Chapter 61 - Frustration (2)

Turning around in her office chair, Alice leaned back staring at the screen of her phone. Her thumb seemed to be softly caressing the face there as her eyes had a far away look of one lost in their dream. A quote that she had recently read seemed to be echoing in her head as she looked at the picture because it befitted her situation really well. "You are everywhere except here. And it hurts." She was missing him so much. And there was nothing she could do because wherever she went, she saw him. From the advertisement boards to the news channels, there was no place that SKY and it's charismatic leader was not mentioned. 

It had been eight months since she had last seen him and he had even stopped messaging her now.. It was only after that he had left that she realized how much she had come to look forward to hearing from him, how much she had come to trust him and lean on him. Slowly as she had viewed the pictures he used to send her regularly, she had come to be envious of those people that got to see him, that got to hear him sing and those that got to live with him. As she had gradually come to the realization that she was getting more and more attached to him, she had panicked. In her panic, she had made an oath to avoid him in the future. They were friends after all and did not need to keep in touch so much. But in spite of her coldness and aloofness, he had continued to message her and she had continued to wait for it looking forward to it like an addict looked forward to their dose of the drugs.

Finally, she had realized just how big his heart was and how he had never had any expectations of her. All his pictures ever showed was his will to make her smile and include her in the little things he experienced daily. Thus, to distance herself and to give up the addiction that was Adam Perry, she had decided to stop viewing his messages. And just like that, she had withdrawal symptoms and all she could think of was him whenever she was free. And now he had not even messaged her for so many days.. Raising her hand, she was about to throw away her phone irritated with herself but instead clicked on the browser and typed, "K". Immediately her page was filled with latest news' about their concert and fan pages. Clicking on a live broad cast video clip of their latest concert she read the comments from the fans like a starved woman and stared at the man who was dancing energetically on the stage. Every expression he made, every dance movement seemed to be branding itself on him. It made her realize that the aura he had on stage was much more domineering than the one he had in reality. He was made for the stage. She even felt jealous when she saw him hugging...what was the other guy's name...Apollo?, on stage and dancing arm in arm.

But as she devoured the fan camera videos, she became aware of how lean and thin he had become. She noticed the whirl of emotions in his eyes and her heart ached even more. He had lost too much weight too quickly making her worry that he was not well. What could be the reason for it? She knew for a fact that the music industry was not easy and she had seen for herself how they practiced day and night when they uploaded their practice videos. Maybe she should message him and ask how he was doing? Asking after your friend's welfare was alright? Yes? No. She needed to control herself. They lived in different worlds and these worlds had intersected for a while, but they could not co exist. And it was a good thing that they part ways on good terms. Because if they came too close then it would inevitably end on a sour note. She was unlucky for those who were there for her. Just then she saw a headline and clicked on it.

So, it was his birthday tomorrow. Should she at least wish him? Maybe she could send him a bouquet of flowers to wish him luck. It would not be right to simply break things off. She could consider this a goodbye gesture to him also. But what kind of flowers would a man like? She had no idea. Since they were signed with her company, their itinerary was already lodged in the system and she opened it to check his address and the rest. Once she had that, she opened a florist's page to look for flowers and entered the details, a simple happy birthday message to be written with a meaning card and her own bank details. She just needed to choose flowers that meant good luck and good bye so that he would know what she meant when he saw the meaning card provided.. Thankfully the florists had provided the meaning of the flowers along with other details. She deliberated between peace lilies and sunflowers which meant good luck and fortune and a simple set of orchids. 

Just then a knock sounded on the door and like a naughty kid caught red handed stealing cookies, she clicked on an image and pressed the 'confirm order' prompt before immediately locking her phone and placing it facedown on the table. "Come in."

Ximin was the one who entered the cabin and placed a file on the table. "These are the details that you wanted of the people involved in the deal. We have been trying to find out who the mole is but it is really difficult because we have used our most trusted people in these deals and it would be a big blow to us. Alice, this is the second deal we have lost in these few months. More and more people have started to lean on Samual's side. Our spies have found out that almost thirty percent of the share holders are in his pockets. They are trying to get the remaining on their side and if we miss out on this upcoming deal then they will start clamoring that you are incompetent."

Alice picked up the file and started to go through the details of the employees who were suspected of being the mole. Seeing that Alice was still calm, Ximin wanted to bang her head against the table as she asked, "Alice? How can you not be worried? Those 11 percent shares that Grandmother Ye holds are the only thing that can turn everything in our favor and yet you are ignoring her! If you have those eleven percent shares then we don't have to worry about the others! And to add to our problems we have a mole in our company who is working for Samual! We have failed to find him twice! What are we going to do now?"

Calmly, Alice shook her head as she answered," Grandma Ye is going to hold onto those shares so that she can have some control over me and Samual. No amount of coaxing or doing her bidding is going to change her mind if she has made it up. It would simply be a waste of time and make me lok=ok weak. And I also do not intend to focus on those old fools. They are only trying to create a ruckus to waste our time handling the internal affairs. Ignore them for some time using the excuse that I am really busy. And when they finally start to show their true colors, arrange a meeting. They seem to think that I am a soft persimmon! I will teach them well. Their egos are unable to take the fact that a woman is more successful in business than them. Fools! With the dividends they are earning, they should be kowtowing to me!"

Ximin acknowledged this and after that took her leave while Alice immersed herself in work. The upcoming deal was concerned directly with foreign investments and her own chain of restaurants procuring the franchise rights for their country. Alice opened the plan on her laptop of the goals she had set and accomplished this year. She had finally stabilized her position in Faye Group and once the chain of "The Mad Hatter's Tea" was merged, she would be unshakable from this position. Her only obstacle was Samual who simply refused to get out of her way!

Unfortunately, with Alice's mind being on business, the fact that she had been considering something for her friend's birthday slipped from her mind and she could only concentrate on her work. And she failed to check the flowers she had confirmed. Because instead of peace lilies, Alice had chosen the hybrid lily breed with big petals called the star gazer lilies.. The biggest difference between these lilies being that peace lilies were meant to bring goodwill to the receiver while Stargazer lilies told the receiver how much they were missed.