Chapter 8

It was fifteen minutes to 1 p.m.; Hazel made her way to Chris' office to turn in her report, she searched for Jessica to give her the report since she couldn't be found anywhere Hazel made her way inside Chris' office. As she entered, she found Chris talking over the phone. She quietly placed the file on his table and walked towards exit. Chris turned to see Hazel leaving.

'Ms. White' he stopped her.

As she turned to look at him, he signaled her to wait before continuing his conversation over the phone.

'Look, I promise ok? Now be good and don't fight with your sister, Rob. And now give the phone to mom' he paused.

'Just a minute Ms. White' he said looking apologetically at her.

She nodded and asked him to continue.

'See, yeah no problem. Send them here after you pick them up and you go home, I'll bring the kids home when I return. Ok?' he said talking over the phone. He hung up the call and looked up at Hazel.

'Sorry Ms. White' he said as he sat down in his chair.

'What is it, Mr. Finch?' she asked after a short pause.

'Oh I wanted to know what you submitted on my table a few minutes back' he asked taking the file from the table.

'It's my project's report' she answered.

'But I already got your email' He said.

'I know Mr. Finch, but we usually use hard copy files during meetings and we need to have an original. So I submitted my original. And I had to submit directly on your table cause I couldn't find Ms. Quinn anywhere' she clarified.

'Oh ok, that's a lot of explanation there' he said sighing slightly.

'And yeah something about the new project you were saying this morning? I am free now if you are ready you can explain the details' he suggested looking at his watch.

"Well you are ready to listen but I don't have any idea" Hazel thought looking nervously at him.

'Ms. White, are you ok? You are slightly sweating' he asked looking at her quite concerned.

'Mr. Finch just give me ten minutes I actually prepared a draft in my computer let me copy it in my pen drive and then explain' she answered making her way towards the door.

Before Chris could respond she rushed out of the door.

'I wasn't wrong she is acting weird today' Chris said shaking his head sideways.

Hazel rushed back into Chris' office within a few minutes,

'Mr. Finch on second thoughts, maybe we could discuss it now' she said entering his office.

Chris looked at her confused,

'Okk' he said unsure of Hazel's behaviour.

'Before jumping into the idea I would like you to meet someone' she said smiling slightly.

'You mean some investor company?' he asked looking at her.

'Nope' she said walking towards the door asking Ed to come in.

Chris stood up from his chair abruptly when he noticed Ed entering.

'Ed?' he said looking at him in disbelief.

'Looks like you remember me ah. That's surprising Chris'

They both stood there in silence. Ed didn't know where to start and Chris didn't know how to explain.

After a long pause Ed decided to break the silence,

'Why Chris? What happened? You just seemed to vanish from all our lives. Fine just ignore the past; you met Hazel here and what? You don't remember her? Come on man, and why did you ignore all my calls and it seems that you purposely avoided giving me an appointment to meet you. You better explain otherwise I am not sure if I can be sane' Ed said looking at him in dismay.

'I will Ed! Just calm down' Chris responded hoping that Ed could understand everything by just looking at him but he knows he has to explain. It was time to clear all their misunderstandings.

'We really need to talk, man! And you better start now' Ed said making his way inside and sat down in Chris' chair.

'Well, I think we should probably talk alone' Chris suggested.

They both turned to look at Hazel but noticed that she was already gone they had no idea when she left.

Hazel slowly made her way to the cafeteria to find Ava. She left Chris' office once Ed started shooting questions at Chris; she knew they needed to unsort a lot of things.

'Hey sweetie, you did it' Ava praised as Hazel sat down in front of her.

'Honey, it wasn't a great achievement. Chris kept avoiding Ed. They needed to talk' she replied grabbing the sandwich from Ava.

'You know Hazel, I was actually kinda glad in one way about you worrying over Chris last week' Ava said taking a sip from her glass.

'Oh really, why?' Hazel asked eating her sandwich.

'Because for the past week you never once took my sandwich' she confessed as she threw a dejected look at Hazel.

'Well get used again honey, I am not gonna think about him anymore yet alone worry. So like before, buy two' she advised her best friend.

'Well getting two sandwiches are certainly better than you crying' Ava replied smiling.

Hazel smiled back finishing her sandwich. Ava handed over a tissue to Hazel and once she was done they made their way back to their desks.

