Chapter 3 News

"Mate!" Veronica felt uneasy after her eyes read that message.

She majorly was hit by the pang of shock shaking her to the very core, making the hair of her neck stand upright because of two reasons. First was the timing of the message. Veronica had been receiving messages for a week now. But all the messages until the current one were sent in broad daylight. Second thing that got her boots quaking was the word MATE!

"Why is he messaging me, calling me his mate in the middle of the night?!" thought Veronica. Seeing an unflinching gaze passed at the phone screen with wide open eyes and lips parting away worried Bridget. She pressed Veronica's shoulder. Veronica's shoulder blades went a bit high on the sudden touch that drove her back to reality.

Bridget's eyebrows went high jutting together and two vertical lines emerged on her forehead. She asked, worried, "Veronica, is everything cool? Why are you growing sweaty?!" Bridget was quick to grab some tissues and pat Veronica's forehead to absorb the cold beads of sweat.

Veronica finally got the power to voice. She said, smiling intermittently, "Nothing!" Her voice was splintering as she said. Bridget averted the tissue once her forehead was clean and her eyes pointed at Veronica's phone, "If it's nothing then why did you panic on seeing the message?!"

She went to grab Veronica's phone and asked, "Who is messaging you this late?!" Veronica's eyes went widest out of the sudden action of her friend. She outstretched her hand, drifting the phone away from Bridget's reach. Bridget asked, perplexed, "What's wrong?!" Veronica heaved, "Nothing! I got to use the washroom!" With those words, Veronica turned on her heel and left Bridget hanging in the cafeteria along with her question.

The incessant clicking of her stilettos showed how anxious Veronica was that fueled her speed. Nobody could have made out that she was tired seeing her energetic slender feet. After quickly squeezing herself out of the cafeteria along with the bunch of the files, the first thing she did was walk back to her cubicle.

Veronica's cubicle was just like the other cubicles, the size of which was a smaller one, but its location was significant. It was the closest to the CEO's office. After placing the files on the mahogany table beside her open laptop, she came out and walked up to the washroom that was situated on the opposite side.

She took the passage of the ladies washroom and flung the washroom door open. She stepped inside, clicked the door shut and slapped her body against the closed door. Her lips fell apart and she started breathing heavily through her slightly open mouth. The washroom homed a dead silence that was broken by her audible breaths. Her eyes got distorted roaming in all the directions as the anxiety levels in her body went high.

She said anxiously, "He is watching each and every move of mine! Who is he?! Why is he behind me? Why is he calling me his mate?"

It wasn't that tough for Veronica to leave those questions hanging because they had remained unanswered for nearly a week now. The latest question that popped in her head was just not ready to leave her at ease as it had something new to it; a new word: MATE.

Veronica gulped down the rising bile in her throat before she tried to find the answer to the MATE question, "Werewolves, vampires, dragons have mates! Does that mean he is one of them and I… I am his human mate?!" She said to herself, her eyes digging deep in her reflection in the mirror transfixed on the wall opposite that held the basin counter.

Her other mind counterattacked the first one, "Mates?! They are mythical creatures! Real world is made of humans and these mythical creatures exist in the books!"

The thought provided by her mind's other half was satisfying. Veronica slapped her forehead and said, "I am thinking the impossible, all thanks to Bridget and her stupid werewolf tales!"

"He has to be a stalker playing around, that's it!" Registering that thought in her mind, she dropped her eyelids shut and stood there still trying to calm her body. Closing her eyes for a few seconds, she normalized her surging breathing rate.

She slowly opened her eyes to see her reflection in the square mirror.

She detached her petite body from the door once she was no longer feeling breathless. Gaping at her reflection, Veronica started walking towards the mirror. She stopped by the basin counter.

After passing a final glance at the phone, she pulled out a tissue. She kept the tissue flat over the counter at some distance away from the basin. Neatly laying the phone on the tissue paper with its screen facing down so that it would no longer bother her. She proceeded to wash her hands. After pumping some hand wash in her hands, she washed her hands in the lukewarm water of the running tap.

After washing her hands clean, she splashed some water on her face and pulled out some tissues pat drying her face.

She blew out a long sigh of ease. As she was crumbling the used tissue, she walked up to the dustbin. Tossing the tissue ball in the dustbin, she said, determined, "I can't just ignore the messages or that stalker this time! Got to do something!!"

As she was thinking hard to find a way to know who the stalker was, one thought crossed her mind. Her lips curled into a faint smile and she mouthed, "Lucy!"

She walked back to the basin counter and picked up her phone. Unlocking the screen, her fingertips pressed the search bar of the contact list and typed out a name, Lucy.

