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“Here’s your coffee,” Alex walked into the PR department with coffee for everyone, even Amber. Amber has joined the group with other ladies and was now above Alex in the unspoken hierarchy.

“Thank you...” Jennifer thanked Alex.

Alex nodded with a smile before moving forward. Jennifer was the only one who never asked Alex of anything or tormented him in any way. In return, Alex did everything for her on his own accord while he toiled for others.

A week had passed since he had gotten back to the PR department and become the errand boy for Hazel, Ellaine and others again. The storm of scandals that hit Theation had calmed down, and everything was slowly getting back to normal.

“Hey cutie, Karen was looking for you. You should go see her,” Hazel took the coffee from Alex and told him.

“Me?” Why is she asking for me?” Alex asked as he placed all the cups in front of her and sat on her desk. Long used to the weird names they use to address him with Alex just brushed that off.

.....

“I think you are going to get fired. I heard that Daniel was not very pleased with your performance there.” Hazel told him, trying to scare the poor boy.

“Is that so. Oh well, what can I do?” But contrary to her expectations, Alex shrugged, hearing the news. Firstly, he did not believe her and secondly, he himself was looking for an opportunity to place the idea of resigning.

“Huh...?” Hazel didn’t expect that.

“I should see what it is,” lightly smacking the desk, Alex got off her table and made his way towards Karen’s office.

“You called for me?” Alex peeked inside and found Karen working, like always. The other ladies in the PR department would occasionally gather around, bitching about those from the other department. But Karen was always behind this ten by ten glass cubicle of hers, all by herself.

“Yeah, come. I have something to talk about,” Karen averted her eyes from the monitor and asked Alex.

As he took the seat, Alex asked, “So what is it? You have decided on what you are going to wish for?”

“Why are you so stuck on the wish thingy? I will ask for it when I want to. Today, it’s about something else,” Karen told Alex, “With all that had happened over the past few days, things have finally started to settle.” Karen started.

“With all these matters coming to an end, we finally got some breather for ourselves. So yesterday we had a meeting. Jessica was also there, and the agenda of the meeting was to discuss how the company would reward everyone involved,” Karen slowly got to the point.

Alex nodded, understanding what she was talking about. This scandal helped Theation come out on top. They managed to increase their fan base as a whole because of the constant efforts from the PR department. The legal department, on the other hand, chose not to settle things out of court and was successful in making a great deal out of it all, both financially and publically. Overall, one might suspect that it was a PR drill by Theation looking at the outcome.

“So, we all came to a decision. I won’t tell you what it is, but let me tell you, it’s not just a pat on the back,” Karen smiled as she tried to mystify it all.

“I hope my wallet gets swelled up,” Alex smiled, showing Karen his teeth. He directly told Karen what he was interested in.

“Well, maybe,” Karen shrugged, “For that, you need to come with me, along with Amber, this afternoon after lunch.”

“Follow you where?” Alex asked.

“You will know,” Karen said, “Now, shoo... shoo... leave. I have work to do.” Karen waved her arms, throwing Alex out of there as if scaring away a dog.

“Che...” Alex could not help but make faces being treated like that, “No respect for a hardworking employee. I should rather resign.”

“Yeah... Yeah...” Karen scoffed at his words as a joke.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After lunch,

Alex followed Karen along with Amber to the highest floor of the building. Alex had never been here, but he knew that it was where Jessica had her office. She was not someone Alex liked very much. Alex never had much of an encounter with Jessica, which he felt was a good thing because all she did was deliberately making things hard for him.

“What are we doing here?” Alex could not help but whisper as the three of them stood outside her office.

“Shsshh...” Karen shushed him, “You wait here for a while, and I will take Amber with me first.” Karen said and turned towards Amber, “Let’s go.”

And saying that, without knocking, Karen just waltzed in, followed by Amber, leaving Alex waiting outside. Full of questions, Alex just sat there on the couch, waiting for them to call inside. Fifteen minutes and Alex was still waiting outside, and with every passing second, he was starting to get impatient.

‘It better be worth it,’ Alex thought as he looked at his watch.

*Click!

