Spontaneous Layovers (Chaelisa)

ii

Rosie sighs and she shuts her laptop down as she gathers her things. She is not sure what she was expecting, but the talk of a corporate merger was not on her radar at all. And as far as she can tell, the shareholders and other board members are just surprised as she is. 

"Rosie, why do I get the sense that you're not one-hundred percent convinced that this is a good decision for us?" Jaehyun says as he turns his chair towards her.

Rosie puts both of her hands on the conference table in front of her and takes a deep breath. Jaehyun, the President of the company and her boss, is not someone that takes confrontation well. But to hell with that, she thinks. "Jaehyun, why now?" She asks, unable to keep the exasperation from her voice.

Jaehyun laughs. "Why not now?"

Rosie turns towards him. "Why not!? Jaehyun, we are about to end the year with record numbers and we are projected to do even better next quarter. Why would we even want to consider this deal right now?"

"Rosie, just like always, you are missing the big picture!" Jaehyun says as he throws his arms into the air. "This is going to be huge for us. These people have very deep pockets."

Rosie shakes her head. "Then why haven't I heard about this until today? Why keep this from me? You just made me look like a damned fool in front of everyone in here."

"You know why. It's because I knew that you would react this way." Jaehyun says as he pulls himself out of the chair and onto his feet. He grabs his briefcase putting it onto the table and opens it so that he can put away his portfolio and computer. When he looks up again, Rosie is in the same position, still staring at him. "What? What do you want me to say, Rosie?"

Rosie pulls her glasses off and rubs at the bridge of her nose because she is beginning to feel a headache coming on. "You know what, you're the one that put me in charge here, and despite what everyone else may think, you and I both know that it was not because you and I were fucking each other when we were still working in this building together. I know how to do my job and I'm damned good at it!"

"Rosie-"

Rosie cuts him off. "No! I'm not finished." She walks over closer to him so that he does not miss a single word of what she has to say to him. "You do not get to make these decisions without so much as a call or an email to me, then pull me away from my family on Christmas Day, and then proceed to make a fool of me in front of the entire Board. If that is the kind of person you want in this seat, someone that will just nod and smile at you, then you should find yourself a replacement right now."

Jaehyun closes his eyes and sighs. "You know that you're the only one that I want for the job. No one else would be able to do even half of what you do."

Rosie walks away from him, over to where her coat is hanging and puts it on. Then she takes the rest of her things and looks up at him again. "And you're right. This is huge, and I'm going to need some time to process it all. So, I hope that you have a safe flight back to L.A. Merry Christmas." And without giving Jaehyun a chance to reply, she turns and walks out of the conference room and out towards the elevators.

When Rosie is finally outside, she takes a deep breath, taking in the cool and damp Seattle air. She runs her hand through her hair and squeezes her eyes shut. Once she feels that she has composed herself, she walks towards the parking garage to fetch her car. She absentmindedly walks into the garage to where she is usually parked and sees that her car is not in the usual, assigned spot.

"Shit." Rosie mutters to herself when she realizes that she took an Uber straight from the airport to the office and that her car is still at home. She reaches into her bag and pulls out her phone so that she can call for a car and when she does, she sees that she has a new message from a phone number she does not recognize. She opens it.