A contact got displayed that read:

Lucy I.T. Department

Lucy was one of the chief heads heading the I.T. Department of Perfumerza. Lucy and Veronica hardly had a proper conversation as their works were headed in the opposite directions, however after receiving the strange messages and her investigation in search of the stalker went futile, Veronica thought of taking Lucy's help.

Veronica was one of the renowned names in the office both among the ladies and gentlemen. While her beauty would set the men's heart racing, it burnt the ladies with envy. Veronica had received 5 messages so far, every bloody message shook her terribly, all thanks to the details mentioned in the message. Every message matched with what she was doing at that moment.

Those messages gave the scary signal that she was observed for 24 hours. But the question was who could that person be?

Bridget was the one to make her realize that she was an apple of eye for the guys at the office and that was what lit her mind, that the stalker could be someone from the office. It could either be the man whose proposals were turned down by her, or someone who was secretly admiring her.

Well, that was the purpose, Veronica approached Lucy. She was a bit worried as to how she could squeeze out CCTV Footages from the head of the I.T. Department whom she had hardly talked to. But after having a friendly conversation with Lucy, she decided to spill out the mysterious situation she was caught up in. Lucy was taken aback after hearing her and promised to help her in whichever way possible.

"Lucy told me she will get the CCTV yesterday when I come to the office, but she didn't. I think I should call her!"

Veronica bit her lips and closed her eyes in vexation. She opened her eyes and passed a glare at the screen as she said with her clenched teeth, "But how can I call her at 3 A.M?!"

Veronica kept the phone back on the counter and started walking back and forth thinking hard to pull herself out of the messy, mysterious situation. Her frantic feet were in sync with her hands.

Constantly fiddling her hands, she said incessantly, "What should I do? Should I call her or not? What should I do?" She stopped abruptly beside the basin. Turning herself to the mirror, she said, talking to her reflection, "Wait! Lucy didn't come to the office yesterday. What if she doesn't come to the office tomorrow?"

Veronica closed her agape mouth. Pressing her lips together and shaking her head, she said, "No, I can't wait for another day! I better call Lucy!"

After making a firm decision, she tucked her hair behind her ear lobe and then took her phone. Dialing Lucy, she kept the phone over her ear. Those buzzing rings were making her anxious. Stomping on the floor, she squeaked, "Lucy, please pick up the call!" Before she could complete the sentence the phone went unanswered.

Veronica dialled again and fortunately the phone was picked up in four rings. She could hear a sleepy hello from the other end.

"Hello."

Veronica licked her lips feeling guilty for breaking her sleep. She said shyly, "Hello, Lucy, Veronica this side."

"What happened? Is everything okay? You are calling me this early!" Lucy's sleepy voice slowly went from being sluggish to alert.

Veronica bobbed her head and said, "I am fine! I called you regarding the CCTV."

A short span of silence followed. Veronica was afraid that Lucy might be pissed off hearing the reason behind that early hour call.

Lucy replied after a brief second, "I am sorry, I did check the CCTV yesterday, but forgot to inform you, workload you know!!"

Veronica bobbed her head in dismay. Her lips took a downturn as she thought, "Yeah! Perfumerza is well-aware of ways to exploit the employees!!"

Veronica shrugged the work-related thoughts away and was all ears to what Lucy had to say.

Lucy said, "I did check the CCTV. Nothing suspicious was spotted in the office. Not only did I check this week's CCTV, but last week's CCTV too, but everything appears fine! I even checked the cameras installed outside our office floor and Sterling Building too, but everything looked normal."

Veronica's eyebrows hung high and her eyes were full of praise for the efforts that Lucy put in. She thought, "It had just been two days since I shared this with her. That was the first time we ever talked or else we didn't even exchange smiles and she did all of this for me!"

Veronica blew out a sigh and said, "Lucy, thank you so much for going an extra mile for me!"

Lucy replied sweetly, "No need to thank me, Veronica! We are colleagues after all! Anyway you called me this early! Is it that you got another message from that stalker?"

Veronica said, her tone growing gloomy, "Yes, I did!" Despite Lucy doing so much for her, Veronica preferred not to talk about what he texted her. She wasn't in the space to share those mate chats with Lucy or anyone including her best friend Bridget.

She decided to hang up. She said in an apologetic tone, "I am so sorry, Lucy for ruining your sleep! I think I should hang up! Sleep well!"

Before Veronica could hang up, she received Lucy's piercing voice. She said sharply, "Veronica, wait! I have got some news for you!"

Veronica's squinty eyes owing to another failure in the mission to find the stalker got wide. The hope of catching the stalker that just got smoldered, lit up again.

With eagerness coating her voice, she asked, "What news?"