Just as he was losing it, the door opened, and Amber walked out, closing the door behind her gently. As Amber turned around, she found Alex looking at her with a questioning gaze.

“He... He... He...” Amber grinned devilishly and jumped on Alex putting her arm around his neck, “You are my lackey from today, kid. I am going to grind you along with others.” Amber looked very joyful, “I just signed my contract. I am no longer an intern,” Amber waved the piece of paper in her hand in front of his eyes.

‘So this was it, huh... Total waste of time,’ Alex thought when he heard Amber, ‘Should I ask for some quick bucks instead?’ Alex pondered over the options.

Amber, on the other hand, did not expect such a weak response from Alex. He said nothing, not even congratulated her.

“I should get done with it,” Alex said and stood up with a jolt, lifting Amber with him.

“Aaahh... Hey... Hey... Hey, put me down,” Wriggling her legs, Amber cried out in surprise.

“Ohh... Sorry,” Alex realised that Amber was still hanging by his neck, “Here you go...” Alex bent forward and put Amber down.

“I will see you later,” Adjusting his hair, Alex did not give Amber a chance to say anything and walked inside Jessica’s office.

Alex knocked once before opening the door and walking inside. He had been to his father’s office, but it was nothing compared to the elegance of this room. In fact, George’s office was way too gaudy for his taste. This setup, on the other hand, was just right. With minimal accessories making it a lot more spacious. Especially the colours, everything in the room was a shade of grey, something Alex has always liked.

After Alex was done looking around the room, he concentrated on the people present there. Other than Karen, whom he was expecting to see inside, Daniel was also there, sitting on the couch, leisurely sipping on his coffee. But what got his focus was the lady sitting behind the desk, his arch-nemesis, looking at him with those familiar eyes and dead face, Jessica. Even though he anticipated her presence, he was not pleased to see her there.

They have been face-to-face a couple of times, and all he could comprehend was that her arrogance knew no bounds. Jessica never gave him a straight reply. She always tried to punch him down with those one-liners of hers as if he was a second-grade citizen of a third world country working in her company thanks to her charity.

After meeting her, Alex could never understand why his father would hold her in high regard? She was nothing but arrogant and snobbish. The last time he was this close to her was when he accompanied Karen, Jessica and her secretary Amanda, who thankfully was nowhere to be seen today, to that run-down building. And it was an absolute nightmare for him. From that day, Alex developed a bit of a Jessica Compulsive Disorder.

As Alex stood in front of them, rudely staring at Jessica, she coughed, trying to get his attention.

“Ahem... Have a seat,” Jessica gestured for Alex to sit in front of her, beside Karen. Jessica could not help but muse over the fact that this was the second time in their three meetings that Alex had gone wandering into his own la-la-land, staring at her.

“Thank you,” Alex tried not to fluster in front of the three bigshots in the room. Well, two of them did not pose much of duress to him. It was Jessica, he had to counter.

“We meet again,” Jessica said, breaking the ice.

“Yeah. Under better circumstances at that too,” Alex tried to be confident.

Jessica nodded, “Karen and even Daniel think very highly of you,” Jessica continued as she looked at Karen, “A mere intern to have gotten the respect of two bosses, it’s commendable. What type of magic did you cast on them?” Jessica nodded, looking at Alex.

Though it looked like Jessica was praising him, Alex did not appreciate her choice of words. It sounded more like a mockery to his ears.

“Everyone likes the cute ones,” Alex replied with a smile, “You don’t have to be authoritative and force people to like you.” Alex shrugged.

“Is that so?” Jessica looked at Alex raising her brows. It was a straightforward taunt in her direction, coming from the ‘mere intern’.

Karen, on the other hand, lightly pinched Alex on his thigh, eyeing him to keep his words in check, whereas Daniel was impressed by Alex. Daniel wanted to say these words for all these years, and Alex finally was the medium to his words.

“From what I hear, you have done pretty well running around, doing errands for these two,” Jessica upped her attacks, “You must be getting good at these menial jobs.”

“I try my best to do whatever is asked of me,” Alex replied, “Running your mouth is easier than running your legs.”

