Top Note

Chapter 4

Eriantha

Affirming our concerns, our company was no less of a defunct shit show. Not that I could complain when I have danced into buying a ticket to this very circus. So, instead I decided to move ahead with the attitude, 'My circus, my monkeys.' 

But, it was easier said than done.

"Is the paper cup that aesthetic that you can't take your eyes off it?" Viv's comment brought me back from the load churning over my head, maybe it's a side effect of reading too much in too little time. But then again do I have a choice?

"I needed this more than anything..." I raised the cup and took a sip ,the coffee started working its magic on me. A little moan escaped my lips.

"You orgasm too perfectly for a virgin"

I choked on my coffee, shocked at her comment, and spilled a few drops on the paper during the process. Then there was Vivian glued to her laptop screen, the only one who can pass such a lewd comment absolutely deadpan.

"Damn!" I cursed at the mess and then glared at her, while she passed some paper tissues, I snatched it from her and gloated dramatically.

"Look who's talking! I totally regret thinking of you as an angel a little while ago."

"Well you might now regret, regretting about it. And, for your kind information, I am already betrothed to someone,  my parents won't be happy hearing your thoughts. You know I am supposed to save my v card  for that narcissistic jerk."

"Even when you know he has laid  every woman in the circle and beyond. Why is it you who has to save your virginity?" I spoke exasperatedly, raising my hands in the air.

Vivian took a sip of her overly sweet coffee while still typing on the keyboard, "Because that's how it works in our world Eriantha. What he can, I cannot. Just like how your brother is the only one who can succeed your father, even though he doesn't know a shit about perfumes, while you literally hyperventilate when you have to live outside the world of perfumes."

She calls my full name whenever I make her mad.

"Touché '' I laughed, I wasn't hurt, because I knew Viv had said it all to make a fair point. Of course, I was aware of it, and also that bringing up her engagement with Leonel Karwitz always rubbed her the wrong way.

But this was my little amusement, watching how every time even the calm and collected Miss. Vivian Amber could get all riled up.

Without budging Viv passed a file to my desk which had a caption written in the commanding uppercase, 'REPORT ON DEBENTURE'.

How did she manage to prepare this within just a couple of days!

No wonder a top level B-school degree can come handy, and Vivian had an impressive GPA to make it perfect.

Viv had our back, and that was the only good thing about this chaos we had been going through.The first day we entered this little office, I could feel that we were in a stinky manhole with no one to pull us up. Half of our trustworthy old staff members were gone, thanks to my father's whims. Then from a little investigation we found out that father had fired half of them to give jobs to his favoured mistresses, and even they left because he was selling out company assets like garage sales and they figured out that it was better to leave a sinking ship than to be capsized. So the first task that Anders and I had to do was to save our dying company, which was left with one old secretary Mr.Hasen, Richard, our newly hired accountant who was a terrible case of migraine, and Jerome, our security person, and very little money.

Well, less staff meant less people on our payroll, and loads of work to be done by ourselves. Fortunately our production unit was still running decently.

I thanked my stars everyday that Viv had volunteered to help us out, claiming that there was no better way to make use of her B-school degree, which she absolutely dreaded otherwise. So, while Anders was running around cleaning up Father's mess and tying loose ends with our most trusted clients and dealers. I was wrecking my brain with all the information one can get about our industry, and trying to find out anything that can save us. Vivian has been a real help in dealing with our asset and liability parts, guiding Richard, which is more of her doing the major works and him following her lead. After all, with loan sharks breathing on our neck we needed to know where we were standing.

As I was going through her impeccable report, I couldn't help but wonder if she really hated it, or if it was just her little rebellion against her family. At Least, my alma mater aided my passion in a certain way, but for Viv there was no way a degree in business management had even an iota of link with her canvas and paint brushes. My best friend is quite a successful painter who has been keeping it a secret using an alias. Just like I was a perfumer who has been selling stuffs online with a little brand called 'sobriquet' which ironically fitted my situation. With the little money I made from my sale I pursued my passion secretly.

It was almost lunch time and Viv was wrapping up, it was Friday she had to attend one of those charity dinners with her fiance, organised by the Karwitz.

"Do you really have to go? Didn't you attend dinner with him a couple of days back?" I tried to make my most adorable puppy face, my sole intention was to push a few buttons, knowing fully well that she would smart.

Viv rolled her eyes,it was rare to capture such vivid expressions from my poker faced beauty, but it was gone the very next moment.

"Of course, I did. That was his aunt's birthday dinner, family affair." She frowned as if recalling something momentarily, and then continued, "This is about networking and smiling for the cameras. Not that it makes any difference to me, for no matter what the occasion is I am just like a brooch on his lapel."

Viv smiled, but I could feel the lump in her throat which she concealed just in the moment. I hated myself for playing the prank.

"Don't go. Tell him you aren't well." I suggested knowing fully well that wasn't a choice she could make.

Even though we are best friends there's a part of Vivian which she never showed to anyone, not even to me, like why she wears full sleeved long dresses even in the middle of summer. I would give everything to get access to that closed door, as a voice in me tells me that someone locked inside that room needed help. Every time I tried to take a step forward Viv drew a line, and I felt terrible each time she did that. Maybe I haven't proven to be a trustworthy friend.

Just like how right now she turned to her heels, completely ignoring what I said earlier, "See you tomorrow dummy, don't try to survive on caffeine."

As if seizing the moment, Anders barged inside the office,he was disheveled and all the blood from his face had left him, ever since father's demise I get worked up whenever he acts unpredictably.

"Thank god you are here Vivian, we badly needed you." My brother has never been so relieved seeing my best friend the way he sighed just now. In fact, I feel he's competitive when she's around, because he felt that I lean on her more than I do on my brother lately, this was the very reason why I had to let in my little secret to him. He blinked at me a couple of times, his agitation showing up on his clenched knuckles, and lips pressed into a thin line, "Drop everything that you are doing. We have a problem."