Chapter 5: Overtime

She looked at the time and she knew that she would miss the hospital's visiting hours.

And Josh!

'Oh my gosh!' Zarah exclaimed inside her head when she recalled that she had not checked her phone yet.

She placed it in silent mode so she won't be distracted. She did send messages to both Olivia and Josh that she's busy and won't be available until five.

Now, she had to send them a message that she'd be doing overtime tonight.

Zarah slumped in her seat feeling defeated. She grabbed her phone to check if there were any messages and as expected, Olivia sent one. However, much to his disappointment, there was no message nor missed call logs from Josh. This was so unusual for him to do.

Despite their tight and busy schedule, Josh and Zarah would find time to send each other sweet messages.

She was used to reading more than twenty messages from him when her daily schedule was over.

She somehow became anxious deep down. She decided to read Olivia's message first.

Olivia's message was to cheer her up on her first day. Zarah could not help but smile as she found the message cute and it showed how sweet Olivia was.

She did not know that the three men were observing her through the glass door. And when she smiled, it captivated the hearts of these three grown men.

Zarah decided to drop by the restroom first before heading to the cafeteria.

When they saw her heading out, they dispersed immediately and pretended that they were talking about something.

Zarah was shocked to see them still outside when they left the office five minutes ago.

"Why are you three still here?" She asked them.

The three men struggled to find an excuse.

"Ahm! We--"

"I--"

"We're still hoping that you'd join us. It's our treat." Rupert said.

Zarah was baffled after hearing Rupert. It sounded like she was short of money or was she thinking the wrong way? Maybe their intentions were genuine and she was only giving it a different meaning.

"Well, I have to disappoint you three and decline you again."

Being rejected the second time, they decided to let Zarah do what she wanted.

Zarah excused herself and went to the restroom while Elliott, Rupert, and Chris could only look at her departing back.

"Rupert, what do you think of Zarah?" Chris asked him and he answered, "Honestly, Zarah's a very attractive and unique lady. And it's rare to meet that kind of person in this lifetime. How about you?"

"You're right. *Tsk!* I think I like her," Chris said, and they looked at him with questioning gazes.

"No! I didn't mean to pursue her. I don't think I'm even qualified to be her suitor." Chris explained and looked at Elliott.

"How about you Elliott? You seemed pretty close to her. Do you like her?"

Since the spotlight was on him, Elliott smiled and with full honesty, he expressed what was on his mind about Zarah.

"Yeah. I like her. I mean who wouldn't like to be her friend? I met her four years ago and we had casual interactions. I like her as a younger sister."

The two didn't even realize that they were holding their breath while listening to Elliott's answer.

"That's good. Do you think Xavier will like her, too?"

"The CEO? Oh no. Zarah's already off the market. She's been dating for a year now." Elliott immediately dismissed what these two were trying to do.

"What a shame! Compared to the women Xavier dated, she's on a different level! She's the only woman I see who's compatible with him." Chris whined after his hope was crushed by this revelation.

Contrary to Chris' thoughts, Rupert was against it, "Shut it! I'd rather not see them together. She looked pure and innocent. It's a shame if Xavier would stain her purity." Rupert had double meaning when he said that and Chris got what he meant.

He then started criticizing Xavier's dating history, "You know Xavier's tendencies when it comes to women. And besides, do you even call that dating?"

Elliott had the same thoughts as Rupert. He could sense that Xavier was a dangerous man.

And as someone who treated Zarah as a younger sister, he didn't want her to be in any kind of danger.

Meanwhile, Zarah entered one of the cubicles and did her thing. She was glad that the restroom was empty and would have a peaceful time inside.

However, her expectation was spoiled when she heard rushed footsteps entering the restroom. They were loudly talking about the CEO and could not stop praising his handsomeness.

Though they'd have only seen him this morning, his handsome face was vividly imprinted in their minds. And they were praising him like a god.

They were a little disappointed that they did not see him during lunch break though.

There were five people outside. Three were executive secretaries while the others were assigned to a department head. One of them was Miss James.

Before Xavier came to the company, the two other executive secretaries were also assigned to a department before being promoted.

Elliott had chosen them to accompany Ms. James as they had an excellent performance since they started working at the company.

Miss James was not part of the group. It happened that they met in the hallway and were going in the same direction so they went together.

"I've heard that three interns are assigned at the Executive Office." Someone spoke. She was assigned to the Finance Department Head.

"Really? How lucky." Another one added and looked at Miss James in envy.

All the secretaries in every department now envied the executive secretaries like Miss James as they were closer to the CEO.

That's why they were fawning at them because they wanted to get any scoop about their crush.

"Yes. Two of them are assigned to assist us. However, someone was chosen to be with the Executive Assistants." It was Miss James who was speaking this time.

"Really? With the CEO?"

"Oh my! She's such a lucky girl." Another secretary spoke.

"Lucky? I've heard she should be assigned to the Finance Department but then she was reassigned at the last minute." There was pure malice in her words as she could not accept that it was based on luck.

"Really?! Then something's fishy! I wonder who she slept with to get her position."

