Jonathan's POV
Months had passed since Veronica had left with Janet.
I woke up to a clean and quieter apartment…quieter than it should have been.
I woke up early, more of a necessity than a habit. After a quick shower, I slipped into the suit I had prepared the night before.
Now everything was in order on the dressing table…
Wallet, phone, keys.
Only…
My mind was a mess.
Now I don't call her name, but she's always on my mind and not a moment goes by I don't miss her.
Because…now her absence is also part of my routine.
This feeling…I hated it.
After eating my breakfast…a bowl of cereal, I cleaned the kitchen.
I placed my wallet in my back pocket, and picked up my phone and keys.
After locking the apartment, I drove off to my office.
Rollings Design
The moment I sat in my chair, I buried myself in work.
Be it the stock files, account ledgers, inventory reports, every thing I got to think of dealing with to keep my mind preoccupied.
I kept on working with no pause.
I even replied and deleted the emails that I never bothered to look at.
I was reviewing a file when my assistant walked in.
Again I did something I never did.
I noted the schedule in my diary and confirmed the important meetings like a meeting with a client, and cancelled the irrelevant ones like dinner with Imelda.
I was reading a document that was incomplete.
"Mr. Rollings," he said. "Before Ms. Smith used to do the…"
I replied in a calm voice.
"I know," I said. "I'll deal with these matters from now on."
"Yes," he said with a smile.
Just then my secretary came in.
"Mr. Rollings," she said. "Ms. Harmon is here."
"Tell her I have a board meeting in five minutes." I said without looking up. "If she can do in five minutes, then fine."
"Jonathan," Imelda's voice came from behind my assistant, smooth yet edged.
I didn't look up.
"I have a board meeting in five minutes," I said calmly as I gazed over at the wall-mounted watch. "If it's important–"
Imelda cut in.
"Oh," she asked. "So now you don't have time for me?"
I took a deep breath as I met with her gaze.
"Imelda," I said plainly. "We're not officially engaged. So, I'm not legally obliged to meet at any or every time. Plus, I have lots of pending work."
"You…" She trailed a bit. "Didn't even tell me about the meeting today."
"That," I said plainly. "Before, was my mistake. After all, you're not a Rollings Board Member. From now on you won't attend Rollings and I won't attend Harmon board meetings."
Her expression stiffened, but she still smiled, or forced a smile.
"I understand what you mean. I'll take my leave."
With that she took her leave without another word.
As she left, I leaned back into my chair.
Somehow deep down I felt like I had just taken back my freedom from her.
What I didn't know at the time.
After two hours.
I took a sigh of relief as I just came back from attending the board meeting.
My eyes fell on the set of documents that were waiting for me on my desk.
A note on the top one that read:
Important. Mr. Rollings, please sign so can be sent back to Ms. Imelda.
I looked with wide eyes as again they were documents that once, I didn't bother and just signed them the moment I saw them.
But this time I stopped as for the first time I saw they had the initials:
V.S
But as I looked closer at the documents, my eyes were bloodshot red.
"Nicky," I said, shocked. "Why in the hell did you sign these??"
I couldn't believe Imelda made Veronica sign such documents.
"Hello, bring me the older documents related to the Veronica Smith documents."
My secretary came and handed me a file.
"Mr. Rollings," she said. "They are date wise."
"Since when?"
"Well," she said. "They are from five years back, but we only have two years back, the rest are with Ms. Imelda."
"Okay," I said as I was going through them. "You can leave."
The more I looked back into them, the more I was shocked,
It was the same formatting inconsistency.
Imelda actually used her lawyer to draft them.
She knew Veronica wouldn't be able to read the loop holes, and…
Now five years later…
She had Veronica in her grip.
"Imelda," I said under my breath. "When did you approve all this?"
"Mr. Rollings," My assistant said as he came in. "Are the documents done?"
"Yes," I said, keeping them aside.
"Then…" he hesitated.
"Don't worry," I said, keeping my hand on them. "I'll take them to Imelda, and from now on these documents…only I'll take them over to Imelda, got that."
"Yes," he said. "Mr. Rollings."
I went to the account department.
"I want all the data related to these."
The staff looked shocked but didn't say a word and handed me a file.
"Thank you."
I took the file and went to my office.
"So, this is what you've been doing…."
My assistant was leaving, but stopped.
"Mr. Rollings," he said. "Ms. Imelda needs these—"
"Don't worry," I replied with a calm look. "Just tell her I'll handle these documents from now on."
"Yes," he said. Mr. Rollings."
Harmon Designs
I decided to go over and have a talk with Imelda…
And looks like I came at a good time.
"Hello," a staff member was saying on the phone. "Yes, Sir and we're truly sorry. There has been a slight delay in the delivery of the checks. You see Ms. Smith's assistant resigned, and she was in charge of—"
"Yes, yes…" she trailed off as she wiped sweat off her forehead, even with the air conditioner on.
