Something Happened...

Chapter 24

The party organised by Roman was as magnificent and glorious as one could imagine. People were dressed in rich fabrics, drank fancy wine and moved to the soothing music of jazz. Everyone had a wonderful time but Roman. After exchanging pleasantries with some important people, he was found at the bar throughout the night. He drank and drank, as much as he could. He didn't care for the party or for the people at all. His mind was fixated on Bailey. Her tears filled eyes,  nervous gestures and her slap! It was all he could think about. His parents kept looking over him but nobody dared to approach, nobody wanted a scene there. When it was getting too late, Roman's mother approached him, softly patting his head,

"Roman, are you okay? We should go home now."

Roman looked up at his mother and nodded. His mother's heart broke when she looked at his face. She knew Roman was still grieving the death of Alyssa, but nothing soothed Roman's heart.

~~~~~~~~

When Bailey woke up on Monday, she couldn't muster the courage to get dressed for the office. She felt exhausted at the thought of getting ready and then to get fired at the office. She checked her phone and there were no emails or updates from the office. It did not relax her at all.

Somehow, she found herself standing in front of her office, with a cup of coffee in her hand. She sighed but entered the building anyway.

"Good morning, Bailey. How was your weekend?"

Mrs. Donna Black greeted Bailey, who was the senior consultant and Bailey's immediate supervisor. She was Bailey's favourite person in the office. Despite being her manager and superior, she never bossed her or anyone around. She was a kind hearted and hard working middle aged woman whom Bailey looked up to. She also reminded her of her mother.

"It was alright." Bailey spoke while setting her stuff.

"Well, let me tell you one thing. The work you submitted before deadline was the cherry on top on the beautiful cake/building we got approval of. Congratulations! Mr. Baker is so happy to complete his final project before retirement."

"Uh, well, thank you Mrs Brown. I am happy to help." Bailey spoke with a weak smile without meeting Mrs Brown eyes.

"Are you okay Bailey? You don't seem happy about the news?"

"No, Mrs Brown, I am. I'm just under a weather a little bit. I'll be fine."

Bailey worked until the afternoon without any single break. She was filled with nervous energy as if this was her first day there. She felt as if something was wrong about that day.

Soon, there was some whispered noises and movement across the room. Few people from HR rushed towards the entrance, everyone was on a high alert all of a sudden.

"What's going on?" Trisha, Bailey's colleague and her friend spoke from the cubicle next to her,
"I was going to take a nap quietly. I guess something is going on?"

"I don't know. HR seems to be involved. Oh look there's Mr Baker.." Before Bailey could finish her sentence, she saw Roman Cater walking alongside Mr Baker and other HR people.

Everyone around her stood all of a sudden. She was glued to her seat but her eyes were on Roman. Mr Baker stopped in the middle of the room alongside Roman and spoke,

"Hi Team. I would like to introduce our CEO Mr Roman Carter. He will be monitoring all of our projects from this site from now on. Thank you Mr Carter for choosing this location as your head office."  Mr Baker beamed and Roman spoke,

"Thank you Mr Baker for this warm welcome."

"Come on Mr Carter, this is your company after all. We are pleased to assist in your work."

Bailey's eyes never left Roman's face. He looked different than his usual self. He was talking with a genuine smile on his face. He looked relaxed yet confident, but Bailey knew something bad  would happen to her if he was there.

Roman looked around but didn't look at Bailey at all. After the introduction, he left for his office and again whispered noises erupted in the office.

"OMG! How is he real?" One girl spoke.

"I mean, seriously, he is too hot." Another girl spoke.

"I can totally see myself getting heartbroken by that man." Some other girl spoke and all giggled.

Bailey quickly resumed her work, her friend Trisha was involved in the gossip as well.

"What do you think, Bailey?"

"About what?"

"About that new hunk of a CEO we have here? Were you not listening?"

"No.. I was.."

"Oh come on, Bailey. We have the biggest girl work-force branch here. It is our moral duty to gossip!"
Some giggles erupted in the group again and Mina, another consultant spoke,

"That is so true. Remind me to put that on the shirts we will design for the next business trip. It will be so magical with our new CEO over here!"

Mina and Trisha laughed, but Nathan, another colleague of theirs spoke,

"Great! Too many girls and one hot CEO! It will make a good b-grade movie."

"Come on now, Nathan. Don't be jealous. You will find someone. But that is not important right now! The most important question is, why Roman Carter has shifted his office here? Without any notice? Can you even do that?" Mina spoke in a hush tone.

Trisha leaned a little bit closer, without drawing anyone's attention and spoke,

"Of course he can, he owns this office! But you know what I am most excited about? He has this engineer team with him, I mean,  it's just two more guys but I've heard they are like Greek Gods like Roman Carter!!! We will have three hot dudes in here, Mina!" Both the girls squealed which drew attention.

"Girls, get back to work please. I am starting to get a headache now." Nathan spoke in a tired tone and Mina spoke,

"Dude, let us have a moment please. We are not that happy always."

It was all a fun afternoon at the office but Bailey tried to work, but couldn't. She quickly got up and rushed to the bathroom. She took a few deep breaths and calmed herself down. She thought she was about to get fired soon, nevertheless, she was ready for no matter what happened.

I will be fine! I can do this!

When she left the bathrooms, she accidentally bumped into someone. She was in a hurry and didn't pay attention, however she didn't know the other person did it all intentionally.

Roman saw Bailey's face when she looked up at him and his heart raced. He had seen her walk looking downwards and stood in-front of  her resulting her bumping into him. He held her by the shoulders but she quickly stepped back.

"I am sorry."

" You should pay attention to your surroundings Bailey. It might get a little scary."

Roman spoke with amusement but Bailey looked directly at him, without getting nervous or sad,

"I know." She spoke and quickly left leaving Roman standing on his own, immersed in her thoughts. She looked a little bit different today, he didn't know how to process this feeling.