Chapter 6

Navi was driving the car and Veronica was sleeping in the passenger seat. Navi was trying to figure out what happened. She was staring at Veronica, and suddenly Veronica spoke "Stop giving me those lovey dovey glances and look straight and drive."

"Veronica, you wore something else today. Right?" Navi spoke while pointing at Veronica's trousers

"Lets talk about everything happened after dinner." Veronica replied tired

"I am sure you have lot to tell." Navi spoke

Veronica ignored and kept sleeping till they arrived at her place.

Navi informed Veronica they reached. Both together went inside the house. Veronica saw her parents sitting in the drawing room. Her father saw her and spoke "Hey honey, how was your day? You look tired? Did you overwork on your first day itself?"

"Dad, I have never worked in a office before. Its pretty much hectic. But no issues. I will manage." Veronica replied

"Mom, I am very tired, can we have early dinner?" Veronica asked Mrs. Ray

"Sure honey, lets head towards dining room." Mrs. Ray replied

All of them gathered in the dining area. Mrs. Ray was now heating the food. Veronica helped with plates and glass arrangements.

Everyone took their seats and started having food. No one was speaking anything. So Mr. Ray decided to break the silence.

"Navi, how was your day?" Mr. Ray enquired

"It was fine Mr. Ray. I didn't work much today. They gave me a office tour and some articles to read. That's it." Navi answered

"How come you are not tired and Veronica is? You both are working together right?" Mr. Ray enquired

"No dad. She is in IT department and I am working as secretary of that Jackass Alden." Veronica replied tired

"You are working as what?" Mrs. Ray spoke this time

"You heard me Mom." Veronica replied to her

"You got selected as an intern. There is no way you can work as secretary. That's not internship." Mrs. Ray spoke

"I know. That jerk's secretary is on leave. He needed a secretary. Since we were the new people. He asked me to assist him for a month as his secretary, then he will transfer me in media department after seeing my work as secretary." Veronica replied

"Veronica is he overworking you or something?" Mr. Ray asked

"No dad. I just got lucky. He didn't let me have a work-less first day." Veronica replied

No one spoke after that. Everybody had their dinner quietly. Mrs. Ray asked Veronica and Navi to go and rest. They must be tired. Mr. Ray will take care of the dishes.

Veronica and Navi nodded and left not before saying them goodnight.

Veronica and Navi came to Veronica's room and Veronica jumped on her bed and started rolling on it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Navi asked

"I missed it so much. Why did I wanted to leave you? I promise, I will not have any fling in the office or any other place. Its just you for me." Veronica spoke while patting her bed lovingly.

"You gotta be kidding me." Navi spoke amused

"What?" Veronica questioned angrily

"Nothing." Navi replied doing hands up

"So what happened?" Navi asked

Veronica spoke everything that happened the entire day. Navi stared at her as if she has saw ghost.

"Dude, are you kidding me. You know what, Arek doesn't have a very good reputation in his office. I know that you are well aware of it now." Navi replied

"You know what I realized?" Veronica spoke

"Never to mess with Arek Jackass Alden." Navi replied

"Navi shut up." Veronica replied irritated

"Then what?" Navi asked

"He is weird. I mean like first of all he made a mistake for which he was shouting on me. What kind of sane person would do that?" Veronica replied

"I think he is good. He tried to compensate his act by trying to buy something. But you denied." Navi spoke in disbelief

"It was no good gesture. He did it because he didn't like any sort of distraction for his pervert client." Veronica replied agitated

"Do you seriously believe that stupid reason?" Navi asked

"Why should I not believe it? I mean he told me by himself. There is no reason for me to not to believe it." Veronica replied confused

"Maybe you are right. He is not into you." Navi replied

"What do you mean by he is not into me?" Veronica questioned

"Nothing, just let it be." Navi replied

Veronica didn't say anything. Both went to the bed to sleep.

Next day both of them were late. Again. They reached the office 5 minutes late. Veronica came running infront of Arek's cabin. As she was about to enter, Arek opened the door. Veronica was panting because of the marathon.

"Ms. Ray, you are late." Arek spoke

Veronica checked her watch. She was indeed 6 minutes late. Thanks to her marathon skills she managed to be late by just one more minute.

"Mr. Alden, I am really sorry. It won't happen again." Veronica apologized

"Ms. Ray, I think by the end of the day you will have endless list of apologies since you are prone to accidents. I mean no offense." Arek spoke amused

Veronica ignored him and started checking his schedule for the day.

"Ms. Ray, we have a meeting with a land owner for media department. You are coming with me for this." Arek informed Veronica

"The meeting will be by 12 pm. Right Mr. Alden?" Veronica asked

"Yes. These are the documents required for the meeting. Go through it once. Check for errors. And correct it if you find any." Arek spoke while going through the documents once before handling it to Veronica

Veronica nodded and took the documents and started going through while sitting on the couch which is technically her work place in Arek's office.

While going through the document Veronica got lot of information about the deal. There was no error in the document. Afteral the document was prepared by the jerk himself. Mr. so called perfectionist.

By the time she finished the document it was already 11:30 am. She informed Arek that she has gone through the document and there was no error in it. Then both left for the meeting.

Meeting was fine. Like yesterday Veronica sat in the corner and took notes. She understood every part of the deal. The way Arek bargained with them and took the deal the way he wanted.

