5 Chapter 5: When inconsistencies start

Dave, Carl and Belle had always blocked their Wednesday nights to meet. They will always meet at their favorite bar and would spend late Wednesday nights there just talking and drinking. They've been friends for the longest time but they would still religiously make sure that they meet no matter how busy they were.

Belle almost dropped her glass.

"Wow, Luis said that? Luis had always been open with you on everything. This is not the first time he had a different opinion from you, right? But this is the first time he spoke about the way you treat your direct report." said Belle. "You must've been pretty harsh."

Dave almost rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't…harsh. You know I don't play favouritism and I don't antagonize a single individual. I try to be fair with everyone." said Dave

"Well then Mr. Fair…If someone out of college becomes your intern, will you give that specific customer to him on his first day?" asked Carl

Dave took a few seconds to think. He tried to imagine an intern whom he doesn't know.

"I don't think you will." said Belle. "One of the priority customer to a newbie? I don't think that's a smart way to handle business. Risk is too high."

"I thought both of you agreed that you will treat her like your other direct reports?" said Carl "In that case, aren't you being a bit inconsistent? Man, she just graduated from college."

Dave sighed.

"But you see…"

Dave tried to argue but his phone rang. He saw Luis calling. Luis knows how sacred Wednesday nights are for him. And so this call means there was something wrong.

"Don't answer it. The last time you did, you had to go back to office running." said Belle

But Dave still stood up and went a few steps away from Carl and Belle to answer the phone.

"Hello Luis? What happened?" asked Dave

"I finally got it, Boss. I got you an appointment with Go Corporation. It is first thing in the morning tomorrow. We're only given thirty minutes to present." said Luis.

"That's good. I'll go back to office and check the presentation. We'll meet at their office tomorrow." said Dave before hanging up.

Carl and Belle already knew what that means.

"Should we try to stop you?" asked Belle

"I'm really sorry. I'll make it up next week." said Dave. He couldn't help it. Go Corporation had been playing hard to get. This might be their only chance to convince the company to allow SkyRock to be their supplier.

"Make sure you treat us next time." said Carl. "And we'll make sure your credit card suffers as our revenge."

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Rica didn't notice the time. She had been revisiting the documents she needs to give Dave first thing tomorrow morning. She had finally learned what she keeps doing wrong and was on her final stages of editing her work when she saw that it was already twelve midnight.

"I can't believe time can run this fast. It was only eight o'clock the last time I checked. Is the clock broken?" thought Rica.

Rica looked around and she was alone in the office. She tried to check her phone and saw that it was indeed midnight.

"Hmmm…scary." said Rica

Rica tried to look outside and saw that some of the lights are already off.

"But I need to finish this. Just a few minutes more. I'm almost done." said Rica while stretching her arm.

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Dave needed to get the presentation for tomorrow morning. He left his storage device in the office and needs to get it because it had to be reviewed for the proposal to Go Corporation.

Dave knows that the office was pretty much deserted at this time. Some of the lights were already closed. He had been in the office at this time during sleepless nights when they wanted to get a specific customer the next day. But he had never gone this late to the office alone. That storage device just got to be worth going back for. They need to get Go Corporation to sign.

When Dave arrived at their office floor, he was surprised to see some of the lights still on.

"The guards are being negligent. I am here trying to increase sales and look for ways to save the company and here they go leaving the office lights on. They should save on cost. I should remind them tomorrow." thought Dave who was irritated.

When he passed through the glassed office of his team, he saw someone still working. He was surprised to see Rica and for some reason, he needed to hide behind a wall. He wanted to see what she's doing without her noticing him.

Rica had her hair tied up in a bun. It's the first time Dave saw her looking like that. She was focused on what she's doing with her eye brows so close together. Dave almost laughed at that crease between her brows. What can she be looking at to have that intense look on her face?

Rica answered her phone. Dave couldn't hear what she's saying so he tried to go inside the glassed room silently.

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I'm just finishing something. I'll leave in a few minutes. I'm almost done." said Rica

Rica noticed a shadow by the door and dropped her phone. She knew she's alone in the floor. Who could this be? How long had that shadow been there? Rica saw a large wooden ruler on her table and took hold of it while she slowly walked towards the door. She took off her shoes off and tried to stop breathing so that the shadow would not hear her walking towards it. She wanted to catch whoever or whatever this shadow was.

Dave wondered why Rica suddenly stopped talking without saying goodbye to her Uncle. When he can't control his curiosity, he tried to take a peak only to be hit hard by a large wooden thing on his face.

"Ouch!" Dave almost got out of balance from the shock and the pain.

"Dave?!"

Rica was shocked.

"Dave! I mean Boss… what are you doing here? Does it hurt? Oh no…what did I do?" Rica was worried and scared as she tried to reach for Dave's face. Dave is now holding half of his face and he looked red.

"Hey! Why did you have to hit me?!" asked Dave when he could finally open his eyes.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to. I was alone here the past hour… And then I saw a shadow. I wanted to catch whatever it was!" explained Rica

"Catch it? Shouldn't you run away or call security? That's the safest thing to do." said Dave.

"I can't do that, I…I had to stay here a bit more." said Rica

"What if that shadow was a criminal? What if you miss a hit? Did you ever think of what will happen to you?" asked Dave, his voice strained with anger.

"I'm sorry. Did I make you worry? " answered Rica

"Look here, I am your boss. You are in the premises of the office. If something happens to you here, I will be responsible. And with the current situation of SkyRock, I can't let anything bad happen to you, do you understand?" asked Dave his hands on his waist.

Rica lowered her head.

