The wind howled relentlessly outside the window, whipping the snow into a frenzy that obscured all visibility. Inside, Gabby stared at her phone. She had tried calling her assistant, but due to the poor service situation, she had given up. She sighed and tossed her phone away, only to be startled by the ringing sounds emanating from it. She rushed to answer it, almost falling off the bed in the process.
"Hello?" Gabby answered, her voice tensed with anticipation. She had been away from her post for a long time, without any means of contact, and that had left her on edge.
"It's Stephanie," her personal assistant's voice cracked over the line.
"I know, Steph. Any problem?"
"Yes, there is. I have some bad news."
Gabby's heart sank. She had been stuck in this city for just two days. She had fears of what the situation back in New York would have been, but she had tried hoping for the best, wishing that luck would smile on her this time around. Who was she kidding? Her greatest fear had already caught up with her.
"It's worse than you think, Gabby. There's a mole within the company. They've sold out our project to our competitors."
As Stephanie relayed the shocking news of a mole within the team, Gabby was not so shocked by the news. She had come to terms with the fact that not all things would work in your favor, especially when you are successful. There would definitely be people who would try to kill your joy, using you as a stepping stone to achieve their success and promote your downfall.
"How can someone betray us like this? We have poured our hearts and souls into that project, working tirelessly to bring our vision to life. And now, it's just unraveling before our eyes?" Stephanie demanded. Gabby could feel her frustration mounting with each passing second.
She could understand Stephanie's anger because they had both worked ceaselessly and tirelessly to achieve a good result, and this sad news just made it seem like all their efforts were for naught.
"Be calm, Stephanie," she consoled. "I don't lose in a game I created. Minions sculpted by my hands are all under my control. I just need to rewrite some codes, press some buttons, and everything will fall into place. This is not beyond me. They have drawn the battle line. They should be absolutely prepared to fall at the strike of my sword."
"Stephanie, that's not all. Some of our major stakeholders are planning to pull out. They've lost faith in the project."
Gabby scoffed. "Brainless, spineless, ungrateful creatures. They have never approved of anything, nor did they contribute to anything. And they want to pull out? Steph, get down to business now. I hate it when people think they can sit on my kindness and ride on my intelligence. Get me a list of all stakeholders, all advisors, in fact, everyone involved in this one way or another. I will not let myself be joked with."
"On it. What are you going to do about this, Gabby?"
"How is the situation over there? Any possibility for you to get here sooner than later? Because the situation is escalating beyond my control, and I need you to take charge and act fast. People are getting anxious, and with your absence, it's worse than you can think. So any hope of seeing you soon?"
"No, not at all in this bloody weather. I survived severe plane turbulence; I would definitely risk it again to take care of this mess. No human is going to wake up one morning and decide to tear down what I have suffered for years to build."
"You were in what? Are you okay? Why did you not call me to relay such huge information? Why do you never take care of yourself? Were you ever planning on telling me about this?"
"Steph, it's not a big deal; it's now a thing of the past."
"I don't understand you. What do you mean by a thing of the past? Why are you being so flippant about this? Is it until your remains are being picked across the ocean that you are going to know how important you are, or how careful you are meant to be?"
"In fact, you are going to stay there until the storm is finally over. This evil over here be damned. I will fight them with all my power and get a hold of the situation."
Gabby laughed at that.
"You are laughing," Stephanie questioned in bewilderment. "What's funny, Gabby? You could have died. It's like you don't understand the severity of what could have happened, and here you are laughing?"
"Come to think of it, you had no intention of telling me either that you were almost in a plane crash, Gabby," Stephanie ranted angrily.
"Come on, Steph. I did not tell you because I didn't want to get you all worked up for nothing," Gabby explained.
"That's bullshit, Gabby. You could have died," she said, emphasizing more on the last part.
"But I didn't. Did I?"
Gabby sighed and said, "Stop worrying, Steph. I understand your concerns; that's why I didn't tell you in the first place."
"Henceforth, I promise to report all of my daily activity to you. Satisfied?" she asked.
"You promise," Stephanie questioned, to be sure.
"I promise. I even cross my fingers and hope to fly to the moon," Gabby joked.
"Fool," Stephanie called Gabby, laughing at her silly comment.
"Have you spoken to Stacy recently?"
"Not really, but I got a text message from her the other day," Gabby responded.
"Is everything fine?"
"Yeah, I think. She kind of ignored me the other day at work," she paused. "Don't worry; maybe I'm making a big deal out of it. She's always nicer to you."
"Come on, Steph," Gabby groaned. "Stacy is a nice girl, sometimes overly bubbly, but she's nice."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,"
Gabby smiled. She valued her friendship with Stephanie. She was someone she trusted, and maybe Stacy too. They had been there with her from the beginning. Gabby sighed; she wished she was back at her place, on her bed with nothing to stress about.
"What's the sigh about, Gabby?" Steph questioned. "Don't worry much about the situation back here; I will try my best to flush out that parasitic demon who is bent on destroying all our hard work."
"Thank you, Steph. Be safe."
"And you too, Gabs," she replied.
They ended the call. Gabby felt lonely at that moment. That popular saying was true: "A person's importance or love is felt more in the person's absence."