The morning sun was already out but it felt refreshingly warm instead of itchy as usual. Outside the hotel building, she stood by the wall, patiently hoping that one of the selected students for the contest would show up and give her directions to the conference hall where the talk seminar was to take place.She was grateful that she had picked up her glasses just before she walked out of the hotel room because now, the rays from the sun was already beating down on her forehead.Her phone rang and when she checked who was calling, it was Richard.“Hello?” She greeted.“Hey. Elise.” Richard said.“Are you at the conference hall yet? Where’s venue?”“Yes. I’m there right now. I called to find out whether you will be joining us over here. The venue is 133th Downing. It’s a large cone shaped building. It’s quite hard to miss”“Alright, then.” Elise said. She was about to hang up when Richard asked her to use an Uber down to the location so she wouldn’t miss her way or waste time on the ro

Richard decided to get a bottle of water from one of the vendors that sold outside the hall. After he had just paid for the water, his phone rang, startling him a bit. He swiped across the screen of the phone and saw Niko’s caller ID.“Hello, Nik” He called into the phone, “Are you not inside the hall?”Niko was breathing heavily and he sounded very strained, “Richard, something just came up”Richard became alarmed and a cold wave of panic swept through his body. “What?” He yelled.“It is the company. I just received a bad call” His voice trailed off“Talk to me, Niko!” Richard said in a loud voice “What happened to the company?” His mind began to cook up possible scenarios that could have occurred in his company and he chose to ignore them, urging Niko to speak up, “What is going on?”“I don’t know. My assistant at the office, Kim, called me some minutes ago, crying and she said that I should fly back to the country as soon as I could before situations got out of control” Niko explai

The early evening rain had just ended when Richard arrived at the restaurant. The streets were wet and only a few people moved around with umbrellas because there was a light drizzle that still persistedThere was also traffic on the road as most office workers were now returning. Noise of conflicting car horns pierced through the night, mingling with the shouts and loud voices of the people on the street. Almost everyone seemed to be hurrying up to somewhere.The restaurant that Richard had dropped at had a set of glass revolving doors that opened up on its own. While staring at his wristwatch for the time, he walked through the revolving door and was hit by the cold air of the restaurant. Outside the restaurant was cold but he interior we almost at freezing temperature because the air conditioning units inside had all been switched on.He scanned the busy restaurant with his eyes and saw Maria. She was seated with crossed legs at a table in the middle of the restaurant. There was a

The following morning, Richard had woken up quite early to call Niko. It had been almost 24 hours since he last heard from Niko and he kept wondering what could have happened to prevent Niko from reaching out to him to tell him what was going on at the company. He dialed Niko’s number several times but it wasn’t reachable.At this point, he was running out of patience and he desperately needed a reassurance that everything was alright. To do away with the uneasiness he felt about not getting any information from Niko, he decided to take a stroll around the hotel.Ever since he had been lodged in the hotel some days earlier, he had not payed attention to his surroundings because he was constantly in a haste whenever he got out. This time, he strolled out of the hotel premises, stopping at the windows of a see through gift shop to admire the expensive Jewelry that were kept on the shelves.There were several grades of jewelry on the shelves and he could recognize a few. The years he spe

As he stood at the busy road, he realized how much time had past. It was almost 5pm and Richard’s ached with weary. He needed a cold shower, a warm and tasty plate of food and a long sleep. But, he had already made up his mind to find out, directly from Niko, the reason that he was called up out of the blues at the competition.He decided to pick a cab to his old apartment which was on the other side of town. While in the cab, he texted Niko, asking him to come over to his place. Richard knew how sensitive the role of the CEO of the company was and he always tried as much as possible to avoid being seen with Niko in public. He wasn’t ready for people to start drawing lines of connection between him and Niko. He did not want people to figure out that he had something to do with the director of the multinational company.Richard arrived home with an anxious mind. His staff at the apartment greeted him but he only threw a small nod at them. He strode towards his room as swiftly as he co