CHASING MY RIVAL

SHE IS BRAVE

Kane’s P.O.V.

I was losing my temper while listening to their reports about the various projects that we were dealing with right now. I already had sent all of them the remarks on their reports the last night but it seemed that they were taking their work lightly as the mistakes and doubts that I marked in their reports were still there. Christopher was also sitting with me on the other side of the table and he was also looking disappointed. “Enough of this bullsh*t”, suddenly he banged his hand on the table and yelled at the project manager who was presenting his report right now. He was startled by his outburst and looked at him with fearful eyes.

It was good for him that it was Christopher who lost his temper first or else I had fired him at this very instant. “If I am not wrong, all of you have received an email marking your mistakes and loopholes in your reports this morning, right?” Christopher looked around at everyone angrily. I leaned back on the backrest of the chair and studied their reactions. There were fifteen people in the meeting room right now excluding me, my assistant, Christopher and his assistant. None of them spoke a word and looked at each other faces dumbfounded. “Ye… yes, sir… we received the emails in the morning… an.. and”, one of them was brave enough to speak and accepted that they received my mails. “Then why on earth do the reports still have the same mistakes?” Christopher cut him off and banged his hand on the table again.

The person flinched at his place and almost jumped on his chair. His body was trembling right now but he cleared his throat. “I… I do.. n’t know about them, sir.. but… I… rep.. plied the mail requesting for some more time to clear those mistakes”, he said and looked at Christopher with fearful eyes. I narrowed my eyes at him. “What’s your name?” I asked him when I didn’t recall his name. He should be the new project manager that we had appointed two months ago. He was younger than everyone here. “It’s Noah Symonds, sir”, he immediately introduced himself to me and I nodded. Christopher looked at me and I nodded in confirmation that I received his reply.

“What about others, huh?” Christopher looked at the rest of them and they immediately lowered their heads and glanced at each other. There was once again dead silence in the meeting room. I had enough of their clumsiness now. “Lucas… call HR manager in my room… the meeting is”, I left the sentence in the middle and looked at them coldly. The panic on their faces was enough to indicate that they got the message that I wanted to convey to them. I stood up and walked out of the meeting room without looking back at them. Lucas followed me while calling the HR manager. I could hear Christopher yelling at them but it was not my concern now. I paid them for their work, not for their clumsiness.

“I want everyone’s file on my table who were present there including that manager, Noah”, I instructed Lucas while going towards the elevator. “Yes, sir”, he immediately confirmed my command. There was chaos in the meeting room right now. I guess the door was still opened as I could hear their panicked voices. They must concentrate on their work and now they would pay. Christopher also came near to me and took a deep breath. “You lost your temper again”, I remarked at him while waiting for the elevator. “What about you, then?” he immediately retorted and I shook my head while laughing a little. All of them knew about my cruelness. Still they dare to ignore my instructions. How could I let them go without any punishment?

Both I and Christopher entered the elevator with our assistants. “How is your sister?” I heard Christopher asking a question to his assistant in a concerned tone. I looked at Mist who had lowered her head right now. “She is still in the same condition”, she answered in a low voice. Mist was Christopher’s assistant and she was good at her work. I also knew about her sister and had sympathy for her. Her sister had blood cancer and they were waiting to get a donor for her bone marrow transplant. It was not easy to get a perfect donor and that is where her sister was totally dependent on her luck. “You didn’t tell me about her latest reports”, Christopher asked her again while coming out of the elevator on our floor. They were behind me so I couldn’t see their faces.

There was silence behind me. It meant that her sister’s reports were not good. She was only 17 if I was not wrong, too young to die. “We will talk about this later”, I heard Christopher after some time. Both I and Christopher entered my room leaving our assistants behind. I pulled off my suit and threw it on the couch while throwing my body too. Christopher also sat near me and took a deep breath. He rested his head on the upper edge of the backrest. “What do you want to do with them?” he asked me after a short pause. “What should I do, huh?” I asked him instead of giving him a reply. “All our projects are in the middle. We can’t fire them but it doesn’t mean that we can’t punish them”, he responded in a cold tone that made me smirk. I looked at him lazily and he smirked too. We were best friends and according to what I heard from our staff, we were almost the same when it comes to the business.

“I forgot to tell Mist about my car”, suddenly Christopher straightened his back and took his phone from the table in front of us where he put his phone a while ago. I knitted my brows at him in confusion. “Uhh.. Mist… can you check my car before the lunch…. Yeah… she is giving a little trouble”, he told Mist about his car over the call. I was confused when he asked her to check his car. She was his PA, not a car mechanic. “Thanks, sweetheart.. you are a saviour”, he smiled widely while saying some sweet words to her. “What?” he asked me after cutting the call in confusion. “She is your PA, right?” I asked him and he nodded immediately. “Yes… she is my PA and”, he paused while dragging the last word. “A very efficient car mechanic too”, he finished in a prideful tone. I was taken aback by what he told me.

“What?” I exclaimed with disbelief. Christopher jerked his head back while looking at me in disbelief this time. “Yeah… she is a very efficient car mechanic and that is the reason why I don’t send my cars for the services”, he told me in a calm tone but his brows were still raised. “She started working in a garage when she was only fifteen. She has a passion for cars and she is a good driver too”, he praised her again. I just blinked my eyes while processing what he told me. “She is still working there, huh?” I asked him after a while and he nodded while sighing aloud. “She is doing everything to save her sister”, he said in a low tone this time. Fate is always cruel to everyone but Mist was brave enough to deal with the situation bravely. For the past two years, I never saw her sitting idle. She rarely talked with anyone in the office except at work. She was a workaholic like us and that was also a reason I liked her as an employee.

“Are you coming to the charity ball?” I asked him and he nodded. “Mist will be my plus one this time”, he informed me and I nodded with a sly smile on my lips. “Don’t give me that look, Kane. She is a good friend to me”, Christopher immediately retorted while glaring at me. I laughed while nodding and he hit me on the arm playfully. “Don’t develop any ideas in your dirty mind, Mr Harris. She is a good girl”, he again defended Mist and to be honest, I liked to tease him. I knew that Mist and Christopher were good friends and they made a good team too. Most of the time, Mist knew what Christopher wanted and it was rare quality for a PA. “I think… ball will be a good distraction for her”, I said after a while and at the same time, we heard a knock on the door.

“That’s why I want to take her there. She has drowned herself in work so deeply that she has forgotten that she is a human too”, Christopher said while standing from the couch. Lucas entered the room with the HR manager. They had some files in their hands that I demanded. I took a deep breath and came back to my chair. Now it was time to play the heartless CEO role. Both I and Christopher took our seats and Lucas placed the files on the table in front of us. Both I and Christopher looked at each other before looking at the HR manager standing behind Lucas. "Give me Noah's file first", I asked Lucas in a cold tone and he immediately looked for his file. That man had gained my attention because he was the only one there who accepted his mistakes and also asked for the time so that he could amend his mistakes. I could see that he had potential and that was why I wanted to start my work with his file.