"If you're envious of her, stop creating baseless rumors just to smear her reputation to satisfy your heart. Remember, your words will get back to you sooner or later as it reflects your actions." Miss James didn't mind if her words hurt or not as she was only speaking her mind.

She would rather be frank than play safe.

Zarah was done so she decided to come out of the cubicle. She was also curious to see the faces of these women who were trying to dirty her image.

She hated it when someone tried to smear her name to comfort themselves.

This was one of the reasons why she wanted to protest her reassignment. There's no way she would go and say that this was the Chairman's arrangements or they would turn greener in envy.

As soon as she came out, the gossip stopped and Miss Jame's eyes widened when she recognized her and realized that she heard everything.

Her fellow executive secretaries were equally shocked, too.

However, compared to the two other companions, she had a clean conscience. The other ES were thankful that they did not say anything stupid against her, too. Their silence baffled their two other companions.

Zarah was not in a rush to leave. She wanted to listen more to them.

Zarah opened the tap and pumped an ample amount of liquid soap then washed her hands.

She then walked to the hand dryer to dry her hand.

She saw two women watching her every move. She could not confirm whether they were the ones speaking earlier or the other two who were awkwardly glancing at her.

She then looked at Miss James and the corner of her lips curled up at the same time she blinked her eyes.

"Did I interrupt something? I'm sorry. Please continue. Don't worry. I got the message." With that, Zarah turned around and left the rest room leaving the other women baffled except Miss James.

"She's so pretty!" The person criticizing Zarah earlier now had praises for her beauty.

"Right. I look like a squid beside her."

"Wait, who is she? She seemed to recognize you, Lena." They asked Miss James and she answered, "Well, she's the intern that you've been talking about! I bet she heard everything from start to finish."

"What?!" The two secretaries' jaws dropped to the floor upon hearing what Miss James said.

They could not help but look at their former department colleagues and started blaming them for not stopping them earlier.

Now, they looked pathetic.

Meanwhile, Zarah looked for a quiet place before she decided to call the private nurse she hired to look after Isaiah.

"Miss Jansen? What time will you come tonight?", The person on the other line asked her.

"I'm sorry, Thomas but I don't think I can make it tonight."

"Oh, okay. Then, I'll just ask the doctor to email the Chairman's daily health report since you can't make it."

"Yes. Thank you, Thomas."

"You don't have to thank me, Miss. It's my job."

Zarah then asked about any improvements in Isaiah's health.

"There's still no changes, Miss.", Thomas answered and Zarah sighed.

Zarah then bid her goodbye afterward.

Then, she scanned her messages again to see if there was any message from Josh.

Still, there's none. Zarah had a bad feeling about it and so, she called him. However, the telephone operator answered her call. He was out of the coverage area.

She had no choice but to call Camille to check if Josh was still in the office.

Camille was inside a car when she received Zarah's call.

"Miss Jansen? You called all of a sudden?"

"I'm sorry, Camille. I know it's already late but I just want to know if Josh came to the office today. I tried calling him but it seems like he turned off his phone."

"Mr. Irving? He did. But he's currently at a meeting with a potential client. I'll be coming over to deliver an important document."

"I see." Zarah thought that Josh should be very busy, too.

That could be it. He was busy. And his phone was probably dead. Zarah calmed down as she thought of this as an explanation.

"Okay. Could you please tell him that I'll be off late? He can go home first."

"Okay. I'll relay the message when I get there." Camille said and Zarah heaved a sigh of relief.

Zarah decided to drop by the cafeteria to have a quick dinner since she was already hungry.

She saw everyone having dinner in groups. She saw Hope on her left side happily chatting with her colleagues and did not see her.

She was not wrong when she thought everyone would like Hope's personality.

Zarah felt like she was having a déjà vu as this was always the setup every time she came into a new environment.

She went to the counter to have her order.

"Can I have this and that, please?" Zarah pointed at the displayed dishes on the counter.

"For drinks, a bottle of sparkling water will do."

She then moved to the cashier while the staff was preparing her food. She handed her intern ID which would also act as their mode of payment here at the company.

After getting her food, she scanned around the area and looked for a vacant table where she could enjoy her food alone.

Hope saw her this time. She wanted to invite Zarah to their table but she saw that their table was occupied and they were almost done.

Meanwhile, Zarah sighed after spotting a vacant table. It was near the trash bins and no one sat there as they thought it was unhygienic.

Hope looked at Zarah and she felt upset after seeing the latter eating alone.

She grabbed her tray of food and excused herself from her companions and approached Zarah.

Zarah was about to have her first bite when she came.

"Is this seat taken?" She asked and Zarah paused after recognizing her voice.

She looked at Hope and the seat opposite her and reluctantly nodded her head.

Hope took the liberty to sit down comfortably on the chair and resume her dinner.

"Why did you leave your group? You seemed to be having fun, there." Zarah commented before taking her first bite for the night.

"Awe! Are you worried that they might not like what I've done?" Hope asked in speculation but Zarah ignored her question and continued eating.

"Well, it might look like I enjoyed myself there but--" she paused and leaned forward and continued in a whisper, "--I don't. Their topics are boring. I have to fake a smile just so I would not be left out."

'Well, that's interesting.' Zarah thought.

After saying that, Hope continued eating.

***