Blessing In Disguise.

Verona walked with her head up high, smiling at every Dick and Harry she saw. "Good morning to you too. Yes, it's a good day."

Jeremy bumped into her but quickly adjusted his posture. He cleared his throat. "Where's Emily?"

Verona scoffed. "Watch where you're going, Jeremy!" 

"Hey hey, where is she? The meeting is about to start soon." Jeremy repeated again, pronouncing his words more slowly.

Verona had a smirk on her face. "I dunno." She said then made advances on moving forward. Jeremy stopped in front of her, halting her steps.

"It's a really simple question, Verona--"

"--that's miss Verona to you!--"

"--where is Emily!" Jeremy demanded, his voice strong with authority.

Verona's expression hardened into a frown. "Well if you must know, Emily complained to me that the workload was getting too much and she wanted to quit."

Jeremy shook his head in denial. "Lies. You're lying, Verona."

Verona's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? Why would I lie to you? That's what she said! She will not be coming to work anymore because she is fed up of this company!"

"Emily would never say that. She's diligent and hardworking!" Jeremy said as-a-matter-of-factly.

His voice came out a little bit louder because people were gathering around now to hear what was causing their dispute.

"You're so stupid! I'm not lying!" Verona defended herself. She had not known that Jeremy would dare question her audacity.

Jake was around the corner. He stepped forward—people made way for him easily. "What is going on here?"

Jeremy was glad he was around. He hurried and leaned forward to whisper in Jake's ears.

Verona watched patiently, the insides of her stomach was churning now with fear.

"I'm telling the truth! Now, where is she? Where's Emily?" Verona cried out. "We have the conference meeting by 8am. See this is almost 8, Emily is not coming!" 

People started to gossip loudly.

"Wow, and I thought she was a diligent worker."

"Why would she come late?"

"This is so unlike her. Could she have found a better offer?"

Deep down, Emily was glad that they were talking bad about Emily. "Very soon, you'll leave this firm realizing that I'm your boss!" She thought to herself.

"The meeting will be suspended." Jake's voice was loud and it shut the noises down. "Everyone, go about your normal day."

Verona didn't hear him well. "I'm sorry? You're just going to...postpone the meeting?? Do you even have that power to do that? It's an international meeting with the board members!"

Jake said nothing. Jeremy was eyeing her with disdain. 

"I'm so sorry for saying, but we can't wait for an ordinary intern! Let us begin the meeting right now!" Verona continued. "This isn't right, sir. We need to--"

"That will be all, everyone dismiss." Jeremy said particularly to Verona with a stern look on his face, then he walked away next to Jake. They were whispering things Verona couldn't hear.

"No, no, no! This isn't working. Why will they wait for her, damn it! I need to do something, anything at all!" Verona cried out loud. Holly happened to walk by and she stopped by Verona's side. 

"Are you okay?" Holly asked. 

"Shut the fuck up! You dunno anything, ahrgh!" Verona cried then walked away. 

***

Emily hated her life and wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. The tears would not stop rolling down her eyes. 

"Why is my life like this? Verona, how could you do this to me!" She cried to herself. "Damn it, you're such a fool for thinking that Verona could like you!" 

Her cell phone had been destroyed. Verona had snuck into her room and smashed her phone into pieces so she wouldn't be able to call anyone for help. She locked every path at all that could lead her outside.

Emily was basically trapped at home. She had an important meeting...and she would not be able to be present. How was her life that pathetic...

A soft knock was heard on the door. Emily sat up straight to confirm. The knock sounded again, then a soft voice called her name. Suddenly, Emily's tears stopped.

***

The meeting was to begin sharply by 10am. Jake had made his announcement. People were already gathering the moment it was a few minutes close to ten.

Jake's neck was stretched outward as he searched for Jeremy. He was nowhere to be found. Some important personnel greeted Jake and they exchanged warm compliments. 

Verona stepped forward and felt a cold sense of air surge through her. She was happy, maybe even the most happy she had ever been.

Holly was beside her as she had written her name as one of the staff to represent the company. 

"Suddenly, you're in a good mood. That's good." Holly commented.

Verona had a smirk on her face. "Oh it is a good day indeed." Verona chanted. "Emily's not here, so..."

"Well true. That girl is so annoying, damn it!" Holly snapped.

"Now she'll know never to mess with me." Verona smiled again. She locked eyes with Jake and suddenly she felt her heart skip a bit. "Wait here, I need to quickly do something." She said then excused herself. 

She took it as an opportunity to give the letter Emily had written for Jake. "Here." She handed it over to him and with a stern looking face, he took it from her.

"I just wanted to apologize to you for everything..." Verona was still saying when Jeremy ran inside. Jake seemed to have noticed too because he excused himself from her and went over to meet Jeremy.

Minutes later, an announcement was made by Jeremy. "Please, let us all have our seats. The conference meeting is about to start."

Within a few seconds, everyone had placed themselves in their rightful seating arrangements, waiting for the meeting to actually begin.

"The meeting will begin with our new head of sales manager." Jeremy said on the podium. "Then we'll hand it over to our CEO, Jake Hilton, to continue with the meeting."

There were silent murmurs. 

"New head of sales? Who could that be!"

"Someone's gotten a promotion! Could it really be you?" Holly whispered to Verona.

Verona too was anxiously waiting to see who the new head of sales would be.

Jeremy placed the mic down and went out to present the new head of sales.

"Is he shy?" Verona scoffed.

"Or maybe it's a she. We can't be sure." Another lady next to Verona said.

"Aww, shoots! It's not you, Verona. It's someone else." Holly said.

"Whatever. It's probably someone from another branch for all I care." Verona snorted.

"Oh yes! True that. Maybe they're external staff." Holly quickly agreed.

With careful steps and a hardened face, the new head of sales made her way over to the podium. She tried hard not to look around because she feared their stern gazes would hurt. If looks could kill, she would have well been dead already.

Verona cried. The painful drop of tear so hot it would melt metal, trickling down her eyes. "No way." Internally, she cried out. "No way!!!"

Finally, she stopped and held the mic. Her eyes fell on a few faces and they cheered her on. Jake smiled and Jeremy said something she could not hear, but she knew it was something nice.

She cleared her throat. "Hello everyone. I'm Emily Tinsel, and it is a huge honor being here now."