2: Allea

eleven (i)

On this one particular day, amidst her doing the work in the office, the sudden sound of the mobile ringtone echoed in the silence of the office—making Allea's fingers halt before they could land on the keyboard to type any further.

Her gaze flickered toward the wristwatch; at ten in the morning, she wondered who's calling on her personal number. Moving her eyes toward the iPhone's screen, Allea's brows slightly frowned seeing Kai's school number.

"Hello, am I speaking to Kai Allgaier's guardian?"

The moment she picked up the call, a voice came from the other side. Allea's body slightly leaned against the chair as she answered, her brows tightened further, "Yes, you are."

After a pause, the voice on the other side hesitantly began, "Uh, something happened, and, uh, Kai got injured as he fell down the stairs by..."

Allea's body stiffened hearing the words, her face also hardened and devoid of any emotions but her eyes betrayed. As the name of the hospital reached her ears, she has already stood up, forgetting to even pick up her jacket, she hurried out of the office.

Ending the call she put the phone back in her pants pocket, opened the office door, and came forward to Ben who was about to knock, seeing Allea he spoke — "Ah, Boss, people from Salvadge corporation are here, they-" he turned to look behind him, pointing toward the people he mentioned, who were being escorted by Nayla to the meeting room. When Ben shifted to face Allea again, the rest of his words got swallowed as Allea has already walked past him, her shoulder grazed against him as if she didn't even see anything.

Her unwavering steps only halted in front of the elevator, walking inside it she departed, without giving a single glace to the people who were staring at her with bewildered looks.

Seeing Allea's figure disappearing inside the elevator, worry-filled Ben's eyes shifted toward Nayla (who too stopped in her tracks seeing Allea rushing out), whose gaze also reflected the same emotion. They have been working with Allea for a long time, they are used to her indifferent self, her mostly expressionless face, but underneath it all, they have learned to read the often-appearing subtle emotions in her eyes. And for the first time in these years, they have seen what they saw in her eyes today —fear.

However, they were not the alone who noticed this change in Allea, that girl stood behind Nayla, her eyes still looking behind toward the elevator from where Allea disappeared. Her dark brown eyes narrowed, and her hand gripped around the files clutched in it, but her expressions remained calm as she turned to follow when after pause Nayla moved toward the meeting room.

The moment she stepped inside the room, the smirk she suppressed bloomed on her face, and there was also an other-worldly shine in her eyes —that often appears after finding something one has been looking for for a long time.

"Miss Lynch, are you listening?"

A hand pushed her shoulder, as her colleague shook her shoulder and demanded the files in her hands. Waking up from her stupor, Vivianna Lynch nodded and handed him the papers.

"But, we just saw Miss Ciarve leaving, who will attend the meeting then?"

"I guess, again her subordinates."

While arranging papers, their discussion carried on, in which the girl seated on the side didn't take any part. From the past few weeks, after everything got finalized regarding the corporation between both Allgaiers and Salvadges, following the meeting at Salvadge Corporation they hardly saw Allea Ciarve. Each meeting was attended by the project head (Allea appointed), the exclusive team appointed for this project, and everything else was carried on by her team —other than managerial decisions, overlooking the project details and progress, she didn't partake in anything individually.