Hired for secrets

This feels like a date

With her heart pumping, Sofie went straight for the table where Philip and Ms. Hunt were seated. Ms. Hunt whispered something in Philip's ear and he laughed at her joke, stroking gently the back of her hand. It looked so easy and natural, like they've been lovers for years. Keeping her eyes fixed on the twosome, Sofie almost ran into a life-size chocolate statue of Annapoorna, the Hindu goddess of food. The statue's delicate bowl dislodged from one of its four hands and almost tumbled to the floor. Thousands of little chocolate grains rained over Sofie. In a tizzy, she tried to brush them off before they could leave little brown stains all over her corporate blouse. Being flustered like this was part of her original plan, impersonating one of Ms. Hunt's employees who was sent to fetch the big boss for a company emergency. What wasn't part of it, was how little she had to pretend. Seeing Philip's hand intertwined with hers was pumping red hot rage through her body.

Philip looked over to the commotion the tumbling statue had caused. He spotted Sofie and his smile dried up. His jaw clenched while he searched the room for a waiter to alert. He did not want her to interrupt his perfect little world. Well, too bad!

"Ms. Hunt," Sofie shouted in her most panicked voice, ignoring Philip's furious expression. "I need to speak to you."

Ms Hunt turned in her chair to look at Sofie, like an irritating bug about to be swatted.

"Who are you?"

Sofie hurried closer to deliver her well-rehearsed monologue, just as Philip successfully alerted the waiter. Before she could reach the table the waiter grabbed her arm, profusely mouthing apologies to Ms. Hunt while trying to drag Sofie away. His fingers dug into her flesh as she struggled against him and Philip's fist clenched at the sight. Was he distressed by how Sofie was handled or about her breaking free and spoiling his evening with Ms. Hunt?

"I work for your mother," Sofie shrieked, shaking off the waiter and sprinting to Ms. Hunt's chair. In high alert, Philip jumped off his own chair to dart around the table, trying to protect Ms. Hunt. Ignoring the pain of Philip's overnight shift in allegiance, Sofie continued with her plan.

"I work in finance, ma'am... But it was Mr. Ibuvio who sent me here tonight... to fetch you."

"You don't make any sense, girl," Ms. Hunt snapped but waved the waiter away and gestured for Philip to sit down. "Why would they send you? And why are both finance and public relations in?"

"Everyone's in, ma'am. They urgently need to fix... ahm..." Sofie glanced at Philip, pretending to search for the right word to use in front of an outsider, "...a matter. They sent me so they could get started on putting a plan together before you arrived."

"You can speak freely in front of him. He's my fiancé, now." Despite her mood Ms. Hunt could not hold back a smile. She liked having claimed him and wanted to let the world know.

"Congratulations," she said dutifully and giving Ms. Hunt the satisfaction of gawking at her enormous engagement ring. "But Mrs. Khan said not to go into specifics. In front of no one. Instead, I'm supposed to give you this."

Sofie handed over a folded paper. It was ripped out of the company's note block and had a hand scribbled message on it.

"I see," Ms Hunt huffed after reading the message while fishing for her phone.

"No," Sofie gasped, " Mr. Ibuvio said you cannot call. Not with your phone."

Ms. Hunt paused and fixed her calculating eyes on Sofie. "Ok. If it's that serious, then what's their plan?"

"Oh! I don't know, Ms Hunt," Sofie spluttered, "I wouldn't know where to begin... It's so complicated... The books are all off and the informant..."