Chapter 3 - The Voicemail
1284 Words
"I have to go," Alexiel said with a frown while putting a shirt on. He walked towards the bed and planted a kiss on Louise's forehead. “I’ll try to be back by dinner.”
His lover sighed and tugged the sheets up to cover her naked body. "What did he do this time?"
Alexiel smirked. "Something unexpected and interesting. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother getting up this early on a Sunday."
"Did his mother drop by his penthouse again? You adore that old lady so much." Louise asked, obviously displeased.
He shook his head and chuckled softly. "It's a different woman this time."
“What?”
That’s right. Alexiel was also in disbelief when he got the call from the security team this morning. He even asked them to check again because he couldn’t process the thought of his boss bringing a woman home. In his five years of working under Lowell, this is definitely the first time he willingly rushed over to check on him.
“This should be fun.” He mumbled.
When he arrived, his boss looked weary while sitting on the couch. Alexiel suppressed laughter when he looked up upon his arrival. The dark circles under his eyes were too obvious to ignore.
“Laugh if you want a salary deduction.” Lowell warned.
He gulped and tried to refrain from smiling sneakily. “How was your night, sir? Did you have fun?”
The chairman gave him a sneer out of annoyance. “Cut the crap, Alex. I know that the security team informed you.”
“Is she still..” Alexiel peeked at the direction of Lowell’s bedroom.
“Where do you think she is? I have no extra room here.” The pissed-off man answered sarcastically.
“To be fair, I suggested adding another room in case of situations like these. You’re the one who insisted that you’ll never spend the night with anyone. If you just listened - “
“Are you done making fun of your boss?” Lowell cuts off his monologue. By his tone, anyone could tell that his patience is about to cut loose.
"But what's with the pillows and blanket on the couch?" He asked despite his grumpiness. The sight puzzled him.
Lowell's eyebrow furrowed. "I slept with those."
"You mean, you did not - "
"No." The irritated gentleman almost yelled.
"Oh," Alexiel exclaimed in a deteriorating manner. Almost as if hinting disappointment. "But why did you bring her here?"
Lowell buried his face in his palm and released a deep sigh. "It's a long story, but I'll sum it up for you. If I want to avoid being photographed with a drunk woman, this is the safest place to go."
"Well, your judgment was right on that part." Alexiel nodded twice in agreement. "Although I still don't get why you'd bring a girl that you won't sleep with."
"Alexiel."
"Yes?" He responded while blinking innocently.
"Can we get serious here?" Lowell's face quickly turned grim as he looked up at his easy going assistant. He normally wouldn't get angry at his antics, but he's not in the best mood right now.
Alexiel coughed to ease the tension in the air. "My apologies for that. What do you need me to do?"
"Just.." For a moment, a trace of hesitation crossed the young man's face. "..send her home."
"I can do that. But is it safe to send her away like that? I mean, we don't know her intentions." Alexiel firmly objected.
"Once you meet her, you'll know what I mean." Lowell stood up and marched to the door. "Make it quick. I don't want your girlfriend glaring at me again for making you work on a weekend."
A buzzing sound woke Wednesday up from her deep slumber. Her consciousness was quickly welcomed with a headache. The sharp pain makes her not want to open her eyes for a while.
Besides, she suddenly felt a bit cold. It's strange because it's almost summer. Her room should be boiling hot by now. Come to think of it, even her bed seems too soft and comfy. It feels like she's in someone else's room.
Oh no. With that thought, her entire being has been woken up.
Her eyes slowly widened as she scanned the room. It's obviously too luxurious to be her room. Wednesday scoots up and checks her body underneath the sheets.
"Thank heavens." She exclaimed in relief that she's still fully clothed. "But where am I? Why am I here?"
In the middle of her self-reflection, flashes of last night's memory made her flinched. Drinking too much, meeting a gay couple, and kissing one of them? That's the farthest her mind could go, she couldn't recall anything after that.
"You're f****d up, Wednesday." She cursed, tormenting herself for her foolishness.
Wednesday stood up and circled the huge bedroom some more. Hoping to find any clues as to where she is right now.
She walked towards the glass window and admired the skyline view of the city. Apparently, she's located in a tall building. Her forehead wrinkled at the familiarity of the sight, she seemed to have seen this recently.
"I-It can't be."
When her eyes landed on the bookshelf near the glass window, her jaw dropped open. The shelves were filled with books from Sign Me Up! Publishing. Wednesday lost the strength in her legs upon sudden realization. She ended up sitting at the edge of the bed again to calm herself down.
Her thoughts were lost at the moment but she managed to pick up her phone and scrolled through her messages.
Primrose called her for a total of fourteen times. Some of her messages were also typed in capital letters stressing concern and urgency. Her friend must be worried sick and thought she slept in some random guy's house. Although, being in a random guy's house might be a better predicament than this.
"Let's get out of here first." She thought to herself, determined not to be tangled in the situation.
In her rush, her hand accidentally leaned on what felt like a button. She almost jumped in surprise when she looked down and found a tiny tablet screen flashing some texts.
"Voicemail from Witch Editor." A robotic voice came from the machine. She gulped, afraid that someone might hear it outside.
"How do I turn this thing off?" Wednesday asked and tried to click other buttons.
"Two weeks suspension and a salary deduction?" A different voice turned up this time. It sounded hoarse and it's a woman.
"The heck. I'm really bad with technologies, huh." She sighed while biting her lip nervously.
"Have you read it? I hope you did. Otherwise, our efforts may have been wasted." The woman on the audio chuckled. This time, she was quite sure that this was a drunk voicemail.
"The confession of a frozen flower. A bit cringe-y, right? I bet even the book title enraged you." Wednesday's eyes wavered as soon as she heard that. That's the name of her book!
"I won't judge your distaste towards themes like that. After all, I know what you went through. But don't you think we're too swamped with generic romance novels? I’m sick of those." The woman's anger became apparent in her voice. There was a bit of glass rattling and c******g in the background.
“Why don’t we go back to our early days? Do you remember when we released A Song for Adelia? Those were our golden days. I don’t even get why you want to hide the fact that you wrote it.”
Her hands automatically covered her mouth. She almost made a squeaky sound because of shock.
“Ms. Curtis?” Alexiel appeared behind her and reached out to click a button beside the tablet screen. When their gaze met, he looked like he went into a trance. The man looked more terrified than her
Wednesday stepped back and turned to look at him. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to listen - “
Alexiel tapped his forehead and sighed. He glanced back at the door for a while before facing her again. “This is bad.”
- Writer
