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6.

During the first few weeks, Kate and I had compatibility issues. Stemming from we really weren't acquainted with each other's working style, yet. But I was patient, and my patience was rewarded. Every mistake she made, she corrected it promptly and without issue. She did not make the same mistake again. Within a month we were running like a well oiled machine.

Over the next few months, Kate and I were running like we had worked together for years, but then a rumor was circulating about a company audit that was heading our way. It was going around like a bad head cold. Everybody was terrified, about it, and from what I heard I should be, too (...you will be, ...you will be...). Audits were used for two main reasons, one to promote people to different floors, and the other was to demote people to different ones. Once a person got demoted it was nigh impossible to get promoted again. The audit was going to ran by the 'Devil in a Pinstripe Suit' himself, Mr. Spencer, and a mystery man.

The audit would take about seven weeks to fully complete. Three weeks are used to investigate every contract that was finalized and filed between this audit and the last. Another three weeks are spent having 'conversations' with the employees. A report is then, sent the Mr. Verlander, the CEO, for this input, that takes a couple of days to go through. Then rest if the time would be spent informing the employees on where they would be spent, based upon the audit.

The first three weeks, the auditors were hardly ever seen. Their time was spent in either the file/contract room, comparing the 'hard-copies' against the 'soft-copies'. Looking for any discrepancies or inconsistency between them. Or their time was spent in the conference room talking to the recipients of the contracts. During this time the employees are told not the file unless ordered/allowed by Mr. Spencer, himself.

The next three weeks, the auditors call everybody into the conference, two at a time, the employee like I am, and their assistant, like Kate. They would go into separate rooms. Then go over every contract that they have filed, with both. When or if, they find a mistake, they want an detail explanation about it, from both. Followed by, why it took so long to file those reports. Then last but not least, they go over why some of the recipients aren't happy about those contracts. The reason why they pull both in, is to compare each other's story to make sure they are they aren't lying.

The day of our 'discussion' with the auditors is here, Kate and I are in my 'shoebox' of an office;

"Boss?" She says worriedly. Dress stunningly as usual black blouse and a black skirt, that hugs her curves in all the right places.

"Yes, Katie?" As I looked up from my computer, which I'm playing a mean game of solitaire, because on the day of your 'discussion' you aren't allowed to do any work. But you are allowed to gather your 'evidence', and make sure it's sorted, before you head in.

"Are you worried, on how it's going to go?"

"No, are you?"

"Yes, boss, I'm terrified," she says almost trembling.

"Don't be, it's no point, every contract that we have done has been exceptional, all the customers seems to be happy, there is no point in worrying about what we can not control," I smile.

"Yes, but..."

"But, nothing," I give her a 'its going to be okay' look, "you know what, I bet you dinner that everything will be fine," I say as I start to stand up and walk around the desk.

"Hmm?" She blushing, not expecting that, "Dinner?"

"Yes, lets say," as I sit on the corner of my desk, "I'll take you out dinner if it goes well."

"And if it doesn't?"

"I'll make you dinner, still," I say smiling.

"Well, how can I refuse," she says blushing, while flashings that million dollar smile.

"You can't," I say, as the phone rings.

Kate shakes her head, still smiling, brushed her hair back around one of her ears and picks up the phone, and puts it to said ear, "Mr. Jones' office (shoebox) how can I help you? Okay, yes sir. We are on our way."

She looks up at me, with her soul piercing green eyes through her glasses, "I'm guessing that was it, wasn't?" I say.

"Yes sir, it was."

"I guess it's showtime."

As we stand up I place my hand on her shoulder, and give her a little smile, which then she returns. She places her hand upon mine, and then she squeezes it slightly, then she lays her cheek on the hands. As I start to remove my hand, she squeezes hard, she looks at me with her piercing eyes. Almost telling me not to remove it, and for me not to go. We stand there for about 10 seconds not saying anything, just looking at each other.

We separated and head towards the elevator. As we are standing and waiting on the elevator, some other people join us, too. When the doors open the crowd follows in, us included. We are standing at the back of the elevator waiting for our stop, Kate is standing really close to me and our hands touch. She looks over at me to see if I have notice or not. I glance at her and smile. She flashes a smile as our stop comes up, the 47th floor.

We get out of the elevator and heads towards our designated rooms, for myself the main conference room and for her a mini-conference room that is across from the one main. As we walk up towards our designated ones, we look at each other I smiled and mouth 'Good Luck' to her and she flashes her million dollar smile, nods her head and walks in, as I do.

7.

