CHAPTER FIVE

"I'm home!" Lisa announced as she walked in through the front door of her house.

"Welcome!" Jena greeted her. She was typing on her computer at the dining table.

They lived together in a two-bedroom apartment; whilst Jena was self-employed as a fashion designer, Lisa had just started her job as a secretary.

"Thank you! Is there anything to eat at home?" She flinged her bag on the couch and walked into the kitchen to get a chilled bottle of water from the fridge.

"Didn't you eat at the anniversary?" Jena followed behind her.

"Believe me. We literally ran out of the hall immediately after the closing speech." She downed the water in one go.

"Why?"

"My boss was avoiding someone. A woman his father wants him to marry."

"What!" Jena laughed.

"That's insane!"

"I'm telling you!"

"It's past the deadline for the signing of that contract you spoke to me about. How did you later go about it?"

"How did I go about it? I just left the envelope containing the file in his car. When the matter is brought up tomorrow morning, I think I'd just have to argue that I gave it to him." She sighed.

"That is a very lame idea, but that's exactly what I was going to advise you to do on the phone. It's the only possible way to go about this situation."

"We'll just have to see how it plays out tomorrow." Lisa nodded in agreement.

"It's almost 10pm." Jena remarked. "You should eat something and go to bed early so you can wake up on time tomorrow." She suggested. "Let me take your things inside for you."

"Ok." Lisa nodded and quickly set up a few sandwiches for her dinner.

"Lisa!" Jena ran out of Lisa's room with her phone in her hand. She was going to charge it for her, when she noticed the damaged screen. "What happened?" She displayed the phone to her.

"Ah! That!" She put down the bread in her hand.

"You see, it fell down from my hand in the office today. When we were talking on the phone."

"Ok, it's against your company's policy to make calls during working hours and you were still brave enough to defy it?" She laughed.

"I needed your opinion urgently at that time." She explained.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Get a new one. My boss has already seen it."

"He has?" She widened her eyes and shoved a seat beside Lisa. "Is he getting a new one for you?"

"I wish." She humphed. "He even said I should come to work tomorrow with a new phone."

"That is definitely not going to be possible." She shook her head. "You can take mine instead."

"I can?" Her eyes widened in astonishment.

"Yes you can." She took a piece of bread from Lisa's plate.

"You're really releasing your phone to me?" She could not believe her ears.

"Yes. What is there?" She chewed on the bread sloppily. "We're best friends after all."

"Thank you!" Lisa squealed.

"But..." She had a full smirk on her face.

"Wow! Look at that!" Lisa pointed to her face. "I knew something was fishy."

"That little get-together I told you of, that's happening tomorrow morning. I'm wearing that blue dress you recently bought. I've looked around and that's the only thing that'll match the event." She smiled.

"That's all? Nothing else?"

"Mhm!" She nodded.

"Ok. No problem."

"Great!" She clapped!

"Wait! What would have happened if I didn't need to make use of your phone?"

She smiled and picked up her computer to continue what she was doing. "I would have stolen it."

"Thief!"

"Thank you!"

"But can you function without your phone at that party?"

"Your dress is the main deal. Sophie is going with me tomorrow. Her phone is enough for us." Jena clarified.

"Ok." She yawned. "Goodnight then!"

The next morning, Lisa arrived at her place of work as early as she could. She didn't want their accountant to be the first thing she had to deal with that morning.

"Good morning!" Lisa received a warm and cordial greeting from the receptionist.

"Good morning!" She replied, then walked briskly to the access control point. After the access terminal read her card successfully, she swiftly slipped her card into her bag, glanced around to ensure no one was approaching, and hurried to the elevator.

She pressed the button, and only after she stepped inside and the doors closed behind her did she realise she was sharing the elevator with her boss and his personal assistant.

Memories from the previous night began to flood her brain.

"Good morning sir." She bowed to Mr Kim. "Good morning sir." She bowed to Mr Fred also.

"Mhm." Mr Kim hummed quietly.

There was an awkward silence in the elevator as the three of them were glancing around in a tensed manner, silently praying for the elevator to come to a halt.

As the elevator finally stopped on the 5th floor, the soft beep broke the uncomfortable silence and the three of them exhaled collectively and scrambled out of the elevator almost immediately.

"What a nice way to begin the day!" Lisa wheezed and hurried to her office.

About two hours later into the day, her office phone rang.

"Secretary Lisa? Come to my office right now!" Mr. Kim barked through the phone and cut the call before Lisa even had the chance to say anything.

She already knew what the matter was, so she went straight to his office without wasting time.

When she arrived at his door, she took a deep breath, braced herself for the outcome, and then knocked quietly.

"Come in!" Mr. Kim's voice resounded through the door.

As soon as she stepped into the office, her eyes locked onto their accountant, who was glaring at her with hostility. Mr. Kim's expression was equally unforgiving. She knew instantly that she was in trouble.

She made a barely audible sound to clear her throat. "You called for me sir."

"Kindly explain why I didn't receive the proposal for the contract that Accountant Azi here, asked you to give to me." He replied, trying everything in his power to not lose his cool.

