Old Wounds and New

Ava had gotten ready for her first day, wearing a beautiful white button-up shirt with black palazzo pants, she was a vision. Her hair in a beautiful bun, she did a no-makeup look which consisted of a soft nude look and a light peachy blush. For her 

lips she had worn a clear gloss merged with a soft dusty rose nude lip stain. 

Her feet were caged in beautiful black flat pumps. As she walked the halls of Helix with a grace that only she possessed.

The first interaction she had was with Noah. She had a weird impression of him. He was a positive character or a negative one, she didn't know. She couldn't decide as well. Who was he even? And why did Kate say he was the CEO of Helix Corp? To her all those questions seemed impossible.

"Good Morning Mr. Richardson" she greeted him with a smile.

"Morning Ava, great to see you" he said her first name which was a bit weird but nice too.

She felt a bit nervous in his presence, not knowing why she responded "good to see you too, any chance you know where I could find the HR manager?"

"Yeah, wait a moment" he said and called someone, "Yes Martha, could you help Miss Ava get to the HR, she's gonna be at the reception shortly"

"You remember the reception desk right?" "I do" she replied.

"Okay, go there and Martha will guide you, I gotta go somewhere" he said smiling courteously.

"Thanks Sir, Goodbye"

"Oh we don't do that here" he chuckled. 

"Thanks?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sir" he said again. 

"You can call me Noah or anything you want" his courteous smile turned into a genuine one for a split second.

"Alright, Goodbye Mr. Richardson" she smiled with a tone of cheekiness.

"Bye, work hard!" He said as he turned to go.

'She wondered why he was so sweet and kind. Probably he treated all his employees the same way. But who was he, and where is my father?'

She had to wait a day or two in order to get the details from this "work family" she now had. 

________

Fiona was coming back from Helix, as she realized she had left her purse in the office. Ava's nanny had called to tell her she seemed to be unwell and had vomited twice. She came back home in a hurry.

Ava had gotten paler than the last time she saw her. She seemed very weak. She immediately got her ready and took her to the doctor. She had to call Michael in order to get her cards because she had left her purse there.

As she called, and told Martha to transfer the call to Michael. She did, and apparently, the receiver was lying on the side of his desk, separated from the telephone. 

Someone had visited him. Fiona was calling out his name but only heard muffled voices of conversation. After a few seconds, the voices cleared up.

"I have been doing everything to protect this deal, and I won't let you or anyone spoil it now. The future of my company depends on it."

"Michael I understand this business is everything to you, but you shouldn't make a decision so early on for your daughter. She's just four and a half. In future, things might be different for this company and you might not need to make this deal at all." It was Jim, their closest friend, who was explaining that to Michael.

"You don't understand this business Jim, Cameron's deal is the only way I can save it, he already has 15% shares in our company, this way I can be a part of his company too and we can create something amazing together. His son, Jake, is also such a nice boy. He will keep our Ava happy. Besides, I have already discussed it with him, there's no going back now." He seemed stern. Fiona was in shock. Her lips parted in the manner of a gasp. She didn't know Michael at all.

She cut the call, went and chugged down a glass of water.

She had to be strong for now, she will deal with Michael later.

Taking a deep breath in she called their family doctor to come over to their house instead. Ava was also sleeping and it was difficult taking her all the way to a hospital.

_________

It was almost evening, they were all gathered and told their respective tasks and began working on their computers. She made a few acquaintances, however there was no sign of her father.

A girl named Reed, was working alongside her. Right next to her desk, she had her work station. She had been working here for almost two weeks but regardless of that, she seemed to know a lot about the company. Apparently her aunt also worked in the marketing dept. 

Ava was a bit nervous, maybe it isnt right to get some gossip out of her the first day. But she tried being subtle. 

"Hey Reed, i have a question" she asked politely.

"Shoot" Reed was a fun and smiley girl. Always ready to have a nice little chat, or two.

"From what I have heard, the CEO of this company was Michael Thompson, then why is Noah Richardson the current CEO?"

"Oh, basically Michael Sir is gravely ill. It doesn't seem like he would make it. Noah is the first son of his current wife and Michael Sir considers him like family. Plus he has amazing business skills…."

Reed was blabbering about some more things but Ava's world was stuck at a phrase. 'He was gravely ill'. Why didn't her mom tell her? Did mom even know herself?

Ava's mind was freezing, her heartbeat fastened. She could feel the sweat creeping up in her palms. It meant that the nightmares she was having about her father, could be somewhat true. It's true she never had him in her life, but she didn't wanna lose the idea of him completely. 

She was here to get closure, possibly revenge from her father for leaving her so alone for so many years. And now, she didn't know how to feel about anything at all. She wanted to scream, to cry, but she couldn't even gasp on the news. Her eyes were wide opened. Reed was still saying something. Which she wasn't hearing.

"Excuse me, I need to use the restroom" she said and got up running towards any door she found. 

'Weird girl! the restroom isn't even that way.' Reed had thought to herself before she resumed her work, this gossip had taken too much of her time.

_________

Ava entered an empty conference room and closed the doors behind her. Closing her eyes she laid back on the door she had closed. Her mind running through a maze of it's own. Questions and questions with no one to answer. How was her father? Can she see him? Would mother be okay if she did? 

She was breathing crazily, her eyes were closed, so were the lights of the conference room she was in. She stayed in her state for a few minutes, before opening her eyes to the dark. The nightmare of her father dying was playing in front of her eyes in the light of the day now. She had no power over her mind to stop it. She wanted to scream, to fight off her thoughts.

She didn't want him to go. She wanted answers, she wanted to be loved by him for a bit, she wanted a normal family for once.

Her best friends would always tell her random stories about their families and she would wonder how it feels. The warmth of the breakfast table as a family starts their day off together. The movie nights, Christmas eve's. Thanksgiving dinners. She never had any of that. Her mother would give her a present on Christmas, on Thanksgiving she would bake her a Turkey and they would eat together in silence.

For the sake of her own grief of leaving Michael, her mother had forgotten her too. 

As she was crying her eyes out, silently with soft whimpers here and there. Someone turned on the lights. It was Noah. He was already sitting on one of the conference chairs. From the looks of it, he was sleeping. Or maybe he was hiding away from something as well. 

Hearing someone's whimpers, he had turned on the lights from a remote.

"Ava, are you alright?" he asked, getting up from his seat to come see her. She wiped off her tears immediately, she hated crying in front of anyone. 

"I'm sorry I didn't see you there" she spoke, her voice carrying the lingering effect of the tears she had just shed.

"Don't be. Here" he gave her tissues to wipe her tears off properly. She silently took them.

"I'll be on my way" she said. "Wait" he replied putting his hand forward as she motioned to leave.

Stopping, she looked at him with her eyes filled with tears. She had doe eyes, he had noticed now as he held her eyes in his gaze. 

"Are you overwhelmed by the environment, or is it something else?" he asked politely.

"It's nothing, it was just a family matter. I am okay now." she replied looking down instead of holding an eye-contact with him any longer. 

"If you ever need to discuss something you can. Don't think of me as the CEO or something." he told her.

"If I ever require, I will. I am okay for now." she replied a bit sternly.

After that she excused herself and went out of the room to find a restroom in order to fix herself up.

_______