#THE_SACRIFICE
EPISODE 93
©Sir Zach
“Lair are we still moving out?” Amy asked as she watched Lair work with his l@pt©p.
“Yes” He replied without looking at her.
“Have you chos£n a place yet?” She asked him.
“No, I’m still waiting for the agency I contacted to call me back”
“But are you sure you want to move out with me? I mean your one month leave is alre-ady over. And you’re supposed to return back to work. You don’t have to stress yourself out with this. I can do it myself” Amy said. She knew how much stress her brother had been going throu-gh because of her. He’s completely swarmed with work despite the fact that he was supposed to be on leave, but still he was taking care of her and helping with all her problems.
“What, you don’t want me here anymore?” Lair looked up at her, faking a pained expression.
“Of course not. I want you here. Why would you even say that?” She sma-cked him on his arm.
“Well don’t worry yourself too much. I’m not leaving your side anytime soon” He told her.
“Huh, what do you mean? What about your work?” She asked in confusion.
“What about it? I’m still an adjunct lecturer”
“But you love being a surgeon,wasn’t that why you left home in the first place, so you can do what you love?” Amy didn’t un-derstand what he was trying to do. Was he giving up his dreams? Because of what?
Lair turned to look at her more intently. “That was a mistake I made. I shouldn’t have left you all alone. I was supposed to look after you as your big brother despite knowing how dangerous it was leaving you un-der the same roof with mother. You’re our only princess, and as such you should be well looked after and well protected even if it’s from our own mother” He said calmly. His words made Amy emotional, she stood up and wra-pped her arms around him as she sobbe-d lightly, ma-king Lair chuckle.
“What about your…”
“Don’t worry, I know you’re proud to have a handsome brother like me as a medical doctor, you just can’t st©p gloating to people about it”
Amy nodded her head. “How did you know” She said in between sob.
“I know my baby sister the most. But don’t worry I can be a doctor anywhere. I dropped some applications at some hospitals here, and I’m pretty sure they’ll start fighting to bring me in soon. You know how capable your brother is right?” He asked trying to ease her mood.
“I know he’s the best” She muttered, burying her face on his shoulder as she continued to sob.
“St©p crying. You’re such a big baby.” He tea-sed.
Amy sma-cked him on his shoulder as she lifted her head to wipe her face. “At least you have a baby to keep you busy till you find a girlfriend” She retorted as she returned back to her seat.
“Lair?”
“Hmm” He answered as he continued to type on his l@pt©p.
“Do you think we should ask big brother for help with Michael’s issue?” Amy asked. It’s been days since her father threatened their mother to bring Michael back, but she was yet to say anything. And if he was really in Jail like she said, their elder brother could probably help his father to get him out, since this was his jurisdiction.
Lair looked at her, “You should let father handle this. There are still more days to go. If mother still remains stubborn then we can consider other options” Lair wasn’t really hung up on the idea of talking to their elder brother. That guy has always been his own person, a social recluse even with his own family. They weren’t that close to him, maybe it was because he never truly lived with them, as their mother made sure to s£nd him to a boarding school while he was young.
Typical Mrs Walker.
“Okay” Amy agreed.
After some minutes el@psed Amy couldn’t keep quiet.
“That’s your latest publication you’re working on right?” Amy asked out of curiosity.
“Yeah”
“So what’s it all about?” Amy asked, ma-king Lair raise a brow at her.
“Why the interest? I’m sure you won’t un-derstand what’s written here. No offense”
“No taken. But I can tell you I pretty well un-derstood some of the ones I have re-ad” She said pridefully, ma-king Lair look up at her in surprise.
“You re-ad my publications?” He asked doubtfully.
“Mmmm” She nodded. “The recent one was about the risk of nocosomial infections in Health institutions right?” She asked with a proud smile. Lair was surprised his sister was paying attention to his medical works.
“I must say I’m surprised”
“Surprised about what? Don’t you know I’m your biggest fan?” She asked faking a frown.
“Of course, I know you are” He smiled back.
“So what’s this one all about?” She asked.
“Something about the cancerous effect of Monosodium glutamate used as a food sweetners in African countries” He told her.
“Well sounds interesting”
“Yeah it is” He said glancing back at his l@pt©p.
“Since you’re really busy with this why don’t I help you take a lookal at the houses from the agency” Lair st©pped his hand which was typing and raised his gaze to her.
“I promise not to stress myself and I can do it with Ethan. I promise” She quic-kly added when she saw the look Lair was shooting at her.
“I should have known that you were not just showing interest in my work. You’re just trying to pl@yme” He hissed at her.
“Comeon that’s not true. I was only…” Her speech slurred.
“Yes say it. You were only What?” Lair raised his chin at her.
“Okay fine. I was trying to…you what never mind. Just let me go out. I promise it would only be for few hours, maybe four” She pleaded, pu-lling her million dollar puppy face at him.
“Don’t do that” He said looking away.
“plea-se” She said pu-lling on his sleeves.
“Amy”
“Comeon I’m an adult, I can’t believe I’m begging you to go out” She pouted at him.
