Azul raised his eyebrow, his anger and irritation somehow exceeded what he thought was his boiling point.
"Oh? And how do you remember it?"
Elora pulled her luscious golden locks forward and smoothed them out, a look of nonchalance on her face.
"Sierra was flirting with you a lot when I went over to your desk. I saw her whisper something in your ear and then 'spill' coffee on herself," Elora put air quotes around the word – spill.
"That's not what happened at all."
"Sierra didn't pour coffee on herself for you two to have an excuse to go to the bathroom together? A picture says a thousand words. We can all see what you two did."
Azul scoffed. "A picture says a thousand words, but are any of those necessarily the truth? A bad angle can make things look different."
With raised eyebrows and a pursed lip, Elora shrugged.
"Everyone seems to be under the same consensus….of course only the two involved aren't."
The other co-workers nodded their heads in agreeance.
Azul pointed angrily to the photo, "If that's what we were doing, my head would be much lower!"
Elora put up her hands defensively, "Azul, Azul, calm down. I don't care that much if you guys want to do that, it's your relationship. Just keep it out of the office, okay? This is a shared space….I know you're embarrassed about it but the best thing we can do is move on from this. Just don't do it again."
Firing her right then and there was all he wanted to do in that moment, but he knew he couldn't. Their harassment towards Sira was bad, but he didn't know it could be this bad.
Having an employee that would willingly risk another employee's safety and wellbeing was not what he was looking for to have on his team.
However, the picture WAS damning and everyone believed it was as Elora said. There was no way he could fire her without blowing his cover.
Even if he did expose himself as the CEO of the company and dismissed her from their team, he would look bias.
As he stood there considering how best to handle the situation, Sira exited the boss' office, her head hanging low and her cheeks red.
"Azul, please come into my office." He demanded.
Azul confidently strode into the room, his eyes glancing at Sira's tear stricken face as they passed each other.
'Tch. I'll figure out a way to deal with them, don't you worry Sira….' He thought to himself as the door closed behind him.
The male who seemed to be a little older than Azul motioned for him to sit down as he straightened his tie.
"I assume you know what this is regarding, Mr. Grant?" He said, his tone serious as they both took their seats across from another.
"The rumor going around the office that Sierra and I were behaving unprofessionally in the bathroom. Correct?"
Azul leaned back in his seat, his leg crossed over his thigh as he raised his eyebrow.
The boss took note of the challenging demeaner Azul was displaying and cocked his head to the side while holding his gaze, electric surges of tension pulsing between them.
"Mr. Grant, might I remind you who is in charge here? Please act appropriately in the office. Now, I'd like to ask your version of events."
While Azul was explaining, he made a mental note of this man, Tessrin Louts, whom he'd selected to fill this position.
Part of him liked that he didn't back down from him, but another part was irritated that he didn't see the truth of the situation. Azul would have to sort out his feelings about it later.
"That photo was just taken at a bad angle. We even bought soothing medication on the way back. Even if that part of the rumor were true – that she spilled coffee on herself as an excuse – her skin would be too sensitive for something like that."
"I'm aware. She showed me her skin and the burns. However, this is a serious accusation and is a situation that has disrupted the working environment of the office. I have to look into everything diligently and hear from all parties before taking any actions or making any decisions."
He looked down at his paperwork and began writing a few things down before glancing back up, "You may go."
After Azul exited his office, he walked back to his cubicle. Sira was sitting there, her back facing him, her face right up to her computer, sniveling quietly.
More than anything, he wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, but he knew that may just make the situation worse.
Instead, he pulled his phone out and sent her a text telling her it would be alright and not to worry so much about it.
He heard her phone go off and saw its screen light up, but she didn't even glance at it.
After a few minutes, everyone in the office received an alert on their computers. It was a message from their boss.
'Good evening faithful employees,
It has come to my attention that a photo has spread throughout the office along with a rumor about two fellow employees. The spreading of such photographs is not permissible in this office and action will be taken against those who do as such. Please refrain from the spreading of rumors about fellow employees as well.
Any incidents that are deemed inappropriate or against professional conduct should be reported to superiors directly. Employees should NOT handle these issues themselves.
It should also be noted that any inappropriate activities should be saved for outside office hours.
Let's continue to make this workplace a productive one and focus on our work instead of trivial matters. Keep up the hard work and let our office prosper.
Tessrin Louts, Team Lead'
Azul could overhear some of the employees whispering, "So…does that mean Elora lied? Or…were they really doing that in the bathroom?"
"I think it's better not to talk about it….either way there shouldn't be things like that happened again."
Azul smirked, "Clever…."