The Royal Contract

Chapter 36 - A Contract

"Ahhh!" She held onto her head as she tried to stop it from floating back into blank space. That was the result of her lack of sleep after tossing and turning on her bed last night. It was almost dawn when sleep finally claimed her.

She slowly walked to her adjoining bathroom to take a bath. She needed to be wide awake if she was going to be able to make it through the day. And this was not the day to slack off. She would require all her wits to finish her job.

"Are you ok?" Jacky asked as soon as she stepped out of her room, looking like a truck just ran her over. Her hair was still slightly wet as it flowed at her back, her makeup not done, and she was still in her bathroom robe.

Usually, she was already awake before the crack of dawn, either jogging outside or on a treadmill. Dressed in her business attire and already had her coffee by the time Jacky hit the shower. So, definitely, she was not ok.

"Nothing a hot strong coffee could not fix." She went straight for the coffee maker and poured a full cup.

Jacky just raised her brows at her, confused at her unusual behavior. But everybody was entitled to a one-off day, so she just shrugged her shoulders at her friend's lack of enthusiasm. "Shall I wait for you?"

On a normal day, it was her who mostly wait for Jacky to get ready. Sometimes even leaving her friend to go ahead because she wanted to have a good head start with her paper works before she dealt with a client.

She believed good work ethics usually got the work done. As the saying went, an early bird catches the worm. She hated people who loved to procrastinate. To her, it is a complete waste of time.

"No, you go ahead and make sure to arrange all my schedules today. I might be late by thirty minutes." She assumed based on the way her body was moving in slow motion.

"Ok. I will just see you then." Jacky moved to the door of their apartment with her things, while she went back to her room to get ready for work.

Walking into her office, she was surrounded by several boxes, which she would assume were the other files they needed to review for her case. To make matter worse, she found herself staring at the big bow with a big card attached to the box placed on her table.

She took the card out and in bold letters, it said: "ENJOY." She recognized Evan's handwriting and the welcome gift he just gave her. She could not help but smile at the tons of work she had to do. She certainly loved the challenge in front of her.

"That just came for you this morning. And this too." Jacky walked in just a few minutes behind her, carrying another bouquet of red roses.

"What's with the flowers?" She recognized the boxes and the irony of the bow and card, but the flowers did not add up and were not funny at all.

"It's the same sender as before," Jacky commented, meaning she already had seen the card. Trust her friend for being discreet. "I need your answer soon. It said." As Jacky held the card to her. "Shall I put it straight to the trash or on your table?" She teased her.

"Just put it on the table." She had to put a stop to this madness. She thought as she stared at the flowers on her table.

Like before, she had a clear idea of where those flowers came from. And the answer to his question was still a big no.

"Do you know who is sending you these flowers?" Jacky interrogated her as she sat on the chair in front of her desk. "Do you think you have a stalker? I think we should report this to the police." Jacky suddenly looked concerned.

She watched too many movies where the stalkers always ended up being violent and hurting the people they were stalking.

"Don't worry about that. I'll handle it." She informed her friend, not wanting her to panic and do something stupid as going to the police. She just needed to find a way to make him stop.

Jacky was about to let the matter dropped when she noticed her friend acting very strange. It was as if she was guilty of doing something behind her back.

"Wait, there is something fishy in here. There is something you are not telling me." Jacky could sense this thing. "You know who is sending you these flowers and you're not telling me. Why?"

This was what she was avoiding, a confrontation with Jacky. The last thing she wanted to do was talked about the man that was messing up her life at the moment. She should not be losing sleep because of him.

"Ok. Can we talk about this later?" She asked Jacky, not committing to anything about her secrets.

"Dani, finally you're here." Someone at the door interrupted them.

Just in time, Andrew walked into the room looking for her. It was perfect timing because it gave her time to compose herself and an excuse to dismiss Jacky in the meantime.

Jacky looked at her with a promise that their talk was not yet over. She would extract the truth from her whether she liked it or not.

"Jacky can you close the door on your way out." She instructed, glad for the distraction.

For now, her priority was the case in front of her. For almost half an hour they discussed the case and what they would be looking for from the thousands of files in those boxes. They decided to divide the work into several associates who would be helping them with the case. That should expedite the process.

When Andrew left her office with the boxes, she was finally left alone to ponder on the other matters on her hands. She looked again at the flowers and the card. She took the card and reread its content, remembering the envelope he left yesterday.

She took the envelope out of the drawer where she placed it. Staring at it, she contemplated if she should even consider checking it out. However, curiosity won and she opened the file. Inside it, she found a contract.