Juni strode into the door way of his company that morning feeling quite anxious about the day, he didn't want to bother Carmen more with his problems after she had tried to make him feel better all weekend, everyday with her was magical and she just made the burden on his shoulder feel like wings.
With a fixed forced smile on his face, he made his way to the elevator , his thoughts centered on the young author who refused to reply his messages or return any of his calls, was she that embarrassed? He thought maybe he would go see her at the hotel to clear the air later after the review board meeting.
Right! The review board meeting was today, he quickly gripped his briefcase tighter if that was possible.
"Morning, Mr Cartel" A beaming Sammy greeted 'going up?" He added
"Always"he replied smiling at the 15 year old bell boy
".. Mr Cartel? "Sammy called out as the elevator hummed lightly
"Yeah..?" Juni replied
"Should I come see you in your office after the you board meeting?"
"See me in my office? "Juni asked quite confused
" Yeah, for the deal, two weeks is up, ya know"Sammy replied
" Oh right"Juni said slowly trying to remember the full details before something clicked with him
"Wait, how do you know there's a board meeting today?" Juni asked suddenly
"Well, it's on the notification board and I'm the bell boy who operated the elevator that got them up"Sammy replied like it should be obvious
" Wait? What?!. They are here already?Make this thing go faster" Juni said quickly
" It's an elevator.. Mr Cartel"Sammy said but just like on cue, the elevator door opened to Juni's floor
" I will see you later, Sammy" Juni said bounding out the door to his office
"Sure.. Mr Cartel" Sammy replied slowly looking at the man's retreating figure.
Juni walked down the hallway to his office where an uneasy Mark kept pacing around with his hand under his chin, he quickly walked up to Juni when he sighted him coming
"Morning, Boss" he said rather nervously
"Hey, Beyoncé's heard the board of directors are already her, am I late or are they early?" Juni asked as he stepped into his office removing his coat jacket and then hanged it on his chair
"They are early but then, there's something else that I find weird about it "Mark replied coming into the office too and closing the door
"What is that? 'Juni asked
"Well. How was your weekend? "Mark asked suddenly pretending not to hear his boss's question
Juni sighed "Tell me what it or get out of my office and go find out what the time for the meeting exactly "he threatened making his secretary chuckle nervously
"Glad you are back to your Cartel but really it is just suspicious that they are having a meeting with the branch manager first"
"OH and here was I thinking it's something serious, Beyoncé , she's probably just giving them the monthly report" Juni said sighing yet again
"But, the month is not even over yet and she goes to the headquarters to report not the other way around" Mark reminded him
"It's going to be all right, Beyoncé .what more can they do except me not getting promoted" Juni said shrugging it off
"Okay, if you say so, boss but I'm nervous nevertheless, aren't you?" Mark admitted then asked
Juni just smiled and get out instructions "Go get the time for the meeting"
"No coffee?" Mark asked on his way out
"I'm too nervous to drink any" Juni Cartel admitted smiling and Mark left the office without another word but with an understanding look on his face.
Juni strode down the 7th floor hallway to the main conference room where the highest ranking officials awaited him, with his fate unknown and his document folders in his hand, he passed by his branch manager's glass office who smiled and raised her cup of coffee to him as if to mock his apparent failure.
He took a deep breath as he placed his hand on the door handle and let it out as he squeezed the handle, like a zombie, he felt his leg move into the room then held his face up to meet the judging eyes of the officials.
The room was empty except for the long expensive glass table which had eight chairs on either side of it on the right side of it sat the four officials whose names he was familiar1, three men and a woman each with his or her own cup of coffee and standing right behind them was a young man with his note pad in his hands, probably to take the meeting notes
While on the left side of the table was reserved for just him. No one else to witness the start of his pyramid crumbling.
"Good morning, Mr. Juni Cartel, I'm Joe Brown and this are my colleagues from my left hand side seated are Jose Mildred, Houston Stone and Michelle Obama "The first man on from the left stated and the others smiled and went along with what he said before he added "and we are here to review your portfolio regarding your promotion, please take a seat"
Juni took the middle seat on the left side of the long table opposite the officials and placed his folder on the table before him, he could see the man at the back scribbling away on his notepad. The trial had begun.
"Before proceeding, we would like to commend your work over the years you have worked for us as an editor "The man who was introduced as Jose said smiling while the others just nodded
"Thank you sir" Juni replied courteously
"The portfolio review should start about now but..."The man continued but then paused for emphasis
The pause made Juni's Stomach churn in dread
"Was Mark right? Is something wrong?" Juni thought to himself
"There are a few issues that we would like to discuss first" The man added
"I would like it if you don't interrupt us till we are done "The woman commented as she adjusted her glasses then brought up a document to her face to read
"You were given a two weeks duration to sign a specific author, isn't it? "She asked
"Yes ma'am, it is" Juni replied
"Good, you are smart, I like that. Moving on "she stated
The man on the left said to be Houston cleared his throat before asking "And this author happened to be Angela Mandela, correct?"
"Yes sir" Juni replied quickly
"And what method did you employ to achieve this? "Joe asked
"Persuasion sir" Juni replied confused
"And you did not by any means, try to sexually harass and blackmail into it?" Houston inputted
"No sir, of course not" Juni replied hurriedly
"Well then, why has Miss Angela filed a law suit against the company for your actions which she claim was sexual harassment and blackmailing"
Like that, every rational thought Juni had flew out the door
"We are trying to reach a settlement with her but the board is yet to decide what to do with you exactly "The man continued not noticing the turmoil going on in Juni's mind
"She reported me for sexual harassment and black mail? Is this some kind of sick joke? "He thought but his thoughts were brought to a stop when Joe finally concluded
"The board has decided to let you go from the company so as not to further ruin our image so you will be given a week to tie up loose ends at the office and hand over to the new editor"
"Let me go? A week? Tie up loose ends? New editor? What the hell are these people saying? Juni was practically screaming in this mind
"Mr. Cartel...Mr Cartel!" Michelle almost yelled to snap him out of his thoughts as if they didn't just crush him
"No, this is not happening. I'm not getting fired over false accusations"
" Nooooooo " he screamed out as he banged his hands on the table rattling the coffee cups
"No, you can't do this to me, I didn't do anything wrong to her, I didn't ...no I can't get fired, I didn't do anything wrong" he kept muttering as if in a daze
"Mr. Cartel, as sorry as I am, We cannot condone your actions after there are so many people supporting this claim, her manager refuses any other settlement than getting you fired or tarnishing the company's image, we are letting you go quietly though with a severance pay" Houston said
"A severance pay?" Juni muttered his voice breaking
"Yes" Jose replied with a Straight face
"I didn't do anything wrong" Juni muttered "I didn't fucking do anything wrong" he yelled standing up and watched as the officials started packing up their notes
"We are so sorry, Mr Cartel but next time, you should be careful of the way you approach people" Joe said
"The meeting is over and your termination letter has already been sent to your email, Goodbye Mr. Juni Cartel" Jose stated
"Where the hell do you expect me to go?!,this is my damn fuckinggg career people,please..please don't do this!!!!"Juni pleaded, his voice breaking as the officials packed up their documents and filed out the office, shaking their heads muttering between themselves
At the corner, Juni saw the man taking notes stop scribbling and left the room shaking his head.
Juni stood there agape, not knowing what to do as he picked up his folder on the table and in a second, he had flung it across the room, the contents scattering on the floor yelling "NOOOOOOOO"
He slide to seat on the floor of the room with his back against the wall, and his head in his hands, the tears couldn't stop falling.