The next morning, Jonathan was dressed in casual clothes since he wasn't going to the Blue Net, rather, he was going to resume as a janitor in the shopping mall. Solomon had ensured that everything he needed was put in place and also informed the head of the janitor's. When he arrived, with the aid of the description Solomon had given to him, Jonathan was able to locate the store. “Good morning, I'm supposed to resume today.” He was speaking to the lady who was in charge of the store house. In front of her was a laptop which she was scrolling through as she sipped from her cup of coffee. When she didn't respond to Jonathan's words, he repeated himself a few more times until she slammed her fist against the table, glaring angrily at him. “Can't you see I’m busy?” She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. “I'm sorry ma’am.” He quickly apologized as he stepped backwards with his head bowed. Since Solomon was the one who had put a word for him, he wasn't expecting her re
Thinking it was all over, Jonathan exhaled in relief, wiping off the beads of perspiration that had gathered on his forehead. “That was close.” He muttered. Just when he was about to resume work, Divah appeared in front of him. “Sir.” She called, crossing her hands on her chest as her face contorted with a look of surprise and confusion. When she saw him the first time, she didn't believe her eyes until she got a closer look of him, strengthening her conviction. “I received an email this morning saying you would be unavailable for a month since you have a business class to be part of.” She reeled, the confusion on her face still etched on it. “It's not what you think.” Jonathan said, racking his brain on the perfect tale to say to her but his head was blank. He couldn't tell her his plans and not only that he didn't want anyone to know what he was up to. Rubbing his nape, he chuckled a bit as he tried to steal away but she was quick to pull him back. “I'm sorry but you can't l
“What is it?” She asked, locking eyes with him. “It seems you are acquainted with Vina Leighton.” “Yeah! We are co staff and mutual friends.” “Whatever it is but please, keep my identity hidden from her.” He said, falling back on his seat while she stared at him like she just saw a ghost.“How long are you going to keep up with this new identity of yours?” “Until I catch the perp.” “Perp?” She wanted him to reveal more but he wasn't going to fall for her scheme. Holding her hand, he helped her up and then swirled her in the direction of the exit, “Go home, you had a long day.” Divah didn't budge and so in anger, he grabbed his cup of coffee off the table and then stormed out with her trailing after him. He was about to flag down a taxi when Pearl walked up to him with a broad smile on her lips. “Jonathan Gray.” She called, grinning from side to side. “If you don't mind, I would love to speak to you.” She said and just then Divah who had been running after him, arrived, doubl
Whistling a nursery rhyme, Jonathan pushed his janitor’s cart into Karl's office for his usual morning routine. Today was two weeks since he began to work as a janitor. “Good morning sir.” He greeted in a cheerful manner and then commenced work, making sure to take note of everything his eyes could fall on. For the past two weeks, he had been trying to come up with a contingent plan to send Vina and Karl to their heels but he couldn't come up with any. Smacking his lips, he continued his job only to stop whistling when the telephone on his table began to buzz. “You're hardworking.” Karl said, using his fingers to comb through his beards. He had ended the call purposely because he couldn't afford to take it in Jonathan's presence. “I love putting in my best in everything I do.” Jonathan replied with a bright smile which he nodded to. “Since you took over my office, there hasn't been a speck of dust.” Titling his head to the side with his chin resting on his clasped hand, he said
“Is anything the problem? It seems you have just seen a ghost.” Raymond said, nudging Jonathan side. He had rejoined them but hadn't contributed to their conversation as he kept staring into space. “Nothing! I’m good.” He replied, flashing him a coy smile. “If you say so.” He shrugged, grabbing the handle of his cart in readiness to return to his place of duty. “See you after work hours.” A few other janitors joined Raymond while the rest kept discussing. Jonathan tried all he could to forget about the text he had received from the anonymous sender but it was to no avail. The happy talks and laughter from the janitors who were on break was not enough to steer his mind from the text. For more than half an hour, he zoned out completely, racking his head as he tried to come up with an identity for the sender. “Raiden!” He muttered only to shake his head sideways. He believed Raiden wasn't the one. If indeed he wanted to threaten him this way, he would have done that physically l
Jonathan had just finished taking out the ashtray on Karl's table when he walked in with another stub of cigarette in between his lips. “Good morning sir.” Jonathan hailed as he prepared to push his cart away since he had finished cleaning for the day. Karl didn't only ignore him, he threw the remaining stub of cigarette on the floor and as if that was not enough, used the sole of his shoe to crush it. Enraged by this singular act, Jonathan grabbed the handle of his cart more tightly. So as not to explode in anger, he decided to act like he didn't witness it but Karl wasn't going to let him be. “Aren't you going to clean up the ash from the floor?” He barked, glaring at Jonathan's back. With a forced smile, Jonathan returned his gaze to him, “Pardon!” He said, acting like he had no idea about what was going on. “The ash, you need to clean it.” He said, pointing at the floor which he had smeared with the black substance. Jonathan was about to ask him to clean up the mess himself
