Aldi glanced at the watch on his wrist while still talking on the phone. Seeing that it was already past two in the afternoon, he furrowed his brows.
“They just arrived? That’s unusual…”Aldi said to the person on the other end. “Can I see him now?”
“Maybe later, Mr. Aldi,” the person replied. “I just wanted to inform you about this because you’ve been searching for Mr. Jevan and Ms. Selia since morning. But I suggest holding off on talking to Mr. Jevan for now.”
“Why’s that?”
“It looks like Mr. Jevan isn’t in the best mood right now. He seems tired too, so maybe it’s best to wait a bit—”
“I’m already on the 43rd floor,” Aldi interrupted.
“H—huh?”
“I just got off the elevator and I’m coming your way,” he reiterated.
Not long after, he reached the room where Jevan’s secretaries worked, and waved to one of them who was on the phone with him.
Seeing Aldi approaching Jevan’s room, the secretary quickly ended her call and rushed after him.
“Mr. Aldi, wait!” the secretary named Nola said in a panicked tone. “I haven’t informed Mr. Jevan that he’ll have an immediate visitor. How about you talk to Mr. Paskal first?”
“I’m not a visitor,” Aldi replied, continuing to walk towards Jevan’s room.
“But, talking about yesterday’s termination when Mr. Jevan just got in seems a bit…”
Nola’s voice trailed off as she saw Aldi already opening her boss’s door. Despite her reservations, she followed Aldi inside.
“Mr. Jevan, Mr. Aldi is here,” she informed cautiously, stealing a quick look at her boss who was solemnly signing documents at his desk.
Jevan glanced up at Aldi and Nola, who stood before him.
“Come back later, I still need to finish this before a meeting in half an hour,” Jevan replied, disregarding Aldi’s presence.
“I heard you ordered the dismissal of two of my employees?” Aldi inquired.
Despite being irritated by Aldi’s persistence, the man eventually put down his pen and nodded, signaling for Nola to leave them alone.
“Dismissal?” Jevan questioned afterward, squinting his eyes.
“Nola mentioned that yesterday afternoon, she was told to send termination notices for two receptionists at Baven Technology,” Aldi stated without a smile.
Jevan remained impassive. “Receptionists at Baven Technology? What about them?”
“Nola said you asked for them to be fired? The HR department at Baven Technology wasn’t given a clear reason and was only given a note of insubordination under the letter Nola sent to them yesterday afternoon.”
Jevan furrowed his brow. “I had already left the office before yesterday’s meeting at Baven Technology concluded. So, I wasn’t even in the office during yesterday’s lunch break. Why would I send an email to Nola in the afternoon, especially concerning the termination of two receptionists that have nothing to do with me?”
“But Nola said the order came from your email address.”
“My chief secretary, Paskal, and Selia handle my internal emails,” Jevan responded, his expression defensive. “Didn’t Nola inform you of that? She should know I wouldn’t involve myself in receptionist matters, especially those on lower floors.”
Aldi fell silent. His eyes took on a new expression, one of sudden suspicion directed towards someone else.
Why would that person use Jevan’s internal email to fire Kiran and Dika?
“Did you come here just to talk to me about your two receptionists?” Jevan asked him in return. The man’s face did indeed look very tired, to the point where he seemed to have no energy left to explode in anger.
“Because I assumed you were responsible,” Aldi frankly admitted. “If it wasn’t from you, does that mean the decision can be revoked?”
Jevan sighed heavily. “Regardless of anything else, if the person who ordered the termination used my email, it implies they have the authority.”
“But if they truly had authority, they wouldn’t use your email just to fire receptionists,” Aldi countered. “Whoever used your email wouldn’t want it to seem like they fired my two receptionists, Andika Ramansyah and Kiran Kania.”
“On that note, you should ask Selia directly,” Jevan answered. “My chief secretary wouldn’t dare to do that. Paskal isn’t concerned with such matters either. The only one who might, but perhaps felt hesitant and used my email… well, that leaves only Selia.”
“Can’t I seek your help to reverse the decision to terminate them?” Aldi inquired earnestly, dropping the discussion about Selia’s potential involvement. “Honestly, I’m offended because this was done without consulting Baven Technology. Plus, one of them is new, and the other has always been reliable. He’s highly competent.”
“As I mentioned earlier, discuss this directly with Selia. Do you want me to embarrass her by intervening in the termination she carried out for two receptionists at Baven Technology? Are you attempting to undermine my authority?”
Aldi seemed unfazed. “I will indeed speak with Ms. Selia, but I believe you should at least reprimand her for not respecting Baven Technology’s management. She may be my friend, but what she did crosses a line.”
Jevan furrowed his brow once more. “I’ve never had a director from another subsidiary of the Baven Group approach me over a receptionist issue. Are these two receptionists your relatives or friends?”
“They are simply individuals who shouldn’t have been dismissed in this manner,” Aldi responded. “The Baven Group shouldn’t overlook these matters either. You’re aware that employees terminated without proper procedures can take legal action, right?”
Jevan, already annoyed, was on the brink of letting his anger out on Aldi, but the tension was quickly defused as Paskal entered the room.
“Brother! What a surprise to see you here,” Paskal greeted Aldi warmly. “We missed catching up yesterday at Baven Technology, didn’t we?”
The two engaged in a brief conversation, alleviating the tension in the room. After about five minutes, Aldi turned back to Jevan.
“I’ll take my leave now, Mr. Jevan,” he said politely. “I appreciate your trust in giving Ms. Selia full authority over all employees in the Baven Group. I hope there will come a time when Baven Technology is granted similar autonomy over our own staff, so I won’t have to make frequent visits here, right, Mr. Jevan?”
