Wing Of Change
Chapter 57

The next week that followed_saw Frank in a different phase as he found himself buried in more work than he would have loved to indulge himself in. He barely had time to do anything else as his new work schedule had him in a tight leash.

Their annual Board member meeting was coming up real soon and he has too many documents to oversee while making sure everything was perfectly in order for their new group of investors.

Martha who happens to be his new Assistant was far from being efficient. In fact she was the exact opposite of what an assistant is supposed to be.

He doesn’t even know why he was still keeping her around but one of these days, Frank is sure to replace a replacement soon enough so he can gladly transfer her to serve in another department since he can’t even fire her as usual.

Yup…

He has changed ever since Aria happened.

The thought of asking Aria for help was really tempting but he figured she too would be busy at her work place to want to multitask at that point so instead_he dived right in while doing all he could.

Frank was still busy as he took out time to go through the company financial statement and some profit that has been recorded for the past three month now only to realize that some of the figures doesn’t add up and as if that wasn’t enough_ he also noticed some loopholes that wasn’t even supposed to be there in the first place.

The last time he had such loopholes, he knew how difficult it was for him to batch it up. It almost cost him half of his family share holding.

He dialed his secretary desk through the landline as he waited for her to pick up from the other end.

“Gina! I need James in my office right away” He spoke into the phone immediately he heard his secretary breathe through the receiver.

“Right on it sir”. Said Gina without hesitation.

He only had to wait for another ten minutes before a lanky man who seemed to be in his early forties and clothed in an Ash color suit hurried into his office after knocking a few times.

“Good morning sir” He greeted.

“Morning. Have a seat” Frank’s voice was laced with ice as he dragged his eyes away from the folder on the desk and settled on the man standing before him.

Mr James who happened to be the company financial accountant settled into the arm chair opposite Frank as he await his instruction or query. He wasn’t sure which of the two was going to be his portion that morning as he sat up straight and somewhat rigid.

It took a while before Frank finally looked up from staring at the folders and when he did_ his eyes were narrowed into slit as he angrily slapped the brown folders against the table, startling Mr James as well.

His office mood was fully activated at that point.

“Take a look at those documents and tell me what you see” His deep voice boomed at him.

James who was now fully alert reached over and picked up the brown folders and scanned through the papers in it.

“It’s the company’s financial report for the past months sir”

“And?” His brow raised in anger.

“Nothing_nothing sir?”

Frank anger only intensified for a moment as he kept staring at the man before him while trying to keep his anger from going over the roof.

It was still 9am in the morning after all. He still has a long day ahead and he wasn’t going to let that man’s clueless act ruin this day even before it began

“Are you telling me,nothing is wrong with that document in your hands?” He began again more calmly.

“Nothing sir_I worked on the figures myself”

“Then I guess you have lost your capability to run this company as it’s financial account or you have deliberately chosen to ignore the red flags everywhere in that document in your hand” he snapped at the man who practically jumped up in reflex responds.

“How_how do you mean sir” he stammered.

“If you as the accountant can’t point out the errors in those figures you yourself had claimed to worked on then I don’t see the need to explain myself”

Mr James hurriedly went over the documents again as he scanned through everything until his eyes settled on something that seemed to be the error and he froze.

“These are just minor errors sir and it can be corrected as well” he explained with a new kind of confidence.

“So you are telling me those errors were place there on purpose so you can spend more hours correcting them when you can be doing something else?”

“No sir_I just need an hour or two to get it review”

“Are you aware the board members meeting is next week? And to think that we are about to welcome our new group of investors into this company? Am i correct to think that_you want them to invest in what is already ruin?” Frank had accused looking him straight in the eyes.

“Of course not sir… I have served this company for years and not for once have I thought of doing anything to jeopardize its progress and am not going to start now. I just need time to fix this and everything will be okay” He began to explain calmly.

Leaning back against his armchair, Frank gave his little speech an earnest thought before replying.

“Fix whatever you can before the end of today or you can replace yourself a new job regardless of anything you have contributed to this company.”