This is the first time I've been on this conference room, and I didn't realize how enormous it was, it feels like the length if a football field but it's actually only about 30 or so feet. There are a few chairs at the end of the table I the far side, and they are occupied by three very important people. Mr. John Spencer is sitting in one, the 'devil in a pinstripe suit' is very fitting for him today, as he is dressed in a black and white pinstripe suit, with a purple tie underneath. To Mr. Spencer's right a couple seats away, sat a middle age woman dressed conservatively, with a minute thingy machine in front of her, ready to write down every single word that is uttered, and to his left, right beside him was mystery man, he was a man in his 40s dressed in dark blue expensive looking suit, seemed like he controlled the room.

Wow, I feel so small, I stepped in the conference, and towards a chair, these chairs look more comfortable than mine l, that's in my shoebox, I think to myself as I stand beside it, "hello, sirs and ma'am."

"Hello, please state your whole name for the record," 'the devil in a pinstripe suit' says.

"...I'm Aden Thedore Jones," I say not at all confident, is that my name?

"And Mr. Jones," the mystery man speaks, "why are you here today?"

"I'm,was," I say, swallowing back my saliva, "invited in here for the audit, that is taking place."

"Just to sit the record straight," Mr. Spencer speaks, "this is a performance audit for the whole company."

"Yes, sir," starting to ease up now.

"Okay," the mystery man speaks, "first off, Aden," he speaks very softly but to the point, "do you like working here?"

"Yes sirs," I say, "actually I love working here, it's always fun and interesting, it never seems to be a down minute."

"What makes it interesting, I've heard that the customers can be a handful sometimes?" The mystery man asks.

"We'll, sir, they can be, but that what makes it interesting, yes, sometimes you do have a less than cooperative customer, but those are the ones that make this fun."

"Fun? What do you mean by that?" The mystery man says, with a some what puzzled look.

"For example," I start, "the second to last customer I had, two.... yea, two weeks ago was a little mom's and pop's store, they were looking for a new cleaning company to come in after they closed at night and clean. But the last company that had was stealing from them, so they came to us, Apex, looking for a reasonable cleaning service. I helped them get in contact with businesses that were looking to expand.

But the mom and pop's store didn't feel like they were trustworthy enough for them. So, I sat down with both groups and hammered out a deal, and if you look closely at the contract here," I pulled out the contract from my stack of papers that I brought in with me, " and here it covers the mom and pop's place against any theft that goes missing during the night at the hands of the cleaning business. But also there is a stipulation in the contract that says that the cleaning company would not be held liable if the mom and pops doesn't do inventory inside of 12 hours of the missing inventory."

The mystery man leaned back in his chair, put his under his chin, as to caress his chin, and he said, "I know, but I want to know why you decided on 12 hours, and not 8 or 24, why did you choose 12?"

Damn, that's a damn good question, I thought to myself, "Well, the mom and pop's store wanted 4 hours, and the cleaning company didn't want any, because they said that is was unfair and discriminatory, that if anything went missing, that they were going to be held computable for it.

So, when I sat them down to negotiate, I actually found that the cleaning company was willing to move or budge, but not at what the mom and pops was going let them. The cleaning company on the other hand was willing to move but not more than 18 hours. So, my assistant, Kate, talk to the cleaning company to see how far that they were willing to move. Without letting the mom and pops know how far they were willing to go, to be at a better at the negotiating table.

When I talked to the mom and pops, I realize that they were holding hard at 8 so I tried to convince them that 12 would be a better deal, especially since the cleaning company was one of the or not the lowest bidding one. When I found this out I got with my assistant the discuss where the cleaning company was at and the number of hours that they suggested. When they, separately decided on 12, I knew we had them.

Mr. Spencer was surprised when I told them about my assistant, "Your assistant, why didn't you bring in another employee to help you? Why your assistant of all people, this Kate?"

"Because, she could do this job better than other employees, and plus I trust her, I don't trust other people."

"Why don't you trust other people, Mr. Jones" chimed in the mystery man.

"For the exact reason that we are here today, this audit is a good example, if you trusted your employees to do their job, would you have as many of these audits?"

The mystery man was taken back by what I said, hell even the woman who was taking the minutes looked up when she got done typing. "What the hel....," Mr. Spencer started to say. But the mystery man put his hand up to stop him. Who is this guy, I thought to myself, he just stop Mr. Spencer, who is the Vice President in Marketing, in the middle of a sentence, like it was nothing. The mystery man, still leaning back in his chair, with his arms crossed stunned at what I said, and Mr. Spencer, who looks like a little kid who want his toy back, waiting for the Mystery man to speak or to let him speak.

