You Owe Me One

Elle awoke early on Friday morning. She got ready for work feeling full of excitement. It was finally the last day of her department's project. Elle had run into so many issues during it that she couldn't wait for everything to finally be over.

Despite the early hour Adam had already left for work, so Elle simply fixed herself a cup of tea before leaving for work herself. Now that the weekend was almost here and she would be done with her heavy work load hopefully her and Adam would finally be able to see each other, for at least a little while.

Elle arrived at Tae and walked into the office with a bright smile on her face. Her department members had all come in early as well, and obviously shared the same thoughts and feelings as her because everyone was smiling and were generally more cheerful than they had been in weeks.

"Alright, listen up everyone." Elle announced. "I'm sure everyone is eager for this day, and this project, to finally be over. There's even more anticipation, knowing your bonus' will be based on the results. You've all worked very hard for it, I'm sure the results will reflect that."

This roused a few cheers of agreement out of everyone. Elle glanced down at her watch. "Only eight hours to go. I don't want to see your work ethic drop just because we're almost finished, got it? Let's finish strongly."

"Yes ma'am." Was the unanimous reply.

For one last time Elle immersed herself into her work. Everyone put their full efforts into their last batch of reports, and into checking, double checking, and triple checking their work. On Elle's desk sat stacks of her own reports along with one extra one. Encased in a light blue file folder was a carefully compiled report containing all the details of Jacob's change of sales. The next board meeting was coming up. It was Elle's intention to present the report to the shareholder's at that meeting.

Even she couldn't predict what consequences Jacob would face as a result. A normal person would be fired on the spot, but he wasn't a normal person. He was the chairman's son. Even if he was somehow allowed to stay in the company, Jacob would never be allowed to rise up the ranks again. He could never become a director, let alone become the chairman himself one day. It would be career suicide. If Elle brought the report forward her father would likely face consequences as well, but that wasn't her concern right? After all, it was Jacob and her father who started this mess. Elle would only be doing this in order to keep her hands clean. At least that's what she told herself.

The time passed by and the weight of the burden in Elle's mind seemed to grow with it. Every time she glanced at the folder she felt more unsettled, but the time ticked forward regardless of her feelings. At five o'clock that afternoon Elle and her department gathered in a conference room once again as they awaited their fate.

After waiting for a few minutes the director of the sales department, Director Collins, entered the room with a few of his managers in tow. He was older than Elle by eight years but he was still considered very young for his position, as well as very capable. He almost always had a stern and respectable demeanor but now he entered the room with a grin on his face.

"I may have to poach a few of your people Director Shaw." He said to Elle with a laugh.

Elle flashed him a crooked smile. "You can try, but I dare say it won't be easy. I'm quite confident in my team."

"No, I imagine it won't be easy. Well today I come bearing good news. I think you might bankrupt the company with the size of your bonus." He teased. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, squealing with delight as Director Collins took them through the sales report. Elle's bet with Adam had be for 80,000 sales, which seemed like a very high number at the time. This time her department had managed to achieve 93,000. Elle looked at the value with wide eyes. It exceeded even her expectations.

As soon as the number was announced Director Collins was cut off by everyone's cheers. As everyone celebrated Collins came over to stand beside Elle. "Congratulations Director Shaw." He said in a low voice.

"Thank you." Elle mumbled, still in awe of the results.

After a long celebration and many congratulations were issued Elle's employees slowly began to filter out of the room. Eventually only the two directors were left. Collins had begun to pack up his things to leave as well when Elle approached him.

"I have something for you." Elle said to him with determination.

"What is this?" He asked, taking the blue folder she was offering him.

"See for yourself."

Director Collins flipped through the pages with a furrowed brow before looking at Elle with concern.

"He fixed his own mistake." Elle offered in Jacob's defense. "Everything now is as it should be so I won't make a fuss for the time being. I just thought you deserved to know. I'll leave his discipline to you." With that said Elle began to leave, feeling much lighter than she had all day. She was sure now that she had made the right decision.

Before she could walk out the door Director Collins grabbed her arm. "Why didn't you come to me sooner?" He asked.

"I went directly to the Chairman. Jacob is his hire after all."

"I never liked office politics, you know. In the future, if there's an issue within my department come straight to me. Got it?"

Elle could see the sincerity in his eyes. "Okay."

Elle felt relieved and exhausted at the same time. She tiredly made her way back to her office to collect her things before finally leaving for the day. She got into the elevator and was about to press the button to go back to her floor, but hesitated. She got the sudden urge to press a button much higher than her own.

The elevator rose up the building before the doors opened again. Elle emerged onto the familiar floor, and made her way to the large office at the end of it. This time her father's secretary let her in without issue.

"What is it?" Her father mumbled, distracted by his own work in front of him.

"I gave Director Collins a report containing all the details of Jacob's 'mistake'." Elle said lightly. Her father looked up at her with wide eyes. "I did what I was supposed to do. I even came to you first out of respect for you as both my boss and my father, but you protected him instead of doing your job Mr. Chairman."

Her father sat felling conflicted in front of her, obviously struggling to find the words to say.

"I was going to present the report to the board members at the next meeting you know." Elle added. "I was going to sentence Jacob's career to death for this mistake. But I changed my mind. I notified Director Collins so that he can keep an eye on Jacob's work from now on. Aside from that I'll let the matter go. In return I hope you know that both you and Jacob owe me one."

"Okay." Her father said tiredly, finally speaking up. "Okay, I got it."

"Good." Elle said, marching out of his office. Finally, her conscious was clear.