Candor And Curiosity (A Slenderman Romance)

Chapter 25

Hallo everyone! Thanks for deciding to read this chapter. Thankfully I've been given a week off from school so I'm super excited that I'll have more time to work on updates! Anyway, hope you enjoy.

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Savannah and I arrived at Penn South Newspaper Company at exactly 1:45pm— forty-five minutes later than our scheduled return time. Perhaps we would've gotten there earlier if an unforeseen accident hadn't taken place on the highway, stopping the flow of traffic and forcing us to wait for thirty minutes until the mess was cleaned up. 

Matt greeted us at the door and, as always, he was wearing his signature smile. A flower of relief blossomed within us as soon as we saw him because we knew he of all people would understand. But that flower  withered up and died as soon as we saw that Vladlena was with him.

Tried as we did to explain the situation, Vladlena had refused to accept any excuses. Never before had Matt seemed so powerless in his own corporation as in that moment. He tried to convince her that no harm was done and that the lunch rush was a normal thing, but she refused to listen. 

"Zis is idleness at its finest!" She declared, her intense gaze burning into our faces. 

Savannah and I stood with our hands clasped before us, like children being scolded by a parent, while Matt stood beside Vladlena with a worried look on his face.

"But we're trying to tell you that it wasn't our fault," Savannah defended, careful to keep her tone respectful and not too loud. 

Just what was it about Vladlena Komarov that made all of us feel so intimidated?

"But it is your faults! Zyu both should've left vight away!" she chided stubbornly, and we stared exhaustedly at her.

Probably realizing that as the CEO of a big newspaper company, he had much better things to do than listen to her rant all day, Matt finally tried speaking in our defense again.

"Look, it really isn't their fault. This has never happened before and it most likely won't happen again." Matt told her respectfully, then smiling, he turned to us. "You two should head on up to the office. Vladlena here is just making a big deal out of nothing."

"Finally!" Savannah triumphed, dashing towards the elevator before Vladlena could say a word. I followed after her quickly, afraid of being ensnared in her spider web once again. When we were safely in the elevator, we waved playfully to the two of them and Matt waved back amusedly.  

Vladlena just huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, turning her head away from us. Matt placed a reassuring arm on her shoulder which she swatted away immediately.

As soon as the doors slid shut, Savannah and I let out the bitter sigh of relief that we had been holding in for the duration of Vladlena's intense interrogation.

 I didn't understand why she had made such a big deal out of something so small, especially when the boss himself had been so understanding about it.

"That woman is something else, I tell ya." Savannah sighed, leaning  back against the elevator wall. "And that boss of ours might as well have been her employee." 

I chuckled, nodding in agreement. "We have such weird employers. . . but I wouldn't trade them for anything. Besides, I think they balance each other out. If Matt didn't have Vladlena, we could get away with anything we wanted. And if Vladlena didn't have Matt then. . ."

"We'd all be miserable and suffering?" she finished for me, and I giggled.

A few seconds later the elevator came to a stop and we stepped out into the third floor lobby. Not surprisingly it was empty, and Savannah and I made our way down the twisting hallways towards where the offices were.