32 Decision (1)

Many people saw Melissa's focused look so they followed her with their eyes, to their surprise, she was looking at Mia. This brought about a new topic for their discussion. The person herself was not aware of what was going on, as she continued to work on her desk.

The whole day pass with utter chaos in the company.

William, however, knew what was coming. He knew that the actions he took had consequences and that the rumors will be spreading like wildfire when the time comes. He was not bothered by the business deals that did not went through, what bothered him the most was Mia will be the center of attention. William was in his office, standing behind the blinds and looking through a slit while watching Mia from afar. He could see that Mia was minding her business doing her own work at her desk.

It will be a long day for Mia as she has to visit the different departments for the approval of papers and documents.

Mia who was walking with a stack full of paper files to be signed began to notice the weird gazes the people gave her.

She was wondering what was happening as it was pretty obvious, the fact that they were talking when she was not looking was a big give away.

Scrunching her eyebrows, she looked left and right to the faces of the people who were talking. Once her eyes are about to reach a certain person, they would avoid her gaze like a plague. This started to make Mia concerned.

"What is happening today?" she asked herself.

"Do I have something on my face?" she was worried that it might have been her outfit or face that was the problem so after letting the department head sign the document she went straight for the comfort room. She looked straight to the mirror, but she couldn't find anything wrong with her appearance. She decided to use the comfort room since she was already there and went into a cubicle.

Inside the cubicle she heard a couple of people entering and chatting amongst themselves.

"Hey have you heard about what happened on the 30th floor?" one lady asked.

"Yeah, they said Miss Ford and the CEO had a fight." The other lady said.

"I know, they said Miss Ford was pregnant and the CEO did not want to take responsibility." Another person said.

"I heard there was a third party." Another one interjected.

"I heard about that too." She eyed all the other girls one by one as if wanting them to get closer and listen in on a secret.

"I heard the Miss Ford's assistant was the third part. She seduced the CEO with her body and skills."

The girls around gasped when they heard this. While the person telling the story nodded as if she is happy with the result, she then added. "I also heard that she uses her body to satisfy the other department heads." As if proud of the information she shared, she stood proudly in front of the bathroom mirror while fixing her make-up.

"That bitch."

"What a slut."

"I knew there was something fishy about her."

"What can you do, she's good at using her body."

They all laughed and giggled in the comfort room while talking shit behind the said person. It took them a while before they went out.

Mia was stuck in the cubicle thinking to herself.

"Why are they saying those things about me?" she asked herself.

"I was just doing my job." She felt sad, angry and depressed. She did not know what happened but she never imagined that she'd be behind such awful rumors. The sudden information that she heard has left her heart-broken. As a person, and as a human being with emotions, anyone would feel pain when they hear people saying bad things about them. And their vile words are on a different level. It was full of malicious intent.

"I have never approached William at work."

One tear streaked down her cheek, as she touched it with her finger to remove it.

Another one came,

then another,

and another.

All you can hear was the sobbing of a person inside the cubicle. She was stuck at the 27th floors comfort room crying, all curled up in a corner. She did not know what to do, so she just stayed there. She did not even want to move from the space.

Lunchtime came and William stood up again for the umpteenth time making a slit on the blinds to look at Mia's desk. However, she was not there. Mia had the habit to go to her desk before going out to have lunch. She would always eat alone, so it should be time for her to return with all the files before moving to get food.

William waited for 5 minutes.

Then 20 minutes.

An hour passed and lunchtime was over but Mia did not come back. He got worried as he took out his phone to call Mia.

It rang and he waited but Mia did not pick up till the phone sent him a voicemail.

He tried calling a couple of times but there was no answer.

He could not stand still any longer and went out of his room.

He went to Mia's desk and approached the person nearest to Mia's desk and asked," Where is Mia?" Williams' expression was one filled with worry.

The person being asked was surprised as this was the first time she saw a reaction like this from their CEO, she then replied hastily, "I do not know Sir. Maybe she is still having lunch."

William thought for a while and asked again, "Where was the last place she went to?"

The intense gaze from their CEO frightened the woman and hastily said, "She went to the 27th floor to have some documents signed for the department head."

Once the woman finished her words, William moved as fast as he could and rushed out to look for Mia.

The other people on the floor were surprised with his actions which added to their stories.