Edmund POV
"Albert, can we talk?" Albert walks closer into the seat opposite me over my desk.
"Yes, Edmund. We can, what's the issue?" He smiles at me, he always looks indifferent even in a serious case like this.
"I'm so burdened by the loss of that lady, you said her name is what?" My voice gets cracked, I'm about to weep but I can't just throw up my emotion in front of my cousin, that's not how a soldier like me should behave. I need to be strong.
"Her name is Lucy." He snapped.
"Don't you think we should try to contact her?"
"But she left everything here in her office, this' her phone." He raised the phone in his hand. "How are we gonna contact her?"
"Let's try the contacts in here, perhaps there might be someone on her contact list that might know about her whereabouts. It's a day after she left, I need to personally find her and bring her back." My heart is fully determined to do this.
"Do you love her? Since yesterday, you've been so worried. I think you haven't even eaten well because of this lady. She's gone and she might never come back. She was so hardworking while you were away, she was in fact the best staff here."
"What a fuck!" I can't just understand why I'd have to face this ill luck on my first day of resumption in my company. "It's so bad to lose the person that had been the best in my organization." My heart gets broken as I hear this, I can't imagine what a fuck I should be losing this pretty woman that both captured my interest and also did her best here. I never believed I could fall in love until I set my eyes on her. Losing Lucy is a great misfortune, I have never fallen in love until now, I don't know if I'd get over this.
The search for Lucy began, Albert under my order mobilized people for this purpose. I just hope she'd be found and brought back. I've forgiven her and gotta have her fully back. Since she left, I've noticed that I can't feed nor sleep well. It's been three days now. Her image continues to haunt me.
My depression is getting stronger, more than I've been experiencing. "You need to find her, else I wouldn't be at rest." I remember telling Albert when I called him the first day the search for Lucy began. All the numbers on her mobile phone were dialed but we failed to have anyone that knew where she was currently, all of them told us they didn't hear from her either. At first I thought they were lying until my mind was taken aback by the fact that she didn't take her phone with her, hence couldn't communicate with them.
After a week and Lucy hasn't been found, I called for a private meeting with Albert. "We need to find a new researcher to replace Lucy, who do you think we should choose?" I asked him, being that he had been the one handling my company when I was still in the Academy and knows much about each staff.
"I have two options, Emma and Edwina. Emma was the assistant to Lucy while Edwina in a clerical staff in the editorial department but she has great knowledge in research, she studied Research development and management and has a degree in it."
Albert stares at me like he wants me to choose one of them to take Lucy's place. "It'd be your duty to choose which would be best. I don't know much about them since I just resumed. What about the assistant, wouldn't she do well just like Lucy?"
"No, she isn't. I discovered recently that it was Lucy that helped her with most of her assignments though it was a secret. Edwina is better, she's more diligent."
"Well let's go with her." I have to settle with Edwina since she's the one recommended. "When would she resume her work as a researcher?"
"She has to be notified first of all, let's give her four days ahead to prepare for her new position. I think it will be next week till she resumes, for now let Emma handle the position. I'll send her a notification mail later today."
"Alright, good!" Since it's my cousin making these decisions, I totally stand by it, he has always been honest and trustworthy. I would personally make sure I continue my search for Lucy even though she's replaced. I can't lose her just like that.
The day Edwina was scheduled to resume work came in a jiffy. I felt sad that it was not the lady my heart is always earnest to set eyes on once again. Edwina is tall, slender and pretty but Lucy is the best, a beauty I hardly see. I now regret taking things too fast with her, if I had not gone so fast in declaring my interest in her, I wouldn't have provoked her and she'd still be working for me.
Edwina walks into my office on her first day as a researcher in my company, she's dressed in a short tight skirt, skinny white shirt and a pair of high heel shoes. Rather than being professional, she's looking sexy like she's come to seduce rather than to work.
"Good morning sir, I'm Edwina, your new researcher." She introduces herself in a tone as sexy as the way she looks, her brown eyes glancing up and down at me like she's trying to figure out my reaction towards her. Her smile is sweet and reveals a set of clean white teeth, pink gums and red glossy lips.
"Don't you think your appearance is too sexy for an office job like this? I think this' inappropriate, please dress well from tomorrow." I cautioned in a serious tone with a stern look on my face. From the way she approaches me I can sense her true intention is to seduce me or make me fall for her, she must have heard the details of my case with Lucy.
I watched as her radiant brown eyes grew dim with frustration, sure this' not what she was expecting. She thought I would fall for her tactics.
Edwina performed her duty to my satisfaction on her first day, she proved diligent, honest and dedicated. I think she's the perfect replica of Lucy, though not in my heart. In my heart, Lucy remains irreplaceable.
My warnings did no good as she appeared in a similar outfit the next day. Today's own is worse, Edwina approaches in another tight skirt which is just midway above her knees and a shirt that slightly exposes her cleavage. What a naughty and seductive woman! "What're you trying to do, Edwina?"
"What sir, is there anything wrong with my outfit?" She pretends to be ignorant of what she's trying to do. I smirk.
"Do you think I don't know what you're trying to do?"
"I'm doing nothing wrong," she stretches out her hands under the pretense of innocence. "Or will you take me as one? I'll be very glad." Edwina asks in her sweet seductive voice, which for the first time is getting me crazy.