"Yes, I am sorry." answered Rica. She couldn't look at Dave. His eyes were just so angry it can freeze her if she looked.

"What were you doing here anyway? Do you know what time is it?" asked Dave who was becoming frustrated by the minute.

"Umm…I wanted to give you the documents you are asking for first thing tomorrow morning. I want to make sure it's there on your desk when you come in."

"That's not how this is supposed to be done! You need to be efficient. You have to finish your job within a manageable time frame. Twelve midnight is just too late for you to still be here. And my goodness, alone!" exclaimed Dave

"But then, I keep seeing something wrong and I needed to repeat the document a few times. You said it earlier that each time I give the document to you delayed, a multi million delivery is at risk. I want to make sure we keep the customer relation good." answered by Rica

"Yes, but you should do it more efficiently. You shouldn't be staying here this late." answered Dave. "I'm giving you ten minutes to wrap everything up. We're leaving."

Rica knew ten minutes was enough to finish her work. But that was before Dave came. Now that he was here, she knows it will be hard to focus. But she had to finish this in ten minutes. The look in Dave's face tells her he is going to drag her out if she resists. Rica tried to imagine that she was still alone. She's not a hundred percent successful, but it helped that Dave was also busy with his laptop.

"You have to email me the document. I will go straight to an appointment tomorrow morning." said Dave.

In ten minutes, Rica was able to finish the document and packed her things up. It was only then that Rica saw her phone on the floor. Dave saw the phone on Rica's hand. It looked broken.

"How are you going home?" asked Dave

"Um…" Rica tried to hide the phone in her bag. "I'll just call home so that someone can pick me up." said Rica

"You'll call home? Why don't you make that call now?"

"Oh, I'll call them… umm… downstairs."

"It's not safe to wait downstairs." answered Dave.

"Right…You can go ahead, Boss. I'll just go to the bathroom. I'll see you tomorrow." said Rica while going out of the room as fast as she could.

But Dave will not allow that. He caught up with Rica and grabbed her arm.

"You should ask for help when you need one." said Dave. "You don't need to look independent. It's easy to say your phone got broken."

Rica's throat moved.

"Umm… you saw that, huh? Well then Boss… can I borrow your phone? I need to call home." said Rica.

"I am going to drive you home." said Dave

Rica's eyes widened.

"That isn't necessary. I don't want to burden you. I've already brought you trouble today. I can manage going…"

"I told you I'm responsible for you. So you don't have a say on the matter. I'll take you home. And that's final." said Dave

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Inside Dave's car, there was complete silence. Rica felt nervous, happy and dizzy at the same time. She's happy to get this chance to get closer to Dave through this internship. This was her only chance to make him see her. But because of her mistakes at work, Dave was seeing her in a negative light. She wanted to impress him and eventually get closer to him. But how could she impress him now? Should she already accept that Dave was just too far for her to reach?

The silence was killing her. Every minute counts. She rarely gets a chance to be with Dave alone. She needs to open up a topic.

"Umm….Why did you come back, Sir? You already left but went back to office." asked Rica

"I had to get a presentation." said Dave. "We've got the schedule with Go Corporation tomorrow morning."

"Go Corporation? The company that fixes damaged planes? I did a research paper on that company back in college. It was a really good experience. I met a lot of executives in that company and was able to interview them. It was cool." answered Rica.

Dave was surprised to hear that Go Corporation allowed the research paper. It was known to be very strict and secretive. The schedule of the executives were also tight. That's the reason why they only got the schedule tomorrow even if they've been trying to get the schedule for a month now.

"I'm meeting with Mr. Norman Shepherd" said Dave. "He's one of the…"

"Vice President for external relations." said Rica

"You know him?" asked Dave, surprised.

"Yes, he's a very nice person. He was very accommodating and was very warm when we did the research paper. " answered Rica

It was the opposite of the image Mr. Shepherd had in the business sector. Mr. Shepherd was known to be very blunt. He says the harshest things and turns down proposals with just the slightest mistake.

"It's hard to believe that he's a warm person. I've met him once and he's far from warm." said Dave.

"Did he ask you what you think about travelling to Europe?" asked Rica

"Yes, he did. I said, I would love to and had been planning to. But I haven't really gotten time to go yet." Dave answered

"And did he ask you what was the best place to visit in San Francisco?" asked Rica

"He did. I said Coit Tower was a really good place to see the view of the city. Golden Gate bridge was pretty popular too." answered Dave

"That wasn't the answer he was looking for though. Mr. Shepherd was trying to find out if you're someone who was working for image and luxury or you're someone who was working for something important." said Rica.

"How will he know that from those questions?" asked Dave

"You wanted to go to Europe, that's luxury. But you referred him to Coit tower only because of its popularity. It was not because you experienced it. And besides, he had been travelling San Francisco. He knows a lot of other beautiful places base on his own experience. He wanted to hear a place that is important to you. That's going to be the most beautiful place for you, right?" said Rica

That's just crazy. Nobody will ever guess that.

"You don't believe me." said Rica.

"How can someone ever think of those things with just two general questions?" asked Dave, a bit frustrated. "As far as I know, only women over think things."

Rica's eyes widened.

"That's why he's usually cold to everyone. Most people don't understand his depth." answered Rica

Depth? Dave doesn't know what to call it, but he will not call that depth.

If it's true that Norman Shepherd thinks this way, then Dave won't be able to make him sign with just the proposal.

"Well then, you need to sleep as soon as you reach home, Rica. You're coming with Luis and I for the meeting with Mr. Shepherd tomorrow." said Dave.

"Me?" Rica forgot to blink for a few seconds.

Dave nodded.

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