#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM_S2
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 69
The back car was stopped at the huge gate by the guards who wouldn’t let them in without showing their cards.
Code 5 wound down the car window and passed his ID to the head guard. After seeing his ID and knowing his identity, the guard returned the card with both hands and bowed before instructing the gate to be opened.
The black car entered the huge compound and sped straight to the massive skyscraper that was up ahead.
Thank God he didn’t create a mess, his dead body would have been lying on the floor right now. That was one of the most powerful hidden guards who didn’t need to seek permission from Maverick before ki||ing or punishing other workers.
The car stopped at the underground parking lot and Jeslyn got down after Code 5 opened the car door for her.
Walking in front like the boss lady she was, no one would dare to ascribe her to an Assistant, despite dressing like a sophisticated Assistant.
At the front desk with two young ladies; beautiful, segzy, and elegant Receptionists eyed the three men and ‘Assistant’ walking towards them.
The ‘Assistant’ looked too classy to be a mere worker and they wondered which company she works for.
“Good day, Ma’am… gentlemen,” one of the Receptionists stepped out from behind the desk and bowed slightly with her hands elegantly placed on her stomach.
She smiled with her sharp eyes on the ‘Assistant’ wearing a black pencil skirt, a white shirt that had the first few buttons opened but was decent enough to not reveal her B-__-bs, a pair of black pencil heels, and huge sunglasses.
Her thick bang covered her forehead and brows, almost reaching her eyes. No matter how hard the Receptionist tried to make sense of who the ‘Assistant’ in front of her was, she couldn’t see past the professional disguise that didn’t take much effort to achieve.
Never in a million years would she have thought it was Jeslyn, the Just-debuted artist they were just singing her praises a while back.
“Welcome to THE FUTURE, how may we help you?” Her sweet smile was still maintained on her well-defined face.
Jeslyn didn’t know what Maverick was thinking when he changed his Empire’s name to THE FUTURE. The name sounded like he was proclaiming himself to be the future.
Her eyes were on the Receptionist all through with different thoughts running through her mind. Her husband has such beautiful and professional ladies around him, yet he chose a stupid person like Vera. His taste in women, no, his taste in Vera is so bad.
If she said Women, then she’ll be one of them and Jeslyn believes she’s the best partner for her husband. Valen is proof of that.
“I’m here for your boss,” she answered with a deadpan expression.
“Oh? Ahem…” The receptionist coughed on her first with her head turned to the side. “Do you have an appointment, Ma’am?”
“Ah, no I don’t.”
The Receptionist frowned slightly, almost invisible. ‘Then how did they pass the tight security outside the gate?’ she thought.
“I’m sorry ma’am, I can’t allow you in without an appointment.” She looked sorry when she said that.
Jeslyn gave a slight nod, “But your boss wants to see me.”
The Receptionist looked at her incredulously. Of course, she can’t believe that lie. A lot of ladies had done more than this in the past, including Mulan, so she wasn’t surprised.
“Oh, ok, please hold on for a minute.” The lady went back to the desk and placed a call to the CEO’s office. After speaking to someone, she returned to Jeslyn and smiled.
“I’m sorry ma’am, your information might be wrong. Please, check in another time after you’ve confirmed.”
“Oh, then, can I present this?” Jeslyn collected Code 5’s ID and stretched it to the Receptionist.
The Receptionist received it and checked it. “Please, ma’am, let me confirm with the system.” She smiled with her lips sealed before heading back to the desk with the ID card.
The lady has to be extra careful. It was because of her professionalism that she was the most respected Receptionist on the list of ten Receptionists in the company.
After she had confirmed the authenticity of the card, she returned it and bowed, handing it back to Jeslyn with both hands. “Thank you for your cooperation, kindly take the first elevator and someone will be on the 50th floor to take you to the CEO’s office…”
“I know my way around. I’ll take her there.” Code 5 butted in. They wouldn’t have had to go through this process if Jeslyn wasn’t going to surprise her husband.
“Ok, sure,” the Receptionist replied. Although she hasn’t seen this face before, from his information, he was among the few who are supposed to know their way around the company, indeed.
“Thank you,” Jeslyn smiled faintly but couldn’t understand why the CEO’s office would be on the 50th floor when the building has 230 floors.
Jeslyn and Code 5 took one of the many elevators and headed up, but the other two guards stayed behind at the Reception.
Getting to the 50th floor, the elevator dinged. Jeslyn glanced at the roles of control keys in the elevator. There were numbers from 1–230.
She wasn’t doubting or suspecting any foul play, she was just wondering why Maverick chose to have his office on the 50th floor instead of the top floor like regular humans.
“Is my husband’s office on the 50th floor? Why?” She finally asked.
“No ma’am,” he replied.
“Oh?… Then why are we stopping here?” She got even more confused.
“To take another elevator to his office.” He replied.
The door dinged open at that moment and they both stepped out and walked down the quiet and beautiful passageway to many offices.
Upon entering one of the offices, one would think it was the CEO’s office with how luxurious it was, but no.
Upon entering one of the offices, one would think it was the CEO’s office with how luxurious it was, but no.
Code 5 walked to the flat wall and pressed his hand to it. In no time, a scanner scanned his palm before saying;
[ Welcome, Code 5…. Opening in… 5…4…3…2…1… Please step into the elevator ]
The door opened and Code 5 walked into the elevator, however before Jeslyn could take a step forward, the elevator door started closing.
