CHAPTER THIRTEEN

JAKE

After I left Leila, I went to Emzitech and went up to my office. I sat on my office chair and stared into space.

What will I do with Leila? I am totally at loss. I do not know what to do with her. I do not want to give up my responsibility of taking care of her. I am her Daddy and she is my Baby. Big rebellious Baby. But despite of her faults, I have learned to like her and understand how her mind works. Good and bad, I have accepted her for what she is.

My affection towards her was increasing. But still, I couldn't get rid of my fear that Leila was a dinamite waiting to explode. A ticking time bomb. Nothing can stop her from her ambitions, not even her physical disabilities.

I was feeling restless, not knowing how to deal with Leila. So I stood up and decided to go to the IT department.

I had to go down the elevator. The IT department was on the third floor while my office was on the nineth. My team greeted me as soon as I stepped inside the computer room. I try my best to form good ties with each and everyone of them, to give them a sense of belonging. Like we are one big family. I went around, asking them one by one how they were doing. I gave a warm friendly smile, a handshake. A pat on the back.

Even though we have been trying to recover all of the programs that crashed weeks ago, we decided to make new ones that are clear of viruses and bugs. Leila-free programs. Heheh.

I was relieved when we saw that our client confidence were returning. It really went down two weeks ago. I had the outmost fear of Emzitech closing down, or worse, going helplessly bankrupt. Thankfully, we had a breakthrough when Leila worked on the most extreme virus and bug affected areas of our systems, which she did before her second seizure. It helped a lot and eased down the pressure we all had been feeling since our systems crashed.

I saw Steve walking towards me, looking relaxed and jolly. "Mark came here awhile ago and installed the new security software. It is still downloading at this time. He said it will take around twenty-four hours before it can completely download.

I wonder if Leila is working on our systems while her software is downloading. I hope she is getting some sleep. I worry about her health. I kept worrying about her. Perhaps it will be best that she has a permanent caregiver to keep an eye on her in case she gets too overworked or tired. I decided to ask her about it. I can't force her if she doesn't agree because it might increase her anxieties. She has to be comfortable having a caregiver cum companion around her. I have an idea that she is extremely introvert.

I continued discussing with Steve the new security software, without divulging who the creator was.

"It shows a lot of promise," he gave his opinion. He looked so relaxed, totally at ease compared to how he was a few weeks ago. I was glad that the situation has vastly improved. I do worry about my employees' welfare, especially our managers. I do not want them to feel that they are incapable of handling their work efficiently when they had been giving their very best efforts.

It was already past two p.m. and I suddenly realized that I missed lunch. I invited my accounting head to have a late lunch outside our office. There was a little, quaint cafe, San Marianos, just at the rear of our office building. We did not even have to go out since the cafe had a back door inside the building. It was convenient for all of us to dine there.

The cafe had a cozy ambiance, with somber silver blue walls and white painted wooden cornices and edges.

Cole was my accounting head department. San Marianos' cafe offered a wide range of sandwiches which I absolutely love. I normally ask Stella to buy from this cafe whenever I wanted a quick lunch. Cole and I both ordered sandwiches and coffee.

Cole gave me a quick overview of our finances while we started eating. "The system crash really made a huge impact on our finances. So we were all relieved when the majority of our systems were finally up and running."

Then Cole looked at me squarely in the eye while munching his chicken sandwich. "I want to talk to you about that twenty million that was paid for the new security software."

"What about it?" I asked casually even though I knew where the conversation was heading.

"The twenty million was transferred to Leila's account."

"I know," I looked down, avoiding his gaze. "How did you find out?"

"The manager of the bank told me."

"As soon as she's well enough to walk, I'm clearing the entire nineth floor for her own IT and software team. But I want to discourage her from putting too much time on her company. I doubt if her injuries can heal within six months."

"You're allowing her to set up another company here at Emzitech?" Cole was aghast.

I carefully explained the reason for my decision to him, "It's either that or she sets it up in God-knows-where, then all of a sudden we receive tons of lawsuits."

"You trust her that much?"

"No, I distrust her that much."

"Isn't twenty em to much to just hand over?"

"I'm computing the damages if we don't hand her the money," I reasoned out.

"You're letting her control you. You sound as if you're scared of her."

"Maybe I am," I admitted. " For now, I'm trying my best to know how to handle her."

"Are you sure you made the right decision when you adopted her?"

"Sometimes, our heart doesn't make the best decisions."

My statement left Cole speechless. "Whaaa? Are you…Are you…in love?"

I grinned. "No, man! I just adopted her. She's my new Baby!

"New baby, my foot! You gave her an expensive diamond pendant and twenty million after adopting her in less than a month!"

"Alright, from now on curtail Leila and my spending. That's why you're the budget head."

"I think you should raise my salary. Budgeting your baby's spending wasn't part of my job."

"Now it is." I wiped my mouth with a paper napkin and stood up. "It will make you feel useful."

He paid left money for the meal and rushed to catch up with me.

"Jake, be reasonable!" Cole whined, like a big brat. "I'm not even privy to your bank accounts."

I stopped walking and gave him an exasperated sigh. "Just tell the bank manager that all withdrawals should be through a signed check. And they need to verify with you first that a check with the specific amount was issued."

"Why don't you just automatically transfer to her account automatically every week?"

"Yah, I will do that. But she might want more and try forging my signature."

"Alright, noted."

Cole left me in the elevator. I went up to my office to study our current projects. Our systems were normally updated as much as possible. I checked on the services we are offering at the moment, feedback from our clients and end users.

A board meeting was due in two weeks time. So I need to update the board on new developments on our IT services. We also were working on new programs that still need to be tested.

I still have one class tomorrow. Maybe Leila would want to get some fresh air.

The next day, when I went to Leila's room, Myra was putting fresh gauzes on her head. Leila covered her face when she saw me.

"I don't want you to see me bald."

"I can buy you a wig, if you want," I offered mockingly.

"How come you came early today?" She asked. She didn't like me watching her so intently. She checked herself on the mirror.

"I figured you might want to get some fresh air. You've been cooped up here for the past three days.

"Yah, I'm kind of bored. Where will we go?"

"Where do you want to go? You tell me."

"I want some ice cream. Ice cream float with banana, pineapple, m&m. "

"There's an ice cream three blocks away. Wanna try it?"

"Yes! Yes! Ice cream for me!! Let's go! " So we informed the doctor we will just be out for an hour or two and he agreed.

Myra helped me put Leila on her wheelchair. She was smiling broadly, looking so happy. We went down the elevator and I wheeled her out of the glass doorways. She squinted at the sunlight, and covered her eyes with her hand.

"I'll buy you sunglasses," I promised her. It was still early so there were only a few people walking on the sidewalk. There were some who stared at Leila, wondering what happened to her. She stared back grimly. So I talked to her continously, to prevent her from minding the strangers staring at her.