Mystery

immediately she closed the door behind her, she let all the unsteady breath she had been holding in out as she leaned against the door. Her lips were shaking and the psychological feeling of no one being around made her completely loose herself, her skin paled and her eyelids twitched. She stayed there for some minutes then with the resolve that she had not come here to lean against the door and do nothing, she pushed herself up and her trainer-ladden feet padded softly on the ground as she made her way to her seat. Though a bit unsteady, the shoes served their purpose well, heels wouldn't quite have kept her standing.

Gosh, the e-mails were too many, it was just hard to concentrate with the headache, but as persevering as she thought she was, she managed to go through fewer than she expected, she didn't even know which to reply. Just as she finished the last one, Gemma's voice came through the intercom.

"The Meeting Room is prepared."

Jasmine closed her eyes and slumped further into her seat. 'perfect timing.' But it was obvious for her, it wasn't.

"I will be there." She said instead. How much she wanted to snuggle into that darkness she had been in, to be free from the world for at least...

No. Her eyes shot open.

Not until...

Feeling a bit stronger, she strode to the elevator.

-----

"First time, right?" Somebody asked.

"Why not? Who has ever seen her? She's just like a mystery." At that, Briana smiled, but said nothing. They would not even believe her, so she sealed her lips.

At that time, the door swung open and Jasmine came in with Anthony following her, all senses of tiredness expelled.

Everyone lapsed into silence as they watched her walk to the headseat with so much authority, some were instead trying to hide their drool at the sight of her exposed thigh and long legs. How could they not, when it was their first time seeing the CEO and goodness... She just looked like an Alien Specie landed on Earth.

She sat on her chair and opened the laptop, carefully surveying the clothes for their actors. When she got to an orange coloured one, she scrolled past it, but went back to it again, it was the last.

"This," she brought her thumb and index finger together to enlarge the view. She wanted to check it more to make sure her assumption was correct, she knew they had put in a lot of effort in everything concerning the movie and she didn't want them to feel she was choosy. "I don't like this. The design and everything, I hate it, it's too extravagant, plus it clashes with the decor of the scenery."

People exchanged glances at her lack of disguise of words. Even though when they looked closer, they noticed it was quite true, but she was still being picky and arrogant. What did they expect anyway? She was the daughter of rich businessmen so she must be spoilt.

The head of the Design Department rolled his eyes before answering. "I'll see what I can do to modify..."

"No, change it entirely." She cut him off and her tone was absolute.

"Fine, then." He rolled his eyes again once he was sure she was not looking his way. But he missed Anthony. "Any other thing you would like to change entirely?"

Briana held her breath once she detected the note of sarcasm in his voice and she couldn't help but look down at her hands as she could not look her Boss in the face. She figured she might not like what she would see.

Jasmine shut her laptop and only then did she let her eyes wander. She didn't even know who talked, nor did she care, but she was sure he would get her words clearly. "I don't like your tone." Briana's head moved up so quickly on their own accord that she felt a dull pain by the side of her neck.

She was just so unpredictable!

She really thought he was going to get fired. But, he only got off with a warning?

"We'll see what we can do, Ma'am."

"Why?" Jasmine raised her brows at Gemma. The girl looked in between confused and frightened as she thought about what to give in reply, but Jasmine spoke before she could. "Is that what you should be doing? Are you in their Department?"

Gemma shook her head.

"Let them handle it." Then she faced everybody. "And everything spent will be recorded, inputted and given to Briana to cross-examine." Hearing her name, Briana was once again tongue-tied. That would be a whole lot of work, how was she going to cope?

'Dear God.' She prayed in her heart. But she could not deny that in some way, she felt... Special and she could even feel people's eyes on her.

In less than two weeks, she had become a hot topic among staff.

"In absence of any other issue, the Meeting is over." She said and pushed herself up. Everyone was surprised at how short the meeting was even though she was there in person. When she conducted meetings without being seen, they spent almost an hour on one topic, but when she was here, it took less than 60 minutes. Anthony only followed her when that Man cowered at his hardened glare.

When Jasmine got to her elevator, Anthony stood just outside it and watched as the translucent walls surrounded her, but he was not sure if it was a good choice when he saw her arm resting on the wall, the image was hazy.

Since she could not let him ride in the elevator with her, he rushed to the other one, but it would not open right away, so he ran up the flight of stairs to ensure she was Okay, she didn't seem it in the elevator. When he got to her door, he knocked once, then twice, but he didn't get any answer. Turning the knob slowly, he made sure not to wrong her in any way,

"Ma'am, are you decent?" For sometime he waited, but there was no response coming. "I'm coming in." He said and pulled the door slightly open for his head to go through, but when he didn't see anybody, he let himself in fully.

"Ma'am!" He called, but again it was silence. But he was sure she was here somewhere, her scent lingered in the air. He walked round the office, but just when he wanted to leave, he thought he heard a sound and he stopped and looked around a bit, he saw the door. He thought he heard a sound coming from and when he pulled it open, she was bent over the sink, rocking a bit with her eyes closed tiredly.

"Ma'am Jasmine?" He uttered feeling distressed for a while, before he walked to her hesitantly. She opened her eyes for just a while and intended to stand up straight, but she bent again and started puking, a bit violently. He didn't really know what to do, but he knew her hair was getting in the way, so he gathered it and held it behind her head, before he started patting her back gently. It was then he noticed her skin was deathly pale. Since she had eaten nothing that morning, just drank water, after throwing up the water, she started to retch a bit and he increased the patting.

In the mirror, he could see her inhaling and exhaling with too much force. It was obvious she was not Okay, but he would never do anything without her permission.

"I'll get the water." He told her and made an effort to knot her hair so that if she threw up again, it would not fall over, but she gestured to the floor and when he looked, he saw a bottle of water. It was good she didn't mostly wear make-up, at least it was easier to wash her face.

"You can't stay here anymore." He said when she straightened. He knew he was her bodyguard and he had basically no right to tell her what to do, but he couldn't help the tone of finality his worry caused.

To his surprise, she nodded obediently and walked out of the bathroom. After staring at her for a moment, he hurried out into the office.

"I think it will be better if we don't take that one." He said when he noticed she was going towards her private elevator. The last time she rode in it, he didn't see her in a favorable position and now, her gait was unsteady, so it would not be very good idea for her to ride alone since she would not let any other person use it. And again, she turned to him obediently.

"Where should we..." She didn't get to finish as she swayed slightly, although she steadied herself, he still rushed forward to hold her in place. He noticed her eyes were not even fully open. It was the first time he was seeing her so vulnerable, what had really happened to her these past days that made her so worn out? It was just like a bad mystery. Deciding not to think about what already happened and focus on her right now, he made her lean against him as he walked her out of the office. He wanted to carry her, but he knew she would not like him to because, they were other people around.