Monday Morning
Mike got up and got ready for the office really quickly as he wanted to meet and speak to Catherine. He skipped breakfast thinking he will go to Cafeteria for breakfast where he can meet Catherine. He booked the cab and reached the office. He went to his department and put the bag on his desk. He didn't bother to open his laptop to check emails. He thought of finding Catherine first.
He went to the Cafeteria and he looked for Catherine. There was no sight of her. He checked the time on his watch.
By this time Catherine is usually in the cafeteria. Maybe she is running a little late. He thought.
Suddenly his stomach growl and he realized he haven't eaten anything since last night. Yes, last night after coming back from David's place he went to his bedroom and was going through all his conversation and moments with Catherine. He never knew when he fell asleep skipping dinner. He went to the breakfast counter and ordered a full breakfast platter.
He came to his regular place where he usually sit in the cafeteria and started munching on his breakfast. He never realized but he was so hungry that he finished his breakfast within a couple of minutes. He looked again here and there for Catherine but couldn't see her. He thought of going to her cubicle.
He quickly moved out of the cafeteria and went to the 6th floor. He went directly to Catherine's seat avoiding the glares of other people on the floor. It was empty. Catherine was not in yet. He checked the time again. It's 10 am. Is she skipping office because of the incident?
Mike took out the phone and ring her. Her number was switched off. Frustrated he came back to my department and entered the room. He saw David sitting and looking at some mail. David looked at Mike and said
"Hey Bro. What's up? Did you see Alandra's mail? Seems like the wicked witch is back."
"What do you mean?"
"Check your mail."
Mike took the laptop out of his bag.
"I guess you haven't started your day yet," David commented looking at him.
"Ya, actually I was pretty hungry so thought of having a platter breakfast."
"Wow...Good.I hope you are not sleepy now as we have a long day ahead."
"I am fine David. Don't worry."
Mike switched on the laptop and opened his outlook.
Mail from Alandra
Hi IT Team,
I am sending you links to few videos. Please change their status from public to private temporarily for now.
Links for Videos: Link 1
Link2
Link3
Link4...
"What the fuck is this now?" Mike asked David a bit frustrated.
"Isn't it obvious? They want us to hide the videos from the public that Catherine is part of the event and handled most campaigning."
"But why?"
"Well she is all over the news and XYZ doesn't want their name to have a bad reputation. Also, this kind of video goes viral when any scandal happens."
"Oh...But what about Catherine?"
"She will be suspended till all of this gets settled?"
What? No wonder I couldn't find her anywhere in the office. I decided to go to her house in the evening post office hours.
After a few hours, they successfully changed the status of the mentioned video links on the site. Also, they optimize the search so that those videos are excluded from the search. The search algorithm query needed to be changed. So they did that. Both then went for lunch. After lunch, they came back to the department. The rest of the day was a bit relaxed so Mike thought of browsing youtube for the latest news video. Also, he was concerned about Catherine like how she would be dealing with all this alone.
Mike opened the news suggestion which was running some live interviews. At this time he wasn't in the mood to watch any interview so he was about to exit the app but suddenly he noticed the video thumbnail which had a picture of a familiar girl. It was Catherine. This was Catherine's interview.
He opened the video and watched the interview where Catherine was saying that she manages all A-listers brand and this is a fake scam to defame her image. She also told that she is getting trolled badly online on her social media profile.
Mike felt bad for her.
He closed the app and opened the social media and searched for her profile. He found many nasty comments on her pics. He sighed and rested back on my chair.
David noticed Mike and said "This is all a publicity stunt, Mike don't fall for it."
"Huh? I guess she is really hurt David. Her social media is filled with nasty comments. She is getting depressed."
"Mike. A depressed person generally isolates themselves and not go in front of the press giving the interview. The same press which caught her with drugs."
David was actually right and he made sense but I guess I was so much blinded in love to see. I just nodded to David's word but decided that I will meet Catherine today.