“Damn jerk!” Jevan grumbled as Aldi left the room. “See, he never respects me! Just because he’s got all the coding know-how, he thinks he can call the shots here?!”
“Um, Jevan, he’s not just a coding whiz for our company. He’s also made a ton of money for the Baven Group and is liked by a lot of shareholders,” Paskal said, clueless about the tension. “Is there some problem between you two? He seemed to be talking about employees earlier?”
“Selia fired two of his employees,” Jevan muttered, still clearly annoyed. “This is why I hate the buddy system. It lets incompetent folks slide just because they’re friends with the right people.”
“You hired me and Selia based on connections too,” Paskal remarked calmly.
“That’s because I own Baven Group! While he’s just—“
“Baven Technology’s director, who could be trouble if you don’t handle him carefully,” Paskal interjected, chuckling. “I don’t get what’s up between you and Aldi. Right from the start, it seems like he’s had it out for you, even though he’s a decent guy. Maybe you bullied him back in high school when he was your junior.”
“I don’t recall that, but it’s possible,” Jevan replied, his tone subdued. “Anyway, forget about that jerk. Did you find the information I needed?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m here to give you that info,” Paskal said.
“Do you know who she is?” Jevan asked.
Paskal nodded. “Yeah, turns out she’s Selia’s neighbor and went to the same high school as you, Selia, and Aldi.”
“The same high school as me?”
“Yep, she’s two years younger than you, in the same year as Selia and Aldi,” Paskal mumbled, checking his notes.
“I have a problem with names and faces. I don’t easily remember those who are not important to me,” Jevan muttered as he reached out to see the data sheet from Paskal’s hand. “So, what’s her name?”
“Kiran Kania. She’s the one who got you detained at the South Tangerang Police Station eight years ago.”
“You’re saying… Selia fired me?”
Kiran, who got a call from Aldi that night, was kind of shocked when he told her who had let her go. After hearing about her job loss and coming back from work this morning, Kiran spent the whole day crying in her room.
She was so scared that people might ask about her job again, she didn’t even dare to step out of her own house in case she bumped into her nosy neighbors. Even though her mother had come back home and seen her earlier, she hadn’t talked to her mother about getting fired yet.
That’s why she was now talking to Aldi in her backyard so her mother, who was watching TV in the living room, wouldn’t overhear. She even made an effort to keep her voice down as she whispered to Aldi, although she was really surprised to hear Aldi say that Selia was the one who fired her.
“She said she ‘understood that I’m still a newcomer, so why did she fire me now?'” she murmured, her eyes welling up again. “Just because I accidentally entered the men’s restroom, did Selia really do this to me?”
“I’m sorry, Kiran, but I don’t know Selia’s real reasons,” Aldi replied on the phone. “I stopped by her office earlier, but she had guests, so we couldn’t discuss it. I also tried reaching out to Jevan since Selia used his email for the termination notice. Unfortunately, Jevan didn’t offer much help either.”
“What’s wrong with all of them?” Kiran asked, tears welling up. “I’ve apologized to Selia, and I’m still so new there. How could they just let me go without giving me a chance to improve?”
“Actually, I hesitated to tell you this because I was worried you’d get upset with Selia again, like before,” Aldi said cautiously. “But, this is the only way you’ll understand why Selia won’t assist me with your case.”
“Because she’s actually the root of the problem,” Kiran said sadly. “So, am I officially out of a job? Is there no chance for me to go back?”
“I’ll keep trying to defend you like I promised,” Aldi assured her. “But it might take longer than expected because I haven’t had a chance to meet with Selia yet, and I’ve got three meetings outside tomorrow.”
“Why hasn’t Selia changed?” Kiran muttered, frustration evident in her voice. “Yesterday, she could smile at me and act like everything was fine in the restroom, but then she fires me from behind? Coward! It’s just like before, when she stayed silent about the sale of our exam answer sheets until my mom lost her job.”
Hearing that, Aldi suddenly quietened down. His guilt towards Kiran now increased as he was reminded of the old case that had also involved him.
“Kiran, about what happened back then—“
“Let it go,” Kiran interrupted quickly. “I didn’t mean to bring that up. It’s just… Selia really gets under my skin. I don’t understand why she’s still so two-faced.”
As Aldi stayed silent, not offering any response, Kiran found herself feeling conflicted.
“I need to go take a shower. We’ll talk again… tomorrow?” Kiran suggested, eager to escape the awkwardness.
“Yes, we’ll talk tomorrow. And remember, I’ll keep fighting to defend you, even if it takes longer than expected,” Aldi reassured her.
“Aldi, thanks for your help,” Kiran muttered, trying to mask the pessimism in her tone.
After ending the call, she gazed into the dark night sky from her backyard, feeling the weight of disappointment. Part of her wanted to unleash her anger at Selia silently, but another part couldn’t shake the feeling of self-blame, linking her termination to the incident of mistakenly entering the men’s restroom.
Fifteen minutes passed, and Kiran grew tired of berating herself. Despite her weariness, she pushed herself up from her seat and headed back inside her house.
But just as she reached the door, she heard strange noises coming from the direction of her front gate. Someone appeared to be attempting to open it from outside.
Convinced it was one of her neighbors, accustomed to unauthorized visits to see her mother, Kiran approached the gate. In that moment, she had no inkling that her day would take a darker and more shocking turn than simply being fired by Selia.
She tiptoed towards the front, straining to see her gate clearly. But as she watched the figure slowly entering, she stumbled back in shock.
There stood Jevan Baven, the man she had been avoiding. His poker face remained, but this time, his gaze met Kiran’s directly, leaving her stunned and bewildered.
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