Chapter 29

It is November already. The weather is getting chilly, and the office now starts at 10 a.m. since it's almost wintertime. VISHO gives their employees a week break at the end of October. Maya stayed with her sister for that one week, finally getting some time to relax. She came to the office directly from Sara's place.

Everyone in the cafeteria was talking. It was very unlike any other usual day. They were smiling, looking very excited, especially those who joined this year. Maya tried to listen but didn't catch anything, so she asked Nira, "Did something happen?"

"I haven't heard anything, but it seems so. Maybe I should try asking the seniors," she replied, smiling.

After having their lunch, they came back to their desks. As soon as Maya started working, her phone rang. It was Steven.

"Larson, could you come to my office, please?," he said.

"Sure. Coming."

As she got up and started walking toward her boss' office, Tiffany interrupted, "You just had lunch. Where are you going?"

"Stone called me. If you excuse me, I can go," Maya retorted.

Tiffany just nodded and turned to follow her. Maya furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you coming too?"

"Yes, got any problem?" Tiffany asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"No," Maya said, avoiding her and pacing faster.

As they both walked in, Ethan coughed, looking at Steven. "Why are you here?" Steven asked, his expression stern. Ethan signaled Maya to stand beside him, and she did. Tiffany didn't reply, trying to pretend the question wasn't for her to answer.

"I asked you, Spencer," Steven asked again. She flinched this time.

"I thought maybe you would need me," she replied, glancing at Maya.

"Alright. Stay then. But I've already told you not to come here unless I call you," Steven said, averting his eyes to Maya. Tiffany gritted her teeth as she was scolded in front of Maya.

"So, Larson, did you plan out everything?" Steven asked. Maya was dumbfounded at his question, not understanding what he was talking about. She looked at Ethan and Steven again. Ethan read her expression.

"Um, haven't you got any report?"

"What report?" Maya asked. Both Steven and Ethan glared at Tiffany, who was standing in front of them. Tiffany panicked as they looked at her. She pulled out her phone from her coat and acted as if she was called by someone to get away.

"Stop right there," Ethan said.

"You see, I got a call," Tiffany said, walking toward the door.

"If you walk out now, don't come to the office from tomorrow," Steven said in a low, deep voice, making both Maya and Tiffany shiver.

Maya wiggled her eyebrows at Ethan, asking him what was going on. Ethan just peeked at her, there was some concerns in his eyes. He seemed uneasy and uncomfortable suddenly.

"Larson, sorry, it was my mistake that I haven't contacted you in a week. I trusted the wrong person," Steven said, looking at Maya. She obviously couldn't understand anything and stood there like a statue. Steven turned to Tiffany and asked her, "Why did you ignore my order?"

Tiffany kept silent. Steven asked again,

"I won't say anything if you give me an answer. So tell me. There's no way you could have forgotten about the annual trip."

"Annual trip!" Maya muttered. "Are we going on a trip, Irwin?" she asked.

"Wait, this is the first time you called me Irwin. You always call me Sir." As Ethan spoke to Maya, the other two in the room averted their attention to them.

"Irwin, she asked you something else. Why are you talking ..." Steven stopped his friend.

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Yes, Larson, we're going on an overseas trip."

"Really? I didn't know anything. Where are we going?" she asked, excited.

"Akita, Japan," Steven replied. "Spencer, where do you think you're going again?" he stopped her again, seeing her working on an excuse to get herself out of that room.

"I'm not going anywhere," she replied, looking back.

"So you don't have any answer for that?" Ethan said. "Wait a sec, I'll call the other manager and ask them if they know anything."

[So the thing is, Steven had been busy dealing with some officials during this break. The annual trip usually happens in the first week of November. A manager from each team gets selected by the authority board to lead their team. All the leaders usually deal with money, payments, food, and managing travel agencies. Maya was selected to guide the NG department. Since Steven was busy, he gave the work to Tiffany to let everyone know about the trip and guide Maya. As Tiffany was already kind of jealous about Maya and her popularity among everyone, she didn't really want her to be the leader, and more like she didn't want her to go on the trip. So she literally sacrificed everyone's right. Some Network Administration's senior managers got to know from their batch colleagues but not from Tiffany or Steven. The newbies of Network Administration left unknowing about it. But the seniors thought maybe the NG department wouldn't go with others. They thought there might be some important business coming up, otherwise Stone would definitely tell them. They had been left out once before because of loaded work.]

