friendly smile.

The new hire is tall (maybe around six-foot-one) and muscular, he’s got fair skin with a reddish-pink tone. His bright auburn hair is styled in a two block comma haircut, which compliments his olive green eyes, and clean shaven. He wears an army green blazer and pants, long sleeve color block shirt along with a gold watch on his left wrist. The freckles on his face enhance the sweetness of his features.

“Hello, everyone! I’m Brennan Ryan, but you guys can just call me ‘Bren’ for short,” he introduces himself in a clear voice. “It’s nice to meet you all and I’m really excited to be a part of this team!”

Everyone in the room gives him a mandatory welcoming clap after his introduction. Everyone, except for me. Not because I’m being a jerk or anything like that, I’m just too stunned to react at the moment. My jaw drops. He’s the one I’m going to train? You have got to be to be kidding me! His appearance and whole demeanor remind me of those popular kids back in high school and college; the type of people I have never interacted with once in my whole life. It doesn’t come as a surprise that I’m not the ‘popular kid’ type. I’m the weird introverted loner who tends to avoid social interaction as much as possible.

Putting the ‘popular kid’ and the ‘weird loner’ in the same room, it’s the perfect recipe for the most awkward human interaction you could’ve ever imagined.

I shake my head. No, I shouldn’t assume so quickly. There’s a saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ and I probably should apply that in this situation. Well, as long as we can have at least a civil working relationship, I’m not planning to be friends with him anyway.

As the claps die down, people one by one go back to what they’re working on, except for me. Dolores motions Brennan to follow her as they walk towards my desk where I’m seated. I put on a straight face, although I can hear my heart pounding loudly due to nervousness. When both of them arrive on my desk, I promptly stand up to meet face to face with them. Dolores' gaze wanders between me and Brennan.

“Brennan, this is one of our senior designers in our team,” Dolores introduces me while patting my back lightly. “He’s going to be in charge of your training from today.”

We both stare at each other for a while. I extend my right hand to him while still maintaining eye contact. “My name is Soren Chuang. It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Brennan.”

Brennan accepts my extended hand with a smile. He gives my hand a firm squeeze before shaking it. “Nice to meet you too, Soren. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

I nod as a reply. So far so good.

“Miss Dolores has told me briefly about you. I didn’t expect you to be this young,” Brennan says in a cheery voice.

Hm?

“Ah! I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” he continues, still smiling. “I just think you’re amazing. You’re younger than me and you’re already a senior graphic designer…”

I lift my hand up. “I’m sorry for cutting you off. If you don’t mind, I would like to ask you something.”

“Oh, sure. What do you want to know?”

“... How old do you think I am?” I ask quizzically.

Brennan blinks and tilts his head a little, confused. “Oh, well… twenty-five?”

I pause.

“... I’m thirty-one.”

His eyes turn wide in shock. “Y-You’re older than me?!-” he says in a slightly loud voice. Brennan realizes this and quickly covers his mouth before saying more, but it’s already too late.

“Pffffft!”

I can hear a loud snort of laughter. I don’t even need to look to confirm that it is Kayden’s voice. I also hear Nadine’s voice telling Kayden to shush it. A few people start to glance at me and Brennan, amused by the situation. We suddenly become the center of attention, and I hate every second of it.

I sigh, putting on a poker face. “I get that a lot…”

Awkward silence ensues. Wait, did I sound a bit angry just now? I’m definitely caught off guard by his assumption, but not enough to make me feel upset. Then again, I don’t really know how to continue this conversation now. What should I do?!

“Okay! That’s enough!” Dolores claps both of her hands, breaking the tension. “Now that you’ve both introduced yourself, I’ll leave him to you, Soren.” She pats my back again. I turn to look at her and see a small smile forming on her lips. Even though she doesn’t say it out loud, her expression seems to tell me that everything is going to be alright. It’s oddly reassuring. She turns to Brennan. “If you have any more questions, please don’t be shy to ask Soren.”

“Yes, I understand,” Brennan answers.

Dolores then excuses herself to her office, leaving both of us standing there while the others get back to what they’re working on. I clear my throat, mustering up the courage to speak first. “... Why don’t we sit down first? The empty desk beside me is your new work station.”

Brennan complies and takes a seat on his new assigned desk. I take my seat as well and move it near his desk. I glance at him. “Please switch on your computer. I’ll guide you through the company server.”

He nods as he presses the Power button. While we wait for the computer to turn on, I inform him about some general office rules (don’t eat lunch at your desk, etc.), which I have memorized in the back of my head. After Brennan logs on to the server, I start to explain everything that’s important that you need to remember while working on the company server. In the beginning, I was worried that I might get too nervous to speak, or even stammer my words while explaining, but it didn’t happen at all. I even surprised myself. I wonder if because I treat this situation as work rather than a social situation, that’s why I’ve been doing well so far… maybe.

Either way, it’s still a relief for me. I might be able to do this without any issue after all.

“.... I think that’s all for now. I’ll send you the pdf file of the office guidelines to your work email later, along with some small design tasks I’m assigning you to do. If there’s anything you want to know, feel free to ask me.”

“Well…,” Brennan hesitates. His eyes shift between the computer monitor and me. 

“Yes?”

Brennan turns to look at me. His face is determined. “I would like to apologize about what happened. I shouldn’t have presumed and embarrassed you in front of everyone. For that, I’m sorry.”

I’m flabbergasted. I won’t lie, an apology is the last thing I expect to get from him. I thought for sure that we will just act like that incident has never happened and move on with our lives. His voice does sound sincere, yet I’m not sure how to respond to it.

I don’t remember the last time I’ve received such a genuine apology that it’s pretty troubling.

“You don’t need to worry about it… If that’s all, I would like to go back to my work,” I say flatly while moving back my chair to its original position. I cut the conversation short on purpose because I’m refusing to engage anymore in this uncomfortable situation.

Brennan seems astonished at first by my curt reply, but he quickly composes himself and puts his focus back on his monitor. We both spend the rest of the work hours in silence.

I definitely have left a bad first impression as a senior.