Chapter 9 You are fired

ROWAN

"Owww..." I grumbled as I stirrred awake. My hand flew to my head and as I held it, I felt another pain hit it, making my eyes fly open.

"How many drinks must I have had to make my head ache this badly?" I muttered to myself, not in the least happy. 'I sure woke up at the wrong side of the bed today' was what I mumbled inaudibly as I kicked myself out of bed and sat up.

I held my head and as I pulled the duvet off me, I noticed that it wasn't how my duvet felt. As if suddenly realizing something, I opened my eyes wide and I inspected the room I was in.

It was surely not my room, I concluded.

I tried to remember what happened last night and I winced in pain, my head pounding the more.

After the pounding subsided, I could finally remember what had happened the night before; I recall calling one of the many women on the stage down, and made her an offer she couldn't refuse. After that, what did we do?

I tried to think again, and my head banged harder, so I put off working my brain tirelessly and let my memories be. When it was time, they would all come. I turned to my side and found a red haired lady on the bed with me, but shocked as I was, I wasn't shocked still; she must be the lady I left the club with and lodged with in this hotel.

I walked to the windows and drew the curtains harshly apart. As soon as the rays of the sun filtered into the room, I heard the crumpling of the sheets and as I looked on, I saw that the lady was beginning to awake.

I stood by the window and did nothing but watch as slowly but surely, she flicked her eyes open and put out her right arm on my side of the bed. She quickly sat up as she had probably felt no one on the bed with her and turned around to find me. Her eyes found me soon after and she gave a smile, a warm one, but it only looked disgusting to me. Women are nothing but the devil's incarnate... Just yesterday, one tried to kill me and the next morning, another was beaming warm smiles and sending them my way.

"Good morning, Rowan."

'Rowan?!' How dare she call me by my name? She was only but a lowlife and she dared allow my name leave her lips?!

"What's making you smile? I can't find anything good about the morning."

" What? Last night was amazing, I've heard stories about you and you really turned out to be more than the ru... "

She was still speaking when I cut her off. " Alright, shut the fvck up and get out of my hotel room! " I yelled, irritated to the core and disgusted.

" Didn't you enjoy last night? " She asked and rolled off the bed, and started towards me.

"Did I make a mistake last night?"

"I told you to wear your clothes and get out right this instant!!" I yelled at her again and she stopped dead in her tracks.

As if deciding that she would not act sweet again, she blazed hot too. "I'm not leaving without my money."

"Get the fvck out! If you go to the reception, Arlo should be there waiting for me, he'll give you as much cash as you need, so scram right this instant!"

Finally giving in, she grabbed her discarded belongings and threw them all over to make an outfit and as she slipped her legs into her bougie heels, she threw me one final look before leaving.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, I rushed over to the bathroom to start preparing for work. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but I had spent so much time sleeping and discarding that who're that I didn't notice the time pass. Suddenly, it struck me that I had a very important contract to sign today. I had better make haste and arrive at the company on time.

"Well, the meeting is in the afternoon though... I don't need to hurry, it's only 8am, I might as well stall in the shower today so I can get rid of this bad hangover before I leave for work."

...

Horizon Art Gallery...

HAZEL

I grabbed the coffee from the coffee machine by the corridor right before the one I'd walk through to get to Rowan's office. I took a sip from it and anxiously glanced at my wrist watch. It was already 8am, but Rowan has not arrived at work yet. I hope he hasn't forgotten that he has a contract to sign this morning by 8.30am. Wait a moment... Does he even know that he has a contract to sign today?

I'm sure I left a sticky note telling him about the contract signing on his desk yesterday, or did I not?? I hastened my steps back to my desk and searched through it just to be sure that I had indeed informed Rowan about the contract signing today.

I dropped the hot cup of coffee I went to get and combed through my desk. I raised some files up and indeed, I saw the sticky note beneath one of them. "Oh my God!" I breathed out involuntarily. How could I have forgotten about putting this on Rowan's desk?

Well, I don't think it's totally my fault because he had been very cranky yesterday and scared me off of his office. I'd have told him personally yesterday only if he hadn't been behaving like an immature kid who recently lost his senses. I resorted to dropping a note on his desk, but even that failed because he had been so hyper about me being anywhere near his office. I could only pray right now that he arrives early and as fast as possible, so we could make it to the meeting and get done with signing the contract... If not, all the blame will be heaped on me. He had already called me lazy so many times, he'd definitely call me incompetent this time. That I'm sure of.

