I am the boss - English version

Chapter 20: Inconsistent results

- Yes Jim, I am really sorry baby, I didn't think about it, I just didn't want to cause some trouble or start gossips or rumors, do you know what I mean right?

- Yes my love, I know, you already told me that, but something like that cannot go unnoticed, plus you have me and Ricky, always 

- Oh, by the way, why did Richard come to Bennett’s office?

- When we were in his elevator, I felt the need to warn Ricky, don’t t ask me why, I just felt the need, so I sent him an SOS

- SOS?

-Oh yes baby, I am going to teach you how to do it, on your iPhone you assign an emergency contact in shortcuts, just by pressing home in a certain way it sends an alert and my location to that person, in my case that person is Ricky, we both did that a long time ago, I am going to teach you later how to do that

- So, that way he knew he had to come up thanks to the SOS alert?

- That's right, he came at the best time, right?

- I was scared to death Jim, don’t you ever do that to me, please, but Richard had the best timing, he also was ready to act and with steel temper

- That's my brother, I am the one with the shortest wick of the two, and he knows me very well

- Oh Jim, I think this is going to be derailed, I better quit now than later, if he-

- Shut up! Of course not!

- Jim, I will not risk your job and / or Richard's job, I have literally less than two days, if I leave now the problem is over-

- NOPE! Stop saying that, you won't leave my love

- Jim

- NOPE! And that's definitive, didn't you see? Even Bennett apologized when you mentioned that, he stopped when he heard you were going to quit

- Jim-

He stops and hugs me tight against him, but at the same time he is soft and very pleasant, I do not know how he manages to do that, to hug me like this, with that mixture of strength and tenderness, both at the same time, I am against his chest and an image of his chest with half unbuttoned shirt, from last night, of me over him on my sofa, pops in my mind,  woooow, I close my eyes and try to stop thinking about that.

What a wonderful thing my eyes had the chance to behold last night, at least for a few seconds, daaaang Naty!

Suddenly his cell phone rings

- Ricky

- …

- Yes

- …

- Of course

- …

- We are in Central Park right now

- …

- Almost, only, yes, exactly

- …

- Well, I wanted to check with him, if he could authorize Layla for the new project

- …

- Yes, it is completely necessary, since she is the one who will help me with the tests and the agenda so that we have everything in a timely manner

- …

- Well, yes, because today we have the eleven o'clock meeting

- …

- I wait

- …

- Very good, we will be back shortly

- … 

- Ok, thanks Bro

He hangs up his cell phone and turns to see me with a mischievous smile.

- What's going on Jim?

- Done, Richard already solved everything, Bennett now has a disciplinary report, Richard told me that he has your cell phone with him, that once we are back, we can go get it back at Ricky’s office, as he was still with Bennett, he already asked him for your access and Bennett authorized it

- Oh, then-

- Yes, today at eleven o'clock you will enter the meeting with me, let’s go back to the lab, I have to explain several things before the meeting, we have two hours to put you up to speed

- Jim, don't you think it will be totally uncomfortable to be with him at the project meeting after what just happened?

- It doesn't have to be, just ignore him my love, you will be with me, and I will be right there for you

- Oh, but Jim-

- As I told you, he must understand that he can't do anything to break us apart, you and I are in this together, alright baby?

- Ok Jim

We walked back hugging but without talking, Jim already had another expression on his face, apparently the walk achieved its purpose and reassured him, at the same time that it restored his magnificent usual mood, always cheerful and positive, and when I least thought about it we were again entering the company’s lobby, waiting for the elevator.

We went up to Richard’s office, I felt very nervous to go back to the eighth floor.

We arrived at Richard's, who was engrossed in watching his computer monitor.

Jim knocked on the door and when he saw that it was us, he asked us to enter.

- Ricky-

- Jimmy, don't do that ever again."

- What do you expect if-

- I thought you would hit him, the screams could be heard outside his office

- Oh my God, how embarrassing

- No baby, don’t be, Bennett is the one who should be ashamed, he's a-

- Calm down Jimmy, quiet, I don't want you to get all angry on me again

- What did the bastard tell you?

- Well, without breaking my ethics code, he had no other choice than to admit the huge mistake he did, and he also signed the report, with that, he must leave Layla alone

- Richard, I don't want you or Jim to have problems because of me

- No Layla, we will not have any problem because of this, this is part of our jobs, to protect our employees

- But-

- There is no but that applies here Layla, this has to put him a stop, do not worry, seriously

- Ricky, I told you yesterday, that if he-

- Yes Jimmy, don't worry about it anymore, ah, and Layla, if there is a next one, I doubt it, but in that case, please, if it happens again, do not delete messages or photos, you send me a screenshot immediately

- I don't want to make the problem bigger

- Layla, this is not like your brother-in-law, it is like the human resources manager of this company, understood?

- Understood Richard

- Ah, here you have your cell phone

- Thank you

- Let's go my love, we need to get the information ready for the meeting, thank you brother

- It's my job Jimmy, plus nobody messes with my brother or my sister-in-law and gets away with it.

Richard stands up and comes to give Jim a big hug

- Ah by the way, mom is waiting for us all on Sunday

- Oh, I see, what did you tell her gossipy man?"

- Nothing, just that she has a lovely new daughter-in-law

My jaw dropped to the floor, is he saying that Jim's mom knows about me?

