Time will Tell

11

Tine's P.O.V.

All afternoon was spent brainstorming ideas for this project.

Mr. Riva coming unannounced didn't help us at all. He was checking for updates if any, I mean, what is he expecting? We got this project this morning only and he expects us to do some magic?

It was already past 6 in the evening and we were still far from agreement.

"You know what, let's call it a night, we're drained. Let's continue tomorrow, fresh minds, fresh everything. I'll try to draft something later if my brain can still function." Deena is obviously fried.

She gathered all the papers we used on her table and threw them in the bin under her table.

"We were not given a decent time to work around this, Dee. I'll speak to Mr. Riva and see if we can outsource someone or maybe an in-house if there is any, maybe one from your team, I don't know. But I'll speak to him." I closed her laptop and handed her the bottle of water that was sitting on her table.

"Here." She took the bottle from me and drank almost half of it.

"Okay, thanks." She uttered.

"So... You have any plans tonight?" I asked.

"Uhh, yeah. I'm gonna go to the funeral. Umm, Sab's cousin, remember this morning?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah." 

I just didn't realize you're needed there. I wanted to add but decided to keep it for myself.

We went out of her office together.

She left and I stayed in mine for another 10 minutes before going home.

I need a distraction. A good one, so I don't have to stare at Deena all day and be distracted.

Well, tomorrow is another day. 

Maybe tonight, I'll have a nice dinner and a long bath.

***

Early morning the next day, I received a call from Mr. Riva's secretary to go straight to his office. I didn't get any details, but just that.

When I reached his floor, Deena was already there waiting.

"Do you know what is this about?" I asked her as I sat beside her.

"No idea." Dee didn't even look at me as she continued to text. 

I tried to peak but even before I could do that, Mr. Riva opened the door for us and let us into his office.

As soon as we were inside, my eyes landed on the man in a suit sitting in front of Mr. Riva's desk.

His back is on us and I don't think he heard us coming in.

Mr. Riva had to tap his shoulder so that he would stand up and meet us.

"Ladies, this is Travis Bradford, he is my nephew. When you called me last night about resourcing someone to help you with this project, his name immediately came to mind."

As Mr. Riva continued to introduce him, tell us about his background, his achievements, and how he had just landed here a couple of days back and it was just perfect timing for us to work with him blah blah blah.

I noticed how his eyes were fixated on me.

I was uncomfortable at first but when he smiled, I thought he was the most handsome guy I have seen in my entire life.