Chapter 21: Chapter 21

I know I don't have time, but my curiosity got the better of me. I beeline to our seer, who knows it all aka Rose's office floor. Luckily, she is already at her desk, thank god for mercies.

'Well, well, wonders never cease. Is it an apocalypse?', Rose asked.

'Hey, I know I'm dodging you lately for drinks, what with all the work piling my desk. I will make time, soon. Now tell me what's with all the hype?'

'You mean you don't know? Tell me again where you work?'

I gave her an eye roll and said, ' cut the dramatics. I'm squeezing the time as it is for this little chit chat'.

'Wow, you sound like Raphael when you say like that'

I mildly panic listening to that. Oh my god, I'm becoming his clone. Note to self-need to steer clear from him as much as possible.

'Me? I'm nothing like that. He expects grovelling sycophancy from employees. I'm way cooler than that'.

'You know, sometimes the Raphael Sinclair you describe didn't mash with what all of us know about him. He really is way cooler than you portray him. Anyway, there is two big news. Number one, some bloggers defaming the new product under the cosmetic division that launched last week. Apparently, the media got the wind of that and now the entire office in an uproar. I don't know the entire specifics. If you want, you can ask Charles in the PR team. Number two hold your horses; Nathan is joining today. Ahh', she shouted literally having a fangirl moment.

I covered my ears as best as I can from her vocal abuse and asked, 'Who is Nathan? A client?'

'Come on, you don't know Nathan? As in Nathaniel Sinclair? Your boss' Brother? Do you really work for Raphael Sinclair? I pity him if your general knowledge is like this'

'Your definition of general knowledge varies with mine. We are not BFFs to paint our toes and share secrets. I work for him, not manage his family history. Anyway, I got to go. Thanks for the info. I know I can count on you.'

I checked my watch once again as I sat on my desk. I'm 2 minutes late. I take a deep breath and start my first of the many boring tasks of the day. The buzz of the intercom distracts me from my task within two minutes of starting it.

'Come to my office'

That's it. No good morning or at least, please. What crawled and died on his desk?

'Good morning Mr. Sinclair'

'You are two minutes late'

I wonder if he stops his tyranny if I promise him my firstborn. On second thought, he would just ask payment for providing nanny services.

'Lobby was crowded', I lied with a straight face.

'I want you to study this file'

'What's in it?', I asked dumbly.

'Do you want me to read it to you?'

'No need. I will study', I muttered shamefacedly.

'It's got details about the incident regarding the blogger. I want you to repair the damage she has created. And it must be done today itself before this crisis hits the sales of the product. Understand?'

'But...does not this fall into a PR crisis?'

'Thanks for your point of view. I will note it down next time'

My blood boiled over his casual response. I imagined holding him through his tie while he dangled from the edge of the roof. A sinister smile crept on my face thinking about it.

'not going to happen'

'What?'

'Whatever you are thinking it's not going to happen'

'What about my other tasks? I have a lot to do'

'Which can be postponed tomorrow'

Just like that, my shoulders slumped. Defeated I dragged my feet to my desk clutching the file to my chest. Bracing myself I opened the file. Oh no no, it's not bad, it's worse. Way worse. How the hell can I undo this mess?

Apparently, Mary Johnson, a well-known make-up blogger with over a million fan bases has bought the new product (a highlighter) and used it while making the video. She got an instant allergic reaction on her face covered with red irritation marks where she used the highlighter (written on her blog accompanied by a photo).

The only good news is that the video doesn't show the irritation marks. It just shows off her applying makeup with naming the products and at the end when she uses the highlighter she shouts, and the video goes off. The bad news is- she got a million-fan base who are bad-mouthing the product as I read her blog. And the worst news is she got a live interview in about 3 hours on a famous news channel. I don't need to be a seer to know the outcome of that interview. This just implies I'm totally screwed. This is not a one employee work, it's a teamwork. Get it together Erica. You never accepted defeat before fighting.

I quickly got down to work. First, I need to find out whether she is telling the truth or not. I called the team involved in making this product to find out if it's possible to get any allergic reaction (I need to pull the strings using Raphael's name to do that). They replied as expected- there is nothing wrong with the product. Next, I called Kade and asked him to find out any sudden money transactions involved in the blogger's account. He said he will call back within an hour.

In the meantime, I checked her blog- reading before current video comments, watching all her recent videos for any clues. I also checked all the Hospitals within her address (thanks to Facebook) vicinity to know about the diagnosis. To my utter surprise, not, there is no such patient. I also contacted the Lawyers team of Sinclair enterprises, just in case.

Kade called me back with the news that a 100 grand has been deposited into her account from an employee who works in the E&W cosmetics. The competition of Sinclair Enterprises in the cosmetics department. This is a typical rival tactic to tarnish the product's name. I have all the details, but I don't have the evidence to prove that the product is not responsible. No time to dwell on it because the interview is going to start in 30 minutes.

I don't have a full-proof plan. I'm running on my instincts. I reached the channel station and mingled nonchalantly with the audience seated there (not without using some charm and fan-Girling about the blogger to whoever stopped me), just as the show went live. I let the blogger tell her story (with tears) about how the product ruined her chance as a makeup artist, how she is going to sue the Sinclair enterprises etc etc., just as the anchor is geared up for more questions, I raised my hand and asked, 'Can I talk to Ms. Mary Johnson?'

The anchor stuttered, ‘No, we don't normally let the audience question'

But the blogger cut her off saying, ‘It’s ok. Yes, please what can I do for you?'

'A lot. Can you tell me where you have consulted for those marks?'

She replied with the name of the hospital, which I checked.

I smiled and said, 'oh, but you see they didn't recognize you. They say there was no patient with your description at that time.'

I let that sink in and then continued, ' also hear I got a tiny titbit about your account details, oops, it seems you got 100 grands from E&W cosmetics around the same time. I wonder why did they give you that much? Charity perhaps?', I said amid the audible gasps from the audience and stunned looks from the people on the stage.

Then I slowly walked to the stage and said, ‘You got a little smudge over here. Messy-eater, aren't you?’ and cleaned the makeup aka the irritation marks she was sporting with a wet tissue.

'Nice makeup', I winked as the camera zoomed on her face.

I'm not done yet. Now for the big guns, I whipped the documents from the legal team and distributed them between the anchor and the blogger.

'This is from Sinclair enterprises legal team for defaming their product, threatening to sue, tarnishing it's public image'. I turned to the anchor and said, ' your channel didn't consult our company before discussing aka trying to destroy its product image. As such Sinclair enterprises expect a public apology and compensation for the stress its employees went through'.

I delivered my speech with flair and walked away. Kicking ass is always fun.