THE CEO MEMOIRIST

Chapter Three

"I knew you were stupid but I didn't think anyone, not even you could be this stupid!" Pradeep was thundering at Akshara. "I don't even know why I bother, I really don't. Honestly, Akshara, I have given up on you, this was the last time." He ended rudely and walked out of the room angrily, banging the door shut so hard that the poster of George R.R. Martin pasted on the door peeled off a bit. Akshara was just laying on her bed asking herself several questions, questions pondering upon the reason for her father scolding her and her mother refusing to talk to her in sheer disappointment.

They had discovered that the interviewer she shouted at was actually Grimes Branagh himself and this toppled everything, she couldn't believe nor understand just how unlucky she was. But what perplexed her more was the question of "the right thing." "It doesn't matter who he is, he was still rude to all those people and even me, right? He had it coming, right?" She thought to herself questions of doubt that just made her uncomfortable. She got up in frustration and moved to the door, looking at the poster which was now halfway peeled, and with a perplexed look on her face she straightened it out, plastering it properly. She let her face fall into the palm of her hands in exhaustive anger, the kind that just made you hate yourself.

She slipped her face downward, letting her hands get to her hair which she grabbed firmly for a few seconds before letting go and looking up at the poster. "What should I do, George?" She said with a mighty exhale of exasperation. "You'd probably say something like 'take your father's head to Grimes of house Branagh and show him your loyalty, and when he accepts you, you unravel your true intent and kill him in the most painful of ways, perhaps with a poison' after all, you did say that poison is a woman's weapon." Her talking to herself just made her laugh a little bit, she was her greatest companion other than George on the door and Tolkien on the wardrobe. "What would you say, Tolkien?" She asked as she turned to the wardrobe. "You're more of a peace and hope guy, right? So what, should I apologize? But mind you, he was a royal pain. What was that George? Do we have to compromise for the sake of the realm? That's quite unexpected of you… but I suppose you are right." She did not know if it would be possible to see Mr Grimes even if she wanted to, but she had to try, she decided she would apologize and she would tell him to be kinder to people in a more calm and kind tone also. She took deep breaths and grabbed her purse, opening it to make sure there was money inside before picking up her phone. "Wish me luck eh." She said and just as she grabbed the handle of the door, her phone rang, it was a strange number, she didn't like strange numbers but she picked with an odd "hello" rolling off her tongue. "Good morning, ma'am, am I speaking with Akshara? Akshara Ramakrishnan?" A female voice spoke over the phone. "Erm… yeah, who's this?" "My name is Sira Mmecham of The Grimes Company and I'd like to schedule you for a follow-up interview with Mr Grimes Branagh." "Wait, what?" She asked in disbelief. "Did you not hear me?" "Oh, no I did, I am just shocked. Wow, okay. When?" "Tomorrow morning, 11 am. Don't be late, not even for a second. I'll text you the address." "Yes, yes, thank you, thank you so much. But isn't that a little late?" The secretary chuckled and said "Goodbye." The woman ended the call and Akshara screamed in excitement. Her parents could hear her voice from downstairs and they felt it was a shout of regret which her father thought she damn well deserved to be in. Akshara gave a high-five to her posters of George and Akshara and jumped onto her bed, hopping on it like a teenage girl whose crush just looked at her for more than 5 seconds and ended with a smile. "I need to look my best. What should I wear?" She thought. Her phone dinged and she checked the screen and saw the address sent by Sira.

Ironically, the text included a dress code, so that narrowed things down. She was just so excited that she threw all her pillows off the bed and buried her face in the bed, screaming into it. She heard a subtle knock on the door which she expected was her mother, but to her great surprise, it was her younger sister who had gotten married and moved out a little over a year ago. Her moving out was a bittersweet experience. She was excited to have the room for herself, more space and she was happy for her sister's happiness but she was also sad that her best friend and only fan was leaving her, plus she was frightened that her parents were going to come down on her with the marriage idea harder now that her younger sister had gotten married, which they did until they gave up trying to fix her up with men when her dates kept going badly.

"Nakia?" "Hey, sis." "What are you doing here?" "A little, hi, how are ya? I'm so happy to see you, wouldn't kill you." Nakia teased as she joined her on the bed. "I am happy to see you, I'm just shocked, is all." "I see. Well, I'm good. Thank you for asking. And I hear you're not so great. Scolding a billionaire. I'm quite proud, honestly. At least we can tick that off the ol' bucket list." Nakia joked and they both laughed. "Well, said billionaire has invited me for a follow-up interview." "Wait, what?" "I know, that was my exact reaction too. Wait, but why are you so shocked?" "Urm, cause from what mum described, you were royally f****d. That you went all apeshit on this guy, according to her description." "Haha, yeah, she's right. I was also shocked, I am still shocked. But I'm also thankful and happy." "Well, I suppose there was no need for me to come here. Everything has resolved itself. Thank the gods. I couldn't imagine how to even begin this conflict resolution." "Haha, very funny." "So, when is the interview?" "Tomorrow morning. And check this out, I was given an address for the interview." "Address? The interview isn't happening at the company building?" "No, I was given an address to go to." "And do you know where it is?" "Not a clue, I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow." "Tomorrow? Hell no. We are finding that place on Google Maps right now. Let me see the address." Nakia said with urgency as she pulled her phone from her bag and began searching. "You always were the nosy one." "Detail oriented." Nakia corrected. "And you are too indifferent." "I just don't think some things are worth the attention." "Umm, your safety is… Aha! Found it!" "Really? Where is it?"

Akshara jumped to Nakia, trying to look at her phone screen. "Whoa whoa whoa! I thought you weren't interested." Nakia restricted her from looking at her phone screen. "Well, I wasn't but now I am." "Mm-hmm." Nakia expressed with her lips bent in a way that indicated subtle criticism of her unsure and dwindling behavior. She finally let Akshara look at the screen before she tapped the location. It popped up on the map and they saw how far into the woods it was. "What the hell?" They both exclaimed. "Is there a picture?" Akshara asked. "I think," Nakia answered as she tapped for a picture. "Oh s**t!" They both expressed shock.