"You couldn't just stay off work one more day, could you?” Ryan commented.
I sent someone to fetch Ryan so he could give me the summary of what had happened at the company while I was in London.
"Haven't I stayed away for too long already?" I ask, trying to flash a smile at my friend.
"Have you? It hasn’t been a week. I was thinking that you would stay a bit longer and enjoy the city and the scenery. After all you weren't alone on the trip."
The wink that followed the statement shed some light on what he was trying to imply. I was going to avoid the subject as much as I can.
"The trip went well Ryan, it was a business trip, not a vacation on a cruise." Ryan rolled his eyes in disappointment.
"You're no fun at all." I chuckled lightly. I had heard worse.
"I need you to update me please. How has it been around here? Any major deals rolled in?" I asked hoping to bury my thoughts in work as soon as possible.
"Oh well, it's the weekend already. As expected, the UNIQUE project has gotten us a lot more calls in the past days. I mean the Ashley's project." Ryan emphasized to make sure that Ashley was an asset I should not let go of.
"As expected, this one is a win for the company. We should anticipate a rise in profits soon as well." Ryan nodded then asked the question he had been dying to ask all along.
"So what happened between you and Ashley over there? And where's Ashley? Didn't she return with you?" I casted a look at Ryan with his many questions and obvious assumptions.
"I do not know what you want to hear, but the important thing is that we sealed the deal and Ashley is back home. I gave her the rest of the week off. She should be back in the office on Monday unless she decides otherwise."
I said the last part with a low tone and a level of uncertainty and I could tell that Ryan had noticed I was keeping something from him. A part of me is scared that Ashley might choose to resign especially when her idea had proven very valuable to the company.
"Unless she decides otherwise? Why would she even do that? She would want to stay with the company knowing that she's likely to receive a promotion soon."
I had been distracted by my thoughts so much that my eyes weren't even on Ryan anymore. However, his last statement had called me back to the present.
"Promotion? No one said anything about Ashely getting a promotion." I said looking very stern.
"But why not? The girl is really smart and hardworking. Her input already got us all these good deals coming to the company. She certainly deserves a promotion."
"A raise, maybe. But certainly not a promotion. She's far too ambitious and audacious, I cannot trust her just yet." Ryan twists his mouth showing that he disagrees with what I am saying.
It does not matter though. I am not promoting Ashley. I wasn't about to reward her for insulting and slapping me back at the hotel.
"I know you don’t agree with me, but you won't get me to change my mind on this. I would rather discuss hosting a party to celebrate our latest wins. Since it's a weekend already, we could just get it done over this weekend. Tomorrow night, perhaps?" Ryan heaved a sigh and lights up a bit.
"Alright. I'll tell Samantha to send you a budget as soon as possible."
"Please remind her to get it done now."
"Yes, boss." Ryan echoes. I smirked mischievously.
"Get out of here."
Ryan laughed as he got up to leave the office. I had forgotten to tell him to announce the party to everyone else before they went home for the day. I will just have to call one of my assistants to do that.
Ashley
I opened my eyes a few hours later and looked around the room. Justin was obviously not yet back since he would have woken me up the moment he came back.
I reached out for my phone beside me and tapped the power button to bring light to the screen. It was only 3 pm. Time seemed to be moving so slow today. I thought it should be evening by now. I stretched on the bed for a while, yawning as well. I was hungry. I had just then remembered that I had not eaten anything since this morning.
I lifted myself from the bed and sit up for a while, then I gently lift myself onto the floor and slide my feet into my flip-flops. I opened the door and walked down the stairs, and headed towards the kitchen. I thought I should make dinner for Justin and myself. For me, it was going to be both dinner and lunch.
I opened the refrigerator in hopes that everything I need to make a meal is there.