Itchy Ears

"Tap, tap, tap" A knock on the door interrupted the long moment of silence that just ensued between Alex and Emily and they both separated struggling to gain their balance.

"Good morning sir, representatives from Shiel Holdings are around already and they have been shown into the waiting room" Anna relayed to Alex as she noticed Emily's presence.

"I checked your table but you weren't there, hope you are good?" 

"Yeah, I'm good," Emily replied.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm" Alex cleared his throat, "I will be with them shortly, I still have some few minutes before 10" Alex interrupted them. "Meanwhile, lead them to the boardroom" He added.

Anna and Emily both left the office and Anna continually teased Emily as they both walked down the corridor.

"What is going on exactly, Emily?" Anna asked, "Am I missing something? Are you guys up to something? Is there anything you are hiding? or is he....." Anna continued to ask her uneasy questions

"Too many questions girl, it's nothing, we'll talk after the close of work" Emily interrupted her many questions and they both went their separate ways.

After the close of work, Anna was there at Emily's desk alongside their other friend Tracy, they both work together at Cartar Enterprises and Anna was Emily's guardian Angel that helped her into the company as the HR of the company, her influence went a long way to secure her the job.

"Hey! Babes, what's up? Are you not done? Anna bumped on Emily at her desk. "I can't wait to have the full gist of what happened that led to what I saw today, please let us go" she added.

Emily looked up to her from her desk with a "you cannot change" look. "Anna, can you ever change? your ears are always itchy for gossip. Anyways, I am done already" she said as she cleared her desk. 

They all left the office together and went to their regular spot, MAMA'S STEW PLACE. This has been their usual spot since school days, they had been friends since high school, through college up until university level, that's a serious friendship you know and they never hid anything from one another.

"Let's have our usuals please" Anna ordered the waitress. Being the lousiest amongst the three, everyone knows Anna a lot, from office, to church even to this spot. 

"One minute" the waitress replied.

"Hey babes, shoot me please, what the heck is going on between you and the CEO?" Anna asked as they waited patiently for their order. "Anna!!! Calm down girl, let her rest" Tracy shut Anna out, "Emily dear, take all your time, I can't wait to hear the gist as well 'cause this girl here has cooked up a lot of things into my ears since morning of which I am willing to hear from the horse's mouth but then, if you don't wanna talk about it now, it's fine. You can take your time dear" she urged Emily

"Here's your order ma'am" the waitress arrived with their order and placed it on their table, it was hot chicken stew and a glass of beer. This has been their usuals for a long time.

"Thanks" Emily answered the waitress. She sipped on her beer and cleared her throat, "hmm, hmm, hmm, hey ladies, I don't know where to start from actually but I find it so hard to believe that the CEO did not react to the spilled coffee on his shirt, oh my jeez. I was so shocked, we both burst into laughter after I spilled the coffee and up until noy, I can't even place the reason for that. He even held my hands to gesture at me to sit when I wanted to fix him a new shirt and even discussed his schedule in that dirty shirt, I am still..." Emily hadn't finished her statement before Anna butt in.

"oh! My!Are you kidding me? The almighty Alexander Reynolds? The ever cold and snubby CEO? I can't believe my ears now" Anna said

"Honestly I am dumbfounded, the last time you fixed him tea instead of the coffee he requested, he spilled it on your face, is it this same man we are talking about?" "Tracy said with surprise and confusion written over her face.

"And I had to deal with serious pains from the burns on my face as a result of that" Emily added with laughter.

"Remember when you skipped one of his appointments lately, he yelled like a crazy dog that I heard it from my office, imagine! With the distance between our offices. I believe the entire Cartar Enterprises heard him scream that day" Anna recalled laughing.

"My dear, that day? I felt like going deep into the ground for it to cover my shame. It was like the whole world was crumbling on me and I almost wanted to resign from this job" Emily replied with laughter. "And come to think of it that I later discovered that it was his mistake, he had told me the previous day that he had cancelled the appointment and he never told me that it had been rescheduled again, but I couldn't even bring myself to tell him that because I didn't want another headache. My CEO is practically annoying" she added laughing hard.

"It would really be a good thing to have him change for good, you know, the office would be a better place to work for people like you that work directly with him," Anna joked.

"So Emily, what do you feel about this whole thing?" Tracy asked Emily.

"Yes, because you haven't even told us what happened before I came into the CEOs office earlier this morning, the atmosphere was tense, what happened again?" Anna chipped in 

"Your itchy ears needs to be cautioned Anna" Emily replied and they all burst into laughter.

"Okay girls," she continued, "I tripped and almost fell so he caught me before I could fall to the ground that's all" she added.

"Hmmmmmm, I smell something" Tracy cuts in. "Tell us what you feel dear" she added.

"I don't know but one thing I am sure of is that my prayers are beginning to get answers because I have prayed hard for a conducive environment to work in peace without the fear of being yelled at or having to listen to terrible insults everyday" Emily replied.

"On a serious note, Emily, this is an opportunity to build a friendship with the CEO because he might change again but if you have built friendship, he'll not be too stern with you even if another thing comes up '' Anna advised.

"Yeah, that's true dear, it should be an opportunity for a change" Tracy added as she scooped the reminder of her soup and sipped up her remaining beer.

"Hmmmm, okay girls, I would give it a thought" Emily replied "And thanks for your listening ears, I feel much better now" she added rising to her feet. They all left the stew place and went to their various homes.

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Emily was greeted with a bright sunny Tuesday as she struggled out of her bed to get prepared for work. She had slept late with the thoughts of Alex's behavior the previous day. She wondered why he had been so cold if he really hard that side of him that he showed her yesterday. She then was determined to study him closely. "There is definitely a different personality behind this cold, cruel CEO" she thought to herself.

As she hurriedly dressed for work, she sipped on the tea prepared for her by her mother just to please her, she was running late and would have just left without the tea, but her mom was the female version of her boss, yelling was the last thing her ears itches for that morning. 

"Bye mom" she said as she closed the entrance door behind her as she left the house but stepping outside she was met with the greatest surprise of her entire life, her CEOs car was outside her house. She wiped her face with her hands just to be sure she was not dreaming. "It's his car, is he really the one? Or he came to check on someone around?" all these questions ran through her mind and before she could get answers the window of the car rolled down, 

"Oh! My" Emily said, "what was I expecting?" She added.