Pelican » Zarry ✅

🕵 T w e l v e

By the time Monday finally arrived, Harry wasn't sure how he made it through the weekend. On sunday after helping Nema study for her spelling test the next day, he'd taken the kids to spend the day with their nana at the penthouse. Patricia asked about Zayn and why he still hadn't called her and didn't bother to show up today. He never told her why he didn't call but his excuse as the reason why Zayn didn't show up was that he woke up and was feeling so sick that he threw up.

She believed him because as far as she was concerned, he had no reason to lie. But he kept a strict watch over Charlie and Nema to make sure they didn't end up talking about Zayn being on a business trip. All the effort he had been putting into acting "normal" would all be ruined if Patricia found out he was telling his children something different than what he was telling her. And depending on her reaction to it, Zayn's life could be in danger well before he figured out who his kidnappers were and where they were keeping him.

Amos was back home and back at work but after having experienced the past week, Harry had an idea of what to expect and this day wasn't as daunting as the others regardless of how unsure the rest of it was going to go.

Around eleven o'clock, he decided it would be appropriate to call a meeting in the conference room. On a week where they were all supposed to be working hard to meet a specific deadline, he knew he did not pull his full share as the boss. So he wanted to apologize for it and make sure that the trust between employer and employee had not wavered.

"Hello. Thank you all for coming." He said when everyone had settled down in their seats. He was the only one not sitting. "How is everyone?"

Mumbles of "good" and "great" filled the room.

"Good. I'm glad to hear that. The reason I called this meeting is to bring everyone up to speed. "First, I want to say we did accomplish exactly what we set out to do. Everything was finalized by the deadline."

Everyone in the room clapped. He waited until they were finished before he continued.

"However with that, I know that I was not the best example of a hard worker last week. And you don't have to pretend that you didn't know or haven't noticed or started talking about it. Trust me. I know my office. But for those few who weren't paying enough attention to me to care, I can explain what I mean. I left the office early on Thursday and Friday without telling anyone. And on top of that, my assistant has not been here since Wednesday. I know in your mind, you're thinking about how my husband and I have not set the example about working hard when it's time to work hard."

"No. Not true, Mr. Styles. We haven't thought about that at all." One of the male employees said.

"Well, even if you haven't, Jared, I still feel guilty that we haven't been here."

"To be honest," Another man spoke up. "I thought Zayn or one of the kids might have been sick and that you worked as long as you could before having to get home to them. I didn't think you were skipping out on work not once. I've been working here with you too long to think that low of you."

Harry looked down the table at him. Wow. That was actually a good excuse. He never planned to give them a reason when he apologized because he couldn't think of a good lie. But he didn't need to when this man had come up with the reason for him.

"Yes. Thank you for understanding, Richard. Zayn is not doing too well right now. I'm trying to help him, but I can't really do much. I guess this whole thing has to run its course. Just know he wants nothing more than to be here and be working along side you all."

"Don't worry. He will be back soon." Liam said.

"I hope so. But until then, I just want everyone to be informed about my plans for the near future. I will still be leaving early. But I suppose since there is nothing big coming up on the agenda, I don't have to feel as guilty as before. I did want to make sure I apologized to all twelve of you since you're the head of each department but I also sent out memos this morning. And everyone in your departments should be receiving them about now. I didn't say why in the memo, because that isn't important for anyone else but those here in this room today. But I did apologize and thank them for their hard work as well."