You Have Three Days

Elijah sat behind the desk even if he was faced with the CEO. After all, Wren was only looking around the office as if examining the cleanliness of the shelves. His office was not as wide as other directors' so he didn't have a lounge to welcome guests. Moreover, he was rarely visited by the top dogs. He didn't bother decorating. Who knew Wren Chastain would grace this office at least once?

He just waited for a while before taking a deep breath. "What happened earlier was an oversight. It won't happen again. I'll get people to see who broke the rules and punish them accordingly."

Instead of answering, Wren slid her eyes to gaze heavily at Elijah. He stiffened in fear, especially when Wren walked toward him. If he weren't seated, he would have fallen.

"According to what, Director?" Wren stopped in front of the table and looked down at the food and drinks served to them. Unlike those old men, this young director didn't offer premium tea from overseas or fine wine. What he had were exciting flavors of frappes and a box of decorative pastry.

"…uhm, should I order for something else?" Elijah felt nervous when Wren stared heavily at the food on the desk. It was as if she was burning her glare through all of them.

Wren glanced at him once and sat on one of the chairs in front of the desk. She reached out to see the cold and sweating plastic cups with lids, going through the flavors again. Not knowing what was good, she just picked the one she figured she might like. "This is the first time I was offered with these. Are these the ones you recommend?"

At Wren's soft tone, Elijah breathed out discreetly. He then looked through the remaining five flavors and picked a random one. "They're the bestsellers. I don't know what you might like. Next time, I'll get something classier and better suited for you, madam."

"No need. I'm not that old. I like these better." Wren didn't like the flavor she chose, but she didn't grimace at it, either. She just took a piece of the pastry and ate one. "Don't bother with what those old guys would say, but you need to skip this one I'm drinking. I'm not fond of this flavor."

"Erm, yes, I'll take note. Thank you, madam." Elijah felt how strange the exchange was. The other directors described Wren as someone who would kill for the smallest wrong details. Why was she simply sitting across from him at a table, eating a bite-size pastry filled with custard?

After finishing three pastries and drinking a fourth of the frappe, she used a finger to clear her lips. Elijah offered a box of tissue, so she took one. Then, she spoke, "Excuse the wasted time. I was asked to have a meeting with the Carousel Group just earlier. I haven't eaten anything yet."

She didn't give Elijah the time to respond. "As for the important matter I wish to discuss with you in person and just the two of us… it's related to what happened that night."

"…Madam, I'm really sorry for how my girlfriend acted. She doesn't normally make a scene anywhere she goes. I also took her home right after the incident. Rest assured, she didn't humiliate herself more or anyone else in the gathering." Elijah felt like his head was going to explode from the ache. That event hadn't blown over just yet, and Wren had seen something unbecoming just minutes earlier.

"Hm, that's good. It would be awful if you left her in the company of your friends again." Wren picked up a fourth piece of the pastry. "How much do you know your friends, Director Jenkins? What are the chances that they'd bring Rohypnol to a party?"

"…Rohypnol?" Elijah echoed before failing to contain his ridiculing laugh. However, he quickly covered his mouth and cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. Madam Chastain, what is this? Why are you asking me about their tendency to bring that kind of drug to a party?"

Wren smiled a little, but it was striking terror and discomfort toward Elijah. She then said, "It's because traces of that drug are in your girlfriend's bile. She also showed an allergic reaction to it when it was dissolved in her champagne. That glass was given to her by your friends, so they could only be the ones who could have dropped it there."

Elijah frowned. "Why would you examine her pu—? Bile. Madam, please don't drag the entire office with what happened. They might have displeased you earlier, but don't do this to them. They had been working for so long and so hard in Golden Bloom. Firing them for simply—"

"I don't take circumstances like this lightly, Director." Wren got up and stared down at Elijah. "If you're not going to investigate this and bring the people responsible for it to me, then I will have to intervene. Starting tomorrow, your entire office will be suspended. Don't bother showing up; the guards won't honor your IDs until my investigation is over."

"Madam!" Elijah ended up standing as well, but he pursed his lips before he could yell at Wren's face. "Madam… this office is important to the daily workflow of the company. You can't possibly suspend everyone for this."

Wren lifted a brow as she turned her nose up at him. "Why not? I have a lot of people. I'm sure I can find some who can handle your jobs in the meantime. Don't worry. The suspension won't last for a month. I just can't guarantee how many of your friends will remain here."

At those words, Elijah's eyes grew wide. This CEO was surely as evil as she was drawn to be. He shouldn't have let her fool him with that seemingly endearing act of being soft. Elijah then clawed at his table. "Please don't suspend us. If you want me to investigate this matter, please let me do it. Give me a week to figure out what happened."

"Three days." Wren reached out to collect two more unopened frappes from the table. "You have three days to submit a report for Human Resources to review. Don't worry, everyone to be laid off will be given their severance pay and not handed to the police."

"Yes, madam. I will submit the report in three days. Thank you." Elijah hung his head, but his eyes were on the three frappes in Wren's hands. Two were held by that one slim hand, while the opened frappe was held by the other. She even sipped on it as she left the office.

Seeing that she couldn't open the door on her own, Elijah walked to open the doors for her. He let her out of the office, his eyes not meeting anyone else's as he went. He walked her toward the elevator and pressed the floor number for her. 

He figured… someone else was surely to blame for this!