- Did you hear Ricky, my love? On Sunday they are waiting for us to eat lunch at Mom's house sweetheart

- Jiiiim-

- Don’t worry baby, my mom is a very relaxed, chilled person, you two will get along very well, you will see, pretty soon you will become best friends, you have nothing to worry about.

- Yes, little sis, don’t worry, our mother will definitely love you, you will see, you are nothing like-

- Ricky!

- Oh oh, sorry

- See you bro

- I see you both later on the eleven meeting

I am totally mute, I can only wave goodbye to Richard slightly with my hand.

We left his office and Jim hugged me.

- Come on Baby, don’t worry, don't panic, my mother is going to love you, I swear

- Ay Jim-

- Don't think about that, at least for now, let's go to the lab, ok?

- Ok Jim

We arrived at the laboratory and entered Jim's office, everyone was looking at us. Again, I felt everyone's heavy looks on us, maybe it is because of the arrival time or has the rumor of what just happened on the eighth floor already spread?

Jim searched the filing cabinet for some stuff, took out two big folders, in addition to the one we used yesterday, as well as a new agenda and his agenda from his desk drawer as soon as he sat down.

- Look Layla, in this folder I have everything related to the project, at least what has to do with the laboratory, each department has one like this with what corresponds to each department, responsibilities, activities to be carried out, reports, etc., ok?

- I understand Jim

- This is the schedule, we are currently at this stage

Jim tells me as he points out about the third stage, out of a total of twelve stages.

- The project is estimated to be completed by next year’s first quarter, or sooner if possible, so we cannot miss any of the dates stipulated in this schedule

- Very good

- Unless in some meeting they ask us to accelerate some process, that will be evaluated by me before saying if it is feasible or not

- Correct

-Do not allow them to pressure you to move earlier any date and never if I am not there or informed, love, there are some sharks in marketing and costs, if we leave behind schedule, even a little, they will eat us alive, ok

- Ah very well, without pressure, right?

- Hahaha they actually only eat us, metaphorically speaking, you are not in real danger baby

- Ok Jim

- This is your agenda, it is exclusively for the project and we must be sure that all our dates match, ok?

- Yes

- Any change, activity, pending test, pretty please, everything need to be in my agenda and in your agenda, sometimes in the meeting as I am talking, I forget to take notes, there you will help me a lot, when leaving, we meet and see everything we agreed upon, this is of utmost importance, my love

- Of course Jim, don't worry, I am very good at taking notes

- I saw you, on the first day, at training, right there I knew you would be my secret weapon

- Hahaha don’t be exaggerating

- I am not, seriously, in the first meeting I forgot to write something down and it was chaos over here, I was almost lynched at the next meeting for that omission

- Ok, I take note, carry shields

- Hahaha you are so beautiful, by the way, this other folder is a summary of all the tests that have been done so far, so in addition to filing everything in the logs of each station, I ask you to take a copy and add it here chronologically

- I understand Jim

- Ok, in the meantime as I review this, please continue with the procedures folder, I hope today we finish that and tomorrow we can start with the tests

- Perfect

Each one of us continues with our own things, and from time to time I stare a little at Jim, I really thought he would distract me more, but in reality, I feel very calm working with him, next to me, very well Layla, very well.

- Why do you see me this much, baby?

- Oh, me? no

- I see how you turn to see me, that accelerates my pulse baby

- I only admire you in small lapses Jim, is like, well, is because you are so handsome, that suddenly I cannot believe that you are my boyfriend

- I am the one who cannot believe it, you are a goddess baby, you are so beautiful, and I will stop right now, I won’t follow that path because I don’t want to remember yesterday and that, oh, nothing, forget about it-

- Oh gosh, don't even mention that to me, at least not during working hours, you accelerate my pulse too

- And you wake up someone down there

- Hahaha, Jim shut up, people can’t find us talking about this

We heard some knocking on the door, I turned over, and there was a woman from one of the lab's workstations.

Jim signals her to come in

- Yes Danna, what's the matter?"

- Jim, the results that I have to give you right now before the meeting, are inconsistent

- Have you repeated the test?

- Yes, the three times as the procedure states, but each time I did it the results got very different

- Did you check the sample?

- Yes, it is completely homogeneous

- Ok, ask Dayana and Joe to do it three times each, please hurry up, I have to be at the meeting in thirty minutes Danna

- I understand Jim, we will do it right away, do you want me to repeat it too?

- Were the other tests done on the same day?

- No, two yesterday at the end of the day and one right now

- Ok, do it with them, just make sure everything is clean, open reagents if necessary, check expiration dates and calibration of measuring instruments

- Ok, I understand

The woman leaves and Jim looks very upset.

- What 's wrong Jim?

- Those results are expected by everybody in twenty eight minutes, if I don’t have them, it will be a big, no, it will be a massive problem, f uck!

- But can't you take the results she has?

- If I say at that meeting that we had inconsistent results, we run the risk of them questioning the competence of all my staff, not only hers.

- Oh, crap!

- Exactly, that would be way more serious than saying I don't have them

- And how fast are those two analysts?

- The ones I asked Danna, are my best, fastest and most reliable analysts, I cannot always ask them for help with this project, since there is a lot of work on the projects each one of them is assigned to, that is why they authorized me a new person, you know, you

- Oh boy

- That's how it is baby, you are the ace up my sleeve, why don’t you go with them and observe, this week you will be with them learning everything you need to be one hundred percent in charge of all the analyzes, I hope next week

- Ok, I'm going with them, are you-

- Yes, I will come by you before we need to go to the meeting.