After disconnecting her call with Joshua, Ivy rolled her eyes. She had met a lot of weird people in her life and he was one of them. Although he was not a bad guy, he was quite irritating. Every time Ivy talked to him, she would end up getting angry. He was quite good at getting on one's nerves.
Max and Kira were nowhere to be seen. They had gone to meet the higher-ups. Max had invited Ivy to tag along, which she had denied politely. She was not a fan of such boring meetings.
She opened her laptop to look more into her new piece of news. She had recently received a lead from one of the men that the cross border firing at the west side had stopped, though this was yet to be confirmed by the government. She wanted to look more into it.
Despite the fact that, Ivy was not a fan of field reporting, this was one news she wanted to cover. It was her wish, her eternal dream. She had always wanted to cover a documentary regarding the life of a soldier. And she had got an opportunity to do it, she did not want to miss it. She wanted to talk to Max regarding this matter. She started accumulating data in this aspect.
From the news reports, Ivy found out that the troupe of soldiers was being led by Major Ethan Meyer. She looked up his details. But she found nothing. He was not on any social networking site. Ivy sighed. She really wanted to go there to cover the news. It was like a dream for her.
"What are you doing?" A voice said from behind her.
Ivy jumped at the sudden voice.
"Kira. You scared me." Ivy said patting her chest.
"The brave Ivy also gets scared. I am honored." Kira teased.
"You are back. How was the meeting?"
"As usual. Boring." Kira said with disinterest.
Ivy sniggered. "So, why were you called anyway?"
"The people at the top are happy with our work. So, they wanted to congratulate us."
"Is it?"
"Yes. Those fools think that they don't know what they are doing. They are only showing off."
"What do you mean?" Ivy was confused.
"They have given us a pay hike because of our outstanding work." Kira air quoted the word outstanding.
"Although they were happy, it was clear that they were faking it. They just did not want to give us a hike." Kira made a comic face, making Ivy laugh.
"So, what are you doing?"
"I was looking up the matter regarding the cross border firing."
"Ohh. You are interested in it too?"
"What do you mean by too? Are you interested too?"
"Yes." Kira jumped up excited. "Have you seen the major who is in charge of the operation He is so hot. I don't need to go to the gym at all. His hotness is enough to make me sweat and my hormones go berserk. I must thank him actually. He saving me some gym money."
"Is he that handsome?"
"You have no idea." Kira pulled out her phone and showed her a picture of Ethan.
He was undoubtedly good looking. There was a weird ruggedness to him, making him attractive. Although the picture was unclear, she could make out his features.
"How did you get his picture?" Ivy asked.
"What do you think?"
"Tell me. Please. Please. I have been searching for him for a long while."
"I got it from my friend. Her brother also works in the army."
"Wow. That's so cool."
"I know right."
"Umm. Kira, you know you are my best friend right?"
"Am I?"
"Yes. Yes. You are my bestie."
"Enough of buttering. Tell me, what do you want?"
"Can you get me Ethan's number for me? Please, please. I'll do anything you say."
"Anything?"
"Yes, anything."
"I'll try. Don't forget your words."
"Thank you. Thank you. You are the best. You are the sweetest." Ivy hugged her.
"Enough of your ass-kissing. Get back to work."
"Okay Boss." Ivy saluted, making Kira laugh.
"Listen guys." Max clapped trying to garner everybody's attention in the office. The room became silent at once.
"Guys, this is Tim Fields. He is the new editor who will be joining us from today."
"Max, you didn't tell us you were looking for an editor," Kira said.
"Umm. I know. I was not keen on hiring one either. One of our employees will be taking maternity leave after two months. So, I was looking forward to finding someone to replace her. And I met Tim by accident. I thought he could make himself accustomed to our work by joining early."
"Tim, that's Kira, Ivy, Sasha, Cedric." Max introduced Tim to everyone.
"Hey guys." Tim waved at them. Everybody returned to their seats after the brief introduction.
"So, have you worked as an editor before or is this your first time," Sasha asked. She looked a little infatuated by him. His good looks were strikingly attractive. He looked quite young, around 22 or 23.
"This is my first actual job, although I did intern as an assistant to an editor in an advertising company when I was in college."
"Oh. That's great. Welcome to the group." Ivy said.
"Thanks, and you are.."
"Ivy."
"Ivy. Sorry, it's just I was introduced to a lot of people."
"I understand."
Kira was standing silently and observing him. Something about him was making her suspicious. He was unbelievably friendly. It looked like he was faking it. Her instincts were telling her that he was up to no good and her instincts were never wrong.
"Earth to Kira, are you here?" Sasha waved in front of her to gain her attention.
"Yes, yes." Kira shook her head.
"Come with us. Let's go have some coffee." Sasha said.
"You guys go ahead. I'll be there in 2 minutes." Kira assured.
"Ok."
As soon as Sasha left Kira alone, Cedric approached her.
"Am I only one who finds Tim a little suspicious, like he is hiding something?" Cedric voiced his thoughts. Being a cameraman, he had mastered the art of face reading. He too realized that there was something wrong with the man.
"Did you feel that too? I thought I was the only one." Kira said. "I just got chills thinking about it."
"There's something weird about him. Two of us cannot be wrong. We need to be wary of him."
"You are right, Ced. We need to keep an eye on him."
"Leave that to me Kira." Cedric winked. "Now come on. Let's go have some coffee."
"Sure, come on."