Chapter 9 Search Up For Miss Annoymous

• Aspen took his phone and searched for the contact of his best friend, Derek. In a situation like this one, the only other person that he was very certain he could rely on was the likes of Derek. Derek, just as him, was a wealthy and top class individual. The dude was a civil engineer who had even gotten to a Level that his construction company always got the bigger contracts in the country. Some time ago, there were issues in the presidential office building.
• He was contacted specially for that job. And he had done a work that was worth sampling to the whole world. In addition to all his money , he was a good and loyal friend to Aspen. The both of them.have been through thick and thin. They had been friends for years already. And through the years of their friendship, none of them would be able to say that there was once a moment when they had to go extra miles away from each other due to a quarrel. Such things could never break them.
• And in fact, the combination was sent from heaven. Had it not been for a friend like Derek, a person like Derek would have no particular shoulder to rest his shoulders on when the time came. Hagar was his personal secretary and could be called his personal guard too. But they were not particularly friends. No. Both of them were not even in the same caliber . Hagar was his employee while he was the employer.
• No matter how smooth their relationship could be, it still would not change the fact that he was the upper hand and Hagar was the lower hand.
• He hit the dial button and waited for the call to connect. After a few seconds , the call was in. One ring. Two rings.. three rings. " Hello, man. " Derek said as he picked the call. " How do you do?"
• " Hey. You don't ask me that. I am the one that called you. "
• Derek giggled over the phone. " Does that matter right now? Or is there a particular call rule that states that if you are the one that was called, that you don't have the right to ask the other person how he feels." Derek sighed heavily and stroked his hair.
• " Well, if you must know how I am faring , I am in big trouble, man. I need you to come over to my house in the next two hours.
• " Come over to your house. Come on , man I believe you are not really serious about what you have just said right now. "
• " Derek, I mean it. I mean what I just said. Or should I come over ? Which one do you want me to do?"
• " First, what is the matter? Why are you looking to see me this urgently?"
• " Like I said, there is a problem. And I need your help right away with the solution to it. "
• " Derek, I doubt the possibility of what you are trying to do right now."
• " You mean meeting with me. Is that it?"
• " Oh yes . You of all people should know how it is around this time for me. "
• " Derek, I am in a deep.shit right now. In fact, I am not in any deep shit. I am.a deep shit myself. "
• " What does that mean, man?"
• " I need you in two hours. Make sure you are in my house by that time."
• "I just got to my office. I believe you have not forgotten the fact that I was on a business trip for the past five days. "
• Aspen said nothing. Yeah. Derek was away. He knew before time that Derek was going to be out of the country for a business trip. But he had completely forgotten he told him he was going to make his return today.
• " Like, Aspen," Derek said," I entered the country not up to two hours ago. And right now, I have a stack of files and documents in my office staring right at me as I speak to you. Those documents would not possibly be able to get themselves signed . You know that much, right?" Aspen still said nothing.
• " I will assume that this silence of yours means one thing. And that is that you perfectly agree with everything that I have said right now. "
• " Derek, what are friends for?"
• " Aspen, what are friends not for?" Aspen asked and giggled. " Come on, man. This meeting can be done at any other time. It must not be now. Like , we have all the time to ourselves. We can meet up tonight after we are done with work. Or tomorrow night. Hold on a second, Aspen. Are you not going to work today?"
• " I am calling you from work right now. " Aspen replied and rotated his swivel chair to face the window.
• " That's perfect! Since you are already at work, and I am equally at work, we can just remain at work till evening. Or If we are going to meet, let it be around lunch break . Damn it! Our lunch breaks don't tally."
• " Derek, when I say I am in deep shit, you have to count my words for it. I am a mess right now. You don't seem to understand, do you? When was the last time we met? It has been a while already, man. There are things that I have not made mention of to you simply because you have not been around. "
• " You are so persistent with this meeting. What is it really about? "
• " It is not something to talk about over a phone call. As I speak to you right now, I am mentally preparing myself to leave work already. "
• " What?!" Derek asked with a voice that showed great concern.
• Derek loved making money. He could be called a workaholic. But at the same time, he knew better than anyone else that he was not really a workaholic. If he was a workaholic, how would someone now describe a man like his friend, Aspen, who was addicted to work? Derek at least, had time to have fun. He had women in his life. But it was not just the same case with Aspen.
