Chapter 11: Piercings

The next morning, Zarah subconsciously grabbed the space next to her and she felt someone was sleeping next to her.

She thought that it was Josh. However, she was disappointed when she saw that it was Olivia.

Zarah retracted her hand but still, it woke Olivia.

"Good morning!" Olivia greeted her as usual but Zarah was not in the mood.

Olivia had no idea that she knew everything.

Maybe she was so good at hiding her emotions and the time she spent crying almost the entire day yesterday helped a lot.

It also helped that she went to bed early and Olivia didn't see her puffy red eyes. The room was dark and so she still could not see Zarah's face.

Zarah decided to get up and leave the bed as she still had to prepare to go to work. She only filed a leave for a day. Now's not the time to be unproductive.

"Will you be reporting to the office today?" Olivia asked her.

"Yes. Go back to sleep. I'll cook breakfast." She said but Olivia got up from bed and volunteered instead.

"Nope. Unless your injury fully heals, I'll be cooking us breakfast."

Zarah decided to not object to it even though she thought she could move around without her crutches.

"Thanks, Liv. Could you please bring me an ice pack? Then place it on the bedside table."

Since Zarah was nursing an injury, Olivia thought that it was for her ankle.

"Okay? Anything else?"

"That's all, Liv."

As soon as Olivia left the room, Zarah hid in the bathroom. She only went out when she made sure that Olivia already left the room.

Zarah grabbed the ice pack and removed the ice and placed it on top of her eyelids and underneath her eyes.

She continued this until all the ice melted.

Zarah looked satisfied after she saw the redness and puffiness disappear.

She decided to take an early shower to refresh her mind. Her ankle was no longer swollen and she felt no discomfort (tingling) at all when she touched it.

She heaved a sigh after thinking that she could ditch her crutches today and just wear the walking boot.

She walked out of the room and walked to her vanity mirror. She saw a pair of scissors and an idea popped up in her mind.

Without any reservations in mind, she started cutting her hair to shoulder length. She also trimmed her growing baby hairs to form air bangs.

She kept her hair long because Josh liked it that way. She also started wearing her ear piercings, five on the left and six on the right.

She had given up this side of her for his sake. He disliked women who had multiple piercings because they looked rebellious in his eyes.

She looked at herself in the mirror and a sad smile flashed on her face as she recognized her true self.

This was her. This was her before her love for Josh transformed her.

Thanks to a full night of sleep last night, her skin looked better compared to before.

However, she still covered it with a little face powder and she opted for a velvet matte liquid lipstick for her lips.

She tried to smile but there were no sparkles in her eyes.

Olivia was surprised to see Zarah wearing her piercings again. "I thought I won't see your iconic piercings, Zaza!", she said.

"Really? Well, Josh did not want them around so they have to be placed inside my vault." Zarah answered as she sat down on the breakfast chair to have her breakfast.

"But he's not around so I wear them." She continued.

She knew that something was off but she decided not to pursue the matter and decided to eat her breakfast.

She kept glancing at Zarah like she was guilty of something. Well, she was. Because she knew where Josh was yesterday and she hid it from Zarah.

"If you want to say something, it's better to say it now, Liv." Zarah already had a clue on why Olivia was acting that way.

"Ahm…Nothing…I just find it unusual, Zaza. You started wearing your piercings and I know what they represented to you." Olivia lied. In reality, she wanted to say that Josh slept at Natalie's apartment in Sterlington City. But what she said also made sense.

"This is just me. The real me. Aren't you used to this side of me, Liv?"

Their conversation ended and Zarah was driven to the office by Olivia.

"Thanks again, Liv," Zarah said as she slowly descended from the car.

"You're always welcome, Zaza."

Zarah was about to close the door but she paused and looked at her best friend. She heaved a few sighs before she said, "You don't have to be guilty, Liv."

Olivia's eyes widened as she realized that Zarah knew what was going on. She wanted to ask her but Zarah had already entered the company building.

Hope found Zarah walking in and so she rushed to her side and asked, "Good morning Zarah!" to which she responded, "Good morning Hope."

Hope then looked at Zarah's foot which was still wearing a boot and asked, "Does it still hurt? Wait, where are your elbow crutches?" She added after not seeing her using one today.

"I don't think I'll need it. And it's no longer swelling," then she leaned forward and whispered, "I'm wearing it so I don't have to wear heels."

Hope burst out laughing after hearing Zarah's joke, "Oh my gosh, Zarah! I never thought that you're a good comedian!"

Zarah thought that Hope was overreacting because she was only telling the truth. She hated heels. Since she had high pain tolerance, her complaint was heels made her legs wobbly when used for a long time. And it disrupted blood circulation.

Hope then took a step back as she thought something was unusual with Zarah that morning.

"Piercings. Oh my gosh! I never thought you have many!" Hope said excitedly and everyone turned their attention to them.

"Wait, isn't it against the company policy?" One of the regular employees asked.

Zarah was very familiar with the manual. And as far as she could remember, no clause prohibited them from wearing many piercings.

They're free to express themselves as long as their actions were not offensive. Tattoos we're even allowed as long as they're not visible.

"They're still interns that's why they're unaware of the unspoken rule about it." Her companion answered her.

Hope and Zarah entered the elevator together and ignored them. They only parted ways when Hope reached her department floor first.

"See you at lunch?" Hope said and Zarah recalled that she still owed her one as a "thank you" for accompanying her to the hospital last time.

"Okay. See you at Isaiah's Ramen House. It's a restaurant a few blocks from here." Zarah said.

It won't take them much time to reach there as there won't be any traffic.

