THE JOURNEY

“Mother, we have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor tomorrow,” I reminded my mother. It was a Sunday, and I had to return to the office to organize the files to return to the management as my employment contract with Messrs. Clarke & Andrews, the legal firm where I was practicing, would end soon. “Okay, Amrita,” my mother replied.

With that, I left for the law firm where I have been practicing. It is situated on the other side of Penang Island. Thus, it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to travel across the bridge that connects the suburb and the town.

At the office, I began to type the list of files that were still active and needed to be worked on. As I was engrossed in sorting out the files as quickly as I could to leave the firm to run errands for my mother, a senior colleague approached my office. He stood at the doorway and asked with a light smirk on his face, “Do you need any assistance, Amrita?” I swallowed my anger and replied as politely as I could manage, “No, thank you, Mahid. I think I can manage. In fact, I am almost done here.” With that, the smirk left his face, and he replied, “Okay then.” I quickly completed the list of files that I had been working on for days, since I had more than 100 files in my little office. What used to be an empty and neat office had turned into an office clogged with hundreds of files that I had been working on for years, and eventually, the route to my office table slowly transformed into a small passageway with files neatly arranged on the floor in my office.

Once the list of files that were active and the files that were inactive was completed, I printed the lists out and left them on the table in my boss’s office before leaving the firm. I did not concern myself with bidding the senior lawyer who spoke to me earlier goodbye, as I was running late for my errands already. It was the time of the year when the legal assistants would have their contracts of employment renewed. I was compared with another legal assistant who joined the firm much later than I did, and it was Mahid who had voted against renewing my contract of employment since he had favoured the new legal assistant over me since the time she had joined the firm as an intern. Since I heard of his betrayal, I have been silent and have not confronted him. Instead, I had only one mission: to complete the handover of the files and leave the firm amicably.

It was the final day of my work at the firm. The Senior Partners had arranged a farewell lunch at an Indian restaurant. During lunch, Mahid sat beside me. I did not react to his actions at all. As we were all having lunch, Mahid spoke so loudly about something that concerned me. He was practically insulting me. I had a crush on him since the time I had chambered at the firm. However, ever since I learned about his favoritism towards a new legal assistant, I had slowly moved away from him and recovered from the feeling that I had once thought was genuine. I had realized that it was silly of me to think of him in any way other than a colleague-boss relationship.

A senior partner suddenly blurted out that it was Mahid who had voted against the renewal of my employment contract when I was compared with the new legal assistant. That piece of information hit me like a thunderbolt. I remained calm and composed despite feeling utterly betrayed and double-crossed. Once lunch was over, we all returned to the office. I began to pack my things slowly as I was preparing to leave the firm right after work. While I was cleaning up, some colleagues came into my room to express their heartfelt disappointment about my leaving the office, although I felt utterly relieved that I no longer had to work overnight or look like a zombie without proper sleep and proper food. I just accepted their gifts with a smile and continued to pack my belongings.

It was finally time to leave the office. With so much happiness at being released from the torment that I had over the years of working in that firm, I said my farewells to some colleagues and was about to leave when Mahid’s secretary, Seher, approached me. She said, “Miss Amrita, my boss would like to see you in his office.” I nodded at her and smiled, and then walked towards Mahid’s office with a calm and composed mind. As soon as I entered Mahid’s office, he gestured for me to approach his desk. I did, but I did not go any nearer to him. He always tended to ask me to stand very close to him. I simply hated the times when I had to work so closely with him after he betrayed me with his most favored legal assistant, Esha. It was a game-changer for me. That legal assistant lied right to my face when I confronted her. It was then that I decided to work under my boss, Ms. Daphne Lim. Ms. Daphne taught me all that I needed to learn as a legal practitioner, including drafting legal documents, although Ms. Daphne herself was not an expert in drafting. She was my trainer and my medicine for my wounded heart. I worked very long hours under her training. The long hours of work actually shaped me into who I am today. I am always grateful for her wonderful teachings, although I had to sacrifice my weekends and my sleep.

In Mahid’s room, he told me, “I am taking over some of the files that you were working on. So, you may have to come in to sort some things out with me.” I was totally enraged by his words. I told him, “I am never going to come back here or work with you. You sort all those files yourself and keep your advice to yourself.” With that, I left his office. I was so enraged by his attitude that I cursed him in front of my colleagues. He was always trying to be the most approachable senior lawyer among the legal assistants, which I found to be fake. With that, I left the office and never returned to the said office under any circumstances.

I was contacted by the firm to sort out some things about returning the sum owed to me for the leave that I did not apply for while working in the firm. Once all those affairs were looked into, I never returned to the firm nor met Mahid anywhere at the court. Even if I did, I would simply ignore him and move on with my affairs.

After practicing in a few legal firms under various designations, I finally decided to set up my own legal firm. I did my research about setting up my legal firm at home. It was around August 2019. A month before the setup, my contract with a legal firm ended, and I was told that they would not be renewing my contract since a new set of lawyers from another state had taken over the firm and that they would not require my service there any longer. A week before the end of my contract, my friend, Laila, who has her own setup, invited me to her office to meet me. I conceded to her invitation and visited her. It was Laila who suggested that I should own my own setup instead of working under another. I am still grateful to Laila for suggesting this idea to have my own setup, as now, I am much at peace when it comes to my profession. I was not practicing around the year 2016, when my mother suddenly fell ill and needed someone to look after her daily needs. It never did occur to me at that time that I could have my own setup at home. If only I had that thought in mind, I could have established myself much earlier as a Sole-Proprietor. Good things come later in my life, I realize. However, now that I have a setup that is home-based, I am thankful to God for all that I have today. I am glad that I could earn my own living working honestly and earn an honest income without cheating anyone out of their own money.

It has been six years now, going into my seventh year of having my own legal firm, and I am thankful to God for all the clients who have supported me throughout these six years of my practice under my home-based setup. This is a definite benefit of practicing under various lawyers in different law firms that have handled diverse cases in various areas of law. I am forming a strategy to elevate my setup to the next level, which involves opening a separate office and consolidating my home setup under one roof. That way, I can practice on one floor and live freely without worries on another floor of the building. My idea is still in the initial stage. There is time. I will provide my service diligently until I have reached the target that I have set in my mind. Life is all about elevation and progress. And that is exactly what I have in my mind.

~THE END~