Missing Piece

Chapter Nineteen

Melanie

I leaf through the pages of new report. My eyes gliding over the numbers, profits and all the numerical data. Only when I reach the end of document, I realize that I forgot to actually understand it. Why am I such an idiot? Cursing internally at my stupid brain, I once again start from the first page.

"Did you just read it again and forget to actually comprehend?" Alan asks in his annoying voice.

I shot him a deadpan look. He laughs.

"I'm going to take that as Yes." His blue eyes showing just how much he rejoices in my occasional dumbness.

I throw my pen at Alan. He yelps loudly. Using his fast reflexes, he ducks in time and instead the pen hits some random guy who was passing by him.

We stare wide-eyed as the guy bends down, picking up the pen that hit him.

The guy glares down at Alan and I stifle a laugh. Turns out the random guy is none other than Mr. Garner's assistant, who also like his boss, hates us. Especially Alan. I watch in glee as he grabs all the pens from Alan's desk before storming off. No doubt that he's going to whine about Alan to Garner. He's acting like he was hit by a hammer instead of a pen. I wish I had hit him with a hammer though.

Garner hates Alan because he is my friend. So, by being associated with me Alan has also become the target of Garner's hatred. No wonder Alan regrets being my friend. Whatevs. He's stuck with me now.

When the guy is out of our sights, Alan turns to me, chuckling. "Garner is gonna kill me this time. If I go down, then I'm taking you with me too."

I sheepishly return his grin. He shakes his head, smiling, before going back to working on his computer.

I grab another pen with my left hand and start to tap it on my desk repeatedly. The repetitive clinking sound helping me concentrate better on the report in front of me.

Alan tsks at me for making the noise but as usual I ignore him and go back to my report. This time with the intention of fully focusing on it. I attentively read through the report.

"Mel," I raise my head up at being called. I find myself staring at Mr. Summers as he stands beside my desk with a file in his hand. "I need you to go and get this signed by Mr. Wyatt."

I put the document I was currently working on, back on my desk. "Yeah. Sur-", I pause and finally register what he said. "W-What?"

His light brown eyes blink up at me while he repeats slowly, very slowly, "I need you to go to Mr. Wyatt and get his signature on this."

I just stare at him unblinkingly as if whatever he just spoke was in some foreign language.

After a few minutes, I ask. "Why me?"

Now it's his turn to stare at me unblinkingly. "Because you're my assistant??" He says or asks, unsurely.

Alan snorts from beside me.

Ignoring him, I turn and stare at my boss, with pleading eyes. "Can Alan get it done?"

I hear Alan dropping something. I look over at him as he bends down and comes back up with a stapler in his hand. I'm so sure that he'd have thrown that stapler at me if Mr. Summers wasn't standing right next to us. When his eyes catch mine, they start to scream- 'what the hell are you doing now?'

"I'm afraid he can't do that." I look back at Mr. Summers when he speaks. "If Mr. Wyatt has any queries, then Alan won't be able to answer that. And since you're the one who's reviewed it, you'd have no problem with it. So.... it has to be you." Alan's chair squeaks under his weight as he slumps back in utter relief. I stare blankly as he wipes the non-existent sweat from his brow.