Emily left the house very early the next morning after telling Amber that she has an early morning test. Amber dressed up and went to work also with a better mood than that of the previous day since Eddy made her feel better the last night.
She got to the office and saw the text from Tom saying he would be coming in late to the office so she attend the meeting with the head of teams in his stead.
“Whatever” she mouthed as she read the text and removed her long coat to start the day’s work.
When it was time for the meeting, she picked up her coat and left for the conference room in the far end of the left side at the top floor of the building. She was shown respect to as the secretary to the CEO as she entered and sighed
“At least, I still have some respect left to my name” she thought and had her seat
“The CEO will not be joining us today because he has something urgent to attend to so we will start the meeting without him. What do we have on ground?” she asked and one of the team leaders tendered her report.
“The sales for this month shot up because of the many conglomerates wedding that will be taking place soon and luckily for us, all of them are buying their wedding items from us” the team leader reported
“With this sudden increase in orders, make sure that the employees doesn’t mix up orders like the last time because we don’t have any money to settle queries and also make sure that all their goods are sent to them in the best condition. Of course, make sure to package them well too and include a congratulatory gift for them” she directed and the team leader replied that she would do exactly what she said.
They discussed other things with the rest of the team leaders and after three hours, the meeting ended and she returned to the office to finish up what she was previously doing before Tom finally came to the office.
***
Emily finished her test and was walking around the corridor while chatting seriously with someone when her friends sneaked in on her.
“Who are you texting this ferociously? You don’t have a boyfriend if I can remember” Jessica said staring at her
“You have been texting a lot these days, who is the lucky guy? Are you going to hide him from us forever?” Mark added and she hid her phone
“I was discussing about my tuition fees with my dad, nothing more” she lied and Jessica tilted her head
“From what I know, your tuition for this session is settled because I was there when you paid so why are you discussing another one already when the first semester is not even over?” Jessica questioned
“That’s how I and my father do our thing. Stop bothering me, it’s a father and daughter talk so why are you poking your nose in?” she raised her voice and Jessica was startled
“There is no need to shout, I was only joking but I guess it went wrong” Jessica stuttered
“Are you sure nothing is wrong? You are so defensive today” Mark stated and she shook her head
“I was just pissed that she didn’t believe me” she said and patted Jessica’s shoulder to apologize
“I’m sorry”
“It’s okay” Jessica said with a shrug
“How about we hang out today? We are off the hook of test for a while” she suggested
“That would be nice!” Mark growled and they giggled before deciding where exactly to hang out.
****
Amber tendered the reports of the meeting to Tom and also explained some other things that were discussed in the meeting.
“Thank you for doing a wonderful job” he complimented her and she went back to her seat.
She was planning to clock out when Tom’s call came through
“We have somewhere to be today” he said and she almost cursed at him because she had already planned to go out of work as soon as possible.
They went to the same place where they went to the last time and she helped her carried some boxes he put in the car’s trunk inside the house.
“You can arrange them in the fridge” he said and disappeared through a door in the room leaving her to do what he ordered.
She opened the cartons one by one to find different snacks, fruits, drinks and lots of bottled water
“Is he planning to live here now? How come he’s buying this much?” she muttered as she filled the enter fridge with it.
She finished arranging them and waited for him to come out but seeing how he didn’t come out after a while, she decided to go to him instead. She walked in through the door she saw him walk through and found herself in a corner with two rooms there. She slowly walked to the right one and tried opening it when it opened by itself to reveal Tom coming out of the room and that made her startled a bit.
“I am done with the arrangement” she quickly said
“That’s good but let me make one thing clear, your work is only in the large room. On no account should you wander around or go into the room aimlessly” he warned and she nodded
They went back to the large room and he told her to have her seat while he also sat opposite to her.
“I know you must have been wondering why we signed a contract, what exactly I want from you and how long this will last. I will iron out all everything right now and you listening to me talk means that there is no turning back no matter what because you have become my own” he stated clearly
“From now henceforth, you will be revealed as the artist UMBRA” he revealed and she was confused about what he was saying
“Artist Umbra? What is that?” she asked raising her brows
“Umbra means shadow in Latin and that is my name in the painting world. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Painter Umbra, which is me sitting in front of you” he explained and she covered her mouth in shock before she started laughing
“I know that you are very boring but there is no need to try hard to make me laugh, I am already used to your cold atmosphere” she chuckled loudly but when she saw that he was not smiling and dead serious, the chuckle began to fade away slowly.
“Wait! Are you serious right now? You are the artist Umbra? The same Umbra? The anonymous artist? You are the one?” she asked with a serious face and tone this time around
“I know you do not believe me but that is not a problem because I wouldn’t too if I were in your shoes but I will prove it to you” he said and grabbed a large piece of white paper from the desk with a mini purse containing several pencils.
Before she could even grasp what was going on, he already sketched her face and showed it to her
“What the hell? You are really the one” she blurt out and he marched to the desk to bring out a big carton at the down slot of the shelf sitting there.
He brought out some watercolor palettes and started painting on the sketch while she waited patiently even though she was so curious about what the outcome would be. He was done after forty five minutes and he turned the paper to her so she could check it out.
She gasped in awe and stood up to find her way to the desk where she collected it to see it more closely.
“This is so beautiful, how can this be so perfect?” she marveled as she raised the paper to her face
“Do you believe now?” he asked with a hint of pride
“Of course! I have been a fan of Umbra for two years and I can recognize any of his work. This is really Umbra’s stroke” she gushed
“Should we resume our contract negotiations then?” he said standing up.
****
Amber finished the negotiation with Tom around eight in the evening and quickly flagged down the taxi to take her to Eddy’s house since that day was his birthday. She initially planned to leave the office and go straight to his house but since she had to fulfil her contract with Tom, she texted him that she will be late that night.
She wanted to use the elevator in the building but the wait was so long so she decided to just use the stairs instead since Eddy’s room was on the first floor. Just as she opened the door to the stairs, a lady in all black passed by her with a black cap on her head. She was scared for a bit but since the lady passed by in a flash, she just ignored it and went on her way.