First, it was Solomon who wore a stoic expression and then Jonathan whose face was still reddened from the impact of the slap. “You did this?” Solomon asked Vina who was darting her eyes around like she had been caught in an unholy act. “I deserve a response, don't you think?” He leaned over her table, his whole gaze on her as she trembled. “Sir, I didn't intend to hit him but I couldn't hold back when he wanted to hit me. We had a little issue which resulted in an exchange of words, he tried to hit me first but I countered it.” Pointing at Karl, she said, “Thanks for his timely intervention, otherwise, I would have been badly beaten.” She rapped. “Jonathan!” Solomon yelled, glaring at him while he had his head buried to the ground. With her hand folded in front of her, Pearl did a quick bow and then scurried out, followed by Jonathan who had been sent out by Solomon. Jonathan was heading towards the janitor's room when Pearl grabbed his arm, pulling him to a corner. When she
As usual, the meeting didn't end on a good note as Raiden and Karlyx were furious with Gray’s decision of involving Jonathan on a task Karlyx had been assigned to. Pulling himself up, Raiden took his position in the middle of the living room with his gaze fixated on Gray who was unperturbed.“Father! This is unfair.” He howled like a wolf in distress. “What is unfair? I should be the one saying that to you considering the fact that you two wasted three whole years on a single project.” “But Jonathan hasn't even completed the first project you assigned to him, what makes you think that he is better than us.”“His intellect and he had proved beyond every reasonable doubt that he will be able handle the issue at the mall.” Gray said in defense, hitting his palm against the couch. Shutting his eyes even more tightly, Jonathan had his lips pressed more tightly against each other as anger coursed through him. He believed Gray was fully aware of what he was doing and the impact it was h
The gasps and side comments were getting intense and Precious wasn't helping matters as she was mute and also wore a calm expression. “Are you indeed the culprit?” Karlyx asked. He was standing by her side at the moment. “Nope! I want to use the bathroom.” Relieved, Karlyx exhaled as he pushed his head backwards. Crossing his hands, he informed them that she wasn't the culprit and once again there was murmuring in the hall as everyone wanted to speak at the same time. Vina kept sipping from her bottle while Karl clenched and unclenched his fists as his heart rammed against his chest. Solomon did nothing to end the suspense, rather he took the chair next to Jonathan and then plopped on it. With his hands crossed on the table, he asked, “What should I do next?”“We should allow them to confess as planned.” He muttered. Smirking, Solomon leaned in and with a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “You have no idea who you are dealing with.” “They aren't going to say a word as the
Getting to the boardroom, it was already packed to the brim with the staff who were itching to find out what the meeting was all about. Seated on the elevated platform were a handful of board of directors, shareholders and then the managerial team of the mall. Vina kept scrolling through her iPad, trying to take her mind off the handsome young man she had encountered earlier. Deep down, she felt a connection like they had known each other before now but the issue was, she couldn't place the connection. He kept looking strange to her when in the real sense he was familiar. Using the butt of her pencil to scratch the bridge of her nostrils, she raised her head just in time to see Pearl pulling out a seat for him on the table she sat on too. Since she was sitting next to Karl, she held his arm, urging him to look in their direction which he did. “That should be Jonathan Gray.” He mumbled as he peered at them. “No way! What is going on here?” He gulped. It seemed like his senses ha
Jonathan and Pearl exchanged glances before returning their gazes to Vina who was still fuming in anger. Stepping forward, Pearl cooed, “You should get a grip of yourself dear.” She went further to say, “No one here is a petty thief and moreover, you didn't walk past with your car key, you should look around more carefully.” Despite her mild tone, Vina was still furious and wanted to hit her but Jonathan stepped in, suspending her hand mid air. “You shouldn't be acting out of board young lady.” He snapped. “Like she said, no one is a petty thief and you shouldn't go around trying to defame someone.” He pushed her aside, and at once an angry Vina raised her head. For a moment, she kept staring at Jon as anger raked through her. Just when he thought she had finally recognized the man in front of her, he exhaled. “If I don't get to find my keys, both of you will remain in the holding cell until I do.” She huffed and then stormed away in fury. Frustrated, Pearl tossed her head aside
