Cindy abruptly sat up straight making Lucy jump up.
Cindy: Oh, I'm so sorry! Did I scare you?
Lucy: Oh no, it's fine. Are you okay though?
Hearing her kind words Cindy felt touched after all the weird stares from everyone else.
Cindy: I'm fine... just a bit tired.
Lucy: I understand, the workload is too much currently.
Cindy: Yeah, I—
Their conversation got interrupted when Cindy's phone rang.
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Melissa quickly dressed up in a formalwear and prepared herself. She looked in the mirror, her eyes were determined but there was still fear; fear of losing the closed one. She put on a red bold lipstick and took a deep breath, "You can do this".
As soon as she reached the company, Peter was waiting for her at the front gate. Peter walked to her and in low voice asked, "Are you Miss Melissa Davis?"
Melissa nodded, "And you are?"
Peter: I'm Peter Hannigan, President's assistant. Nice to meet you.
Melissa: Nice to meet you too, Mr.Hannigan.
Peter: Our chief editor and President is waiting in the conference room, I'll take you there.
Melissa: Thank you.
Peter: No problem.
Even though she was confident at first, now all she could think about is what if they all failed. Every passing minutes was leading her to the doom. She walked through the glass door and saw Alex and Mark discussing something. She greeted them professionally and took a seat.
Alex wrote down something on a piece of paper and passed it to her, "Tell us something about yourself", he asked to make it sound like an interview.
Melissa quickly read the note where it was written, 'Are you being traced right now?' She took a pen and wrote yes and passed it to Alex.
Melissa: I'm Melissa Davis and I teach history in Sunrise Elementary school. I am 26 years old and already completed my Masters.
While Melissa introduced herself, Alex wrote down, 'How is he doing it?' and passed it to her. She quickly wrote down, 'He put a device in my purse which can also track my location'. Alex nodded and passed her the paper where he wrote down the plan beforehand.
Alex: This is our President Mr. Mark Shepherd, he liked your article so much he decided to talk to you in person.
While looking through the plan, Melissa replied, "Thank you so much, it means a lot".
Alex passed another paper where it was written 'PLAN B', "We had to do some editing, we'd like you to read the final version and let us know if you like it". As she kept reading her eyes got calmer and teary, "This is excellent, thank you so much". Mark smiled, "you've done an excellent work". She gestured Alex that she was thankful for what he is doing for her.
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Matthew: Did you pack your bags?
Cindy raised an eyebrow, "Boss agreed?"
Matthew: No.
Cindy: ...Then why should I pack?
Matthew: tomorrow is weekend. You can return on Tuesday, later, just tell him that you were sick .
Cindy: Ok... when are we leaving?
Matthew: 7 pm tonight.
Cindy: we just have 5hours!!
Matthew: I'll send Aunt Rhodey at your place to pack up everything.
Cindy: ...
Matthew: See ya!
***