"I can't believe this!"
Multiple heads shook in disbelief.
"You are a disappointment!"
"Such a waste of time!"
"Really a dissapointment!"
"A disappointment to our organisation!"
"A disappointment to himself!"
"The society is disappointed in you!"
With the way the word 'disappointment' was being frequently used, you would think it's a newly invented word.
If the contest of word repitition was to be organised with each mentioned word earning a hundred dollars, each of this men will be going home with at least a million dollars in their pockets.
This is due to the amount of times the word 'disappointment' has been used constantly on a roll.
Yet, a single person stood before them, dumbfounded at the whole situation, or why these old gentlemen were competimg at who could say the word 'disappointment' best.
In fact, this fellow's gaze was on the two blue butterfly flying around the hall as they held tightly onto each other.
'Flying?' He thought. 'I think they're fighting, or is it their way of mating? But they both look the same. Male and female shouldn't look similar. Or are they gay…'
His investigation into nature was momentarily interrupted when a certain door opened, and an old gentleman in suit entered with two military men by his side.
This was the acting chairman of the organisation; a person of Andy Griffith.
"Ahem…" Andy cleared his throat as he signified for the conduction of the meeting.
Kael Darkhaven, a decorated soldier, stood before the board of directors, his mind racing with thoughts as to why he was summoned for this meeting.
His only guess was maybe they had a special assignment to give him, or maybe…
'Am I being promoted! To be among the board of directors!"
This was the only position left, since he had been promoted to the highest position the CIPA could ever offer. And that was being the chief of security officer (CSO).
For the past twenty years, he had served as an agent in the Central intelligence private agency. And due to his hard work, he had rose quickly into the position of a CSO.
Then perhaps the agency had decided to promote him once again, to the board of directors.
Funny…
Such a dumbass thinking…
Unaware that this would be his last day in the organisation, he was only thinking of being promoted.
Right, it's good to think of something positive… since like a wise man once said, always think of positive things.
Oh sorry, the wise man wasn't actually wise, he said this when he was about to be hanged. Thinking if he thought about not dying, he won't die. And guess what? He died!
'Or maybe we're here to talk about this disappointment of a person, everyone is talking about. I'm curious to know who he is.' Kael thought before his gaze travelled towards the two butterflies again who seemed to be pinning themselves to the glass window of the hall.
"Un…" Kael muttered.
Moreover, the meeting had started. But the initial approach towards Kael wasn't what he was expecting.
"Early this morning." Andy started. "We discovered that a huge sum of money was stolen from the company's account. It was a sum of 300 billion dollars. After our findings and trackings, we discovered that the money was stolen by one of our members. And the person turns out to be you!"
The whole hall echoed with the word 'you' and the distracted Kael suddenly looked up, noticing the staring eyes of everyone at him.
Letting out a nervous chuckle, he asked. "Wait, Me?" The answer was obvious as everyone's gaze was on him.
Yet, it felt so unreal to Kael, he imagined they must be joking or something. "Wait, you guys didn't actually think I was the one, do you?" He asked again.
The grim expression on everyone's faces showed that there wasn't any conviction. They all believed it was him.
That was when it dawned on Kael, the frequent mentions of disappointment was indirectly aimed at him. None of the men had mentioned his name so he thought they were talking about a different person.
And since they had all came for the meeting, he thought that sooner or later, the information about this 'disappointment' everyone was talking about, will be revealed.
Turns out he was the very person they were all talking about. But Kael knew he wasn't the one behind the embezzlement, why will he embezzle such a huge amount of fund, and still be at the company.
Besides, if he was to do something like that, he wouldn't transfer such an amount into his account. The more Kael thought about, the more this whole mess smells fishy to him.
"Guys, I've been working with the agency for a long time. How do you think I would be involved with something like that?" He tried to argue and defend himself.
"That fact alone is enough to believe you're involved in the crime. You've not just been with the agency for a long time, you're also the highest ranking officer. So you have access to many places in the agency." One of the board members said.