I brought up my hand and glanced at my wrist again. "Geez! How does time run so fast?! It's 8.23 already. I really hope he comes soon.." I muttered under my breath and anxiously bit my lips.

Wait a damn minute... I can actually ring his cell. How did that fvcking escape my mind?! I quickly grabbed my phone off my desk and searched for his name.

O, P, Q, R... Yeah, Rowan! I quickly clicked his contact name and dialled his number quickly. It ringed through, but he didn't pick up my call.

"Oh hell no! I'm not going to go through this, am I?" I cussed loudly and subsequently turned to see if anyone heard me, but I saw no one. I dialled his number again and once again, no response.

I must have tried his number for about seven times in a row in a space of about four minutes... ...And none of them did he pick. My cell phone ringed just when I had gotten tired of calling Rowan's cell and I brought it to my face quickly, really hoping it was Rowan who was calling, but it wasn't him calling to return my calls.

It was a strange number, and although I was wary of picking strange calls, I picked up right away, hoping that it was Rowan calling with another number that I didn't have saved on my phone.

"Hello... Rowan!"

"Hi there, miss. This is not Rowan." My countenance changed.

"Who's speaking please? "

" I'm the secretary of Mr. Han, the CEO of H.K Art Enterprises with whom Mr. Hugo was to sign a contract with today. "

" Oh... Hi there, Mr. Secretary. Is there a problem with anything?"

"Not really... Actually, yes. " My heart skipped a beat.

"What's the problem? Tell me, I'm more than willing to help. "

" Mr. Rowan hasn't arrived yet. Is anything the matter?"

" Ughm... About that, Mr. Hugo is going to run a little bit late today. "

" And we weren't informed? " I swallowed my spit - I definitely noticed the change in his tone. " I'm really sorry about that... It wasn't intentional or planned, something came up. "

" I see... "

" So I was thinking... Could we perhaps push back the meeting time till about an hour? " I asked nervously, my hand in my hair and raving through it.

"There'll be no need for that. "

" What? Why?? "

" Mr. Han finds your work ethics totally unnerving and unprofessional, and so we're cancelling the contract and anything that has been agreed on before now. "

" What?! "

" Please do inform Mr. Hugo when he arrives and tell him not to bother coming here. "

" How can you do that? I said it was only going to be delayed and asked for an hour grace... How can you cancel everything just like that?! "I half yell from my end of the line, but I heard a beep almost immediately.

What the heck?!

They cancelled the contract just like that?! It has barely been eight minutes since 8.30 went by. What am I going to say to Rowan when he comes in for work? ...

8.51AM...

I sat on my desk, my eyes peeled at the entrance of the corridor and saw Rowan's figure approaching. My eyes had been fixed on that place for a long time now, nervously awaiting Rowan's arrival, and now that he indeed was coming, I had started trembling like a leaf.

"Good morning, Mr. Hugo." I greeted as he got closer. "To you too." He answered and was about to walk into his office but suddenly stopped and faced me.

"I hope you've prepared for the meeting this afternoon." I stared at him confused.

" What meeting, sir? "

" The contract signing meeting with H.K Arts Enterprises. " He glumly replied and my fear came back alive.

" Actually... Sir, the contract was scheduled for this morning. "

" What?! How on earth did I miss that?! Hurry let's go. " He yelled and turned to leave the same way he just came from.

'This is your opportunity, do not lose it.' I told myself. "

Sir, the contract was scheduled for 8.30 this morning, but when you took too long to arrive, Mr. Han's secretary called and cancelled the contract." I dropped the bombshell.

"I knew it. There's nothing you can do well in your entire life."

" Huh? "

" When you had that important piece of information, why didn't you inform me about the time the meeting was supposed to start? I knew it from the first time I set my eyes on you that you were nothing but an incompetent lady. Nothing more, nothing less. "

" Sir... " I tried to explain myself,but he cut me off. " Don't you dare say a word! You are nothing, and one wrong from you will result in you losing this job, lowlife. Wait a moment, why on earth am I waiting for you to make another mistake before I fire you?! Get out of my company right this instant! You're fired!!"