Allea

fifty-seven

"Even though it was annoyance..."

After making Allea familiar, Mr. Schmidt left and she took her seat at the head of the table, which served as the indication for the team to present their collected data and speculations. They did their work, explaining it from the projector while Allea was looking down at the iPhone in her hands. She was going over her own work, not caring about people who kept glancing at her, they were not in the position to say anything so, silently carried on what they have been told to do. Allea's whole focus was on the words she was reading, and suddenly the man sitting on her left leaned over the table as his face turned near Allea and began whispering words in a hushed tone.

"...but I finally managed to make you feel something."

Toward his words, Allea remained unresponsive, just like the presenter's talk, his words too mixed in the voices of background; not worth for her to put her attention on.

Seeing that Allea was entirely impassive, the man with an inconspicuous 'tch' leaned against his chair, his eyes staring straight at Allea. Today his long hair, which usually covers his face with an uneven length, was still around his face but to keep the professional look, it was neat and combed perfectly. His features were still hidden underneath the obscurity of his facial hair, not letting anyone see past them to find his certain outlines of the face. Still, the vagueness of his features was contrasting befittingly with the classy royal-blue suit his lean and tall figure was dressed in, giving him a rough yet oddly proper look. At one look glance, one might turn his head away and not look at him again, but the more one will look, the more fascinating his peculiarities will seem.

The gazes of the team member that were turning toward Allea from time to time, the interaction or more like audaciousness of their new sub-ordinate didn't go unnoticed by them. With inquisitive gazes, they kept silent in the observations and just presented their accumulated data one by one. And at last, when they thought there would be no indication of making them stop as the woman in front of them was fully focused on her own doing, they heard their salvation.

"You can stop now."

Despite the voices in the room, Allea's voice was clear and loud over the presenter. A sudden silence fell at her command, with that, placing the iPhone in her hands over the table Allea raised her head toward whom she directed her words. Raising her hand she gestured to the stunned man to take his seat.

She leaned against the chair and looked at the marketing manager, when she spoke again, her tone was plain, too plain "That's enough, I told Mr. Schmidt to keep things concise but seems like I have to define that word to him." So, when her words reached the listeners they made them hold their breath, especially the manager who nodded his head hastily after perceiving Allea's calm gaze.

Her gaze flickered toward her wristwatch, and she once again moved toward people in front of her as she spoke again, "Give me the file," her words accompanied by the gesture of moving her hand forward, and a file was quickly placed on it, leaning against the chair, taking in the outlines of the useless data, she went over it anyhow.

"So, tell me in real limited words, what is that you here to convince me for?"

Closing the file, she threw it on the table and waited for the people to speak. As her eyes raised toward the exclusively selected team, they avoided meeting them and their mouths were silent, not sure of what and how to say. Her gaze halted on the man seated to her left, and for the second time, she met his eyes. Raising an eyebrow she ridiculed, "I see, Mr. Ahlstrom is a legal advisor now, mind playing your role?"

Allea pretended to go with his cover, but at the same time with the utterance of his real name, disregarded it. Others who heard the name, felt a little confused, although they understood that the man was called wrong, still, no one dared to correct the women in front of them. In their hearts they were hopeful that he was the one who dared to converse with her so, he also might be the one who'd save them.