Miss Secretary takes charge

Chapter 39

Recap

     Julie in her safest place where no one will be watching her and where she need not have to pretend anymore, screamed her heart out,
"I don't want to do this"
"Yes, I love him"
"I don't want to leave"
"Its hurting me so much" tears rolled down her cheeks.

     She thought she could meet him one last time and save the beautiful memory in her archives but that has brought her immense pain and longing instead. She could feel that her heart had broken into pieces beyond repair.

      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Henry scanned around the hall, Ben came forward and asked, "Are you looking for Julie, Mr. Kingston?"
Henry was surprised at how attuned Ben was to his thoughts. He nodded,
"She had left already" Ben replied. Henry's feeble 'Oh' was obvious that he was very disappointed.

     Ben knew that Henry was very comfortable and happy when he is with Julie and recently he had grown fond of her and it is evident. He was never at ease with anyone else before, he would choose to be alone, never preferred company, but that's not the case with Julie.

     Ben, being a security officer, he is always vigilant and very observant, he had watched Julie, she's matured, decent and well mannered. She is also selfless and loyal towards Henry. He had a good opinion on her. That day when she had taken all the blame and never talked back to Sr Kingston's baseless accusation shown her maturity. Also, when she put herself in danger by testing the water before offering it to Henry, to ensure Henry safety proved her selflessness( refer chap. 17).
That way she had earned his respect and trust.

     Today, while Henry needed a moment in the private lounge, after his parents video, he would have allowed her in, even if Henry did not call her. He knew that they both share some special bond, where Henry is more relaxed around her, moreover, Julie was never a threat, she had gone out of her way to protect him and she was shrewd enough to handle any aggression and emergency Henry has faced in the last few weeks.

     The feminine urge to care for people is different from men. They all had given him the physical support, but she looked at his mental health and well-being, gave him emotional support, the reason to gift him his mother's portrait and his parents video of wishing him are to heal his invisible scars from childhood. She was very sensible and caring.

     The next morning, Mr Smith was checking his mail and Julie's resignation was a complete shocker for him. He was skeptical about Julie's behaviour last night but did not think that the issue will be so serious. He called Chelsea and asked her to bring Julie to the cafe as something very important has to be discussed.

     In next one hour, all three of them were sitting across each other. Mr Smith shown his mail to Chelsea. She was totally confused, looked at Julie for explanation.
"What is this?" She asked facing the phone towards her. Julie put her face down and did not know how to manage this situation. She was instructed not to discuss this with anybody.
"I was looking for better opportunities" Julie said.

     Chelsea was annoyed at her poor cover up. She lifted Julie's chin up, I asked "why", her voice was stern. Julie knew that she won't buy her stupid fake reason.
Mr. Smith said, "if you want some changes, we shall discuss it with Mr. Kingston".
She shook her head.
Chelsea was losing her temper, "Julie, just tell me what's wrong with you Dammit" she shouted.

     Julie could not hold it any longer, she broke into tears. Chelsea rushed to her and hugged her tightly. "You would share everything to me, but what is stopping you now?" She thought for a few seconds, even if it is confidential, she would enclose it to me.
"Did someone force you to quit?"
"No"
"Or like a blackmail, emotional blackmail?"
She did not reply.
"Is someone watching you? Are you in any danger?"
"No"
"Then why don't you say it openly? Did someone threatened you to not disclose it to anybody?"
Again, no reply from Julie.
Chelsea turned to Mr Smith and said, "I think she was made to quit somehow"
"Who would have done this?" Mr. Smith asked. "Someone from our office?"
"No"
"Did you have any rift with our Boss?"
"Noooo please don't ask me anything more" she cried.
"Okay okay, take a moment, go refresh" Chelsea asked her to use the washroom.