"I think I've heard enough, Mr. Jones," I God am I getting fired or something?!, I say to myself, as the mystery man starts to say, "First thing do you know who you are talking to?"

"Um, no, sir," I choke back on my saliva like its water and I haven't had anything to drink in years. Mr. Spencer has the biggest smile on his face, just knowing what would happen next.

The mystery man gives an half smirk, "I like this kid, don't you, John?"

Mr. Spencer snaps his head around, "Um, sir," finally being able to speak, "Mr. Verlander, he just basically call your company untrustworthy!" As he says with a little squeal in his voice.

Wow, what, um, that's, um, that's Mr. Verlander, the CEO of Apex International!! Why did I speak my mind like that, what was I thinking!? I'm a freaking dumbass, stupid, stupid dumbass, I stutter to myself.

"No, John, his said the people, not the company is untrustworthy, and the be honest, I kind of agree with him. He's right, if we did trusted our people more we wouldn't have to do these godforsaken, waste of our time and capital, audits." Mr. Verlander says.

I just sit back in chair, relieved, at what Mr. Verlander said and a little surprised, too. I was expecting something different, I really didn't even mean to say what I did, actually. The 'conversation' went on like this for another hour and half, it felt like six hours. During this time, Mr. Spencer has begun to despise me, and while Mr. Verlander has grown to, more or less, like me, or at least not show the hate that Mr. Spencer was showing.

At the end of the 'conversation', Mr. Verlander and Mr. Spencer were talking, in private, and I was just sitting there, not sure what to do. I couldn't hear what the were saying, but from what it looked like Mr. Verlander was giving the business to Mr. Spencer. Mr. Spencer looked like a sad puppy, in other words he did not agree with Mr. Verlander. "Well, Mr. Jones," Mr. Verlander started to say, while extending his hand, as for a shake, "have a great day, and you'll be hearing from us shortly."

What does that mean, thinking to myself, while I reach out to shake his hand, "Thank you, Mr. Verlander, and Mr. Spencer," I reach out towards Mr. Spencer who begrudgingly, shakes my hand.

8.

After I leave the conference room I head down towards the elevator, and sitting in a chair next to it is Kate. She's sitting crosslegged, and she's staring intently at her cellphone, and her glasses have fallen down her nose. I've made my way towards her, and she doesn't realize that it's me, so she just keeps looking at her cellphone, "We'll, Ms. Martinez," I start, as she looks at me with a non purposeful, and yet a seductive look, "ah, are you ready to call it a day?" I say, as put my hands in my pockets.

"I guess, I'm just sitting here waiting for my boss," she flashes that million dollar smile.

"Well, let me know when he gets here," I smile as I sit down next to her, as we wait for the elevator," I hear he's a hard-ass."

"You have no idea," she says with a seductive smile.

"Actually, I've heard he's an asshole," I say stretching, "he makes you work long, strenuous, non stop hours. Doesn't give enough time off to enjoy yourself, am I right?"

"No," she hits me on my shoulder, "he's, actually, nothing like that." As she brushes her hair back away from her face.

"Ow," I yelp sarcastically, and we start to laugh, as the elevator dings, the doors open up.

"So, boss," she says, as we get up and head into the, now, open elevator, "how do it go?"

"I think fairly well," I says as I follow her in, "but, honestly, Mr. Spencer hates me now."

Her face changes to worried look, "that's not good..."

She starts, but interrupt her before she can finish, "But was fantastic, the mystery man, who everybody was terrified about, likes me."

"Why does that matter, Aden?" Still looking worried, she chimes in.

"Because of who the mystery man is," I say as I look directly into her piercing eyes, while sticking my hands in my pockets, "Mr. Verlander."

"Do you mean," she's stunned, "The Mr. Verlander was the mystery man? The Verlander that's the CEO of Apex International?

"Yes!" I replied. I start to replay the conversation about the mom and pops and the cleaning service. She seems to relax. Then I tell her about the 'trust conversation' the I had with Mr. Spencer and Mr. Verlander, when I tell her this she blushes heavily.

We stay silent for about 30 seconds, during this I look up at the floor number to see where we are, then she speaks, "Is, what you said, true?"

"Is what, true?" Looking down at her.

"That you trust me, more than, any other employee?"

"Yes, absolutely," looking directly into her green eyes, "you have given me no reason, not to trust you."

She grabs my arm, wraps herself around it, "That's so sweet, Aden," she looks beet red now, "thank you so much for that." As she lays her head on my shoulder, as we make our way down to the bottom floor.