True enough, I received an email a few days after our Company movie night announcing the annual company outing in a Southeast Asian island. It would be a 2 days 3 nights trip and we would be staying in a quite prestigious hotel.

‘Wow. I never thought our company has this perk and money.’

“Are you excited for your first company outing Wendy?” Irene asked smiling as she browsed through a report at her hand.

“Yes, I’m really excited about this. I can’t believe our Company would be willing to spend so much on us,” I chirped.

“Haha. Well it’s one of the good things in this Company. But don’t raise your hopes too high. There are pros and cons on why they are spending a lot on us. You should also pack ahead of time not on the night before,” Irene said as she continued with her work.

I pouted, nodded and proceeded to respond to the email to confirm my attendance.

Finally, I can have a decent break and unwind from all these works. I hope after this trip I will be able to regain my motivation at work. I glanced on my side and stared at Irene who is still focused on her job.

‘I wonder how Irene would look like in a bikini?’

The thought immediately caused the blood throughout my body to pool in my head and I can feel myself heating up. I shook my head to remove the inappropriate thoughts and diverted the attention on the job at hand.

“Wendy,” Irene called, and I immediately turned to her.

She was smiling and for some reason has a smirk painted on her face.

“Don’t let your imagination run wild at work,” she stood up and gently hit me with the report on her hand.

“Revise these corrections and print them afterwards for the manager’s quality control review. I have a meeting at 3 so I want the report to be done before I return got it?” Irene playfully smiled and handed me the report.

“Yes, of course,” I grinned but deep inside I’m sweating cold due to the fact that Irene was able to decipher what I was thinking.

‘Am I really that obvious?’

Weeks had passed and the day of the company outing is tomorrow. It’s freaking tomorrow and here I am doing an overtime work, a freaking overtime work. Now I understand what Irene meant when she said to pack my things ahead of time. Well, I did! But I didn’t expect we’ll be staying this late and I didn’t finish my packing.

“Psst. Wendy,” I heard Joy whisper from her workstation.

“What?” I mumbled and raised a brow.

“I think we should leave early. You’re still not done packing your things for tomorrow right? Freaking hell, it’s going to be midnight soon and our butts are still here,” Joy began to rant.

“I know! But it’s not like we can go home when we still have work to finish. Look around you, everyone is still here, and they are all dreading to finish their work,” I whispered back.

“But I want my beauty rest for tomorrow’s trip,” Joy pouted and despite hating the idea of continuing to work, she still proceeded on the task.

“Is it always like this Irene?” I asked and of course, Irene already knows what I am talking about.

“Two years ago, an employee didn’t manage to finish her pending works before the company outing and she was forced to bring a laptop on the trip and work while everyone was having the time of their lives,” Irene smirked as she reminisced the memory.

I frowned not really liking the idea of ruining such precious time when I could be basking under the sun drinking coconut juice free from all stress and worries the adult life is throwing me.

“Don’t worry Wendy. I also hate the idea, so we’ll be finishing all this tonight,” Irene said as she passed me a chocolate bar which I gladly accepted.

“Have you already packed for the trip?” I asked.

“Of course. I told you to pack ahead of time, didn’t I?” Irene frown