Incandescence

Chapter 15

I stood in front of my office building, feeling positive and excited at the prospect of resuming my work. I had been on bed rest since the week I'd been discharged from the office so it was now time I got back to work. I had so many things pending that Sadaf and Shahmir couldn't handle and wanted my consent before they could go further. I looked at the outside of the building which I had constructed with my own hard work. The outside had been repainted after the fire, making it look fresh and new. My office and the entire floor had been renovated because the fire had destroyed it. Taking a deep breath, I walked towards the door where my faithful security guards stood like sentries on both side of the doors. I adjusted my hair to hide the left side of my face and moved forward.

The elderly became attentive as I came forward, a genuine smile covering his face. I greeted him as it was the right thing to do. Despite of his station in life, he was an elder for me and my parents had taught me to respect them at all costs.

"It's good to see you back Miss Alisha." He said with genuine fondness after he had responded to my greeting.

"Thank you!" I sent him a smile and then made my way towards the elevator to take me to my office.

The door of the elevator opened three minutes later and I took first look at my office after almost three weeks. It looked different than when I'd been last here. Although the structure was the same, it looked like it had been freshly painted and instead of the red leather couches I had decorated it with before, now there were couches of black leather and tables made up of glass rather than wood. The insignia of DesignSoft Technologies also looked new. The silvery texture shone in the bright sunlight that filtered through the open windows. I stepped forward and came towards the reception of my office. My receptionist, Samina Ashraf, stood up as she watched me coming towards her. Her expression was of immense pleasure to see me back and then she winced when she saw my new face.

"Good Morning, Ma'am!" she said in her professional tone. I nodded my head and walked towards my office. Heads turned as I made my way towards my office and whispered conversations broke out. Everyone had seen me come back at work. I closed my office door behind my back and walked towards my high-backed chair. Setting my purse down on the table, I sat down and switched on my laptop. My previous laptop had been burnt in the fire therefore; it had been replaced by a Mac Book. Thanks to cloud storage, I hadn't lost my data otherwise I would've been deep shit.

A knock sounded on the door and I flung open. Sarah stood in the doorway, positively beaming at me. She stepped inside and closed the door.

"I was making a cup of tea for myself when I heard you just came in." she told as she stood beside my table, smiling at me.

"Sit down Sarah." I said and turned my attention towards her. She sat down and looked at me but not even for a second she betrayed any emotion that my new face made her wince or feel pity for me.

"How are you feeling now, Alisha?" I had always kept her close to me, as a friend. Sarah and I had worked numerous late nights on projects and deadlines which made us closer to each other.

"Physically, I feel better and strong but mentally.. I really don't know."

"I can understand, Alisha. All this happened so fast, I can understand what you've been going though. It is definitely hard but we are all here to help you."

"Thanks Sarah. Your words mean a lot to me. Now, can you brief me about what has been going on here since I've been away?" Sarah beamed at me and then took out a stack of small post-its from her back pockets.

"There are many messages and calls for you which I had tabbed but I will get to them later. First, I'll brief you about the project currently we are working and those we have delivered since you have been away." Sarah said.