Three: I'm Louella

He stared even harder. He raised his hand, lingered it in the air, those eyes narrowing too crazily at me. The moment he decided to take a step close, walk towards the table, someone tapped him from behind. He snapped his neck around, began speaking with whoever that was. 

Good. This was the chance to escape. I could easily walk out of the meeting, and maybe ignore him, but that would cost my reputation. And, anything that costed my reputation, costed my life. 

I skimmed my eyes through the room. To my surprise, everyone was on their phone. It really seemed like God wanted me to escape here. Great! But wait, how in the world would I do that?

I jerked Rachel's skirt. She almost gasped, but probably tried to swallow the breath that would have escaped her throat. "Come on now. Don't just stand there doing nothing. Don't make me fire you."

"But, ma'am—"

"Do. Something," I ordered. For jeez' sake, was this even close to being the time for speaking shit?

"The table," she suggested. 

I slowly turned my neck around to look at her. "Huh?"

"Hide under the table. Let's escape through that. Ma'am, you know this costs your reputation. He's not a cool person at all. He'll definitely embarrass you," she said. 

I rolled my eyes, and sighed silently. "But, that isn't a solution, weird chic."

She bit her lower lip, seeming worried. "Please. You can do this one weird thing today. Just today. You know I'll be the one to suffer curses if anything goes wrong."

"That's enough now. Don't need your help anymore," I declared. Turning back to Seth, I realized he was beginning to wrap up his discussion with the person he was talking with. I would admit, I was scared to know what he would do if he saw me. 

He shook the man's hand. With everything he did, my stomach knotted. Helpless, I scanned my eyes through the room again. Noticing my six competitors were still focusing on their phone, I felt the need to do what Rachel had suggested.

The man Seth was speaking with, finally spun around to leave. And, the instant Seth was about to turn to me, I grabbed Rachel's wrist, pulled her under the table. How stupid was this? Very stupid. Well, this was how much I cared about my reputation and ego. If this man had to insult me for yelling at the janitor, who was him, the news would go viral. And, what would everyone say?

“The famous business woman, Louella Warren, yelled at a poor janitor”. How embarrassing would that be?

"Ms. Warren, you're sure you wanna do this?" Rachel asked as she knelt beside me. 

"Shut up!" I ordered in a whisper, glaring at her in the partial darkness. 

She just nodded violently, not saying any other thing.

Without wasting time, we started to crawl to the other side of the table, actually planning to escape through there. Since the glass table wasn't transparent, also very big, there was no way anyone would see us, as well, no one would know we were crawling in between their legs. 

"We're almost there," Rachel informed, referring to the other side of the table. She was gasping for air a little, and I kept glaring at her. Couldn't she be quiet?

I felt a bit happy when I realized we were truly almost there. All we would have to do was to get up, and hurry to the door immediately, so quick that Seth Lee wouldn't even have the time to call us back. Good! 

Rachel and I sighed in relief when we finally reached our destination. It was really hard to crawl all the way here. First, my knees hurt. Second, a whole me had to do something this crazy? Well, there was no big deal about it. A few years ago, I used to crawl on the streets in order to eat food from the trash. I ought to be glad I was crawling on a marble floor, not on an asphalt. 

"Should we stand up now? It seems like Seth isn't standing there anymore," Rachel inquired. 

I hesitated before nodding. "Okay. I guess so."

Crawling a little further, just about to get up, a leg appeared in front of us. I widened my eyes. This was a masculine leg. Gosh, what now?

"Rachel!" I tapped Rachel crazily. "Let's go back. Someone's there."

"O-Okay." Had she just stammered? Gross. Gosh, was that even important now?! 

Attempting to crawl a little backwards, that was when he decided to crouch. He crouched in front us, bulged his eyes open on seeing me. I swallowed hard, gritted my teeth. How the heck did he know we were here?

He smirked. "Come out now. There's no need to hide. You're the one who just cried at the janitor for making a mere mistake, right?"

I flared my nostrils, not being able to say anything. 

He stretched his hand forward. "Mind taking my hand? The meeting has to begin, okay?"

"Don't need your help," I bit out. When he moved backwards, I managed to get up. Yes, I was more than embarrassed. My idiot rivals had their eyes on me. To worsen this, Kelli, of all people, sneered at me. 

What would I do now?

I turned back to Seth, not smiling at all, only keeping my normal behavior on track. "Well, um… I was seeking my pen under there. It costs a lot." Damn, had I just stammered too? Okay. Still not important. 

"But…" He tucked his arms around his chest, smirked even harder. "I thought you're some kind of rich woman. Why would you go under the table in search of a pen? You can just buy a new one, right?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and curse at him. I was Louella, not any other woman who had a crush on him. What was he trying to get by teasing me? Birdbrain!

"Hey, you're doing the meeting or not?" I demanded, my voice reflecting the uninterest and little wrath I felt. 

"Or…" He took a step close, stared directly into my eyes. Ah, this was the second time I was staring into those weird eyes. "Were you like, trying to steal something?"

I scoffed. "Pi-lease, don't be dumb. Steal something from you? Dude, do you know the woman you're speaking with?"

"Then why were you under there?" He glared a little, and I did the same. "Do you want me to call the police? Or ask the journalists to come in?"

I gawked. "But you know I won't steal from you. Are you nuts? Fine, I get that you're angry I yelled at you earlier, but that doesn't mean you should accuse me of stealing."

"How am—"

"That's enough," I shunned him. "If you think you've got the upper hand, you're wrong. I decided to pass under there cause I didn't wanna do the meeting anymore. Accusing me is crazy. I'm not any filthy women you know. I'm Louella."

I could tell he became even more annoyed. What? Did he expect me to watch him insult me in front of my competitors?

"Woman, leave here or I'll call the guards."

I grabbed my purse from Rachel, scoffed again. "Of course I will. In the last few minutes, I've been disgusted enough. I can't even believe you're the Seth Lee guy."

He snorted. "Who cares about what you believe?"

I inhaled loudly. Turning to the door, I glanced at him. "I expected more than this from Green Stars Field. What a disappointment. Disgusting."

Saying that, I sashayed to the door, jerked it open, and walked out. I could tell he still had his eyes on me, but I didn't even care. At least, I didn't have to leave here being so embarrassed. 

Walking in the corridor, a couple of people glued their boring eyes to me. I beckoned at my men who stood close to the wall. Doing that, they began walking behind me, as well as Rachel. Soon, we reached the elevator, heading out of the building. 

To be frank, I felt so bad that this had to happen. Working with this company could have been one the greatest things in my life. But, again, I would be strong. I had faced worse experiences than this. 

***