Ethan called the most senior managers of the NG department and all the rookies. They clearly said no, that they never heard of the trip from Tiffany. The senior only heard a little but ignored it since he thought maybe they wouldn't be able to go. Steven kept his calm, looking at Tiffany and told her to apologize, but she didn't respond at first. Then Ethan interrupted,

"Wait, Steven. I don't really want to be involved in your departmental matters. But can you let me handle this?"

"You sure?" Steven asked.

"Yes."

"Alright then. You handle things here. By the way, we'll leave in 2 days, everyone. I know it's sudden for you all and we are sorry. We'll try our best to make this trip special." Ethan retorted. He added, "Spencer, you come with me." Tiffany silently followed him out of the door since she wanted to run away from there for a long time. Steven took a deep breath before looking at his colleagues. Maya tried avoiding his eyes as she thought he must be mad then. But he wasn't, he clapped to get attention and announced, "Alright, first I'm sorry. I should have handled this myself. I couldn't contact any of you last week because there was a ton of work. Anyway, I'm not allowed to make any excuses here since I'm at fault. And Larson ..."

"Yes?" Maya snapped into reality as he called her.

"You will lead the NA department for this year's tour. I'll send you some files. You may check those out as soon as possible. I know there is a lot to handle. If you have trouble understanding anything, you can come to me anytime."

"Thank you, Stone. I'll try my best."

"Alright. And all of you, I need all of your cooperation. Those who aren't here, please let them know we're leaving on Sunday at 8 a.m." Steven said.

"Stone, I have a question." Nira raised her hand.

"Yes, please."

"We haven't got our salary yet. And ... all of a sudden ..."

"Don't worry. It's all on the company," Steven assured. "And the salary will be there today."

"All on the company? Seriously!" The newbies screamed, making Steven and the senior managers chuckle.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that it's VISHO," the senior manager retorted.

"It's still a bit unbelievable. It costs a lot," said Maya.

"Don't worry about it," Steven retorted. "By the way, that's pretty much it. Let everyone know already. You may go back to work now." As everyone turned to the door, Steven called Maya,

"Larson, you may stay."

Steven sat on his table, swinging one leg out and the other reached the ground, playing with a paperweight in his palm. Maya kept quiet as she couldn't read the environment.

"I'm sorry, Maya," Steven said, breaking the silence in the room.

"Maya? We're still ..."

"I should've contacted you," Steven said, interrupting her.

"It's okay. It's not like you knew. You were busy."

"You are coming home tonight, right?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Let's go home tonight, together, if that's okay with you."

"Ummm, okay. I'll be a bit late since I'm going through the trip arrangement files later."

"Oh right. It's okay. I'll wait for you." (Telephone rang) He walked towards his telephone to receive the call. As he received it, he told Maya, "And there, on the top of the shelf, the arrangement files are there."

Maya nodded and walked towards the shelf. Well, it was actually too high for her. She tiptoed to reach the top, but this wasn't absolutely for her.

Steven on the phone, eyes on the computer, "Yes, alright. Yes, yes, send them to me ... Yes, it's better to give the tickets today ... Levi went somewhere to spend the vacation ... yes, he's back ... Yes, no worries, alright. See ya." As he was talking, he noticed Maya looking for something to stand on. He realized immediately as he fixed his eyes on the shelf. He thought it was silly of him asking her to get the files herself. But he found her cute.

The next thing Maya knew was Steven's chest over her and his hand reaching the shelf. She turned to him, feeling pressured by his presence. With red tomato cheeks, she looked down. Steven leaned towards her and said,

"Shorty ... Here ..." He handed her the files. Looking down, feeling embarrassed as he called her shorty, she fired back, taking the files,

"I'm 5'6". It's you, who's just too tall. Hmph."

"So, do you want me to get shorter for you?" Steven flirted, leaning more towards her face, just an inch between them. Maya looked into his eyes, a bit scared.

"Steven, what are ...!"

Steven sighed and stepped back, acting normal. "You may go now. Tons of work there, right?" he retorted.

What was I thinking! God! Steven thought.