• Aspen only had one particular thing that he dearly loved in his life. And that was his work. He did not joke with it. All he was obsessed with was trying to grow the company his father had left to him as much as he could. They say that with great wealth comes great responsibility. Though not for every rich brat, Aspen took it personally. He was always trying to beat the legacy his father had created already.
• And the most difficult if it was having to compete for the position on top the ladder . Their company has always been fighting for first place . But they had a major rival that at times knocked them off. The rival was no other person but Mr Theodore Florencia, a big shark in the world of business Moguls. That was the kind of man he was going head-on with at the age of twenty-three. It was a miracle how he was putting up the fight and keeping their position strong. It just did not make sense to Derek that a young man with such passion and devotion to work was trying to leave work that early in the morning. It just did not make sense.
• " Is it that serious? " Derek asked.
• " Yes, Derek. It is very serious. And right now, I am getting ready to leave the office. Do what you must to meet me in my home. In fact, two hours is quite much. Thirty minutes should be more than enough for you to meet up with me."
• " Damn it, Aspen! Thirty minutes is way too small. I have a pile of documents to sign right before me. "
• Aspen sighed. " Derek, you have people to relegate certain duties to. Just meet me and you can return to whatever you wish to do. Thirty minutes."
• " Okay. Forty minutes . I will be at your home in the next forty minutes. "
• " Forty minutes it is, then. "
• The call came to an end. He sat on the swivel chair and stared out at the city. In his thoughts, he wondered which part of the city the mysterious lady would be in. Rotating the chair to face his desk, he picked the telephone and called in his secretary. In a matter of minutes, she was walking into his office.
• " Sir, you called me. Do you need my help with anything?"
• " Uhm. I actually called you here to let you know that I will be leaving right now. " He stood from his chair. " Every other thing for today should be well organized. You know what? Forward some of them to my mail. When I fish out time, I will try to clear them. "
• " I will do that, Sir. " She replied. " But Sir, I don't mean to pry , is anything the problem?"
• " Why do you ask?"
• " Since I started working for you, I have never witnessed a day when you came to work and left , leaving orders to forward them to your mail. You don't even stay away from work when you are sick. "
• Aspen managed a weak smile. His secretary was an efficient one. A beauty to behold . Though, not fit for a man like him who has nothing to behold in women except the lady he had stumbled across her path.
• " Well, let's just say something important came up. This time, it might be more important than work. I will be meeting with my friend, Derek. "
• " Oh. I guess it's still business. Alright. "
• With that, Aspen left the office. Moments later, he was pacing right in the living room. Forty minutes had passed already and Derek was not yet visible to the human eyes. He cursed under his breath. What the hell was keeping the nut job from showing up at the time he promised to? He was going to get it hot from him.if care was not taken. Walking to a couch, he picked up his phone and was about to dial Derek's contact when someone spoke from the entrance.
• " I am here. `` '' Damn it, Derek!! You said you would be here in forty minutes. What took you so long?"
• " Come on, man. Look at the time. I barely added an extra eight minutes. Forty-eight minutes is not bad. "
• " It is, actually. "
• " You look tense. What is going on?"
• Aspen sighed and walked to the couch and sat down. Derek followed and sat on another one.
• " Okay. This has to do with a woman. "
• " A woman?"
• " A couple of days back, I went on a blind date. "
• " Amelia Dubois?"
• " Yeah. " He nodded. " But something went wrong. I can't place my hands around it. But I woke up in a hotel room. Like, I had an affair with a stranger. She left before I woke up. "
• Derek bursted into laughter. Aspen ,of all people, had an affair.
• " What's funny , Derek? Damn it! I'm serious here. "
• " Wasn't it Amelia?"
• " No! I remember pushing Amelia down at morningstar bar. Okay. I was there when this pretty lady walked in to meet with her friend. When she walked out for a bit, her friend laced her drink. She was going to drink it. I was going to stop her when I started to stumble. "
• " Did you drink alcohol?"
• " You know I don't. I had a pear and rose punch. There was no alcohol. I ended up having a one night stand. I couldn't let this get to the media. I made necessary moves to stop that. But there's a problem. Till now, I haven't found the lady. "
• " Is that possible?"
• " I haven't. For the first time, Hagar failed to do the needful. He couldn't find her. That's why I called you. You are my last resolve right now. "
• Derek giggled.
• " Relax, man. I will see what I can do about it. "
• Aspen felt a wave of relief sweep through him. His hope had been born again.