Are you trying to steal my job?

Once Zac returned to the hotel room, he quickly called Naomi. He sat down on his bed with his laptop open. He anxiously waited for Naomi to pick up the phone. When Naomi finally answered the call, she promptly responded, "Hello?"

Zac leaned back, some of the tension in his muscles relaxed slightly upon hearing her voice. "Naomi, I talked to Kaia about her situation today. She requested my help and I'm here to offer support to you and the team. How may I be of assistance?" he asked while typing on his laptop.

Suddenly, Zac heard voices in the background. Naomi excused herself for a bit to speak with the employees who approached her. They wanted her to check over some technicalities and details regarding a contract with one of the artists training in South Korea.

Zac frowned, looking down at his watch. 'Was she still at the office?' he thought. When he saw the time, his lips twitched. He didn't expect Naomi to be hard at work while his boss was out reuniting with his wife. As a third wheel, he went back to the hotel and idled for a few hours. He felt slightly guilty since Naomi took up the brunt of the work whenever Zac and Alex went on a business trip.

Zac cleared his throat when she finished discussing changes to the contract. "Why are you still at the office at this hour? You should've given me at least half of your workload. Are you possibly trying to steal my job away from me?" he asked in a half joking and half scolding manner.

Naomi blinked at Zac's joke, then smiled softly. "Don't worry; I'm getting ready to leave soon. Rose wanted to see a late night movie. I was just finishing a few things before I headed out to meet her." Hearing her response, Zac smiled as he took a sip of coffee. "Okay, make sure not to tire yourself out. If there is any work that still needs to be done, I'm available to help." He paused before continuing, "Now about what you need me to do for Kaia?"

Naomi didn't hesitate to fill Zac in on the details of the team's investigation, as well as what they found out after 5 years of ongoing investigation. She explained how they were still missing the final piece to thoroughly nail down Kaia's father.

Zac nodded as he jotted everything down in his laptop. "Alright. I'll get to work now. You go enjoy your time with Rose and make sure to tell her I said hi," he said.

"Alright, I will. I'm hanging up now. Don't work too hard. Remember, we have a team full of capable and trustworthy comrades. I'll introduce you to them later on when there's a chance. Bye," she said before hanging up. She stuffed a few folders into her bag and grabbed her jacket. She was ready to leave when she noticed a neon sticky note at the bottom of the pile of folders. It had a Cheshire cat smiley face on it. A twinkle flashed in her eyes when she saw it.

She immediately reached for the underside of her desk and felt around before she pressed upon an area towards the front. A flat piece of wood suddenly popped out. It was shaped somewhat like a tetris piece. She inserted it into a slit at the side of the fourth desk drawer. She heard a click when she turned the "key" slightly to the right. Then she reached for the last drawer opposite the slit and opened it. She pushed some binders and folders aside before feeling around for the slightly loose piece of wood. When she found it, she knocked on it 3 times. The 2-inch thick piece of wood—which had been a false bottom—opened up. She took out a plain company issued folder and tucked it between the other folders in her bag.

She placed everything back to the way it was before she stood up. She peeled off the neon sticky note and crumpled it up in her hands. She checked that everything was the way it should be before locking her office door and walking out. She happened to notice a shadow out of the corner of her eye. Without faltering in her footsteps she continued to casually walk towards the elevator.