As soon as Hazel received a text from Charlotte,

'Hey Haze, since you decided to move on I kinda thought it would be nice if you go on a date today, you know for a change. And I found the perfect guy; he kinda liked you for a long time now but was afraid of getting rejected so he never confessed so I set up a date for you both tonight. Don't worry he will pick you up directly from your company by 6:00 p.m. so don't work late today. And one more thing, I am kinda scared that I could get killed for deciding it all by myself hence I won't be attending your calls today so don't forget to update me about your date tomorrow morning. Plus you can't say no so please please please give it a try. I already sent you his details. Bye love you.

P.S. I won't be attending Ava's calls too so don't call from her number.'

'Ah Charlotte' Hazel screamed annoyed.

'What's wrong?' Ava enquired.

'This stupid Charlotte set me up on a stupid date. Stupid!' she replied showing the text to Ava.

'What!' Ava exclaimed trying to act shocked.

'You knew about this, didn't you?' Hazel questioned Ava looking at her suspiciously.

'Well….it seemed like a good idea to me' She confessed, found guilty.

'Both of you get a life, you focus on going on a second date with Ed and ask Charlotte to get a boyfriend and then both of you can worry about me. Ahh I am so pissed right now, she kinda escaped and you better not talk to me till we reach home' she said turning away from her.

'Ok honey, you have every right to be angry but you are going to that date right?' Ava asked.

Hazel glared at her.

'So is that a yes?' Ava asked smiling childishly.

'Ok fine but it better be the first and last time' she instructed.

'Absolutely' Ava nodded furiously in acceptance.

As Hazel continued talking to Ava, a voice called her from behind.

'Hazel'

On hearing the voice Hazel's face brightened up,

'Rob?' she guessed smiling broadly.

There stood Robert and Aurora in front of her desk. She lifted both of them and made them sit on her desk before introducing them to Ava.

'Hi cuties' Ava greeted going over to them.

'Are you Hazel's friend?' Rob asked looking at Ava.

'Yes honey' she answered softly.

'I am her friend too' he answered energetically.

'That's great, so we are friends too, right?' Ava asked looking at them.

After thinking for a moment Rob nodded and extended his hand to Ava smiling innocently. As Rob continued to talk, Aurora silently kept staring at Hazel. Hazel noticed this and lifted her off the desk and made her sit on her lap.

'So why are you so quiet?' she asked looking at Aurora.

Maybe she failed to notice before but Aurora's eyes resembled Chris'. Chris' eye colour was cornflower blue and so was Aurora's and Rob's was warm honey but when observed closely only Rob's eyes were different from Chris' but all his other features were exactly the same as his father's.

As Hazel was lost in her thoughts, Aurora's question brought her back from reality.

'Sorry honey, what did you ask?' she asked again guessing that she would have heard it wrong the first time.

'Did you know my father before he became your boss?' she asked again.

Hazel looked at Ava hoping to find an answer from her friend but Ava was busy playing with Rob.

'No honey' she lied.

Aurora quietly observed Hazel but didn't say anything and nodded to Hazel's reply.

'Why do you ask?' Hazel questioned the little one smiling.

'Simply' she replied quickly turning towards her brother.

'Rob, come let's go' she said getting down from Hazel's lap.

'But I didn't play with Hazel' he protested.

'We can play later. Dad will be searching for us' she replied looking at him.

'Why should I listen to you?' he asked pouting angrily.

'Because I am older than you' she replied proudly.

'But dad told me that I was older than you' he objected looking at his sister in disbelief.

Ava and Hazel couldn't help but smile looking at their childish argument.

'Rob, listen ok. We'll play later now go back to your dad' Hazel pleaded as their argument wasn't gonna end soon.

Rob nodded quietly yielding to Hazel's advice.

Hazel helped him off her desk and the two waved them goodbye before running into Chris' office.

'Do you think Ed would've left?' Ava questioned settling back in her desk.

'I don't know, maybe' came Hazel's indecisive answer.

It was around six when Hazel completed all her work and after packing all her stuff she turned around to look at Ava who was still working. They didn't see Rob or Aurora after that.

'Are you done?' Hazel questioned looking at Ava.

'Not yet. I still have to work. I think I will be working late today so you go on honey, and you have a date too' Ava replied continuing to work.

'Ok then bye' she said getting up.

As she was about to leave she received a text message from an unknown number.

'HEY Hazel, this is Ryan. I am here early, its ok if you run late I will be waiting downstairs.'

'Oh no!' she exclaimed loudly.

'What is it?' Ava asked not looking up from her computer.

'My date is here' she answered.

'Wow, he's right on time' Ava said looking up at her.

'Guess there's no escape now' Hazel said picking up her bag. She waved Ava goodbye and got into the lift.