~Chapter 50~
"Ms. Maxwell?" I whispered out with panic still crippling all of my senses. Tentatively, I placed the stick against the door.
She looked up hearing that before taking a sip of red wine from a now half filled glass. "Valerie," she said and for some reason her tone was so odd. So unlike her. "I can call you that, right? I mean since I am back to being your boss and all." She wriggled her fingers in a wave.
"What are you… doing here?" I asked, ignoring her question. I gulped again because there was a tension forming in my throat. "I-I mean…" I don't know what I wanted to say so I clamped my mouth shut.
"It's okay." She smiled widely, making her hollow cheeks poke out weirdly. I could tell why she didn't smile so often. "Have a seat, please. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
The fact that she knew I was uncomfortable was even more uncanny. The worst thing was that this time, she was the one to disregard my question.
"Come on, sit down," she insisted, holding out her hand toward the couch in front of her. I rounded the couch and sat down on it as if this whole place was wired with a bomb. "What are you doing here, Ms. Maxwell?" I repeated, this time with a more composed voice.
If the first time a person ignores your question, you assume that they didn't hear you but if it's repeated then they're either deaf or they prefer to not hear you. In Ms. Maxwell's case, I could tell that it was the latter one. "You want some?" She held out the bottle of wine for me.
I narrowed my eyes at her suspicious actions and it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to know that something was off about her.
She must have taken note of my expression because her grin widened and I sank back further in my couch. "I hope you don't mind me drinking your wine. I was so worn out that I needed something - something real. But when I opened your cabinet, it was almost empty and this bottle seemed," she paused, smacking her lips together. "It seemed appetizing."
"You still didn't answer my question." Now my fear lines were beginning to grow at a quicker pace. Her nonchalance about entering my apartment without my permission was concerning.
"You know what, Valer-" She stopped speaking when we both heard the sound of my main door closing.
For a whole second, my brain was blank but then it hit me that it was Skye and I was beyond gratified to hear his voice as well. That's when I also noticed that Ms. Maxwell was expecting him too. I felt a chill run down my spine and truth be said, it was kind of creepy. "I am sorry I am late but I-"
I turned around in my seat to see Skye standing at the doorway, looking at Ms. Maxwell with confusion. "Katherine?"
She waved at him with that same smile plastered on her face.
If Skye was taken aback then he didn't show it because his eyes quickly fell on me. "Is this some sort of your surprise?" He asked me with that same confusion but there was a small smile on his lips.
I thought the apprehension was showing on my face but apparently he didn't seem to notice it. I didn't reply to him and glanced over at Ms. Maxwell. She seemed drunk and somewhat sad with an incessant smile playing on her usually tight features. A phoney smile to hide her true intentions, maybe?
"What's going on?" I think the lack of answer was making Skye suspicious too now.
"Hi, Skye. Sit down," Ms. Maxwell finally spoke but there was a hint of command in her scratchy voice.
As if dazed, he sat down beside me. One glance at both Ms. Maxwell and I each, Skye leaned back on the couch. "Are you guys ganging up on me? To trick…" He trailed off as soon as his eyes met my fearful ones.
"Finally, he stopped." Ms. Maxwell rolled her eyes before taking a huge gulp of wine, this time directly from the bottle. "So as I was saying, Valerie, if you're wondering as to how I got inside your apartment then it was quite easy. You're really predictable with your "key under a flower pot" thing going on for you. Worked well for me though." She shrugged, her beady eyes landing on Skye.
Maybe he must have understood that something was wrong with her because he glared at her in a reproaching way. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked her with a no-nonsense tone.
She didn't flinch as she put down the bottle back on the coffee table, resuming her strict posture with the way she crossed her arms and legs. Although this time, instead of a blank face, she was smiling. There was something weird about it. It wasn't evil or sinister but something else.
My hands were shaking so I put them under my thighs. I was puzzled because she sure didn't come here to break into my house just to drink some wine and smile idiotically before saying that, 'voila, I broke into your house. Hence proved: I can do anything.'
"What am I doing here? And what is the meaning of this? Well both of these questions have the same answer. My initial intention was to just approach Valerie to warn her about some stuff. But then when I saw you guys coming in together through the window here, I was like why not confront you both. After all, you need to hear this too, Skye," she spoke so calmly as if we were discussing work and business.