“An adult that can’t look after herself” He retorted.
“Yeah whatever” She rolled her eyes. “So can i?” She asked again.
Lair looked at her and sighed in resignation. “Three hours, and you must eat before leaving and Ethan must be with you” Lair stated.
“Thank you bro, you’re the sweetest, bestest, and most generous brother” She cheered.
“Lies” Lair hissed as he stood up with his l@pt©p. This girl was distracting him.
Amy looked at her phone that beeped when a message entered. It was a message from Ethan.
‘Want to go to a p@rty tonight?
She looked at Lairs’ retreating back. “Bro can I also go for a p@rty. It’s with Ethan” She called from behind him.
Lair st©pped on his tracks but he didn’t look at her. He heaved a de-ep breath to calm himself down. This girl was going to kill him.
“No drinking and take your meds before you leave” He said. What should he do. He better agrees now or she was going to bug him to death.
“I love you big bro. You’re the best” She squealed, while Lair chuckled.
‘Best bro indeed’
___________
*…..Inside The Board Room….*
“Sir if I’m allowed to speak” Mr Alan raised his hand up, while the president nodded his head in approval.
“Miss Peterson had made a mistake and yes she has acknowledged it, but we should not only focus on that. This mistake she has made has brou-ght this company three different successful projects which we had struggled to achieve in time past. Though we had thought these were done by the hands of Mr Stuart, but now we know better. Even as a mere intern she has shown how competent she is and could be in the nearest future. During her time of working at my dep@rtment she proved herself to be more capable than her fellow interns. She has proven to be an equal or even better than some of our high paid staff in this company, no offence meant” He quic-kly apologized to the people sitted there he didn’t want his words to be taken the wrong way.
“What I’m saying in ess£nce is, Miss Peterson is a prodigy, one which this company must hold on to. I believe she has a promising future here” Mr Alan said convincingly.
“Thank you Mr Alan for your input” He said before turning to Simon, Jade’s new team leader at the gra-phics dep@rtment.
“She’s currently working with you, so what do you have to say?” He asked.
“Sir I think I’ll have to agree with My Alan. Jade is indeed a capable staff. We all can attest to how she had witfully gotten herself a position as a staff of the company by reeling in the contract with the anti-hack software. She was s£nt with a higher staff of this establishment but she had done outstandingly well. Even at the dep@rtment, she has shown great development and skill. So I’ll say she has more to offer, and shouldnt be cut off”
Several concuring and approving nods could be seen around the table, after Simon’s speech.The president turned to Mrs Tracy, but she shook her head indicating she had nothing to say at the moment.
“If there’s nothing else to say then I guess we shouldn’t waste more time. Call them in” He said.
Jade and Cale returned to the board room after waiting for life long minutes. Jade thought that she had alre-ady waited a thousand years outside.
“Well we’ve put all factors into consideration, and I believe the decision we’ve come up with is the best” He paused and looked at Jade.
“Ms Peterson, you’re wrong for doing what you did. It wasn’t right for you to deceive the company in this fashion, but we’ve taken all your input to this company into consideration and I must say they’ve all been good, and for that you’ll be pardoned, but only after you’ve been queried, for your misconduct”
Jade felt like life c@m£ rushing back into her veins for the first time in the last half hour. She could feel her heart beating properly again. The pain in her rib cage has completely disappeared. She could feel tears of relief trick-ling her eyes as they threatened to fall. She had the urge to kowtow in front of all of them at the moment.
The president turned to Cale who was standing beside Jade with his head lowered.
“Mr Stuart plea-se ensure to clear out your desk and pick up your termination letter from the HR dep@rtment. You’re not to be seen within this company premises in the next 1hour” He said coldly. His disdain for Cale could be seen in his eyes and he wasn’t even trying to hide it.
He looked at the faces around the table and said, “Ladies and gentlemen that’ll be all for today” He said before standing up to his feet, and the other did the same. The President strolled out of the room and the others followed suit, except Mrs Tracy, Jade and Cale.
Mr Alan patted Jade on her shoulders and smiled at her on his way out, while her boss, Simon pla-yfully wriggled his brows at her.
Cale was stupified by what had happened. He stood in a daze, he couldn’t wra-p his head over what had happened to him. Did they say he was fired?
“No!” He muttered un-der his breath but it was audible for the others remaining in the room to hear. He looked at Mrs Tracy and from the look in her eyes he knew he shouldn’t even approach her.
He turned to look at Jade, but Jade looked away. She wasn’t going to feel sorry for him now. He has caused her a lot of pain and troubles alre-ady. He should just go away.
Cale looked at her a little longer before storming out of the office. He was not going to lose his job just like that.
Jade glanced at Mrs Tracy who was still lolled back in her seat. She could see the pensive look on the woman’s face directed at her, but why was she giving her that look?
Could there be something else?
Jade didn’t know what to think about Mrs Tracy’s displea-sed look at her. Her heart was beginning to race. She loved and respected this woman, and de-ep down in her heart she didn’t want to lose the respect the woman had for her.
