The Devil's Harem

Chapter - 61

Soon the group drove out of the company and was on the road. The unknown woman, who Alex was presuming to be Jessica's secretary, was driving the car while Alex was in the passenger's seat. Jessica and Karen were talking about some work-related stuff, while Alex, on the other hand, tried to initiate a conversation with Jessica's secretary only to get no response. Alex did hear and knew about the women in Theation, but to his relief, no one in the PR department was like that, but everyone else in the company was so stiff and poker-faced.

Silent and bored, it took some time for Alex to realise that they were heading towards the underdeveloped and abandoned part of the city. Alex had never been to this part of the city, and as they drove by, Alex saw the difference between the two worlds in the same city.

This area had many buildings that had collapsed, and the few still standing were on the verge of collapse. The roads were full of pits, and the car was bouncing continuously. Hardly anyone could be seen on the road. This part of the city had been abandoned for a long time, and despite it being in such a dire situation, hardly anyone paid attention to it.

This area used to be the main, posh part of the city, but everything changed during the war. This area and the people here were the ones who were implicated by the war the most. Out of nowhere, the country went to war with its neighbour, and within days, everything was brought to ruins. The first city to bear the brunt of the war was Elenor, and it has been twenty years since then, but the aftermaths of the war still remained. But because of the lack of attention from everyone and even the government, the situation deteriorated, and soon the people began to leave this area and move to the newly developed regions nearby.

Finally, the car stopped. When Alex and the others got off the car, they found themselves standing in front of a run-down building. This building was a bit different from the other structures he saw on his way here. Unlike the other buildings in the area, although it looked a bit pathetic, the building was structurally in good shape. Maybe someone did a bit of reconstruction and maintaining of the building that apart from the dirt, the garbage and dull exterior, it could very well be used.

As they stood in front of the building, Jessica whispered something to her secretary, to which the latter constantly nodded. Then Jessica turned towards Karen, "I want you to follow Amanda and do a brief review of the building and then let me know what you need for your project."

Karen nodded and was about to follow Amanda to the building when Alex stood in front of them.

"I will go. Chief, you should stay here," Alex asked Karen.

"What are you doing?" Karen asked in a hushed tone as she stole a quick glance of Jessica.

"It's not safe in there. Who knows when this building might come crumbling down," Alex didn't care if Jessica heard him. But hearing him, Jessica looked strangely at Karen.

Karen grabbed Alex by his arm and pulled him away, "What are you doing?" Karen's mood was already bad but hearing him and the way Jessica looked at her made it even worse.

"What do you mean? I am concerned about you. Look at all these buildings, they can't be in any worse state. They might crumble by a blow of wind," Alex said. He didn't get angry by the way Karen talked to him. Instead, Karen could also feel the genuine care in his voice for her.

"It's alright. This building has been patched up and maintained by our company for some time now. There is nothing dangerous here. I will be back in a jiffy before you can even say 'antidisestablishmentarianism,' Karen said and hurried towards Amanda.

'Antidisestablishmentarianism,' Karen hadn't taken more than a couple of steps before she heard Alex pronounce it out. She looked back at Alex, who was looking at her with a smug.

Red-faced with embarrassment, Karen turned towards Amanda with a snort and walked away with the latter.
Now only Jessica and Alex were left outside standing by the car. Thankfully it was a cloudy day. There was no conversation between the two of them, and Alex couldn't think of a way to break the ice.

Finally, out of boredom, Alex decided to start the conversation, "Boss, I have been itching to ask this to someone for a while? Can I?"

"Go ahead," Jessica said without averting her eyes from her phone.

"Why are you so adamant about starting this publication company? You know, following the trend, in this time of online reading, we will hardly be able to cover the cost unless we have a bestseller. And only if that book is serialized or adopted in a movie will we have substantial profits. And to be honest, they are hard to come by," Alex asked as he put out his point of view in front of her.

Jessica didn't say anything even long after Alex finished. She continued to type on her phone before finally looking at him, "Do you think I need advice on where to spend my money from someone I don't even know the name of?" Jessica asked. Like always, she had no visible emotions on her face.

"No, but---" Alex tried to explain but was cut short.

"Then don't go around advising me on something above your pay grade," Jessica told him.

"Then why did you bring me along?" Alex asked. He thought that she wanted him to tag along because of the report he presented in the meeting. Maybe she thought highly of him.

But Jessica's word made him speechless, "Don't even think that I asked for you to be here. Not even in your wildest dreams. You are here because Karen suggested doing so".

"You really don't know my name?" Alex asked. Judging from her responses until now, he was afraid she might be telling the truth a little while back.

"Will that help me earn money?" Jessica asked.

"I don't---" Alex was cut short once again.

"Then I am not interested in it".

Alex could not find words to counter her. She had this poker face all along, which made it hard for him to even hold out a conversation with her, let alone an argument. Frustrated, he shut himself up and stood there waiting for Karen.

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(A/N: Guys do comment your thoughts and if you feel the story is going good, do vote with power stones and leave a review. Anything more is a bonus for me)