4.The Smoking Zone

Warning: This chapter is a narration of a fictitious suicidal event which is the creation of the author's thought.

Mike and David exited from their room the so-called IT department and went to the staircase. David lead the way and took Mike on the terrace.

The terrace was a smoking zone area. It was a completely different atmosphere for Mike. He saw many girls dressed in fine attire and heavy makeup smoking and chatting. Seems like everyone has a lot of burdens that need to be taken away. They all seemed to be enjoying mental peace while smoking. Some of them were bickering about not getting much attention into events, some were bickering about being overburdened with work.

David studied Mike's facial expression and interrupted his thoughts "So this is the stress burster area for us. I am pretty sure you are going to like it here."

Mike a bit surprised reacted " Oh wow. "

David took out a cigarette and lighter and gave him one.

" Sorry I don't smoke," Mike replied politely

David raised his brow.

"You are quite a newbie...a good guy." He laughed.

David lit the cigarette and smoked. He closed his eyes inhaling the smoke.

Suddenly They heard a voice.

"Hey, Dave. I was searching for you."

Mike looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl. She was the same girl he saw a day before coming out of the cabin crying and weeping.

"Hey, Kells. How are you? where have you been?" David greeted her

" I was actually looking for you to talk to you about something," Kelly told in a serious tone

She then looked at Mike. David introduced Kelly to Mike.

"Kelly this is Mike. He has joined the IT department. This is his first day. Mike this is Kelly. She is one of the in-house model." 

" Hi, Kelly. Please to meet you."

Mike greeted her. Kelly was a bit shocked by his formal greeting.

"Hey, Mike. Newbie here...huh..best of luck.." Kelly replied in a sarcastic manner.

Kelly turned to David

"David I will see you around. Maybe we can talk over coffee." Kelly asked 

"Ok Kells.no problem. I will see you around." David said.

David and Mike waved her bye.

After Kelly went, Mike looked at David and told "Is she your friend? I saw her yesterday when I was waiting for my interview."

"Oh really. Where?' David asked a bit curious.

"Well, I was waiting for my interview in the reception area when I heard some voices from the cabin in front of me. Actually, she was talking to someone in an office cabin and then the guy left and after a while, she came out."

"That has to be Frank!"

" Who is Frank?"

"He is the event manager. He is a popular man with lots of contacts with rich producers and businessmen."

"Oh wow."

"That's the reason every time XYZ is the event management company for the top awards, corporate events, and charity shows."

"Make sense. But your friend Kelly.. she was crying when she came out of the cabin." Mike asked a bit confused.

" A lot of secrets are hidden in these walls, my friend. You will see it. Welcome to the corporate."

Mike was shocked.

"So are Kelly and Frank a thing?" mike asked hesitantly

"And why are you asking?" David raised his brows

" I might have heard some things accidentally."

David sighs.

"There is nothing like true love in the corporate world. It's just like taking care of each other's needs and using them for personal benefit. "

"Wow. I have seen all this in movies or heard in stories. But do really such thing exist. "

"It does Man. All faces over here are covered with a fake smile. Everyone is a plastic faking smile. All have a dark secret inside them. Anyway the break is over. Let's go to the desk and mail the witch. "  David said walking towards the terrace door

"Witch?" Mike stopped walking for a second

"That's the name I have given to Alandra."

Both laughed. They came again to their room and Mike shoot a mail to Alandra. Within seconds he got a revert from Alandra with a shared folder link.

Mike opened the shared folder and there were like 1000s of videos.

How are we going to know which one to upload? Mike thought

He turned to David. David instantly responded

" I know they never sort and give. They just copy it in the folder. Just sort for the one modified in this week. This should be it."

Wow, this guy is indeed a genius and knows exactly what I want to know. Mike thought

Mike sorted the files and then it took like 4 hours for him to upload the video.

"David how long you are working here?"

'It's been 5 years man."

"Omg, that's a long time. Doesn't it get monotonous for you?"

"It does but when I joined I had a reason to work here and so I stayed back."

"Reason?"

"Yes, a very cute and beautiful reason whose smile filled my day with happiness." A cute smile came on David's face as he spoke.

"Huh?" A curious Mike asked.

"She was the one for whom I stayed back but she is gone."

"I am sorry Man."