Nothing jolted me as much as her words at that moment did. Warn me about what? I saw Skye getting tense from the corner of my eye.
"I'll let you in on a secret," she whispered like she was telling us about some covert issue. I was also surprised that she was somewhat holding her wine well too. Her crazy behavior was completely out of her sobriety. "All of this scandal started because of me."
As soon as I heard that, my whole world shattered around me. My blood ran cold and I stared at her with wide eyes and clenched jaw. "What do you… what do you mean by that?"
"What I mean is that Miller didn't suddenly come to know about you guys out of the blue. I led him there. I sent him those pictures. He's too proud a bastard to admit that someone helped him. He got the idea to approach everyone through ARA because of me, because that's how I had approached him. However, he still doesn't know who tipped him off." She examined her nails as if she did not just disclose the entire thing about her own doing. "Stupid bastard even had the audacity to threaten me but, oh well, who cares now, right?"
I gasped out loud, personally feeling offended. The person who I had looked up to all this time, who made me want to be the best version of myself, who never ceased to call me out whenever I was wrong, was actually a… a poison coated beneath a fragrant scent. I was hurt and I was speechless.
"Before you go on hating me, I just wanna say this that I didn't want to do this but sometimes, desperation puts its dirty claws so deep within you to slash you till you burn. My desperation, my ego, my pride cannot just let me live with it," she explained to us, her eyes losing all the fake chirpiness as sadness took over them.
I couldn't tell if I wanted to feel angry at her or sad so I closed my eyes to relieve myself from all the conflicted emotions before opening them again.
"Cannot let you live with what?" Skye gritted, enunciating each word with dripping venom.
Ms. Maxwell snorted and looked away. For the first time I could see her blinking her eyes furiously as she controlled her tears. "Live with the fact that I am not going to be promoted even when I reach the end of my life! Why? Because I am "very good at my current position"! I am not even given a single chance!" She exclaimed, losing her cool.
The Katherine Maxwell in front of me today was showing all the colors of her rainbow. I wasn't even sure if it was the wine taking a toll on her or not. "What are you saying, Ms. Maxwell?"
She was quiet for a whole minute before she decided to speak again. "I did all of this to get Miller out because he's always been so arrogant toward almost everyone. Not only that but he's also hated my guts since the start. I needed someone out so Miller was it because the feeling's mutual. He's an undeserving, bratty old man who always abused his powers.
"It was a win-win for me. I needed him out and wanted a place on the BOD panel but alas, here we are. I am still the department head. Right back where I had started. I had expected to get the position to be the new Board member but no! Jonathan had to go ahead and take that away from me. So basically, I did all of this for nothing." Her eyes were wild now and her frustration was seeping through her desire driven words.
"You could have told me, Kathy…" Skye mumbled, feeling lost.
This made her laugh maniacally and I watched her with a fearful expression. "Told you? Oh, yeah. You know, I remember giving so many signs to your dad about promoting me but you know what he would say? He would be like, "No, Kathy, the ad department needs you. You're the only one who has the potential". It made me wonder that just because you need your company soaring, you have me locked up at one place. You don't even let the others have that chance.
"But then he retired." She scoffed indignantly. "And I thought that you were different, Skye! You say that I could have told you but I did! Innumerable times! But what could you have done? You didn't even know how to hold your own position, let alone give me a seat at the board panel. I was livid and took the matters in my own hands just to land back to square one."
I just sat there, too stumped to say anything and too battered to think anything. These past few weeks were so hard to believe but tonight topped it all. Tonight I felt like I didn't even know anything.
"I am not saying that I don't love making advertisements but the thing is I've stopped making them for a long time now anyway. I do nothing but motivate and approve stuff but even then my approval isn't even the final go. So why bother when I can be a BOD and still accept and decline. In fact, the shade of my umbrella will be for the other departments too. I am… I am fed up of feeling important yet not at the same time." This time she didn't hold back as a small tear rolled down her cheek.
Skye, however, didn't seem to empathize with her as he glared at her with a fiery countenance. "So why are you telling this now? To get some pity? Tell me, is that it?"
