Chapter 11

“OMG!! He's trending again!!” 

  “Who?” 

  “Mr Hasting. Everyone check your phones.”  

  The commotion was enough to momentarily pull Emily away from work. She glanced at her chatty coworkers and decided it was probably them fawning over Alex again.

  She had barely refocused on work when Sean ran to her with the juicy news.

  “Have you seen it?” 

    Before she could mutter a response, he cut her off.

  “Forget it. Judging by the look on your face, you haven't seen it. Here.” he spoke, placing his phone in her hands.

      She was left with no choice than to watch the so-called trending video.

  A first glance at it, and she couldn't help but cringe at the sight of Alex kicking someone away.

  “Why does he always have to be horrible?”  she thought to herself in disgust and disbelief.

  The camera zoomed in on the woman's face and Emily's brain lit up in recognition.

  It was Kelly Riggs, the same author that had just been dropped by the company.  

 Kelly had been dropped after a video of her and her friends bullying and humiliating a server made its way to the internet.

  The server happened to be someone they went to school with and the Regina George mean girls clique had thought it was funny that she was now serving them.

  They poured drinks on her, called her names and mocked her poor family.

  The internet was enraged and had set out for the heads of each of the bullies, the most popular being Kelly.

  She lost everything, from her followers to her position as one of Hasting's top ten golden writers.

    The company was very strict with their rules concerning scandals that she was dropped with the snap of a finger.

  Her whole career was basically dead.

   

    Apparently she had managed to track Alex to one of his frequented spots,  hoping to plead her case.

  He was unimpressed with her tactics and completely ignored her. She came up with the bold idea of kneeling  and grabbing his leg.

  Well, it led to her getting kicked and becoming a meme on the internet.

  Emily sighed,  returning the phone to a chuckling Sean.

  For the first time, she didn't feel bad for Alex's victim.  It was nothing short of Karma.

  “Dear God!! What was she thinking?” Anna spoke as soon as joined them.

  “That's the thing. She wasn't thinking. Who the hell tries to grab Alex Hasting, that's a social death wish.”  Sean said with a cackle.

  “Not like she had any social life left. Now she's a real pariah. Totally deserved though. I wish someone could do this to all my high school bullies.” 

   Sean gave her a raised brow. “I could have sworn you were a bully.” 

Anna glared at him before turning to Emily “What about you, did you have bullies?” 

   

  Emily's mind flashes back to her childhood. The only person that came to mind was Sophie.

  “Not really,” she answered with a small smile.

  “Lucky you.” 

Sean stirred the conversation away,   “I heard there's already been a meeting to choose Kelly's replacement. Who do you think it's going to be?” 

      

  “I think Shawn, his numbers have been great and I'm a huge fan.” Anna squealed in excitement.

    Sean’s face dropped. “No, Zara is a better pick. I've you read her new manuscript? It's fire, has substance and is thought provoking. Shawn looking makes huge sales because fan girls like you are obsessed with his looks.” 

    Anna was ready to spill bullets but Emily shut down both of  their claims with a single word. 

 

  “None.” 

    They both turned to her. “What?” 

   “The company's going to sign a new author. Someone fresh but with good numbers and worthy books.” 

    “How do you know?”  

  The question didn't come from Anna nor Sean.

   She slowly turned her head to realize the whole office was staring at her and they had heard her.

  “Errrm…I..” the sounds stumbled out of her lips.

  

  Obviously her source was Ava who was currently out on a business trip but there was certainly no way she could tell the office that.

  “I overheard   some folks talking about it in the elevator.”  she quickly said.

     Lydia was the first to respond.

  “You should know better than to spread silly gossip, Em…” 

  She had barely finished her words when someone cut her off.

  “The company just released an official statement. They're actually signing a new author.” 

  The office went into another buzz.

  “Did they mention who?” 

“Let me see.” 

  Emily sighed in relief while giving herself a mental knock for letting such a sensitive information slip.

  “Wow Emily, I'm impressed with your tea skills.” Anna said with a wink.

  She shrugged, “I just got lucky.”

  “Keep it up!” Sean added.

  No one noticed Lydia in the corner, staring intently at Emily.

        

****

    Emily's Phone buzzed with a call from Ava as soon as she returned back from her lunch break.

  A smile broke across her face. It had merely been a week but she was already exhausted with having the house to herself.

  In simple words, she missed her friend.

    “Hey you. How's Spain?”  she asked as soon as she picked up the call.

  “It's fine, it would be better if I was here for a vacation.” came Anna's exhausted reply.

  

  “How's work going anyways, are the manuscripts ready?” she quickly asked.

  “Almost, it should be ready by the weekend.” 

  

  “Good, I'll be back soon.” 

   

  “Thank God!! I'm about to lose my mind staying home alone.”  

  Ava chuckled. “You should go out more. It would do you some good.”

  Emily retorted with “ Go where?”

  “There's hundreds of clubs in the city. Hit one.” 

She rolled her eyes and answered dryly, “I'll pass.” 

  

  “So, what are you up to?” 

  “I'm going back to the office. I just grabbed a bite for lunch.” 

  

“Okay” Ava's unenthusiastic voice sounded back.

    Emily sensed the change.

“Something wrong?” she asked in genuine concern.

  Ava sighed over the phone. 

   “Not really but there's something I need to tell you.” 

  “Wh…”

  The words remained stuck in her throat as the elevator doors opened and she came face to face with a scene she least expected.