“Yes sir_I will do whatever it takes”

**

Frank couldn’t believe just how much the company has lost in just a span of two months when it was time to retire for the day.

He was exhausted and famished by the time he reached for his cell and checked for missed calls and messages. He had a few from Aria and some from his business associate.

Instead of calling her back_Frank decided to check on her on his way home.

He decided to call her a few times on his way to her apartment but her phone kept ringing away with no answer.

Maybe she was busy he thought as he drove while listening to Burna boy’s latest jam on the FM.

It was a cool evening so he didn’t bother to turn on the air conditioner but instead, his windows were down as he drove along the passing scenery.

**

Meanwhile….

Aria was home early and was busy in the kitchen making dinner while she hum to whatever song that comes to mind.

It was her boss marriage anniversary so in his celebratory mood, he decided to let go of everyone for the day.

She was still busy chopping away at her vegetables when she heard her front door erupting with knocks.

She quickly wiped her hands dry on her apron as she went to unlock the door.

Henry stood with a wide grin as he stared back at her sweaty face and white apron that cling onto her petite figure.

“Hey” he greeted

“Hey” she replied causally with a smile.

“You are home early” he noted with a smile of his own.

“Yea, my boss was celebrating his anniversary so we got a half day” she replied quite frankly.

“That’s good because am also celebrating something so I got home early as well then i saw your car outside and decide to come share with you”

Henry had a bottle of wine with him as he stretches forward his right hand to show her.

“Uhm…I don’t know about drinking but am cooking so maybe we can celebrate with that” she offered.

“Even better”

Aria hurried back to the kitchen while Henry settled down in the living room.

Henry told her about some of his recent break through at the hospital which warranted him to want to celebrate while she listened and kept cooking either way.

Thirty minutes after, food was ready and dished out as they both sat down around her dinning to eat.

“Are you sure you don’t want a glass for yourself?” Asked Henry while pouring himself a glass full.

Aria thought about it carefully and decided to oblige him. One glass wouldn’t hurt right?

She thought.

“Okay…just a glass” she replied putting up an index.

“Alright” he answered with a shrug.

She hurried over to the kitchen to grab a glass while Henry just sat there with a knowing smile

She grabbed the glass and hurried back to meet him before They both start to eat their porridge plantain and vegetables. Even while eating, Aria couldn’t stop laughing at some of Henry’s petty jokes.

Aria couldn’t explain why but she found almost everything he was telling her extremely funny as she couldn’t hold back her snort.

Everything felt wonderful just listening to the sound of his voice and visualizing the shape of his mouth as they move in perfect unison. Aria realized that she was suddenly attracted to him in an unbelievable way and she couldn’t understand any of it.

She caught herself shaking off the constant urge to ask him for a k**s a few times.

Aria was going out of her mind obviously..

She reached for a glass of water but missed it by a second as she knocked it over instead_it content emptied on the floor.

“Oh God, am so sorry” she quickly apologized.

“It’s okay Aria”

“I don’t know what is wrong with me… I feel_feel different” she explained in panic while placing both hands over her head.

“Maybe you should just seat down. I will clean the floor for you” he offered before getting up on his feet.

“Oh no, I can’t let you do that” she tried to stand up but felt dizzy.

“Whoa…just seat down_you don’t look okay” he reasoned.

“I really don’t”

“Then let me do the cleaning”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I can..just show me where it is and I will do it” Henry had insisted yet again.

“It’s behind the kitchen door”

Henry grabbed the mop and cleaned the floor as promised after which he settled beside her on the dinning again.

“Are you okay now?” He asked her.

Aria only shook her head in reply with both her palm against her cheeks.

“I think am loosing my mind”

“How do you mean?”

She only stared at him like her favorite thing with dreamy eyes.

“Aria?” He called while waving all five fingers around her face.

“K**s me” she uttered all of a sudden.

“What?!” Replied Henry with wide eyes.

“You heard me..just k**s me!”