“Good... Good... Very good,” Jessica said, nodding her head with a stiff smile and her palms formed a fist. Every bouncer of hers was getting smacked right back at her face, “You have a sharp tongue.”

“I try to indulge,” Alex slowly blinked her eyes, trying to assure Jessica.

“Normally, it would take about three or four months of working before we decide on the fate of our interns. We have to see whether they are some sort of an asset to our company or not,” Jessica paused as she gave a long look to Alex before turning her gaze towards Karen, “But the last few days were unexpected.”

“But it was all boon in disguise for us,” Jessica continued, “And you, you have proved your worth. Taking all your efforts into account, we have decided to promote you from a mere intern.”

Jessica tried to discern any change on his face, but she could hardly see any change in his expressions. He was still smiling the same way he was moments ago.

Karen and Daniel, on the other hand, were a bit confused by Jessica’s behaviour. Amber and Alex were the only ones signing their contracts in Jessica’s presence. They had the feeling that it was all because of Alex and had nothing to do with Amber. They had no idea what she was thinking, but they had known her for not making reckless decisions. All they could do for now was wait and watch how the situation unfolds going forward.

Seeing everyone looking at her weirdly, Jessica adjusted herself and leaned forward, reaching out for her intercom, “Lizzie, bring me the contract.” She pressed the button and called out for someone.

Not long after that, there was a knock on the door, and the lady who was sitting outside at the desk walked in with a file and handed it over to Jessica before walking away.

Jessica, in turn, extended the file to Alex, “Here, you can go through the details, and if you feel like it, we can seal the deal right here,” Jessica suggested.

“Right now?” Alex took the file from her and asked.

“Why not? There is no need to shove it on the shelves for later,” Jessica nodded, “If you want some things to change, let me know. I will personally look into it,” Jessica leaned back as if she had all the time in the world to spare.

Though Alex was not interested, there was no harm in going through the contract.

According to the contract, Theation would offer Alex an opportunity to work as a Business Analyst with them.

‘Won’t I have to leave the PR department?’ Alex thought as he looked at the smiling face of Jessica and then turned towards Karen, ‘Does she not want me to work with her?’

Alex then went on with reading the contract. There was a duration mentioned in his contract. He had to work for at least three years in Theation, and after that, he had the choice to leave the company if he wished to. The cost to company Theation was offering was hundred thousand dollars with a ten percent increase the following year.

There was also a medical insurance worth a million dollars to be paid partly by Alex and Theation. He would also get a car from the company with a bunch of other perks, but what got his attention was the clause that dealt with the situation if he were to break the contract. If he were to resign before working three years at Theation or if he were to violate any of the other conditions mentioned in the contract, he would have to pay Theation three times his initial annual salary.

Even if he had no intention of accepting the offer, reading the contract, he could feel that even Theation or we should say Jessica had any intention of actually giving him the job. And he had no idea why? Yes, they had a couple of moments that were not so great, but it could not be the reason for her hostility towards him. But more than that, what bothered him was whether or not Karen had some hand in it? He wished that wasn’t the case.

Karen, when saw the hesitation on Alex’s face, she grew restless. Jessica had previously discussed the contract with them, and she found it quite reasonable and somewhat in favour of Alex. She felt that there should have been no unwillingness on Alex’s side, but clearly, that was not the case.

‘Did she change something?’ Karen thought.

Seeing that Alex was almost at the end of the contract, Jessica asked, “What do you think? If you think it’s fine, should we go ahead?” Jessica’s face was donned with a pleasant smile which made Karen rethink her assumption.

Alex did not reply right away. Instead, he looked at Karen thinking about something. Karen found his gaze weird and touched her face to see if anything was on her face. Looking at her, Alex shook his head before turning his attention back towards Jessica.

“Umm... Firstly, I would like to thank you for thinking so highly of me. The salary, the perks and everything else is clearly more than what I could have imagined. It’s like I am your prized possession, hehehe...” Alex giggled, which got him a smile from Karen as well.

‘I was getting edgy for no reason,’ Karen was happy to hear that Alex was okay with the terms offered.

.....

“But I will have to politely decline your offer.”

* * * * *