Backroom Deal [ongoing]

•EIGHT•

"I think you can add a little more in terms of the technical organization of it. Since we're dealing with billions of encrypted user information, however, I do think that more of a harsher security measure can be taken" Suriya Khan, head of our IT department says, pursing her lips.

Cybersecurity.

Her brown eyes squint at the paperwork laid out before her before travelling to the segment of an unnamed algorithm presented on my laptop screen. She's one of the few to whom I've presented the development project that I've been working on. And she's one of the few people who I appreciated the brutal honesty from. It's something that I appreciate from all my employees as I always preferred to be approachable to everyone.

I pull my lips into a grim smile. "I was thinking that as well. I just want to see if there's a way to make it more efficient in conserving space. If the main framework can be done that way, then I can easily add in the other features without the risk of overriding anything. Since it's going to be a large platform and all."

She nods, gently tapping her manicured nails on the table of her office. "I'll look into storage maintenance with my engineers and I'll send you everything that we find relevant. But this entire project is brilliant, Nova. I think the board will love the idea once you have the entire proposal mapped out. Hell, even I'm excited once we have a Beta version to test out."

I smile at her. "Thank you again, Suryia. It's almost done. But be sure to expect me back in a few days" I stand up and gather my things.

"No problem. It's what you hired me for" She replies with a wink as she gets up to open her door.

"I'll be in touch. Have a great day." I tell her with a smile once I step out.

"You too, Nova" she replies with a grin, before closing the door.

Once I get to my office floor, I greet Darren again and sit down after stepping into my office. A knock resounds just when I manage to rest my things on my desk.

"Come in" I call out.

Darren opens the door and pops his head inside. "Nova, the Montegi Group had to cancel their 5:00 meeting because Mr. Romano Montegi had a family emergency. I've rescheduled it to tomorrow evening if that's okay."

"That's fine. Thank you, Darren." I reply, realizing that the Montegis were supposed to be my last clients of the day before I take off for home. "If there isn't anything else, I won't be taking any further meetings today. I plan to leave in a bit to work on a few things. But you can leave now if you want."

Darren nods. "Got it." And he disappears, closing my door after him.

An hour later, after revising some idea pitches from the meeting this morning, I begin to pack up. Darren already left so that just leaves me on this floor. By the time I make it to the parking lot underground, I greet the security at the entrance before stepping past the bar to walk towards my car.

✦✦✦

After I freshen up and have dinner, I start clicking through the channels on my TV to find something worth watching. In the midst of it, my phone begins to ring. Keeping my eyes on my TV, I answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Please tell me you're home right now. I just left my parent's place. You and I? We need to talk about why I'm finding out a life event of yours from the internet and not you"

My lips part in amusement. I've been trying to get a hold of her for the past few days but her phone kept going to voicemail. Her role as Head of Finances at Caltrope took quite the toll on her free time and we hung out even less.