Code 5 pressed the open/ close button and the door stopped closing.
“Why is it so stressful? Is there not a direct elevator to his office?”
“There is, but it’s only programmed for Boss alone,” he replied.
Jeslyn sighed. It’s normal for her husband to be extra careful but isn’t this over the top?
Well, she hasn’t yet seen what’s ‘over the top’.
Code 5 pressed the Cloud icon– one of the five buttons on the elevator. Cloud icon, Dark smoke icon, Red alert icon, Abort icon, and the open/ close button.
The cloud icon is undoubtedly ‘Cloud 9’s representation; where Maverick’s office is.
The Dark Smoke icon is ‘Shadow 9’s representation; the most dangerous place in the company.
Red alert icon; as the name suggests, is for an emergency.
And the abort icon is to return the elevator if one changes their mind along the way.
The elevator shook a little after Jeslyn got in, before heading down.
Down? Jeslyn thought with a frown. Wasn’t it supposed to head up as it is called ‘cloud?’
“Why is it heading down?” She asked.
“It’s heading up. It’s an illusion to make your brain and body think you’re going down.”
“Ohh… so smart,” she smiled proudly. Her husband is the best!
“That reminds me, there are 230 floors and the other elevator has them, so what’s the use of this one since it’s still heading up?”
“That elevator doesn’t get to the 230th floor. The numbers will mislead you, thinking you’ve arrived at the top floor but no, it only stops at the 228th floor,” he replied.
All this information is known to a handful of them. Maverick doesn’t trust, but lets the chosen ones know everything they needed to know, but with a huge price.
Their life and death are controlled by Maverick as the few of them have a chip planted close to their hearts. Trying to forcefully take it off will explode the chip, automatically shattering the heart and ki||ing the culprit.
There’s no way to uninstall the chip as it was an exclusive ski||, belonging to Maverick.
Maverick’s rules used to be a little lax before Valen was born but after the incident that happened with Code 4, Maverick became a heartless demon and inserted a self-destructive chip in all his people.
Thirty minutes later, the elevator suddenly stopped and a ding was heard.
Stepping out of the elevator, what greeted them was a foggy passageway. Jeslyn froze. What is this?!
They got out of the elevator and Code 5 stopped her from moving forward while he walked a little further away from her to retrieve something.
When he returned, he handed Jeslyn blue goggles. “Ma’am, you’ll need these,” he said.
His voice jolted Jeslyn’s mind back from the shock she was in and she took the goggles from him, looking at them weirdly.
“What are these,” she asked.
“Laser detectors,” Code 5 replied.
“You mean there are lasers… there?” She pointed at the foggy passageway in shock and Code 5 nodded.
“Can’t they be deactivated? Are you kidding me?!” Is he joking with her life?
“Only if the Boss permits it.” Code 5 replied.
She stared at him in surprise. “Then, what are you waiting for?! Get him to deactivate this thing!” She frowned.
Code 5 shook his head. “If he’s in his office, he would have seen you’ve arrived and would have deactivated all the mechanisms and even would have allowed you to take his stress-free elevator. But because he didn’t do those means that he’s not in his office,” he explained.
Code 5 wasn’t one to talk too much but knowing Jeslyn, she won’t make things easy for him if she’s not satisfied and he has no billionaires of dollars to give to her for annoying her.… Jeslyn’s appetite for money scares him.
“So, in other words, we’re supposed to bypass the lasers to get to my husband’s office?” She asked pitifully and he nodded, then added;
“Not just the lasers, there are other mechanisms after this… more dangerous mechanisms.”
Jeslyn took a deep breath and took off her sunglasses before wearing the laser detector goggles. She only wanted to see the lasers.
When she wore it, she was expecting to see tiny red lights along the passageway but no, there was nothing there. No lasers at all!
“There are no lasers. Or is this not working?” She took the goggles off to inspect it.
Code 5 dug into his pocket and brought out a smooth tiny pebble and flung it forward ski||fully with his fingers.
“Try looking at it again.”
Jeslyn wore the goggles and just when she focused her gaze on the path ahead of her, “Ahhhh!!” A scream that was enough to startle birds and send them flying everywhere, tore through her throat.
The red crisscrossed lasers weren’t something a human would dare enter… not her, no way!!
“Let’s return,” she turned around, wanting the elevator to open so she could run away.
“It will take about ten minutes for the elevator to be ready to take us back… ma’am, I’ll help you cross over, don’t worry ab–”
“Nothing you say will change my mind. I’m not going through those d@mn things unless your Boss returns and deactivates them.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he said and stood aside.
…
*On the twentieth floor…*
Maverick just concluded a conference meeting with the board of directors and was heading out when his phone rang. Glancing at it, was his wife who hasn’t spoken to him since her debut.
“You finally had my time,” he mumbled before answering the call.
“Sugar plum, where are you?” Her sweet voice sounded.
“Why?”
“I’m at your company…”
Maverick paused and turned his head in Code 2’s direction. “Where are you?” He asked her but his eyes were glued on Code 2.
“I’m stuck, can’t get through the laser mechanisms to your office,” she pouted. It was supposed to be a surprise visit but now…