"She was the one who used to deliver the files as well." she continued. "We'll dispatch the checks soon."
Then I walked over to get myself a cup of coffee and overheard the staff.
"Man, it's getting so hard to work nowadays," he said. "Before the papers used to be done so fast…now they're a mess."
Another one says, "Hey, the gem stock coming in today?"
"What?" another one said. "Wasn't it coming in next week?"
"I don't think the approval has come in…where will the stock come—"
"Do the approvals usually take so long?" a new staff member asked.
"Before…"
"They used to take a day or so…"
"At times the same day."
As I came over, everyone greeted me.
"What's the matter?"
I said walking over.
"Where's the person who used to handle the cross-company files?"
"It was Ms. Smith."
"And the cross-department?"
"Ms. Smith."
"And who dealt with the meeting paperwork?"
"Ms. Smith."
I paused as I silently processed what I heard.
Veronica handled the cross-company files.
Cross-department coordination.
Even made coffee and paperwork for her meeting.
"All in all she was a cheap worker." I said in my mind.
Imelda looked up on seeing me enter.
"Things have begun to stabilize."
"Really," it wasn't a question I was asking her, rather a question for her to ask.
She countered smoothly.
"Of course," she said. "It's just a transitional phase."
"Then how about speeding it up," I said pointing towards the door.
"It's a fish market out there."
"Oh," she said, waving her hand in the air. "Them? Useless bunch."
"Okay," I said, getting up. "I have some work left at the office. See you around."
"Jonathan," Imelda called back. "You sent the quotation files back."
I didn't reply.
"And…" she trailed off a bit. "Your assistant said, 'you'll be dealing with the documents related to her."
"Her?" I said in a stern voice. "Has a name, Veronica."
"Yes," I said without turning towards her. "From now on I'll personally deal with anything and everything related to Veronica."
"Jonathan, have you forgotten our deal?" She questioned over a little loud controlling voice.
"Our deal was for five years," I said. Then before closing the door, "You're already two years up."
I closed the door behind me and drove back home.
Driving back home
As I was driving back home, the words of the staff kept playing in my head.
Her desk near the trash cans.
The workload.
The silence.
And yet…she was only getting a hundred dollars, and in her account ledgers she claimed she was giving Veronica a thousand dollars every month.
Imelda's reaction to Veronica leaving, her way of side-casting her like she never was of any importance apart from with Sanders.
"She handled everything," I said as my fingers gripped hard on the steering wheel.
"But still Imelda treated her like that."
"She clearly knows the office is a mess, yet she still says, 'its a transitional phase."
Apartment
I came back home and first freshened up.
Then I made myself dinner and after eating, cleaning the kitchen, I made a cup of hot chocolate and went to the living room.
Files, documents were spread across the table.
I set the cup to the side and began to review each document that had Veronica's initials on them.
At first I was only sorting them by urgency level, as I knew some of them needed to be dealt with fast.
Then I noticed an inconsistency in the documents.
I went through each document and file ten times.
Now most of the documents related to her…were questionable.
"These ….somehow….she never…"
I remembered there were some documents in the drawer that Veronica had left behind.
I brought them over and began to match them.
"I knew it!" I said, realizing a shocking fact.
"I knew it."
I was going through the documents when my phone buzzed.
"Who's calling at this hour?"
It was midnight.
"Jonathan," Imelda said over the phone.
"I was missing you."
"Me?" I said surprised. "We don't have such a relationship where you can or should miss me."
"Jonathan—"
I cut her words mid-way.
"Imelda," I said in a frank voice. "What happened then was a pure mistake. I gave you five years of respect for that."
I spoke up before she could say a word.
"And that respect cost me my wife and daughter."
"Jonathan," she said in a calm voice.
"I called to tell you I missed you, come over. I haven't eaten yet."
"It's midnight, and—"
This time she cut my words.
"Jonathan," she said. "Please come over. Adrian is also—"
"Tell him to go to sleep," I said. "And tell him to sleep early. As for me, I'm busy. Goodnight Imelda."
I know she must be shocked right now.
Even I am.
As I never spoke to her like this before.
As I disconnected her call, I sat still with my phone in my hand.
The thought to call her did cross my mind.
But this time…my fingers didn't dial her number.
"After all she planned to leave me with Janet."
A pause.
"But why were you dealing with so much before you left?"
"All I knew was…I got her a job at Harmon's five months back from the time she left."
"Now that I recall, she didn't look unfamiliar with the office."
A long silence.
"How come I never noticed these things?
"You planned your exit…"
Pause.
"So what exactly were you dealing with before you left?"
Long silence.
Then a question came out of my mouth
"Why didn't I ever question this fact?"