"Okay!" Hope exclaimed as she looked forward to their lunch together.

Zarah then reached the Executive floor and entered the EA's office.

"Good morning Zarah!" Elliott greeted her.

"Good morning, E!" She responded.

"Hold up! Is it just me? Or you looked different today?" He said as it had been a while since he saw her wearing her infamous earrings.

"Did something happen?" He asked as she once shared that all of these piercings represented her pain and frustrations in life. If something bad happened, she would make another one.

Getting a tattoo hadn't come across her mind yet. She did have a tattoo but it represented something else.

Faced with his worried question, Zarah decided to deny it. "Nothing. Anyways, what's my task for today?"

"Good thing you asked." Elliott then grabbed a box of files and placed it on her table.

"Before you do this," he paused and went back to his table and said, "This is the CEO's initial schedule for the next six months. Please enter this into his calendar."

"Okay! No problem!" Zarah said as she grabbed the thick folder containing Xavier's schedule.

"Then, what should I do with this?"

"Please help me put it on the system. I still need to make a detailed report from these files."

"Okay! No problem." Zarah made herself busy so she won't have time to think about her problems.

Time flew so fast that it was now time for lunch.

Zarah placed the documents on the table and she got ready to leave when Elliott asked her, "Heading for lunch?"

"Am, yeah. Well, I invited Hope to eat at Old Man's restaurant."

"Oh! Do you mean Miss Thompson?" Elliott asked to clarify.

"Yes. She helped me a lot the last time. And it'd be rude if I won't show any gratitude," she explained.

"Oh well, I was going to invite you for lunch but it seems like I'm a little late."

"Maybe next time, E. Wait, why don't you join us?"

"Can we join, too?" Rupert and Chris asked her.

"Wait, aren't you both supposed to be with the boss?" She asked as she didn't want what happened last time to repeat.

"The boss is on an out-of-town trip. So, we're free!" Rupert told her.

"Well, okay." The two men were delighted to hear that.

The quarter finally headed out and reached the lobby. Hope was already waiting for them.

Everyone watched as the four walked with Hope leading them. The three men looked like three royal servants guarding their queen.

Even Hope was surprised to see this scene.

"Let's go?" Zarah said and she grabbed Hope's hand and held it. Hope smiled as she felt happy.

They went using Rupert's car. Rupert and Chris were in the front while Zarah, Hope, and Elliott were in the back seat.

It took them three minutes to reach it.

Hope helped Zarah in getting out of the car while Elliott stayed behind them.

"Welcome to Isaiah's!" The receptionist greeted but her eyes widened in shock when she looked up and saw Zarah.

"Oh my! Miss Jansen! I'm so sorry for not recognizing you!" The receptionist said respectfully.

"It's fine. You don't have to make my visit a big deal. We're here to eat lunch." Zarah reassured her.

Aside from Elliott, the three thought that Zarah was a frequent visitor as even the receptionist knew Zarah well.

"Okay!" The receptionist escorted them to their table and the waiter arrived to take their order.

Fifteen minutes later, their bowls of ramen were served.

"Bon appétit!" Zarah said and they enjoyed their food.

"Wow! I never tasted a bowl of ramen like this! This is heaven!" Hope exclaimed as she had her first bite.

Zarah's heart was comforted after hearing someone complimenting Isaiah's dish.

"Of course! This is the Chairman's recipe!" Elliott praised which surprised Hope, Chris, and Rupert.

"Really?!" They asked in unison and Elliott confidently said, "Yes! I still remember the first time that Chairman Stevens invited me to eat ramen with him. Zarah's there, too! That's by far one of the happiest days of my life."

Zarah kept silent on the sidelines. She did not comment after Elliott said it.

Zarah saw the staff looking in their direction. Their faces showed that they were trying to say something.

So after she finished her food, she excused herself and approached them.

"What's wrong? I saw that you've been looking at me while I'm eating." She asked the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am if we acted rude and it caused you discomfort. Ma'am, the restaurant has a problem."

"What problem?" She immediately asked her.

That's when the employees started crying and this bothered her.

"Ma'am, yesterday, a property developer came and said that this building will be demolished."

"Demolished? Did Nikolai know about this?" Zarah had to ask because he snatched this from her otherwise he would not become the new owner and something like this won't happen.

And besides, the land and building were owned by Isaiah.

"The developer said that Mr. Nikolai received a payment from them."

"What? He sold this lot!" Zarah could feel the anger fuming inside her.

Zarah looked at the time and thought that she no longer had time.

The receptionist and the staff looked at her with desperation.

"Did the developer say when they are going to demolish the building?"

"Next week." The receptionist said.

"May I know the name of the property developer?" She asked

"It's East Pacific Properties."

Zarah tried to remember where she heard that name. Zarah gave it a thought and she walked back to their table.

"Can she help us?" One of the staff asked the receptionist.

"I don't know. But I'm making a bet on her. She would never let Chairman Steven's efforts be wasted."

"What's wrong Zarah?" Elliott asked her in concern.

"E, do you know who owns East Pacific Property?" She asked Elliott but it was Rupert who asked her, "Do you mean East Pacific Property Development Corp.?"

"Yes. Do you know who owned it?"

'That's the boss's company.' Rupert thought. Should he tell her? 

"Ahm…I think the boss knew him." Rupert told her.

"Do you know how to contact them?"

"I don't…know…if it's possible," Chris told her.

"Why?"

"I think you have to ask Mr. Lockhart about it," Rupert told her.

"Xavier?"

"Yes."

Zarah left the place with her mind all over the place.

She was thinking about how to approach Xavier when they didn't have good impressions of each other.

***