Clear

Clear: Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Tides

I was passing by Chris's office door when I greeted him with a scratchy voice, "Good morning, Chris."

The automatic return in greeting was ready to jump from his mouth, but he twisted his brows at me and instead he mouthed, "Are you okay?"

I took a few steps in his office and panicked. "Yeah. Why? Do I look awful?"

I hope I didn't because I spent an extra ten minutes making sure my makeup was intact to specifically avoid looking hungover.

"No, no. You just sound really exhausted," he smirked. "And you're still wearing your shades."

"Oh shit," I laughed while removing them. "To be honest, I sort of am exhausted. Still moving into my new place."

Chris smiled his sweet smile, "Totally understandable. And good news, I think it's going to be a slow day today."

I tilted my head, "Oh? Why do you say that?"

"Mr. Leoné informed me this morning that he has a lot of spare time today and decided to sift through our support emails this morning."

What?

"Wait, huh?" I asked completely flabbergasted.

Chris smiled, "Yep, and right now Renee is having a meeting with him to update him on the intern support queue."

My eyes were wide open, "Is he like mad or–"

Wait... what the hell is going on?

"Nope, this morning I was entering the elevator with him and he said 'good morning' to me the way he normally does. Though he did have this pensive look on his face during the whole ride," Chris noted while looking off and narrowing his eyes. "Maybe he's not okay. But I know he's not pissed. That's for sure."

Chris's sentiments were cycling around my thoughts for a while. Mr. Leoné was being weirder than usual, especially since it was enough for everyone else to notice.

Still confused, I dismissed myself from Chris's office and hurried to my desk. Scrolling through my inbox, I logged into the archaic support mailing system and began checking through the sent messages.

Sincerely, Ezra Leoné, Sincerely, Ezra Leoné, Sincerely, Ezra Leoné...

According to the time stamps, this surgence of support work from the big boss began around 4AM this morning, and I was legitimately baffled.

"Knock, knock," I heard Renee peep from behind.

I swiveled in my chair and exclaimed, "Hey!"

Of course, she was smiling, but she lifted her brows with slight surprise.

"Everything okay?" I asked in a rush.

"Actually, that's the question I was going to ask you. Stop reading my mind," she snickered.

I smiled, "Well, to answer your question... I'm good, though I'm pretty tired. But I'm doing okay."

"That's good... that's good," she said in a very sweet, sincere voice.

I dipped my head and mumbled, "Are you sure everything's okay?"

Renee nodded, "Mmm hmm. The boss just wanted to make sure that everything was running smoothly down here. He even asked how all of us were doing and if we were content with the workflow and workplace. He looked like he was seconds away from having an aneurism when he asked... but he asked."

My voice dropped a few octaves, "He asked if you and Chris–"

"All of us," she cut in with a wink.

"Wow," I grumbled.