42 Clearing and Firing

"Mr. Joshua Taylor, senior chef in butchery department. Duration of work- 6 years. Raised by mother and older sister. In relationship with Miss Emily James, hostess of Resort Elegance's pool side bar..." Robbie read out the details of Chef Joshua from a document sent by his assistant.

Right now, I was standing in Robbie's office with his strict looking assistant Jane, Sarah and Chef Joshua. Chef Joshua was the very same chef who was proudly showing my and Twen's picture to the entire staff. He at the moment had a very ugly expression on his face while Sarah was totally void of any expression. Robbie was the only one sitting with his back to us. After pointing out all the details, Robbie turned along with his chair towards us.

"May I know, how you came into contact with Miss Sarah here?" he asked Joshua leaning back on his high backed office chair.

Joshua remained silent. Robbie interwined his fingers on the table and placed his chin over it. He spoke casually but there was something pretty threatening in his tone,

"Mr. Joshua, whether you answer me or not, you are going to be fired from here anyway! So, why don't you just answer me?"

"Wh-what did I do so wrong that I have to be fired? She asked me to tail Tony and get his pictures, how am I at fault?" he growled

"Stalking, taking secret pictures, collecting personal information and interfaring someone's privacy is considered a crime! Did you not know that? You should feel lucky that Tony has decided not to press charges, otherwise, it wouldn't just have been your job that you lose"

Joshua looked scared. He took a step back and then turned a furious gaze at Sarah, "Miss, why are you not saying anything? You paid me to stalk him. You told me to collect his information. Why am I the only one being accused?"

Truth being said, I didn't want to press charge because of the very reason that he was the puppet. Robbie was annoyed by my decision as he wanted to punish those who were involved but I didn't want to make the issue any bigger than it already was.

"Adding to your crimes, you used your friend's laptop and your girlfriend's employee id to post this pictures. Thus, tracing your ip address we could only reach your friend who had nothing to do with our company or Miss Emily who too got involved unknowingly. Shall I continue or would you start answering?" Robbie asked with a sharp gaze at Joshua

Joshua's eyes bulged. He was shaking from head to toe. I saw his jaw tighten as he nodded.

"Very well! So, how did you get acquainted with Miss Sarah?"

"My elder sister worked as Miss Sarah's nanny. She got my contacts from her. She asked me to do a small task in return she would double my sister's pay and would pay me extra too. I agreed" he spoke so fast that some of the words even got jumbled but Robbie didn't ask him to repeat. He continued questioning,

"Was it purely for the money? Or do you hold some grudge against Tony?"

The question came as surprise to both me and Joshua. We both looked at him, but Robbie simply stared.

"I-" Joshua swallowed, "I knew Tony since the time he joined. But just after 3 months of working with him I was transferred out to another branch of Exquisite Hotel. I respected Tony, though he was eight years my junior. I found him to be hard working and an excellent chef. His dedication was such a motivation. I was only a Commis when I entered and soon enough chose my specialization in butchery. When I met him here again, I found that in just few years he had jumped from Demi chef to Sous Chef. It was an extraordinary achievement. It took some chef their entire life to reach his position. I felt more respectful towards his hard work. But when I-when-I discovered that he is an Omega and bonded to the CEO of our company, all my respect came crashing down. To use the bonding and the child to move higher up the position, when all of us were putting our sweat and blood on it was- was just unacceptable! Why can he get this privilege? What about our dedication to the Hotel and the hard work we put forth?" he said giving me a deathly glare

There it goes again. My bonding with Robbie had nothing whatsoever with my promotion. I too have put a lot of hard work to get where I was. But like always, my second gender was what all people could see. They automatically assume we use underhanded means to achieve what we have achieved. No one ever gives us the benefit of doubt. No one ever thinks that we too could have put forward our effort. If it is Omega in high ranks, then they have definitely went around sleeping with the higher ups to get a good position and if we are toiling in the lower ranks then they would say, well what else can you expect from Omega!!

Robbie sighed and then laughed. All of us stared at him including Sarah who was standing quietly in the corner till then,

"I can see why Tony always wanted to hide his other gender. I can understand you now" he said looking at me with melancholic smile, "Let me ask you something Joshua, if Tony used his bonding then why would he be working under me for a meagre salary and staying in the staff quarter?"

Joshua blinked in astonishment. He appeared to have gotten Robbie's point and stammered,

"That-that's because you don't want it to be so apparent. You don't want the world to know that you are favouring an Omega or your relationship with him"

"Then isn't it even more favorable for me to keep him beside me so that no one can discover our relationship? He was known to be Beta, who would have thought anything strange if I appointed him based on his talent as my personal chef?"

Joshua didn't have an answer. He stared at Robbie just like Jane and Sarah. All of whom without a doubt assumed my position to be the result of our relationship. Robbie got up and went round the table to the printer and took up a letter that got printed out and placed it in the envelope. He forwarded it to Joshua and said in a low rumbling voice,

"Tony never asked for favor. He really did move up the rank with his own hard work. In fact, I didn't even know he was working in our Hotel until I met him in Garnish on his first day of tranfer. It hasn't even been a month, so you might even remember our reaction from then"

Joshua's expression showed that he recalled our reaction. He looked ashamed and bowed his head. Robbie's gloomy expression relaxed on seeing Joshua's obvious embarassment. He said in a stern but polite tone,

"Here, is your tranfer notice. I wanted to fire you, but, considering the six years that you have spent for our company, I ll give you another chance. But this is your last chance. Next time, I won't be so merciful"

Joshua gaped at Robbie. He clearly didn't expect to be given another chance. His expression looked guilty yet grateful. He took the notice and apologised,

"Forgive me, Sir Walker. I acted without knowing the whole story" and then he turned to me and bowed, "Sorry Chef Tony for doubting your capabilities. I hope that I get to work for you again in future"

I didn't know what to say so I simply nodded.

"Jane escort Miss Sarah to her car" Robbie commanded. Jane quickly guided a numb Sarah out.

Once they all left, the room fell in complete silence. Today, first time, I saw Robbie in his full blown business attitude. His diplomatic ways, his confidence while talking, his charismatic demeanour and his quick but rational decision making, all of it was admirable. I found him really charming today and ended up unconsciously staring at him. I didn't notice him walking towards me until he was face to face with me.

"Am I looking so handsome that you can't take your eyes off?" he said grinning cheekily

I blushed. Sh*t! How can I be staring at him like an idiot. I ended up stammering, "No-I well-"

"Don't deny! I hope I have made you like me at least little today" he smiled and proceeded to wrap his arms around me. My head was again over his chest. I could hear his heart beating. It somehow calmed me. I closed my eyes and listening to it.

"Everything is over. Twen will no longer be subjected to any such problem again. You can relax now" Robbie said, patting head.