13 Chapter 12. He heard?!

When Vanessa reached the office next day, she was met with bummed faces instead of the usual smiles, thrown her way by her colleagues and Carl looked like she had been affected the most of this plague.

"Carl?"

"Carl?"

Vanessa's brows furrowed in amusement as Carl supported a smile, as if trying to mimic someone, before her face became sloppy again.

"Carl!" Vanessa thumped her hand against Carl's desk, startling the hell out of her and Carl immediately repeated the crammed line, as if Vanessa would chew her ear if she would not.

"Good morning mam, how can I help you to..."

"Carl?" Vanessa leaned over her desk to shake her best friend into real world, and received a slumped look in response, before Carl finally gained her senses.

"Huh?"

Now, Vanessa was worried. "Carl? What's wrong? I had been calling you for minutes, first you were gazing at the wall..... like you have been stumped out."

"He smiled."

What the fudge?

"Carl, did you finally realize you have lost it?" Vanessa asked with fake concern and Carl scowled at her bad joke.

"Ok. Ok. You have not, my bad." Vanessa giggled at her own joke and received another scowl in response.

"Ok. I am done. What's up?" Carl rolled her eyes as Sapphire (Vanessa) put her hand on her mouth as if to prevent another bad joke from tumbling out of her mouth and Carl sighed dreamily, as if she was back in her bubble world.

"He smiled."

Vanessa removed her hand from her mouth and looked at Carl in disbelief. "Ok, some man smiled at you, so what? You are hot."

"No, I didn't mean it like that, I was talking about him."

Vanessa gave her a look, "Ok, now I am feeling like you have certainly lost it. When you'll find out what, find me."

"He smiled, Vanessa." Vanessa was about to reprimand her, when Carl dropped the atom bomb on her. "Nathaniel Black just smiled at me, the f*ck! I feel like I have just been smashed in the head?"

Seriously?

"Well, what's wrong with him, smiling?" Vanessa demanded rather defensively, but Carl couldn't quite catch the blinking fishy signals from her dreamland and spoke mystically, what was a thing of great importance.

"He is Nathaniel Black."

What the-

Vanessa gave her a deadpanned look, before hurrying towards her office, ignoring Carl's whines of desperation that she had not lost it.

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Vanessa was busy fixing up files of the company, and trying to ignore the whispered gossips of her stumped colleagues, when her office telephone rang.

She picked up the phone and put it to her left ear, without bothering to look up from the file she was studying and repeated the thoroughly practised line.

"Hello, this is Black's Corporations, how can I help you?"

"Ms. Jones."

"Sh*t." Vanessa straightened up on her seat in fright and immediately apologized for not checking the number and blurting out the crammed line and then, apologized again for what she just said, before she finally shut up realising she was rambling and waited for him to start his lecture.

And he did what?!

He laughed at her silliness.

Vanessa stilled in shock. Nathaniel Black, who didn't leave a chance to reprimand his employees just laughed it off as if it's nothing.

"Ms. Jones. Are you there?"

Vanessa jumped back into reality. "Yes sir. What can I do for you?"

"Um, Is something wrong with the receptionist on the ground floor?"

Vanessa's brows furrowed. "Carl?"

"Yes, Ms. Stevens was behaving oddly when I called to inform her to put an advertisement for my new PA in newspaper. She is your friend, so I thought you would know something." Nathaniel inquired sceptically, while Vanessa smiled to herself finally catching everything thing.

Carl must have seriously lost it. Vanessa giggled to herself, completely forgetting that Nathaniel was still on the line, until he made himself known

"Ms. Jones? Are you laughing at me?" There was a tinge of annoyance in his voice and Vanessa jumped in fright yet again.

"No sir, it's just you don't have to worry about Carl, she is always like this."

"Oh. Well if that's the case..."

Before he could say anything more, the door to Vanessa's cabin was thrown open and a loud squeal rang through the room

"Carl, what the heck? Have you finally lost it?!" Vanessa threw her friend a dirty glare and received another squeal in response.

"She is gone. That b*tch is gone."

"Carl!" Vanessa hissed warningly, but Carl just ignored her.

"Oh, the happiness just exceeded the one of being a graduate and well, of course I regret not getting the chance to bash her fake face, but it's alright  I think I would let it go." Carl murmured with delight and giggled, and Vanessa sighed as she remembered something.

"Yeah. Yeah. I still had to get her to buy me a new suit, but I think I'll get over it too." Vanessa giggled softly, the fake professionalism wearing out slightly and Carl smiled excitedly.

"So, what would you think of hitting the club, tonight. Let's celebrate."

Vanessa tensed slightly, "Not today, I have a prior engagement today."

"Oh well, may be this weekend?"

"I'll have to ask my brother, he doesn't allow me fifteen Kilometers near any club." Vanessa smiled apologetically and Carl sighed.

"Too overprotective, huh?"

Vanessa sighed. "You have no idea."

"Well, I guess, I'll see you in the cafeteria for lunch. Please carry on with your call." Carl urged her and Vanessa froze.

"Sh*t."

"What happened?"

Carl looked at her skeptically as she picked up the stranded phone and put it on her left ear, and received a constant beep of the line being cut in the chilling silence.

"Saph, what happened?"

"He heard us."

Carl froze. "You mean...?"

Vanessa nodded.

"He heard..... Everything?"

Vanessa nodded.

Carl gulped the uneasy lump in her throat.

We are.... Dead!

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