Saving My Heroine

Chapter 7

Anna spent the weekend texting Masen. They made plans to have dinner once he was able to leave work for more than 2 hours but unfortunately it wouldn’t be anytime soon. Anna also had Coral to worry about. Coral could be called Michael’s ex but, in all honesty the two never really dated. Unfortunately, most of Celine and Michael’s relationship stemmed from her. She was very good at playing people, while Celine and Michael seemed to be allergic to proper communication which allowed her to destroy them. Anna hissed sharply, she wanted to hit them both but this time she won’t allow their stupidity to slide.

6th April 2020

Anna was typing away on her desk, she didn’t really have a project so she was just helping out and performing small tasks.

“Anna, you’re not busy right?” James asked as her collected some documents. Anna nodded, assuming that he wishes to send her on an errand.

“Great, come with me.” He turned and walked out. Anna hurried after him. They both entered an elevator and headed up. Anna looked around, she couldn’t hold in her curiosity and asked.

“Um, where are we headed?”

“To get you a new project.” James replied sneakily, answering without actually answering her.

“James.” Anna whined and James laughed at her impatience.

“Patience is a virtue, Anna.” He tapped her head lightly as they walked out. They stepped into the executive floor and entered into the CEO’s office. Anna looked around, Michael and another man were there. Anna glanced at him briefly, finding him a bit familiar, then looked at Michael.

“This is Anna, Mr. Michael, she s one of our best accountants and I believe she’ll be able to handle this project well.” James introduced.

“Good morning, sir.” Anna greeted and Michael nodded.

“Good morning, Anna,” he smiled, “How good are you with fashion?”

Anna’s eyes sparkled in delight when she heard that. She had never work with the fashion industry even though she had always been so interested in it. “Quite good.”

Michael nodded and turned to the other person in the room who has been watching them. “This is Tim, you’ll be working with him for the next few months.

“Nice to meet you, Anna. I hope we enjoy this collaboration.” He smiled. Anna smiled back, “I hope so too.”

She turned and left with Michael as she would be moving her things to Tim’s office.

As Anna made her way to Tim’s office, her mind buzzed with thoughts of her new project. She was really excited about the project and even more thrilled at the thought of working on something outside her usual workload.

She entered team’s office and saw that other members of the project had already arrived. She smiled confidently and worked to the seat left for her. Everyone introduced themselves and the meeting started. Anna was shocked to see all the thoughts and process that went into planning a new line. She was aware that it was not simple but was still surprised by all the planning.

After the meeting, she stayed behind to converse with Tim.

“Yes, Anna?” Tim asked, leaning back in his chair as the others left the room. Anna smiled a bit flustered.

“I know I said I’m good with fashion but it’s only ever been from a consumer’s point of view. I’ve never worked on something like this and I’m still quite new. Wouldn’t it be better to allow someone who’s more experienced to handle this?” She asked.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be working with people with experience. Michael and I know what we’re doing. We believed in you hats why we asked you to join.” He assured, “Any more questions?”

Anna shakes her head, “No, thank you.” She replied, relieved by his assurance. She stood up and headed for the door.

“Anna.” She pauses and turned around.

“Goodluck.” He nodded. Anna smiled and left feeling that he wanted to say something else but changed his mind, she shrugged and moved on.

28th April 2020

Anna stretched on her bed. Tim was a real hard worker they had been working late hours and she had been spending so much time doing her own research to avoid burdening her teammates too much. While it was worth it, it was also draining. Celine had been dropping by in Tim’s office to see her face and catch up with her. She had been unable to even talk much with Masen, she rolled around. Maybe the reduced interaction was a gift? She wondered.

She turned again and picked up her phone to check for a message from him when her eyes caught the date. She immediately sat upright, Coral’s first appearance had snuck up on her and she hadn’t even noticed. Anna groaned, another thing to worry about. She couldn’t remember exactly when Coral had come to visit Celine but she knew it was around this period. She dropped her phone, her struggle about Masen pushed to the back of her mind.

She stood up and headed for the bathroom, she needed a hot shower and meal before she could start planning how she was going to handle Coral.

Anna stepped into the steaming bathroom, allowing the shower soothe her tense nerves. She stepped out shortly in comfortable sweats and soft t-shirt. She moved to the kitchen, microwaved some rice and served herself. As she ate, she tried to recall the exact date when Coral showed up. She suddenly recalled that Coral had shown up when Michael was away on a business trip but she wasn’t aware of Michael going on any trip and had not heard about it. Although with how busy she had been, it was likely that someone might have mentioned it but she couldn’t remember. She finished her meal and moved to her bed.

Anna picked up her phone to call Celine, if there was anybody who would know about Michael’s plans, it would be Celine. The phone rang twice before Celine answered.

“Hey Celine.” Anna said brightly “What were you up to?” She asked.

“I was taking a shower. Did you miss me?” Celine teased.

Anna rolled her eyes. “I just wanted to confirm something I think I heard with you.”

“And it couldn’t wait till tomorrow?” Celine wondered. She was aware of how hard Anna had been working. “You should be asleep.” She scolded.

“It was bothering me.” Anna pouted, “I wouldn’t have been able to sleep.”

Celine rolled her eyes but smiled, it had been a while since Anna acted childishly around her. Not since her birthday. “Alright, let’s hear it.”

“Is Michael going on a trip any time soon?” Anna asked.

“That’s it? Seriously?” Celine was dumfounded.

“Just answer.” Anna cried.

“I think he is going on a trip on the 2nd of May. Why?”

“Just curious, do you know what for?” Anna asked, “and how long?”

Celine eyebrows went up, “that’s a lot of questions but it’s a family thing, it’s for roughly one week. I believe Masen would be going as well.”

“Masen?” Anna didn’t know about that. She filed that information for later, planning to get more information from Masen. She smiled and thanked Celine.

“Thank you, Celine. I need to go to sleep now, goodnight.”

“Goodnight dearie.” Celine replied and hung up, still curious about Anna’s thought process but too tired to question her.

Anna drifted off to sleep immediately after the call, satisfied at knowing when Coral was going to show up.