Coffee Shots

8 | Mocha For You

Cecilia's PoV

. . .

It was nearly evening, when I got a message from my brother.

Bro: Hey sis. Sorry, couldn't take your call. Phone died. Is everything okay?

Was everything okay? Of course not! I missed my important meeting, got stalked on the way, Oliver left without telling me a good enough reason, and you're texting me now?!

Me: Yeah, not really.. I'll be done in an hour. Let's meet at the café?

I sighed as I pressed 'Send'. Within micro seconds, my phone beeped. Damn, he was fast.

Bro: What happened? Can I call?

Me: No. I'm kinda busy wrapping up this ppt. I'll see you at the café around 5-ish.

Bro: Fine. See you then.

I kept my phone aside, to try focussing on this presentation, 'try' being the keyword. Since the whole stalking fiasco, I couldn't concentrate properly. My boss too was disappointed in me. It clearly showed when he didn't even allow me to enter the board room. He just shook his head while pointing at the wall clock.

The meeting was still going on, so I had some time to kill. Which is why I had begun working on this presentation for our next client. This one had an easy brief, and the directions were pretty clear. All I had to do was pitch my ideas perfectly. I scribbled down ideas on my workpad, while simultaneously trying to create the designs on the software. Multi-tasking was my thing.

I had my headphones plugged in, because music helped me work in peace. Hence, when Mel called out my name from across the office, the whole city must have heard my name but me. Within seconds, I received a paper ball that hit me right on my forehead. As soon as I saw the name on it, I glared.

"Ouch Mel! What the hell?"

She glared back. "Are you deaf?! I've been calling you for the past ten minutes!"

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

She rolled her eyes and made her way over to my cabin. She had a different glow today, and I wondered what the reason was behind that. Me, on the other hand? I had dark circles larger than my friend circle. Shameful little insight, I know.

"You zoned out again, Cecilia. What's wrong?", she asked after plopping herself down on the nearest bean bag chair.

"Um, nothing. Just had a long day. But what about you? What's up?"

She looked at me for few seconds longer, before speaking up.

"I have some office gossip to tell you."

I raised my eyebrows in amusement. She took that as a sign to continue.

"I was in the canteen, chatting with the copier guys, when Boss walked in. At first I was shocked, because he rarely comes to eat with us peasants. But then I realised he wasn't alone. He was talking to a really hot woman, whom I have never seen before. Since I was only few feet away, I decided to eavesdrop...", she trailed off.

I glared at her. "How many times have I told you Mel! You need to get rid of that bad habit! It's unethical to eavesdrop."

She rolled her eyes. "Chill girl. Let me finish talking."

I crossed my arms and leaned back, nodding to let her continue.

"Now where was I? Oh yes. The conversation. I couldn't hear much of it because they were talking in a rather low volume. But I heard something really interesting. It seems that this woman asked Boss to allow someone from the team to accompany her somewhere. Do you know who he recommended?"