Chapitre 8: SEVEN (Mission accomplished)
"....Take a day off, how about two?" Mia mimicked miserably as she walked down the aisle of the supermarket. She had decided to spend the day by herself at the mall.
"How kind of you Mr. Fisher." She sighed as she picked up a packet of cheese and threw in the shopping basket.
"How come everything's so expensive these days?" She murmured,
Just then, a she heard a small voice yell out her name.
"Miss Anderson!"
She turned and to her greatest surprise, it was Noel, standing with an older woman.
Mia gave him a wide smile and he ran towards her and gave her a tight hug.
"Hey little man." She smiled as bend down to his level and ruffled his hair.
"How are you doing?" She asked.
"Great and you?" He smiled.
"I'm good as always." She laughed.
Just then, the older woman who had been staring for a while cleared her throat to announce her presence.
The first that came into Mia's mind was that she was Noel's mom.
'So that man does older women?' He thought.
'Ner, it's probably his grandma—what are you doing stupid! You're supposed to greet her!' Her mind yelled.
"I didn't know I was still that good looking for a woman to stare at me like that." She said as she chuckled.
"....Um I'm sorry." Mia quickly apologized.
"Good day Ma'am, I'm Mia Anderson."
"And I'm Emma Pena. But I'm addressed as Mrs Pena."
"I'm Noel's nanny." She added.
Mia mouthed an "O" and nodded. In her mind, for some extra odd reason, she felt relieved.
"Nice to meet you, Mrs Pena."
"Nice to meet you too Mia, so you're the knight in shining armor Noel won't stop talking about." She laughed.
"Oh really?!" She asked as she turned to Noel who gave her a shy smile.
"Yes! Miss Anderson did this, Miss Anderson did that." She laughed.
"The young lad is so enthusiastic about you. So what brings you here? Aren't you supposed to be at work or something?"
"Oh me, I am, but my boss gave me the rest of the week off."
"How does he do all this?" Mrs Pena mumbled.
"Sorry?" Mia said.
"Oh no, nothing, something I forgot just crossed my mind." She feigned a small laugh.
"Oh. So how about you two, what brings you here, isn't Noel supposed to be in school?"
"Oh, he closed early today. Plus he has a talent hunt competition at his school so we came shopping for some clothes."
"Oh how exciting!" Mia grinned.
"Yeah, he plays the piano so well." Mrs Pena commented.
"Really?!" She smiled.
"Then one of these days, your day gonna have to teach me."
"How about you come for the talent show then I'm going to teach you." He smiled.
Mia chuckled.
"How about your parents, aren't they coming?"
"My dad will be returning late from a business trip on that day." He said sadly.
'That jerk, he cares for work more than his own son.' She thought.
"Oh. How about your mom then?" She asked instead,
Noel lowered his head and Mrs Pena immediately held his shoulders.
"....Um, Noel doesn't have a mom—"
"Oh my goodness! I'm sorry I asked that." She quickly apologized.
"No it's fine." She smiled.
"We've been looking for a young chaperone to accompany him, I would accompany him but then, I think the young lad's getting tired of me." She laughed.
"He says I don't let him do stuff." She whispered, which made Mia laugh.
"So are you going to come with me then?" Noel Interrupted.
Mia thought for a while.
"....Um I'd love to, but only if your dad's okay with it—"
"Off course the Chairman won't mind!" Mrs Pena assured.
"Well then, I'll see you on—"
"Friday!" He smiled.
Mia laughed.
"Friday it is then… "
"Great, let's exchange contacts so I'll keep you posted." Mrs Pena said as she handed Mia her phone.
Mia collected it and dialed her number.
"Here." She smiled as she returned it,
"Thank you. Mia, you don't know how much this means to him." She smiled,
"You're welcome." She grinned.
After that, they had a small talk and Mrs Pena even paid for her groceries.
"You didn't have to do that Mrs Pena." Mia said as they walked out of grocery store.
"But I did." She smirked.
"Just take it as a thank you gift for accepting to do this."
Mia chuckled.
"Thanks Ma'am."
The she turned to Noel.
"See you on Friday Little man." She smiled.
Noel nodded.
"Bye!" He replied as he watched her leave.
"Mission accomplished...." Mrs Pena grinned.
"What Mission?" Noel asked curiously.
"Finding you a chaperone." She grinned.
---
A day ago…
"Another long day at work." Mr. Fisher sighed as he gathered his things. He had developed this habit of working late since he had no one to go home too.
"If only I could receive an early Christmas bonus, I won't be this bored." he sighed.
And just as if the heavens heard his prayers, his phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Good evening. Mr. Fisher. This is George from the Chairman's office—"
"Chair... Chairman, as the Chairman of Regal Empire?!" He stuttered,
"Yes, Mr. Fisher, Indeed it is." George replied.
"S-Sir how may I be of help to you this evening?"
"Well, the Chairman has a simple task for you."
"A task?"
"Yes, a task and if you're able to carry it out, then you might just have an early Christmas."
"I was really looking forward to that—I mean.... Off course I'm up to the task Sir."
"Good. It's about a certain Mia Anderson."
"The housekeeping staff? What did she do and how is she related to the Chairman—"
"Mr. Fisher, You ask too many questions. The Chairman has asked that you give Miss Anderson the rest of the week off—"
"What?! The Chairman has never given me a day off, how does she get the rest of the week off, is she the Chairman's girlfriend—"
"Mr. Fisher! Do you want to lose everything!" George snapped.
"N....No sir." he stuttered.
"Good then you'll do as I say. This discussion remains confidential and you will not disclose even a single bit of it to Miss Anderson, then you'll have to face the music."
"Yes sir! I'll do so."
"Good, do just that and I assured you, you're going to have an early Christmas. Bye for now." He said then hung up.
'What the hell's going on.' he thought.
"I dunno, I don't care, just as long as I'm getting an early pay check."
Tuesday (Few hours before Mrs Pena met Mia)
"The target has left the building. I repeat, the target has left the building. Do you copy?!" One of the guards reported.
Ethan had told his guards to monitor Mia and report back to George.
"Sir, Miss Anderson has left her apartment, she went for a walk and at exactly 11:00am, she'll be at the mall." George reported.
"Thank you George, please send in Mrs Pena now."
Mrs Pena came in and Ethan took his time to brief her.
"So when you meet, make it seem like a coincidence—"
"There's one small problem Sir, how do I recognize this Miss Anderson when I see her?"
"Oh that's not a problem, Noel will certainly recognize her."
"Okay sir."
"Any other questions?"
"No Sir."
"Then that will be it. Before you leave, let's go over it again shall we."
Mrs Pena nodded.
"Noel and I will go shopping, Miss Anderson's location will be communicated to me and when that is done, I'm going to head in her direction so Noel see hers, which will make the whole thing look like a coincidence." She smiled.
"Good, you've been paying attention." He nodded.
"Thank you sir, I'll have Noel get dressed for the outing." She said before she left the room.
'Do you have to go through all this trouble, simply call the girl and ask her. Isn't that simple enough?' she thought.
'Off course, his ego would not let him.' she chuckled to herself.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone