Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Monday, following week...

" Mark, do you happen to know who the new managing director is?" Asked a brunette lady dressed in a black sleeveless buttoned blazer gown worn over a white shirt, portraying her vase-like curves as she leaned over the long table which the marketing team was seated. With the crease in her almond shaped eyes, one could tell that she was curious to know who the new managing director was. And who better to ask than the assistant manager?

Everyone else in the room anticipated the answer of the young looking middle-aged man reclining in his chair with his brown hair standing tall in a neat quiff style. His symmetric jawline was cordially outlined by his beard. It was exactly Mark Hawkins.

Mark raised his gaze from his cell phone towards Kaitlyn,

" I have no idea, Kate." He shrugged. Mark wasn't in the least worried about a change in who held the position of managing director. Odds are, he'd be named the new managing director. Who knows?

Kaitlyn made a difficult face but didn't pursue any further. Seeing this, Mark reverted his focus back to his cell phone.

The room grew tense afterwards.

Each team members' heart grew restless at this point. A new managing director shouldn't be a big deal as there have been similar incidents in the past. The main cause of unrest however is, they all knew for a fact that a 'new boss' meant change in their workplace procedure and new policies.

Afterall, if the previous director was doing his job well he wouldn't have been laid off. Even being experienced as they all were, they feared what was to come. Citadel's was a big piece of cake for all employees, leaving and not conforming with the new policies counts as nothing but a dumb step towards loss. The paycheck was worth just that much.

Just as their heart grew more antsy, the door to the room suddenly slid open and two magnificent women stepped in with serious expression worn on their faces.

The marketing team stared in awe at one of the two ladies. It was obvious that she was the new managing director.

After all, Miss Margarette- as she liked to be called, wasn't a rare sight to all of them,

'Is that the new boss?'

Some members of the marketing team couldn't help but wonder as they stared with a dumbfounded expression at the elegantly tall and slightly curvy blonde lady whose ponytails swept her shoulder blades as she walked.

' It can't be!' Some of them recognized her and hurriedly looked towards the assistant manager in search for a reaction... or answers to properly put...

Kaitlyn being quite the 'closest' to Mark had a shocked expression on her face. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated as she frantically looked between Mark and the blonde lady now standing before them beside Maggie.

What the hell was going on!?

' No! No! No!' This was the worst possible outcome. If this woman was the new managing director, then Kaitlyn thought she might as well give up on her job!

Val swept her gaze across the faces sitting before her and she caught sight of a lady with quite the expression. This lady was exactly whom she had first caught Mark bedding with in their home.

Val didn't give much concern to her now, however. She honestly didn't care if they were still together too,

' But...' She switched her gaze towards the man who had the worst facial expression in the room. She couldn't help but flash a smile seeing how he gawked like he'd just seen a ghost.

Mark's disbelief was written all over his face. He'd never seen so much bullshit in his entire life!

" V-val?" he muttered almost in a whisper, not knowing whether he was in the right place to call her out like that. After all, he knew just very well what he'd done. And he never expected that it'd come back to haunt him this way.

" Hello everyone! I believe there's no need to enunciate on why we're all here..." Maggie called everyone's attention back to the purpose of the meeting.

" So without further ado, I introduce to you Ms Valerie Hawkins, the new managing director of Citadel's marketing sector" She pointed to Val and urged her to give a speech " A word?"

Everyone became silent and attentive, awaiting there newly appointed director's speech.

"Hello everyone! I'm Valerie Hawkins and it's a great pleasure to be working with you all..." Val started on her speech. She paused to give Mark a glance to see how he reacted to how she still used his surname.

Of course, Mark would think there might be a chance that she still felt attached to him and Val hated this. But she was just reluctant to go through with the long paperwork of changing her name back to her maiden name. Nevertheless, she still had a speech to give...

" I come with years of experience in the marketing department, a drive at successful campaigns and compassion of leading the team to achieve goals that we can all be proud of. And I have great confidence in the potential of this team and myself." Val finished with grace and brilliance just as she'd practiced.

clap! clap! clap!

Hands came together echoing through the room, it started a bit awry but grew strong and warm.

" Ahem! A warm welcome to you Miss Valerie Hawkins. I'm Mark... Hawkins, the assistant manager" Mark mustered the dignity to stand and introduce himself. He found it difficult to pronounce to the room that he shared surnames with the managing director, therefore confirming everyone's thoughts. To him, It wasn't any different from declaring himself a liar and a failure of a man.

Kaitlyn watched this with apprehension evident in her gaze. What was this?

" My Pleasure, Mr Hawkins!" Val nodded her head with a quirky eyebrow raise, intending to taunt Mark. As if to say;

' It burns, doesn't it?'

There was no denying it, Mark felt like a fool. However, he tried to play it off as cool...

" Hehe!-- Yes ma'am!" He froze on his chuckle when he saw the frown on Val's face. Maggie couldn't help but shake her head at Mark's failed attempts. He still hasn't realized what was going on?

The team members weren't sure of what to say at the moment, so they just watched in silence.

" The team will now introduce themselves..." Mark quickly thought of a way to escape the situation. He needed to make a thought about his next action and figure out how this has all come to be.

The Team cursed in their minds when Mark threw them under the bus just like that, and they all shared glances wondering who'd go first. Most of them knew about Mark and Kaitlyn's relation, and had been there at that party when Val caught them in action. They only felt guilty now, and only wished she didn't recognize them. Now they had nowhere to hide their faces. But hey, it wasn't as if they could meddle in their affairs, right? Even if some of them had a thing or two to do with Mark.

Maggie was unsure what was happening, the whole marketing team seem to have some sort of thing going on between them regarding Val, and Mark.

" Hello ma'am, I'm Devine Rayman. A sales representative of the marketing team!" One of the new employees stood to save the situation. He was closest to where Val sat so he felt that that the order of introduction should start from him.

" Thank you, Mr Rayman. I look forward to working with you" Val responded with a warm smile which made Devine feel accomplished.

" I'm Raj Sanjay! sales representative as well"

" Janet Preston"

The others continued the introduction in succession of how they sat from Devine.