     Once she left, Chelsea said, "Sir, I guess someone had indirectly forced her, maybe someone is envious of her or wanted her out of the office"
"But she's not holding any special post"
"Who knows, maybe someone did not like when Mr Kingston has announced her as the project head" they both tried to think of all the possible suspects.
"Sir, Julie is coming"
Her face was red and puffed.
Mr Smith wanted to divert and break the tension, so that Julie would relax and share her issues, he said, "yesterday's party was so good, but Henry's birthday video was the highlight. Henry would definitely treasure it"
Chelsea was lost in thought, suddenly realised and looked at Julie,
"But how did you get the footage?" asked skeptically as she was trying for it through many sources, but she could not get as it was with Him. It took a moment for her to solve the mystery. She hit the table in front of her.
"Now I get it, did you trade your job for the video?" Julie's eyes glistened.
"Bloody Old thing" Chelsea was extremely angry.
Mr Smith said confusedly,"I don't get it"
"Sir, we were looking for Mr Kingston's parents video and decided that his first birthday would be perfect. It would have been definitely celebrated and recorded as well but we could not get it as it was safely preserved by Sr Kingston, somehow he smelled that she was looking for it, he tapped on the right opportunity to use it against her"
"Still, why would he want to send Julie out?" He asked.
Chelsea said, "Julie,come on, let's meet our Boss and sort this out" Julie became anxious and refused to get his help.
"No, I don't want to meet him, I don't want to create any trouble"
"Julie, Henry is not a bad man, he is a fair and reasonable human, he wouldn't blindly support anyone, even if it is own blood, you know that already" Mr Smith reasoned with her.
" Sir, I do not want to humiliate or bring him any disgrace, I only want him to be happy" she sobbed.

   After a moment, Mr Smith asked in a soft voice "Do you love him?". Julie looked down and did not reply.

     "So what have you decided?" Chelsea asked defeatedly.
Julie sighed, "I have to leave"
"Are you sure? Do you want me to do anything about this? Mr Smith asked.
"Julie, why don't you take some time to reconsider your decision?" Chelsea tried again to convince her. Julie gave a sad smile, she held both of their hands and said, "I will miss you all".

     Mr Smith was worried about Julie, "Julie, My friend's brother is holding a good position in the government and he is looking for an assistant. Take this card, if you don't know where to start, use this, though it may not be related to finance, stay there till you find the right job. You can learn a lot and get good contacts working for him as he is an influential person. I don't know him personally, but I heard that he is a strict man"
Julie asked them to keep her secret. She did not want to create any feud between the Kingstons. She would like to go away without a mark.

******
     Monday morning, Henry had many paper words related to Wilson's collaboration, so he left early to office. Once he got on the car, he noticed the pearl clutch on the car and it looked similar to that of Julie's.
He asked Mason, "Who did you drop that night? Julie?"
"Yes Sir!" he looked at the mirror as Henry was holding the clutch.
"I think she had forgot her purse as she was drunk that night" Mason said. Henry was surprised at the new information.
The Julie, he knew was mature and know her limits.
"Alright, I will give this to her in the office" he said.

     Ms Jones had read out his schedules for the day, he gave her some notes and other files to finish before he attends the meeting. Lee and Ben walked in with some files to discuss with Henry.

     Ms Jones asked, "Sir, there was a resignation from an employee without notice, should we file charges?"
Henry scrunched his eyebrows and asked "Who's that?"

"Ms Juliet Rozana"

     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*I am happy that there will be decent number of reads by the very first hour of every update, i would like you all to hit the star at the end of the story to vote for every chapter if you like reading my story.

*Its an early update for those who constantly support me through votes and comments. Special mention to @Cdramalover16
@HamimaPatel
@BishungMiriam
@little_Unathi
@arjya5
@lassy29
@thoctavia
@Holly4520
@Autumn871593
@Sunlightgirl74
@tanyashetty
@rzmonikayahoocom
@MegertuBenti
@DishaParmar8
@AzeezAishat5
@dinesardien
@kekelsoares001
Thank you all