78- Bella

“Hello!” Aniya jumped in fright when she heard a whisper too close to her ear.

“Gosh! Derek! Grow up!” she placed her hand on her chest to normalize her speeding heartbeat, “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he gave her a sheepish smile, “I am good but what about you?”

“Me?” she touched her fingers to her face, “What happened to me?”

“You look pale, Aniya.” He took the seat opposite to her and then gestured towards the nearby chair, “Where is River?”

“I – I don't know,” Aniya tried to show him that she was busy with her work. The image of nak*ed River lying beside a nake*d Marwick kept popping up in her mind.

“Strange thing is even Gerald was not here for this important meeting. For some reason, Marwick is acting like an angry Ape. He had been so unreasonable throughout the meeting. He was giving everyone these unrealistic targets that are next to impossible to achieve.”

“Is he angry?” she asked him, and he nodded at her,

“Yes, why? It seems you did