Armed with evidence which was enough to put an end to Vina Leighton and Karl Smith's streak, Jonathan called for a general meeting of all staff in the mall. From the lowly janitor to the manager, they all were to converge at the hall for a brief meeting before the mall would be reopened again. That morning while Jonathan was getting ready for work, Ariel walked up to him, wrapping her hands around his waist with her head placed on his back. “These days you’ve been scarce, is everything alright?” She asked, her tone dripping with sincerity. For the last few days, she had been trying to have a little chit chat with him but before he would return home, she was already in bed and before she woke up the next day, he was off. “Yeah!” Jonathan nodded, taking her hands off his waist gently. Swirling around to face her, he placed his hand on her shoulder, “You shouldn't bother about me, I’m absolutely fine.” “Hazel misses you, you should try to create time for her.” She said as she remov
With an alarmed look on her face, Vina plopped on the couch next to him as she leaned forward. “What are you talking about?” She asked her heart, ramming against her chest as she darted her eyes around, hoping it shouldn't be what she was thinking. “They suddenly barged in, I had no prior information of their presence.” He exhaled as Vina peered at him, waiting for him to spill what she wanted to hear. “You know I trust my instincts so well, I had to send the documents to you this morning. They didn't find anything on me, I'm grateful for that.” He muttered while she sighed in relief. “By the way, I have a bit of explanation concerning the content of those documents.” When she didn't respond, he asked, “Were they here too?” “Yes.” She nodded, the look on his face going sour. Vina didn't need anyone to tell her Karl was scared, the look on his face was enough and it was as if he was going to pass out the next second. Feigning to have really flopped, she bent her head and then be
The next day, having booked an appointment with Harrison the previous day, Jonathan made his way to his office to meet with him.Before his arrival, Harrison had made sure he informed the protocol at the gate to treat him with respect and that was exactly what they did. Now seated opposite him in his spacious office, Jonathan was swirling the content of his mug with his gaze on Harrison who was itching to hear what he had to say. “About Williams, I’m sorry.” Jonathan kick-started the conversation.“You don't need to apologize. He deserves what came for him and I can attest to the fact that he is still learning his lessons.” Nodding his head in rhythm, Jonathan took a sip from his mug before fixing his gaze on him. “I need your help in getting the prosecution to perform a search and seizure on my shopping mall.” Laughing softly, Harrison titled his head to the side before saying, “I can't believe you booked an appointment just to say this to me when you could easily have said it o
As usual, the meeting didn't end on a good note as Raiden and Karlyx were furious with Gray’s decision of involving Jonathan on a task Karlyx had been assigned to. Pulling himself up, Raiden took his position in the middle of the living room with his gaze fixated on Gray who was unperturbed.“Father! This is unfair.” He howled like a wolf in distress. “What is unfair? I should be the one saying that to you considering the fact that you two wasted three whole years on a single project.” “But Jonathan hasn't even completed the first project you assigned to him, what makes you think that he is better than us.”“His intellect and he had proved beyond every reasonable doubt that he will be able handle the issue at the mall.” Gray said in defense, hitting his palm against the couch. Shutting his eyes even more tightly, Jonathan had his lips pressed more tightly against each other as anger coursed through him. He believed Gray was fully aware of what he was doing and the impact it was h
First, it was Solomon who wore a stoic expression and then Jonathan whose face was still reddened from the impact of the slap. “You did this?” Solomon asked Vina who was darting her eyes around like she had been caught in an unholy act. “I deserve a response, don't you think?” He leaned over her table, his whole gaze on her as she trembled. “Sir, I didn't intend to hit him but I couldn't hold back when he wanted to hit me. We had a little issue which resulted in an exchange of words, he tried to hit me first but I countered it.” Pointing at Karl, she said, “Thanks for his timely intervention, otherwise, I would have been badly beaten.” She rapped. “Jonathan!” Solomon yelled, glaring at him while he had his head buried to the ground. With her hand folded in front of her, Pearl did a quick bow and then scurried out, followed by Jonathan who had been sent out by Solomon. Jonathan was heading towards the janitor's room when Pearl grabbed his arm, pulling him to a corner. When she
Jonathan had just finished taking out the ashtray on Karl's table when he walked in with another stub of cigarette in between his lips. “Good morning sir.” Jonathan hailed as he prepared to push his cart away since he had finished cleaning for the day. Karl didn't only ignore him, he threw the remaining stub of cigarette on the floor and as if that was not enough, used the sole of his shoe to crush it. Enraged by this singular act, Jonathan grabbed the handle of his cart more tightly. So as not to explode in anger, he decided to act like he didn't witness it but Karl wasn't going to let him be. “Aren't you going to clean up the ash from the floor?” He barked, glaring at Jonathan's back. With a forced smile, Jonathan returned his gaze to him, “Pardon!” He said, acting like he had no idea about what was going on. “The ash, you need to clean it.” He said, pointing at the floor which he had smeared with the black substance. Jonathan was about to ask him to clean up the mess himself