Chapter 19

Samantha's POV:

I got up from my desk after he left in such a rush and wore my clothes properly. A small smile crept on my face thinking about what he said but he panicked and left immediately assuming that I would freak out or something. He didn't even wait for me to reply and I was a little worried.

What if he regrets what he said?

I was in love with him too.

I finally admitted it to myself and I wanted to tell him. I've never been in love before but I knew what I felt for Nate was something stronger that I have never experienced in my life. He made me feel so alive and happy and I didn't want to lose him in my life. I decided to confess my feelings later that evening at my home. I could cook him something he loves like garlic bread, maybe a candle light dinner. My mind started to fill with different possible ideas that could take his breath away. I shook my head with a small smile and continued to focus on my work.

It was almost 4 pm and I started to collect my things to leave early that day. I was mentally planning what to wear and how to tell him that I loved him. I was nervous as hell as I wanted it to be perfect. I took my phone and quickly sent him a text.

'I'm leaving early today. Come over to my place after work.' I hit sent and kept staring at my phone.

'I'm trying to figure out the tone of your text but it's really hard baby girl'

I let out a small chuckle and continued to reply.

'It's all good. I have a surprise for you.' I got a reply almost immediately.

'Now I can finally breath. I'll be there soon, baby. Can't wait to see you.' I blushed at the text and kept the phone inside my bag, smiling the whole time like a crazy woman. I heard a knock on the door and had a confused look on my face.

Was it Nate?

"Come in." I called out, shutting down my laptop and lifted my head to see David walk inside.

"Ms. Perez, are you leaving for the day?" he asked in a strange tone, and I nodded my head.

"Yes, Mr. Smith. Is there something you want to tell me?" I asked, placing my bag on my shoulders and he looked hesitant.

"Our game had been released online by an anonymous account." He spoke, not meeting my gaze and my eyes went wide.

"What? Th-that's impossible. We were supposed to release it next week along with the upgrade. That's why we put it in hold. How did this happen?" I asked in disbelief. My hands started to shake and I felt like passing out. This was bad. I was the one who had the entire application on my laptop.

"We have no idea, Ms. Perez. Our IT support is trying to figure out if it's available in any other bigger platform. Since you are the project manager, the HR department wants to talk to you like now," he stated, giving me a sad look.

Oh god, not this again.

I tried to take deep breaths and balanced my weight on the desk with my hands.

"I'll be right there, Mr. Smith. You may leave," I spoke without looking up and he left the room immediately with a quick nod.

God, this day was not supposed to go like this. My mood was completely ruined now and I immediately opened my laptop to check if I had uploaded or sent the application to someone by mistake. I couldn't find anything and held my head between my hands in frustration. I had no idea how to justify myself to the HR.

Deep breaths.

Inhale.

Exhale.

I was afraid that I would have a panic attack again and thought about Nate and his deep voice that always makes me calm. After I was somewhat stable and was breathing normally, I stood up and made my way towards the HR department.

"Do you have anything to say?" One of the guys asked and I stood there silently.

"I didn't do it but I know that no one is going to believe me anyway." I said with a dry laugh. I felt so embarrassed to be standing there for the second time that I wanted to quit myself if they weren't going to fire me. I always take my work seriously and being accused for not doing my work properly felt so humiliating.

"It is hard to believe Ms. Perez. You are the project manager for this project and it has been leaked. Even if you didn't do it, you are responsible for this issue." The bitchy lady from the other day spoke up and she had a point. I was indeed responsible for this mess. 

"I understand."

"We already faced a heavy loss when you didn't attend the meeting the other day, and now this." There was a heavy pause and I already knew what his next words were going to be, "I'm afraid that we have to let you go, Ms. Perez." The bald guy spoke in a professional tone and I wasn't surprised even a bit. I expected it and I deserved this for being careless. My entire brain went numb and I couldn't thinking of anything. This was a first. I've never been fired before and it felt so horrible.

"I'll clean out my desk and leave this instant." I gave them a tight smile and rushed out of the door, trying to control my tears from falling. I ran to my office and locked the door behind me and finally let the tears fall down my cheeks. Just this morning, everything was perfect.

Why the fuck couldn't I be happy for once?

I wiped my tears slowly and got myself together. It was not the end of the world. I started clearing out my desk but I made up my mind that I wasn't going to let this go. I wanted to know how I had gotten into this mess because I knew for sure that I would never do something so reckless, but I needed some kind of proof to make others believe me. I took out my phone and called a person I knew from my previous company. She was good at hacking and dealing with all the computer stuff.

"Hey, Sam. How are you?" Tabitha chirped from the other side of the phone.

"I'm fine, Tab. I just need a small favor from you." I started and explained to her about the whole mess.

"Damn, that's horrible. They can't fire you just like that without investing," she protested and I let out a huge sigh.

"Apparently, they can since I'm the project manager." I mumbled in annoyance, pushing the hair away from my face.

"Don't worry, babe. We will figure it out. I just need you to bring in your laptop so that I can have a look at it," I agreed to do so and cut the call.

After dropping of my laptop at Tabitha's place, I drove towards my apartment silently. This day did not go as expected. I had so much of stuff planned for Nate. It was going to a special night but life fucked me again.

At least now I had Nate in my life.

I wasn't alone anymore.

God, I didn't want to ruin our night by telling him that I got fired. I decided to go ahead with my plan and tell him that I loved him as he was more than my job. I pushed aside everything that happened in the past couple of hours and decided to focus on the night ahead of us. I thought about our moment together this morning to divert my mind.

Even though my life was a fucking mess right now, just thinking about him brought a smile to my face.

The bad news can definitely wait.