"He is seriously impressive in business. Only in business." Veronica spoke to herself. She was in deep thought that she didn't even realized that the meeting was over. Arek came near her. She didn't notice Arek standing near.

"Ms. Ray" Arek spoke

Veronica jumped from her chair due to sudden voice.

"What.. What happened?." Veronica asked

"Ms. Ray, are you okay?" Arek asked

"Yeah yeah. I am fine." Veronica replied stuttering

"Ms. Ray, why are you stuttering? Don't tell me you slept in between the meeting." Arek enquired

"No. No no no no I didn't sleep. I heard every word you said. I made notes as well." Veronica spoke while raising her hand in which she was holding notes.

"Yeah. We will see how much you heard after we reach back to my office." Arek spoke

Veronica didn't reply anything. They went back to the office. Arek asked everything happened in the meeting. Veronica answered everything.

"Ms. Ray, you know you seem like you slack work but you are quiet attentive. Impressive." Arek spoke

Veronica stared at him for the first have statement and then decided to ignore him. Arek waited for her response. But when she didn't respond he didn't comment any further.

"Ms. Ray work on the file with European investors for brand management section. And let me know the details." Arek spoke while handling her the files.

Veronica nodded and took files from him and started studying.

There were lot of things she has go through. There were lot of files for this project. While going through the files Veronica understood one thing, she can never have lunch while working for Arek. And she never noticed Arek going out for lunch. This guy doesn't know the meaning of lunch time she thought.

She checked the time while going through the files. It was 4:30 pm. Still she had 2 files left. When she was having one of the last two files she noticed information gap. She checked another file to see if it had any information but it didn't have any information.

She stood up and went to Arek to ask for the same. Arek was engrossed in laptop. He didn't even spare a glance at her. Before she could speak he spoke to her.

" What happened Ms. Ray?" Arek asked

Veronica was taken by surprise. Arek didn't even see her still he knew she was standing near him. She cleared her thoughts and then spoke "Mr. Alden, I think there is a file missing. There is no information about the production and the cost in these files."

"Right. Production and cost files. I think they are on the 37th floor, where we keep all the documents and information. Go to that floor and bring the files. As you are my secretary, you have access to go to that floor." Arek informed

Veronica nodded and left.

Veronica entered in lift and pressed 37th button on the long list of buttons.

'Seriously he has a floor for information. Are you kidding me. Where the hell I am working? NASA?' Veronica thought

She reached the 37th floor and stepped out of the lift.

"This looks like library or rather I would say encyclopaedia." Veronica spoke to herself

She saw a security guard there. She went up to him.

"Hi, I am Veronica. Mr. Alden's secretary. I came here to look up for few files." Veronica spoke

"Yeah Hi Ms. Ray. I am Stuart Schwartz. I am the head incharge of the technical security department. I know you are Mr. Alden's secretary. You need no introduction. Come this way. I will guide you here."

Veronica nodded with smile and followed him.

"So Mr. Ray, what documents you are looking for?" Stuart asked

Veronica explained him about the files she was looking for. Stuart helped her find the files.

"Here. Take this." Stuart spoke while handling the files

"Thanks Stuart." Veronica replied

Before she could continue further lights started fluctuating. Both her and Stuart looked up to see light dimming.

"Ms. Ray you stay here. Don't go anywhere. I will just go and check what is wrong with the lights. I will be right back." Stuart spoke

"Sure." Veronica replied

With that Stuart left to check the lights. Veronica was left all alone. She kept holding the files and started moving in forward direction. Suddenly the fluctuating lights went completely off. It was a complete blackout.

"Hey Stuart. Are you in here? The lights went completely off." Veronica shouted

She didn't get any response. She started walking towards the direction where Stuart went. She heard footsteps approaching towards her.

"Stuart. Is that you?" Veronica asked

Still she got no reply.

'Where has he gone?' Veronica thought

Suddenly a voice came from behind.

"Hi Veronica. It has been two years. Isn't it?" Unknown lady voice spoke

Veronica stopped in her way. Chill ran down her spine after listening to the voice. She was not able to speak. She tried to turn to the direction from where the voice was coming but it was too dark to see anything.

"I found you Veronica after two years. You did well while hiding. But I guess I am very good at finding people who love hiding. Its just a warning Veronica. You were great at hiding her but now you can't do that anymore." Unknown lady voice spoke

Before Veronica could speak lights came back. She looked everywhere to see who was there. But she found nothing. Stuart returned.

"Stuart did you see someone entering in here?" Veronica asked

"No. I don't think its possible for anyone to enter in here. These gates are security proof. They only work when there is electricity. The power was gone for a while." Stuart spoke

"Okay so there are cameras in here?" Veronica asked

"Yes there are cameras. And they do work without electricity." Stuart informed

"Can I have access to those clips?" Veronica enquired

"I am sorry Ms. Ray. You are not allowed to access footage from anywhere. You need permission from Mr. Alden for that." Stuart informed

Veronica didn't say anything and left from there. She came back to Arek's cabin.

"Where the hell have you been? It takes that much time to bring these files?" Arek asked

"Mr. Alden, can I leave? Its already 5 pm." Veronica asked

Arek looked her face and noticed that her face was pale. She looked different.

"Ms. Ray, did something happened?" Arek asked

"Mr. Alden please can I leave?" Veronica asked again in a low voice

Arek nodded.

Veronica took her things and left.