I Trust You

Work Scandal

Throwing herself onto the chair Grace quickly ducks as she spots Mrs. Boards and Mr. Owens walking out the stairwell.

Are they together? Or is it one of those work scandals?

"Ug."Grace groans feeling the blood rush to her face and heartbeat slowing down . "Only I would find trouble on my first day."

Remembering the pain in her abdomen Grace waits for Mrs. Boards and Mr. Owens to return to their offices before jogging to the elevator. Before it opens completely Grace jumps in through the small opening and jabs the ground floor button.

"Whew." Grace mutters as the doors close.

Hopping out the elevator Grace passes Florinda and hastily makes her way to the bathroom.

"Ah."

Flushing, Grace opens the tap and reaches for the soap just as Florinda saunters in.

"What's wrong you ran past my desk like you saw a ghost?" Florinda asks leaning against the bathroom sink. "Plus you look a little flushed."

You know something went down when a black girl looks flushed.

"Um," Grace mumbles staring at her reflection not sure whether to tell Florinda what she had seen in the stairwell. "Mrs. Boards and Mr. Owens, what's their deal?" She asks trying to not reveal to much.

"Why do you ask?"

"Um, I might have seen something I wish I didn't see." She grimaces.

"Like what?" Florinda asks her face stretched into a wide grin.

She reminds me of Molinda they practically have the same gossip face.

"I might have seen them making out." Blurts Grace.

A shiver passes through her as she remembers what she had seen.

Ew.

"Well, I wouldn't expect less." Grace furrows her brows at Florinda. "They are married after all."

What?

"What?" Grace screeches glancing at Florinda incredulously. "No way! They don't even share the same surname."

"I know." Mutters Florinda staring at herself in the mirror. "They got married last year but Mrs. Boards, the feminist she is, refused to change her surname. There was a rumour that she even asked him to change his surname instead."

"Wow, I never saw that coming."

"Nobody would." Mutters Florinda applying a light shade of pink lipstick on her small lips. "That's because they act professional, at least when people are watching." She adds, a small smirk on her face.

"Mrs. Boards and Mr. Owens." Whispers Grace still shocked.

"Yep." Florinda laughs at Grace's face. "If there's anything else you need to know don't hesitate to ask me, okay?"

"Ja, thanks." Nods Grace throwing the girl a small smile.

Florinda starts towards the bathroom door when Grace asks her to wait.

"Question?" Mutters Grace looking at Florinda stoically. "When is lunch?"

Glancing at the clock Grace grimaces as she reads the time.

13:07. I've been siting here for 2 hours and still nothing on Maxwell & Partners.

After grabbing a small sandwich at the cafeteria around 11, Grace came back to her cubicle and began researching about her new company, again.

Standing up and stretching Grace starts the short trip to her boss's office.

You can do this, just ask her why the company is practically nonexistent. Easy.

Gingerly knocking on the door Grace takes a deep breath as she heres a small 'come in'.

"Hey Mrs. Boards-" Grace starts.

"Linda." She mutters still looking down at her computer. "Call me Linda."

"Okay. Um, Linda I just wanted to ask-" Grace continues.

"Sit." Linda interrupts looking back up at Grace and removing her glasses. "You're making me nervous just standing there."

Grace nods and quickly surveys the office as she takes a seat.

The glass room comprises of a red carpet and white desk, a small bookshelf in the corner and 2 green chairs in front of the desk. Overall quite a bland room.

"I've been trying to learn about M&P but there's almost nothing." Grace mutters. "It's almost like you don't exist anywhere."

Linda nods.

"The only place I could find you was on your official website and an old article about your CEO . That makes me nervous because you can't build a brand when nobody knows who you are."

"There's a reason for that." Says Linda folding her hands. "We focus more on corporate companies we haven't tried to reach individual people."

"Oh." Grace frowns. "But you own a large chain of high class hotels and you have investments all over the place. It's strange that people don't know you because they probably use your company daily without even knowing it."

"We're a background company. Silent. Always there but never seen."

"Is that why you  hired Pocket Marketeers because you wanted to grow the company?" Grace asks remembering how she worked on the M&P project at her old job.

"Yes." Linda drawls out confused. "How do you know about that?"

"Um..."

"Because they suddenly called us saying they couldn't help us because the head of the project suddenly quit."

"Really?" Grace asks trying to hide the squeak of her voice.

"Yes." Linda nods eyeing Grace.

"Anyway you asked me to report what I wanted to do for the company well," Grace breathes. "I want people to know what we do for them, I want Maxwell & Partners to be a household name, a company people know and can trust but to do that we have to tell them about us. Our history, our current investments, our community work, anything really that'll help us look and be better."

"I like your thinking but I believe there's only one person who can honestly answer those questions." Linda says a small sparkle in her eyes as she reaches for her phone.

Silence passes over them as Linda places the phone against her ears and waits.

"Mr. Maxwell, I think there's somebody you have to meet."

What?