"Is that enough evidence to conclude that I stole the agency's money?" He retorted.
"Don't get us wrong agent Kael, we have enough evidence against you, including the fact that you're owing one of our past agents a debt of ten thousand dollars. I heard you need to pay your debt this month, so maybe embezzling the agency's money was your best option." Another member said, causing a smirk to appear on Kael's face.
"Really? You're now using my personal life to assume that I'm a thief." Kael said. "Yet you know I needed that money to take care of my daughter's hospital bills. I approached each and every one of you, but none of you were able to offer an assistance whatsoever. Now you're using the fact that I needed money against me? Because of what?"
"Kael, this is not the matter of your daughter's hospital bills. All the evidence we have are all pointing to you. And no matter how much you deny this, it can't change the fact that you're guilty." Andy claimed, a cheeky smile hidden behind his reply.
"Does that also stop me from investigating the matter myself?" Kael said with his head down.
"You're the prime suspect of the crime, so yes, you can't investigate. We fear you might tamper with the evidence, or try to frame someone else instead."
Accused of embezzlement and misconduct, Kael had to protest, "But I didn't steal from the company, I know I'm being framed. I didn't receive any alert because my phone got lost. But with what just happened, I'm sure it was stolen by someone among you."
The board members shared gazes with each other, as they think of what was just said by Kael.
"Kael, I've told you several times, the evidence against you is high and insurmountable." Andy said, unfazed by the board members' frightful actions.
He signalled to one of the two soldiers who had brought a brown envelope with Kael's phone in it.
"Your phone was found in your room this morning, yet you claimed to not have seen it. Doesn't this add to the fact that you are indeed behind the embezzlement." Andy said, sneering at him.
"Do you have the footage of when you found my phone this morning!" Kael shouted, his voice laced with anger. "I know what you're trying to do Andy. You're trying to make your cousin take up my position, and since two moons can't be under one sky, you had to eliminate one. Isn't it?"
Andy smirked as he thought within himself. 'At least you're sensible enough to have realised that. Perhaps framing you was pushing it a little too far, I could've just sent you on a suicide mission. But I heard you've always survived every mission so far, no matter how suicidal it is. Then I came up with this, I need enough reason to send you away so you won't be coming back to the agency again.'
The rest of board couldn't help but exchange looks with each other as they listened to Kael's accusations towards Andy. Yet, despite it, Andy hadn't said a word, neither did he reply to his accusations. Instead he continued with his speech.
"Now here's my verdict," Andy said. "As the head of director and the current acting chairman of the CIPA. I announce that the agent; Kael Darkhaven, be terminated from the agency for the embezzlement and misconduct of the company's fund."
"This is a lesser punishment, considering your sacrifices for the company for the past 20 years. Now go on, pack your things and leave immediately! You have been stripped of your rank and position, which means you no longer have any power." Andy said as the meeting ended, and the two military men had escorted Kael outside.
As Kael left the hall, he couldn't help but look back at Andy who had a mixed expression of a smirk and smile on his face.
He was sure of it, Andy was definitely behind it. And since he was the chairman, none of the board members could stand up to say the truth. They all watched as he was falsely charged with the crime he didn't commit.
Kael only had one thing to say to Andy before leaving. "Till we meet again…" he said, to which Andy had scoffed at.
Before leaving, Kael visited a junior officer in the agency, one he had treated like his own brother for a long time; Alex. Too bad he won't be here anymore, he wished to witness him become a general like him.
"Alex, don't let others bring you down," Kael advised. "Be strong, smart and better than me."
Unbeknownst to Kael, Alex was one of those who planned his downfall.
As he left the organisation, his fellow soldiers couldn't help but feel sad and upset about what happened. Many had been with Kael for a long time, but for him to embezzle the company's money, most of them didn't believe he would do that. But there are those who believed that he was capable of doing so.
Still Kael didn't care about what anyone thinks or what they say about him, instead he decided to leave the company, hoping to investigate the matter himself. Then after obtaining enough evidence, he will report the matter to the original founder of the agency.