𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 ✓ (𝟷𝟾+)

The playalong

Roger

The interview questions were predetermined but our answered needed coordination. Things with Charles sailed through smoothly but we might not always get lucky. Media always knows how to probe in the worst way and Arin needed a thorough preparation. 

Mrs. Rose was helping her. It was when I saw Arin attend meetings, not bothering about the interview, when I roped in the bog guns. Arin's concept of winging it was different than all we could assume. She assumed the questions would be about favorite colour and preference in pizza. Needless to say, even Mrs. Rose wasn't of much help. She was being the perfect secretary who would doth her like a daughter, without telling her the problem.

God. Why do I always have to be the responsible one?

It was when I dialed Georgia and her call went unanswered that I walked out to her cubicle. She wasn't available. My peripheral vision gazed at Arin's former seating. Although now, she was in her new office, overlooking the view of the city, her cubicle would prick her memory and those times I treated her wrong. Every time I thought of Arin, a weird, velvety sensation drove up in my chest. Hardly a few feet away, her open office door called me. Allured me to walk in.

I was greeted by the sight of her empty chair. 

"Roger.. what brings you here?" Mrs. Rose noticed my presence and called out.

Near her seating, I leaned over her desk. The weight of my next words were already pulling me down.  "I am looking for your new boss. Where is she?" 

A smile erupt through her face too. She was the only one, whom Arin had told about the contract, even though I begged her not to. 

"You need to trust a few people to survive, Roger," were her words, although Arin didn't know I had been burned by the flames of trust to tread gently. 

So now, Mrs. Rose was also privy to our plan. Pulling her calendar, she ran her bony finger over it. "How about you turn as see where she is?"

Arin had magically appeared in her office. When I walked in, she was already trotting around with a pen held between her pearly whites, a sheet in her left hand. Her back faced me as I entered and shut the door behind. Her murmur was clear. She was studying for the interview like some Law exam.

"It wasn't love at first sight but the understanding that we had.." Hearing her chomp onto prepared answered, I couldn't help but cough out my laughter. Her head snapped around. She struck a superman pose, annoyed at infringing her privacy. "Don't you knock?"

"If I would, how will I see and hear all this.."

Her expressions softened and she sat on the couch tossing her legal pad aside. Her hand held her hair in a bunch and she growled from the inside. "I can't do this Roger. I will screw it up big time.."

I sat beside her, turning her to me. It was a struggle due to her reluctance.

"Look at me..." I commanded. She nods in disagreement. "Look at me, girl." Her head snapped up in the air before tossing it back on her thighs and adhering. "You are not going to say this cooked up porridge there, okay?"

Cringing her face, she mocked. "Ohh, so I am supposed to feel all that crap and say from my heart?"

Pulling her closer, she straightened at our proximity. Her head lowered but with my hummed tone, she matched my gaze. "Tell me about your first love.."

With a confused expression, she looked up to the roof before laughing and falling back.

"Was I being funny?" I peered at her, voicing my concern. Getting up from the couch, she donned her serious expressions upon evaluating my tone. "Tell me.."