Landline
It was late in the afternoon. The CEO of the Luen Corporation was getting ready for a meeting which was to begin five minutes later.
There was a knock on the transparent opaque glass door before the person made it in.
"Is everything prepared?"
"Yes Boss." Luke replied.
"The various departments, how are they coping so far?"
"Everything is covered boss, the is absolutely nothing to bother about. But…."
This glitchful pause caused an interruption in Alexander's action. He immediately stopped to give a look to Luke.
Getting the cue by his expression, Luke knew he had caught the boss's attention.
"But…what?" Alexander asked in a slow and steady tone which made Luke readily scared of how, and in what way is he going to break this news hanging at the tip of his lips.
"The have been some changes in the board." Luke finally spilled.
Though the was no certain reaction which elicited from him, but it got him thinking. "Speak." He ordered.
Luke suddenly felt a lump stuck in his throat, gurgling and hocking, he decided to go on and obey the boss's command.
"A new board member for the project have been introduced by the opposite company,.....Who is meant to partner with you on behalf of their company to execute this present project." Luke gave his report.
Alexander was silent for a while, no one knew what was going on in his mind.
"Who is it?"
"Boss…."
"Who is it?" Alexander stressed, word for word.
".....Na..Nadira Luthor." After much hesitation, Luke finally spoke up.
"Boss…. We can cancel the deal if you…."
"No need. How many minutes left before the meeting?"
"It's already time."
"Mmm, let's go." Alexander stood after shutting his laptop with Luke following behind him.
The arrived at the meeting room. Everyone were already seated and ready for the meeting.
Once Alexander made his way in, everyone stood to greet him.
The was a frown of disapproval on his face, making the board members start to think about what could they have possibly done to annoy him just at the start of their meeting.
Luke on the other hand was in a bone-chilling fright. His hands were already soaked with sweats of nervousness.
Tracing the boss's sight over to the woman who seated right across him, the murderous aura he exhiburated didn't seem to Scare her at all, instead she was calm and still had that flirtatious smile of hers, still dorn on her face.
It was infuriating to the core and they could tell. But the is nothing to do about it, only to pray for their luck that the anger don't transfer to them. This got them very alert and serious.
After a while, luke broke the silence by introducing the new board members one by one to him, after drawing the head seat for him.
"This is the CEO of the Luen Corporation and executer of this present project, in partnership with Star Group."
The was a loud sound of applause reverberating from everyone around after he introduced the CEO to them.
After the introduction, The meeting began with various departments bringing up their different ideas and plans. Some got approved while some were mercilessly rejected.
* * *
The heavy pitter patter of the rain didn't let a certain girl sleep peacefully to her heart's content. Stirring and twisting from the cold, she had no choice but to get up and shut the windows.
From the outside view, the weight the dropping liquid carried was enough for her to know that it wasn't going to end so soon.
Alyce yawned with her small O-shaped mouth wide apart. A rumbling sound echoed from an unknown source. She started to wonder where it came from, not untill it repeated and this time she felt a twist in her flat stomach. Now she was well aware where it came from.
"Seems I've been asleep for quite a while now." She yawned again.
'I Should go check if there's something I could eat before I die of hunger.' She internally mused.
Running down the stairs, Alyce went into the kitchen. She checked the refrigerator but there was nothing eatable available.
"Owwwn! I used the last one for breakfast." She whined rubbing her stomach repeatedly.
"Wait! the maids that came yesterday, the should be here today right? I'll wait then." Alyce had revived hope—So she thought.
She decided to maintain for a little while longer.
Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes…..Yet no one, neither did the rain cease to fall.
Alyce was almost a crying mess, her expression was worth pitying.
Suddenly she remembered the number Luke handed her when he took her to villa.
She immediately rushed to the direction of the telephone. Luckily the paper where the digits were written was still pinned underneath the telephone stand.
With haste she picked it up and quickly started imputing it in, and dialed.
It rang but the was no reply, she dialed it again and same thing.
"Maybe, he is really busy, hah!" She gasped before walking over lifelessly to the sofa and dropped like a feather-like object.
Alyce decided to wait patiently for him to return the call, but it never came. Hours had passed and nothing, not even a flash call. Her eyes were pinned to wall clock, the ticking sound singing her to sleep.
Her droopy eye dizzied till it finally dropped closed. She was back to sleep again, this time with an empty stomach.
* * *
Past nine in the evening,
Luke had finally turned off the airplane mode on his mobile. He didn't want any distraction during the meeting so he decided to shut it off.
Numerous pop-up began navigating one by one which he carefully scrolled through before he came across two missed call from the villa's landline. His eyes widen a little.
He thought to call back but on turning to his right, Alexander was already approaching.
Luke went over and showed the calls to him.
Alexander only gave a quiet stare before speaking. "Call back."
Luke nodded and immediately dialed the line but it rang and wasn't answered.
He gave a look over to Alexander who was striding way Infront of him. "Boss, she isn't replying."
"Mmm."
'Mmm..? that's all he could say? Mmm..?' Luke couldn't help but think that sometimes his Boss is too calm for his own good.
"Hi." The corquetious voice which he dreaded, resonated.