C.E.O x C.E.O

Ch. 10 - What's With All The Suspense?

Staring at the crowd of sat guests at the diplomatic dinner and searching for Tamara was deemed a much harder task than Katherine initially thought, especially when she feels self-conscious all of a sudden, with everyone sitting down and only her standing up and walking around, causing them to stare at her.

It doesn't help that she's a secretary either, when everyone else is either their own boss or with their own bosses. She wonders how her boss is doing. It's been a moment since he's left.

He's probably screaming in pain right now, having to spend the whole ride home with his worst enemy and all.

She told herself not to worry. James is a capable man. There's a reason why he's C.E.O after all, and he doesn't need her to baby him around and stop him from doing stupid things all the time.

Katherine finds herself back in the main hall, where the announcements were supposed to be announced up until the incident with the spotlight. It's empty, and quiet. Something about seeing a place so bustled and crowded a moment ago now empty and quiet is... uncanny, in a sense. There's a word for it. Liminal space? Katherine remembers searching it up out of curiosity one day.

And she also recalls finding out about the kinds of demons that lurk in liminal spaces. A shiver runs down her spine. A faint image of an eerie face flashes in her head. Suddenly, she doesn't want to come in here.

Then, a noise. Katherine flinches. It's coming from the stage, dimly lit by a single spotlight, the one that didn't fall, whilst the other fallen spotlights are still there.

Tamara appears out of nowhere. It looks like she'd been digging in the mess for a moment there.

Katherine's heart slows. Someone else is here, and it's a friend. That alone makes her feel safer somehow.

Tamara spots her and a smile appears on her face in an instant. She waves her over, and Katherine promptly approaches the stage. "Glad you could join me," Tamara starts. "I was starting to get kinda lonely without Boss around."

"I thought you'd be used to it by now," Katherine replies, climbing up the steps and onto the stage. "Rumors say he's... kind of a playboy."

Tamara straightens herself, patting the dust off her dress. "Rumors, rumors. Still," - she glances at her - "I do get lonely myself."

Katherine then offers her a reassuring smile. "Well, you're not alone anymore."

She returns the smile. "True." Then, she returns to her supposed scavenge.

"What are you doing here?" Katherine asks, peering over Tamara's shoulder as to see what she's up to.

Tamara snaps her fingers. "Glad you asked."

She continues rummaging through the pile of scrap metal the broken spotlights have made. Is she even allowed to tamper with this? Are they even allowed to be here? Katherine glances at the exit doors, for anyone - security maybe - potentially looming around in the dark, only to find nobody but them in the hall.

"Check this out," Tamara brings Katherine's attention back to her. She is now holding a rope of some sort. It's a thick rope laced with wires, and its connected to the spotlights, or wherever the other end disappeared into the rubble.

And Katherine raises a brow. She's not sure what she is - supposed to be - looking at. "What's this?"

"Look closer," Tamara holds out the rope for Katherine to examine closer. "The rope's perfectly cut."

"Oh," Now that it's clarified, Katherine does see it. The end of the rope is a clean cut, like it had been snipped by a pair of giant scissors, instead of it being a backstage malfunction or had broken apart naturally. Her heart begins feeling slightly uneasy, as her brain comes to a conclusion she hopes isn't actually the conclusion.