"It's ok. shit happens.' Mike told remembering something

"So what was her name." 

"Eva"

"So was she your girlfriend? How it all started?" Mike asked

David sighed.

"Let me bring some coffee from the pantry. Do you need any?" David replied in a monotonous manner.

"Yeah I think I can use one." Mike said.

"Sure"

David went out of the room to the pantry to get coffee. Mike noticed his expressions suddenly turned serious with the mention of Eva's name. Mike can sense pain in David's voice on the mention of Eva's name.

Maybe I should drop this conversation. Mike thought

David came back. He entered the room and said in an annoyed manner

"The pantry has become more of a lover's park. I hate going to the pantry and seeing melodrama."

Mike Laughed and assured David "Next time I will go then."

David nodded and hand the cup of coffee to Mike "Here is your coffee."

" Thanks. So how long this upload will go on?" Mike asked looking at file upload progress.

"Maybe a few hrs."

David said. Mike was quiet for a second thinking about something when he heard David's voice

"We both met during the interview."

David said sipping the coffee.

"Huh?" Mike asked a bit confused

David turned towards Mike now and spoke  "Me and Eva met during the interview. There was something about her-the charm, the innocence and we connected instantly. She joined as a social media intern and in no time was promoted to social media coordinator. We used to talk, chat a lot. We used to go on breaks together.

She used to tell me about funny moments during her social media interactions with celebrities. She used to go to page 3 parties for the photos of celebrities for the news website and the Instagram and Facebook pages of the company. She knew many celebrities in no time. She was a very good friend of mine."

"Wow that quite an achievement" Mike said

"It is," David said and further continued

"Though she only considered me a friend I had a secret crush on her. For her, I was just a best friend with whom she shares her things but for me, she was my princess. I used to wait for her every day upon reaching the office so that we can have breakfast together until..."

"Until?"

"Until Alan came into her life." David said in a disappointed tone.

"Alan?"

"Alan is a good friend of Lucas. Lucas is the CEO of this company." David said clarifying Mike's doubt.

"Yeah I saw Lucas White name on the company's site. I thought he might be older or something." Mike said in a thoughtful manner.

"Lucas is in his early 30s. He has inherited this company from his father. He is nothing but a dumb spoilt kid."

"Oh.wow. so Alan was Lucas's friend?"

David's face grew a bit tense but he replied "Yes. Alan was also quite rich. He started working in the social media team and that is when he and Eva became good friends. They started going together for the social media event outside the city. During these outdoor trips, they became very close and started seeing each other. Eva was very happy and was in love with Alan.

I remember I was sitting here working on my laptop when she came to me after 1 week of travel."

********Flashback***************

Eva: Hey David. Here you are busy bee?

David: Hey Eva you are back. How was your trip? I missed you.

Eva: Aww... My trip was good. I missed you too Dave

David: Oh really but you never answered my texts.

Eva: Don't ask...Too much work and also I wanted to tell you something...something happened?

David: What? Are you ok? Are you injured?

Eva: Gosh Dave stop overreacting. I am fine. It's just that Alan proposed to me.

David: Oh...

I felt like someone has stabbed me in the heart but looking at her happy face I forgot my sorrow. David said

David: So what did you say?

Eva: Well I don't know but I really want to give a try. He is nothing but kind to me always and also he is handsome and cool.

David: Oh...Well, good luck with the relation and be careful. I don't want you to get hurt.

Eva: Don't worry he is quite caring. Now, are we going for coffee?

Flashback ends

**************************

" And Eva and Alan started dating. Earlier she used to come with me for breakfast and breaks but then she started hanging more with Alan. Everything was going great for her until..." David paused and then said

"Until Eva got pregnant. As soon as she told Alan this, Alan told her to get rid of the baby and started avoiding her. Eva been in love didn't want the abortion and started asking Alan to get married.

Alan started ignoring her calls and messages. Alan even changed his team and was accompanied by another colleague for the social media event. Eva understood that he was just playing around with her. She thought maybe once the baby is born she will expose Alan and force him for a paternity test.

But one day Eva came to the office and we came to know that Alan has moved out of the company. He has even moved out of the country. His resignation was quite secret.

Eva was in trauma. Not knowing what to do she got home and overdosed on sleeping pills...Eva...Eva died."