Ms. Maxwell grinned all of a sudden and I was glad to not be under her radar. At least for now. "Pity is the last thing I want. I am here to warn Valerie. To tell her how they'll use her, crush her but not even give much credits." She turned to stare at me.
I guess I spoke too soon because the entire reason for her conversation was to "warn me" as she nicely put it. "That's not true," I finally whispered but it was a weak one since my throat was all parched and scratchy.
"Believe whatever you want but that's reality. They'll for sure pat you on your back for being so good and productive but remember their words will also mean that you're perfect where you are. They won't even care to give you a better position in the company for your hard work. That's what a dream company does, they take advantage of you because you will never resign even if you feel like it," she said and from the looks of it, it seemed like she believed everything she was saying.
"That's not true. You're a content maker, what's there for people like you and me after being a Board member?" My question was rhetorical but it still needed an answer.
Her visage didn't waver. "Then I'll have you know that there are tons of content creators out there in the world. If someone's better than you, your worth equals to almost nothing. And competition doesn't necessarily bring you up. You either win or lose and no one aims for the latter," she argued back.
I silently agreed with her words but my perspective of looking at them was different. "But why go for the BOD position?"
"Because I have done and contributed so much for ZAE Inc.! Of course I want that!" She shouted with transparent exasperation.
"Katherine… my mom always tells me that the one who does something good won't count it or boast about it while the one who's counting and boasting has done nothing good," Skye butted in with a blank face.
"Whatever, Skye. I don't care because I am resigning anyway." She smiled proudly.
"What? Why?" I asked without thinking but sank back the moment I felt two pairs of eyes on me.
No matter her dark thoughts and her wrongdoings, she's always been supportive of my work even though she framed everything. Even though it was her intention to fire me. What's worse was that I felt guilty for wanting her to resume her position of being the head of the advertising department.
"I-I mean why even accept to come back when you wanted to resign in the first place?" I voiced out meekly.
"Because I wanna do the same thing Jonathan did to me. I wanna crush his hopes. I'll have a heyday when he sees my resignation letter. That will give me the satisfaction I need. Have a nice day finding another "head"." She giggled, sounding almost tipsy. "Didn't John transfer Sasha Brown back to the marketing department because he wanted to put me back? Well, good now because my mission is over."
My lips turned down hearing her words because her mean attitude was making me dislike her every passing second. She might think that she was not wrong but her approach definitely was. "Don't you… don't you feel guilty for doing this?"
Standing up, she straightened out the creases on her pencil skirt, taking her sweet time to answer. "Guilty? And me? Why would I feel guilty? In fact it should be John and Skye who should feel guilty." With that said, she began heading toward the door.
I stood up abruptly and stopped in front of her with a scowl. I saw Skye getting up as well from my peripheral vision. "Where do you think you're going? You have-"
"Let her go, Val. I don't think she needs any sort of punishment. All she needs right now is to reflect on her wrongdoings," Skye said, looking down and just as much hurt as I was. Though his sadness seemed on a more personal level. "I am sorry that you felt that way, Kathy."
Ms. Maxwell wasn't in the least bit affected as she moved past me. Just as she reached the door of my living room, she looked over her shoulder at me. "I've always liked you, Valerie so I thought it was my responsibility to warn you but the rest is up to you. Oh, and your instincts about me being behind all of this was right but in a wrong context. Miller isn't saintly at all."
Before I could even process her words, she was out of my door and soon enough, out of my apartment too.
It was absolutely silent after that and I stared into space, feeling empty. I didn't even have the energy to look at Skye because I could tell that he was devastated to see this side of Ms. Maxwell.
"Valerie…" Skye called out to me, his voice soft.
I turned to him to see him giving me a small smile. Walking up to him, I ran my hands through his hair lovingly to make him feel better. "Are you okay?"
"I'll get over it. Whatever she did was her choice. Neither my dad, you or I are to be blamed for that. Her reasons don't excuse her actions but I know someday she'll realize that," he assured me soothingly.
I nodded my head because he was right. I hugged him and he wounded his arms around my waist instantly. Even if I was feeling sad, I was glad for the fact that I could alway count on Skye. I knew that I would always have him by my side and it was enough to brighten me up. It was enough to make me smile widely.