come back... be here x e.o

𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

Alexandra POV

"Miss Carrington, we have a slight issue", I hear one of my employees say from behind my closed office door.

I sighed as I shut my mac and slowly pushed myself away from my desk. I stood up from my chair as I quickly straightened out my suit.

I made my way over to my office door and slowly opened it to see one of the interns standing there.

I looked at them with a raised brow as they just stood there frozen in their tracks. "What seems to be the problem?", I ask as I watch them gulp.

They must've originally thought I'd just ignore them and that they'd leave. I try not to ignore my staff, it's not how I want to run this place.

"Maria hasn't come in yet and she's supposed to be doing the interview today.", he tells me before I look at him confused and notice that he was slightly fidgeting his hands.

"I uh have no uh idea where she is", the intern says while trying to stop his fidgeting.

"He's nervous, I'm not that scary am I?", I thought to myself before mentally shrugging it off.

I stepped a little more out of my office before taking a look around. No Maria in sight, weird.

"HAS ANYONE SEEN MARIA?!", I yell out and watch as everyone starts to also look around.

The silence filling the entire office gave me the answer that I was looking for.

"I will do the interview then. Send me the information and everything that I will need for it.", I tell the poor dude that is full on panicked over his boss not being here.

I walked back into my office before shutting the door behind me. I sighed as I walked back over to my desk and sat down.

I opened the one drawer and pulled out my binder that has my staff's contact in it. I flipped through to find Maria's contact.

I hate calling to figure out where my staff is, but I have no other choice at this point. Maria is never late, and she's never not called out for a shift before. So something major is definitely going on.

I reached for my work phone and put the phone up to my ear before typing out her number.

I let it ring for a few seconds as I patiently waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?", I hear when the line connects and I just let out a small sigh.

"Maria?", I ask not knowing if she was the one that picked up and heard her gasp.

"Oh Miss Carrington, I am so sorry. I was about to call and ask to speak with you", she says and I just sat back a little.

"What's going on Maria?", I ask slightly worried about where she is.

"My father was rushed to the hospital over an hour ago. I have been trying to call all my siblings and get them to fly in as soon as possible. It slipped my mind to call", she says and I immediately interrupted her.

"Maria, it's fine. I don't mind, you know that. I just was worried as you usually call. Be with your family, take whatever time you need off. It's fine, everything will be fine", I tell her and I can hear her shaky breath as she lets out a sigh.

"O..k..a..y.. t..h..a..n..k..y..o..u..", she shakily responds and I just sadly smile.

"It's not a problem. I'll assign your intern with another person for now", I tell her and she doesn't make a sound for a second.

"Can you have him sit in the interview? I promised he could", she says and I just looked at my door.

"Yes that won't be an issue. Just let me know how things are going. I just wanted to check in before I took over the interview. I know how busy the roads can be so I was worried that you were just running behind. I do hope that everything goes well for your family and I send my best wishes to your father", I tell her and she lets out a small grateful laugh.