CHAOS IN THE COMPANY

Getting down the gray stairs, Malcolm tailed behind Astrel cautiously with panic. Employees were gathered in the meeting room, murmuring and whispering about what might be the reason they were all summoned.

Soon after they saw Astrel walking toward the transparent room, they silenced and waited for him to enter the room. He didn't take a seat but glanced at everyone who was there.

"Good morning," he greeted with a grim expression, frightening every soul. "-for those who had heard the rumors... and for those of you who had chosen to ignore them," he said as he took off his dark blue blazer and handed it to his assistant, which Malcolm immediately took hold of in no time.

The first two buttons of his dark blue shirt were unbuttoned as usual. As he leaned forward in an attempt to sit on his swivel chair, the two long silver chains under his shirt came out dangling in the air and rested over his chest.

The women who were present could not help but gape and gasp, gazing at their boss.

"Get me a cup of red tea," he said, correcting his disheveled shirt.

"Tea?"

"Did he say tea?"

"What's with the tea?"

"Chai?"

"Yes, he said tea!"

"Where will we find tea?"

"Do we even have tea?"

"I have no idea. We'll have to check," whispered everyone, but Astrel paid no heed to them. He was viewing the file in front of him.

One of the female employees stood up and questioned, "Tea?" as she chuckled nervously.

Astrel gazed at her and said, "Yes, tea," and crossed his leg one over the other. "Teabag with boiling water. What's wrong?"

"There's no tea here!" whispered one of them. Malcolm walked forward but didn't speak.

"Aster, how about I suggest something else? A nice cup of espresso... or a large non-fat latte? It's quite healthy... How about a skinny cappuccino with no cream, or a cafe Americano with almond tea?" suggested Daria, the only woman, who was the closest to Astrel and dared to speak with him, if given the chance, for they were a bit closer when it came to working. "Which one would you prefer?" she questioned not forgetting to smile beautifully.

"What could be so difficult? Tea without milk," he said as he gestured with his hand. "Malcolm?"

"Sure, sir," said Malcolm and dashed out of the meeting room.

"I wonder what he's going to do!" whispered the man beside Daria.

"Turn everything upside down for a teabag," Daria whispered back to him helplessly. No one in the company consumed tea so tea was something that never existed in their vocabulary. Their boss asking for tea was something new, for they never saw him consume anything.

They all waited for Malcolm to bring him a cup of tea, which he did, but it took him fifteen minutes.

Astrel took a sip from the transparent cup and placed the teacup on the table. "You guys are probably wondering why have I called for a meeting here, right," he questioned but didn't wait for their reply, "Well we have a problem. We have a spy in the company," he said and broke the silence as he took a glance at everyone.

Not me...

Neither me...

What's going on?

Everyone whispered and looked at each other. None accepted that they were the one.

"The spy has been leaking information about our projects and some other sensitive information to Gary. I need not explain who he is, as you all know him very well," he gazed at Daria and then continued, "The spy might be sitting here right now. But I just wanna assure you that person... your days in this company are numbered. When I find out... remember, he or she will wish that... we had never met," Daria smiled shyly as she saw his gaze at her.

"Who do you think it is?" whispered the guy again to Daria.

Daria snapped her head toward him annoyingly, "Anyone. I have no idea where to start looking," she remarked, gritting her teeth as she glared at him. "What if it's you?" She questioned as she distanced herself away from him.

"As of today, not one of you... will discuss our work with anyone outside this company. New security measures have been implemented. If I see any project or ideas of ours being displayed by any other company... I'll hold all of you accountable..." he warned coldly. "I hope everyone knows what's going on now... Thank you and back to work..." said Astrel and walked out of the room.

"Malcolm, make sure to check all the departments. I don't want anything to be left behind."

"Sure, sir"

"And I don't want any employees to be on leave. If they really want to get it... say them to meet me, unless they aren't allowed.

"Okay, sir," Malcolm noted down everything that he said as he followed his boss's long strides of footsteps.

The workers settled in their respective cabins, but then they started cursing and murmuring as they tried to get connected with the network.

"Dude, what's wrong with our network?!" exclaimed a guy frustratedly. Everyone shook their head not knowing what and why was the reason.

Daria dialed the technician but they didn't answer her call.

"Guys! guys! Everyone, calm down."

"What's going on, Mal?"

"Sir has said to reboot the network, so it will take some time. Everyone's gonna get new passwords every month. It will be up and running in a few minutes." he said to everyone and they nodded their head.

"Uff..."

"Gary has hijacked too much information, and not to say he has sabotaged that damn factory," he said and Daria nodded her head understandingly.

"So why can't I log in? Am I a suspect too?" she questioned.

"Daria! Don't exaggerate... or do you have something to hide?" he questioned, pressing her nerve.

"Malcolm-"

"As of today, Sherin will see our confidential files and deliver the proposals. It's only me, sir, and Sherin."

"Why Sherin? Who is she on top of all?"

"Because she's the only one who started working here yesterday. Do you have anyone else?"

"Well, she has no experience..."

"That's the point."

"Mal, we can't afford to make any mistake in this state," Daria said frustratedly.

"She's bright. She'll catch it on quickly. Besides, we have no other choice. This was the decision of the boss," Malcolm said calmly.

"I suppose not if you say so," She said and walked away angrily.

Malcolm sighed as he shook his head, but as soon as he saw Sherin, he ordered her to hand over the report to Daria and informed about the network rebooting process to everyone once again. It was a pretty confused chaos.