This was harder than she thought. She had never been in a situation where she had to lie like her life depended on it.

"I gave them to you sir." She said, feigning a surprised look.

Mr. Kim threw his head back in astonishment and shared a long look with Mr. Fred.

"You did? How come I have no idea about this?" Mr Fred asked.

"When we were about to leave for the anniversary event yesterday, you asked what delayed me in the office. It was this proposal I was referring to and I handed it over to boss in the car." She lied wittily.

"I remember everything you just said except you handing over the document to Mr. Kim, Secretary Lisa."

"Accountant Azi was the one that came to me not too long ago for clarification on why I didn't get back to her, not knowing you did not even tell me about it! Do you know how much money this company has lost from losing that project?" Mr Kim asked.

"And she told me at the anniversary yesterday that she had given the documents to you." Accountant Azi added angrily.

"Well, she did not. Because if she did, I would have attended to it right away!"

"I really did give them to you sir." Lisa maintained.

"How can you keep saying that when Mr Fred and I can't even attest to it." He slammed the desk in front of him.

Sensing his anger, Mr Fred spoke up.

"Look here Secretary. What you have done is a very big blow to the progress of this company. We definitely did not receive any contract document from you. Our CFO and the project manager in charge of this contract together with Accountant Azi here, have worked carefully and dutifully in making this project become a reality.

Since you insist that you handed that document to us, there is only one place we can find it. We are hundred percent sure that the contract papers are not in our house so if I can't find it in the car it means you are lying to us. And if you are really lying to us, what it automatically means is that these last few minutes are your only minutes as a secretary in this company." He paused to let the weight of his word sink in. "Am I clear?"

"Yes sir." She nodded and he immediately set out for the documents in the car, leaving the three others in the office in a state of apprehension.

Few minutes later, he walked into the office with a brown envelope in his hand. "This is strange." He placed the file on Mr. Kim's table.

Mr. Kim was tongue tied after going through the contents of the envelope. He kept looking from Lisa to Fred in a repeated cycle.

"Shit!" He cursed inwardly. Who was going to believe that such business opportunity slipped away from his hand in the blink of an eye. Few minutes earlier, he was seriously waiting and ready to hand out Lisa's sack letter, but the unexpected plot twist was so great to be imagined.

Meanwhile, Lisa only felt a little remorseful because of the emotional damage it brought to her boss and his personal assistant. She recalled the annoyed look on their accountant's face when she walked into the office and she immediately felt a sudden pang of anger towards her.

'How dare she make her the bad guy when she was the one who had evil plans towards the company?' She thought to herself and eyed her discreetly.

"I guess the fault is from me then!" Mr. Kim sighed in frustration. He could still not wrap his head around the situation. There was no way Lisa would have given the documents to him and he wouldn't sign them right away. But the documents where in his car which only proved that she had indeed given it to them.

"It's okay sir. Other opportunities will definitely come by." Their accountant encouraged.

Lisa smiled inwardly. She definitely did not miss the pained expression in their accountant's eyes.

"I'm very sorry sir." She apologised to Mr. Kim. "I believe I am also partly to be blamed for not verifying from you to see if you had looked into the documents."

"No, you're not at fault at all. It's my mistake and not yours. No need to feel guilty. I apologise for the trouble we've caused you. You can return to your office now." He waved her off. "You too." He pointed to Accountant Azi.

"Yes sir." They both replied and walked away.

The rest of the day went by smoothly for Lisa. She felt more at ease than she was on the previous day, especially as some of the staff members added her in on their conversations which was mainly about their anniversary they had just celebrated.

By the time she got home at the end of the day, Jena was already asleep. She had worked overtime at the office, but it didn't bother her too much, as she had already prepared her mind for a time like this, just as her boss' PA had previously mentioned. Also, she believed that her boss was going to make them work extra hard to make up for their lost project.

She quickly fixed something to eat and went to bed after setting her alarm for the next day.

Lisa woke up early the next day, and prepared for work. She was not in a hurry unlike the day before, when she had to avoid her boss and his PA after their drunken encounter.

She filled Jena in on what happened at the office while she prepared for work, since she didn't have the time to tell her about it when she returned the previous day.

When she was set to leave, Jena dropped her off at her workplace and left for hers also.

"Good morning, Secretary Lisa!" The receptionist smiled.

"Morning!" She replied.

"How was your night?" She asked but didn't stop to hear her reply. She walked over to the access control point as usual, placed her card on the access terminal, and walked over to the elevator after her access was approved.

She hummed the last song that played in Jena's car while she was in the elevator and when she stepped out of the elevator, she began to sing the song aloud. She was in a very good mood and was vibing to the song until she got to her office door.

The door was standing ajar, which meant that someone was inside. She paused and then very cautiously, she peeped through the door to see who was able to have the key and access to her office.

"Come in!" Her boss ordered. He was resting on the desk when he caught sight of her head through the door.

She gave a slight cough and stepped inside.

"Good morning sir!" She greeted. "To what do I owe the honour of your visit to my office?" She smiled nervously.

"Secretary Lisa!" He called firmly.

"Yes sir." She replied

"Why did you lie to me about that contract document yesterday?" He glared at her.