Chapter 8 Suspicion
>>Clio
My heart sank, and a wave of anxiety washed over me.
Ah shit… I had a feeling this would happen but I was expecting it to happen yesterday and since nothing happened I thought I would be fine. I stood up from my seat while everyone kept looking at me.
“What did you do?” Jacob asked but I didn’t want all of them to hate me and I shook my head.
“I don’t know.” I lied as the memory of the incident from the previous day flooded my mind, and I knew that I had to face the consequences of my actions, “Does the CEO not call anyone to the office?” I looked at all of them, “Why do you all look surprised?”
“Well,” They all gave each other a glance, “It’s definitely rare,” Lizzo said, “But I guess he might just want to meet the new intern.”
“I see,” I knew that wasn’t it, “I’ll get going then.” The knot in my stomach tightened as I made my way to my boss's office, feeling a mix of guilt and apprehension. I did hit his head pretty violently but he didn’t name me in front of everyone else. But I guess he does want to talk about it now.
Then again. What I did was wrong. I should apologize for it. I panicked even more because of my suspicion of him being The Head Hunter… What if he’s not the killer? Then there’s no need to be scared of him. That simply means my mind is biased right now. Maybe I should try and think neutrally but still keep an eye out for anything suspicious?
I nodded at myself. Let’s do that.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door, “Come in,” His answer came immediately and I opened the door to peek in first. Walking into the office, I could feel the tension in the air. Matthew had his eyes on me and I stopped far away from him.
The distance was noticeably wide and he frowned at that but I didn’t want to go near him so I just stopped near the door.
“Why are you standing so far away?” He asked and I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. His dark eyes just seemed so overwhelming.
“Um, Boss,” I fidgeted, “I’m sorry I hit your head!” I offered a sincere apology, my voice quivering with emotion as I gave him a bow along with it while I purposely dodged his question and refused to move from my place.
“Ah!” I heard him stand up and I raised my head again, “About that,” He seemed a little troubled, “I apologize as well.” He sighed, “That’s actually why I called you in.”
“Hmm?”
“I should have apologized first, I’m sorry I touched you inappropriately.”
“Oh,” I looked down as the shame came back to me, “Yes, that was weird…” I couldn’t meet his eyes after he said that.
He closed his eyes in shame, “I don’t know what got over me.” He looked at me again, “I shouldn’t have done that.” He pointed at the side of his head, “This was understandable. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Oh… Is he not a pervert then? He’s letting go of that violent hit? Then why did he touch me? On that note, everything he did yesterday was weird. But can I ask about it? Would that be weird? But his actions were weirder.
“Um,” There were so many questions I had but I didn’t know what to do about them. I can’t just ask him if he’s The Head Hunter but what about how he behaved yesterday?
“Don’t,” He spoke and I looked at him in surprise, “You looked troubled and I’m guessing it’s about my actions yesterday but please don’t ask me anything.” He let out a sigh and didn’t exactly meet my eye, “There was something bothering me a lot, and I…” He paused for a moment, “I’m really not that kind of a person. So please just pretend yesterday never happened.”
…
I thought about it. I really wasn’t expecting him to apologize. I was scared things might get complicated and that I might get in trouble but the opposite happened.
“Alright…” For now, he is my temporary boss. I shouldn’t pursue it and get on his nerves. Besides, I have to keep an eye on him anyway, so it’s better if we resolve the issue that happened yesterday. Thankfully he didn’t find anything out or else he would have mentioned it.
“That was all,” He nodded, “You can leave,”
“Okay,” I didn’t waste any time and left the office. As I came back to my seat, all eyes were on me and I knew they were itching to ask me what happened in there but I didn’t know what to tell them so I just straightened up and opened the company laptop just to stare at the screen since I didn’t know shit.
“Hey,” Imani, a little chubby, black woman, called out to me, “Clio,”
I rotated my seat around, “Yes?”
“What did the boss say?”
Shit…
I saw how everyone’s ears perked up, “Um,” What do I say? I should twist my words a little to get them to not hate me yet calm them down right? “Yesterday,” I fried my brain to think of an excuse, “When I was on the terrace,” Thoughts raced through my brain like a bullet train, “The boss scared me a little.”
“Scared you?” Lizzo raised his brows at me.
“Well, he came out of nowhere, I had no idea his office was there and I almost fell off the terrace.”
“Oh~” The whole office let out a simultaneous acknowledgement.
“He just wanted to apologize for that.”
“Oh~” The whole office let out a simultaneous acknowledgement again.
AHA! I got it! OH! Thank God! Good work Brain!
“The boss is nice, isn’t he?” Imani said, “He looks scary but he isn’t a bad person.”
The workers all nodded and I thought about it. I wasn’t as scared of him today.
…
Was it because he apologized? Or because I went in with a different thinking?
“As long as you don’t get on his nerves.” Jacob added, “He’s great.” I raised my eyebrows at him.
“What happens when you get on his nerves?” It was an innocent question but they all went silent making it seem suspicious.
“We don’t go there,” Chris said and I looked at her, “Come on,” She didn’t let me question anything else, “Get to work now.”
“But,” I was curious now and I had to know more about him.
“Come on!” Bizy got up from his chair, “Everyone back to work!” He clapped his hands, “There’s been enough chitter chatter.” Everyone started working, leaving me hanging and I felt like there was something being hidden from me on purpose.
“Clio,” Bizy called my name, “Come here,” He ordered, “I’ll show you what to do.”
I stood up from the seat, “Okay…” That was weird…
The day passed by as I got absorbed in learning how to use the software and frying my brain trying to solve the errors. Just like that it was six and everyone got up to leave. I found myself taking a breath of relief when I noticed the office workers were excited about something.
I felt a lingering sense of unease. I couldn't help but notice the curious glances and hushed whispers that seemed to follow me even when I was leaving. I suspected something but didn’t know for sure.
Unexpectedly, my coworkers started gathering around me, wearing smiles and expressions that I couldn't quite decipher. Confusion clouded my thoughts as they all started following me.
My heart began to race and I even wondered if I was just being delusional because I tried to work properly today. So, I glanced back to confirm my suspicion
!!!
Yep, all of them were following me!!!
It started to make me feel uneasy. I’m sure that the whole office doesn’t live in the same direction as me, so, what is happening? Why are they all being so weird? They acted weird when I asked a question about Matthew in the morning too.
Then, they all got close to me, scaring me even more, but when Lizzo and Jacon approached me right when I was reaching a shady alleyway, I felt something strange. Like a sense of doom. But it was when they suddenly grabbed me, wrapping their arms around mine and pulling me away by lifting me off the ground, was when I got seriously startled.
“Hey!” I let out a yell, “Wh-!?” Jacob put his hand on my mouth drowning my voice and then they dragged me into the shady-looking street.