EVERETTMy feet thud against the marble floor as my legs wobble from the strength of my emotions. Everything I feel as my heart beats wildly against its walls is one big giant mess, and I can't hope for anything to get better at this moment in time. As I reach into the elevators at the end of the hallway and watch them close right in front of my eyes, I wonder what that woman wants from Waylon.The way she spewed their history in front of a total stranger and an employee, no less, makes me think that she might be highly insecure about the depth of Mr Thorne's feelings towards her.Isn't that what she asked him?Why couldn't Mr Thorne fall in love with her when she was so devoted to him?Why has he resisted her feelings so far and not reciprocated them?Mr Thorne hasn't returned those feelings in the slightest.But why?Why do I even care what happens between them?I push the different buttons on the elevator button panel, so the elevator car takes me to my office floor. Running my han

WAYLON"What do you think we should do to recover the costs in the supply chains of our manufacturing process of the premium stock paper?" I scribble something on the screen of my tablet without looking up. "Have you seen the updated reports that Ms Kyra Fox from the marketing department sent you like a few minutes ago, Finn?""Hmm," Finn speaks softly. "I'm still studying it. Guess I would need a few minutes to digest this new information. It's almost a curveball that they have thrown in our direction. What are we supposed to do with this new data after we had already dotted all the I's and crossed the T's before we came up with the idea for the new product launch? It's due in a month." He scoffs. "Was the marketing department sleeping that they couldn't discern such an enormous error in their budgeting reports?"Finn scratches his chin as he reads the data on his computer. I shake my head as I exhale another deep sigh. This crisis presents a string of new problems since the subsidia

EVERETT"Are you heading home?" Kyra shows up at my office door as soon as I drag my feet into it with my laptop in my hands. "Good job today, despite whatever happened earlier in the work day. I had some time during lunch to think, and I can't blame you for not coming prepared for my job. Since it was never your responsibility to deal with my workload, I shouldn't have placed those expectations over you." She takes a beat. "You're not getting paid to do my job." Then she fixes her bun. "It's just that Wayne gets on my nerves sometimes, or let's say, the manner he sometimes makes his comments drive me up the wall and act out rashly. I'm sorry I took it out on you.""It's all right now, Kyra," I say as I sit down in my swivel chair. "We fixed what we needed to fix, and I just handed him a bunch of reports before coming down." I blow out a sigh. "So it's all taken care of for the time being.""How's your headache?""It's all good."My mind goes back to the aspirin bottle Mr Thorne casua

EVERETTAfter saying that, I walk inside my office, closing the door behind me. I pull out the files that need my immediate attention as I review the tasks that Kyra shared with me yesterday. Ticking off several things from my to-do list, I plop down in my office chair as I turn on the monitor to go through my mail to see if there are any updates by Mr Thorne for me, considering the business dinner didn't go to plan. And perhaps there might be some adjustments that need to be relayed through email if he needed them.I'm sad to see that there's nothing from him. My email has just one new forwarded message from Kyra, and the contents of the email are about some information she needs to send to another client.I blow out a raspy breath from my mouth, attaching the relevant files to the forwarded email and sending it back to her so she can answer the client.Just to make sure I'm not missing some new information about the business meeting from someone in the office, I move on to check my

EVERETT"What was that about, huh?" My mind is blank with all the unnecessary yelling it has just gone through. "Why is he so mad?" I ask myself as I step into the elevator car. "Maybe-maybe I was wrong, and I made mistakes, as Mr Thorne said. But why did he talk to me like that?"Confusion riddles me, and a sigh escapes from my mouth. I run both my hands through my hair as the doors close before me. Luckily, no one else takes the elevator at the same time as me, so it gives me some time to figure this out for myself.I'm not even angry at this point.I'm just confused.How do I fix the mistakes I made in the report if I don't have the slightest clue about them?His words come to mind.Do you have any vague idea or regard for the amount of damage you have singlehandedly caused to the reputation of this company?What were you thinking?I did everything in my power to make the working environment friendly and welcoming to you. You knew how significant that client was to me and for the