So what the hell was wrong?
“Ms Jade, meet me in my office” She said as she got up from her seat and headed for the door.
Jade nodded her head and followed Mrs Tracy out of the conference room. She was shocked when she saw Stephanie still waiting there. Jade noticed the way she smiled sweetly to Mrs Lin as she walked out the door. But the woman only responded with her typical robotic nod, before walking ahead.
The smug smile on Stephanie’s face gave her the feeling that whatever Mrs Lin wants to talk about must be related to Stephanie.
But what could it be?
“You’re so dead, Jade Peterson” Stephanie cackled in Jade’s ear.
Jade followed Mrs Lin into her office, she could feel her heart racing again as fear and anxiety slowly enveloped her. The woman’s silence and the way she was staring at her made her really uncomfortable. She stood in front of the hvge mahogany desk with her head lowered, anxiously waiting to hear why she has been called.
“I know you must be wondering why I’ve called you to my office, and I’m also wondering why I’ve done the same when I could have said what I wanted to say in that board room earlier, but I chose not to. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt that the information that have reached me isn’t entirely true” Mrs Lin said in a cold and expressionless tone.
Jade slowly raised her gaze to her. Now she was more scared.
“What information ma?” Jade asked in low tone, one that was obviously filled with worry.
Mrs Tracy drew out a drawer from her desk and pu-ll-ed out a medium size brown envelope.
“This one” She said sliding the envelope across the table, towards Jade.
Seeing the envelope on the desk, Jade didn’t have a good feeling about it. But she reached for it and carefully opened it.
Her eyes grew big and her hands shook slightly when she saw the pictures in the envelope. There were pictures of herself and Jake hvgging at the drive-in theatre. And also of Jake giving her a good night k!ssright in front of her house. The ones taken in front of her house were quite dark, but definitely not the ones at the drive-in theatre. She had no way of denying she wasn’t the person in the pictures. But how could someone have taken these pictures, it was just yesterday, ba-rely up to twenty four(24) hours.
She slowly lifted her head to gaze at Mrs Lin. She opened her mouth but nothing c@m£ out. How was she going to explain this? This was what she had feared the most when she and Jake were still friends, and it just c@m£ to past. She could guess the kind of thoughts that were going throu-gh the woman’s mind at the moment.
“I guess it’s true afterall” Mrs Tracy said in an angry and irritated tone.
“I — I” Jade couldn’t bring words out of her mouth.
“You can what Ms Peterson? I had high hopes for you, just once I thought you were different, not like the other girls who didn’t know the true value of work and self respect. When you c@m£ into my office that day I thought I saw a bold, strong and promising young lady who was re-ady to go to the t©p without compromising herself, but I guess I was wrong. I was wrong Jade. I’m highly disappointed”
Mrs Lin didn’t even know why she was feeling so angry and disappointed. Jade was an adult and she could do whatever she liked but she felt hurt and broken after finding out something like this, because she was beginning to see Jade as a daughter. She admired her intelligence and boldness.
She felt like Jade had disappointed her and also the company, like she had humiliated the company name.
“Ma, this isn’t what it looks like, i as-sure you” Jade tried to explain, and for some unknown reason she was alre-ady tearing up. She didn’t like the disappointed and judgemental look Mrs Lin was shooting at her at the moment. It was tearing her heart ap@rt. It felt like she was been reprimanded by her for something she didn’t do, and wasn’t even given the benefit of the doubt.
“Isn’t it clear that you lowered yourself so cheap to get that contract, tanishing the company’s impeccable reputation along the line?” Mrs Lin snapped.
“Xenox has always been a high reverenced gaming company but do you know what will happen to the company if news of this got out?” She roared. “The headlines would be, Xenox whoring their female staffs to bag in contracts, or no, it would be ‘a who-re house in disguise of a gaming company’. Do you know what that would do to the company’s image?” She slammed her hand ha-rd against the desk, startling Jade, who nearly jumped out of her skin.
“It wouldn’t be seen that it was a one time thing, but people would say that’s how we’ve got every other contract we’ve bagged over the years, and how we’ve remained on the pinnacle of the gaming industry. How could you do this?” She demanded lividly.
“I swear this is not what it seems. I can explain” Jade said as she tried not to break down in sobs. She was also hurt that someone she saw as a role model could see her this way.
“Then tell me Jade, tell me what I should think” She said in a condescending manner. She didn’t think Jade had a good explanation to save herself.
“Tell me you didn’t sleep with the CEO Acrosoft to get this contract”
“I didn’t!” Jade declared strongly. “I didn’t sleep with Jake to get that contract” She said as she tried to hold in the tear that was about to roll down her cheek. She couldn’t let anyone look down on her like that, not even Mrs Lin who she had come to love and respect.
Yes, she had sle-pt with Jake at a time because of money, but that was because she was desperate to save Cale, but that was something she didn’t regret. Despite his betrayal she didn’t regret the fact that she had done something stupid and shameful to save his life. But she was not a who-re! So no one should see her as such.
They could take away her job, but she shouldn’t be insulted this way.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 94