Mr. Corporate Law

2.8: L&W Rules - Respect the Chain of Command

"Holy crap, did you see those juniors get scolded today?"

"Yes, but that was mean," I muttered as I concentrated on the fries laid out on the table to share between the three of us at the popular café down the road from work.

"Care to slow down and share with us, Annie?"

I glared at the two of them as they laughed at me, my mouth stuffed with the potato goodness. Hamish and Erika gave each other a cheeky high five, I mentally stabbed them with imaginary daggers. They found it hilarious that my cravings were on a high level at the moment, and I've told them so many times that I've been stressed and this was my outlet, but they've continued to point out I've always eaten unhealthy stuff.

No winning with them.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say a mini Walsh is growing inside, huh?" Hamish nudged, winked and snickered.

"Oh shut up, Hame, just because I get laid more often than you," I growled.

"Ouch-" He patted and clenched over his chest. "Annie, that was below the belt."

"You two are goofs." Erika laughed. She reached out for my left hand and waved it between us, her finger patted at my empty ring finger. Her left eyebrow cocked up and she asked, "Care to explain here, Ms Lawler?"

"We aren't friends right now."

"Huh? Why?"

I shook my head, rejecting to tell them the truth, so I shrugged and mumbled, "Isn't this a good thing?"

"Not if it's like this, Annie," Hamish sighed and placed a hand at my shoulder. The both of them just stared at me, they looked sympathetic and their attempts to console me were making me sad. I tried not to cry in front of them, putting a brave face as I picked up a fry and waved the potato stick around like a goof and joked, "Hey, if it means I could eat whatever the hell I want thanks to your wallets, then I'll be forever happy."

At the same time, Erika and Hamish let go of me, their eyes rolled and their mouths let out groans of my failed attempt to lie to them. They're not amused with me, I mean, they cared so much for me that they took me to eat food they knew would cheer me up. But I still wanted to avoid talking about the fight last night, so I cleared my throat to distract them as I tried to think of another topic. I shifted my gaze briefly down to my phone, and it clicked, my eyes beamed as I adjusted myself to sit straight and I asked, "When do you think we'll go through with our plan?"

They looked surprised.

"I'm curious, I mean, we have some evidence that could easily link him to his involvement with my Dad's case-"

"-Ms Miller is the key witness, even though she's a bit under the ground," Erika coughed at the end to try and not make her statement a joke. "And at the state you and your fiancé are at the moment, we're in an advantage right now."

"How are we going to find physical evidence though?"

"Ooh- Speaking of that, I've done more research about Ms Miller," My best friend announced and pulled out a diary with a lock and key, which looked like a teenager's diary from the local bookshop, it became more evident when there were a mixture of colors formed into dots, spirals and flowers. Hamish and I exchanged glances and laughed at her childish stationery. She glared at us this time and took out a small key and unlocked her diary, revealing a lot of black and red scribbles of notes.

"Dear diary, much?" The man beside me teased.

"Oh come on, why would I make it obvious that we're up to something?"