ALL NOVEL 83. Receiving Her Own Condolences
Aurora found the trip to London quite relaxing. She had been up all night dying multiple times while fighting tooth and nail with her breaks only being while she was respawning. She sat in the back of a car while the hypnotising sound of the engine helped calm her mind and allowed her to take some time to just think.
Granted, some of her thoughts were stressing over how the various meetings and dealings during the day would play out, but the moment of calm where she could just sit and do nothing was just what she needed.
Getting to her office, however, well that had been the complete opposite.
When she first entered the Shard with Harold in tow holding her briefcase, she had gained a lot of attention. She noticed that many of the people in the building's main lobby were glancing her way, while some just openly stared.
She didn’t exactly mind all the stares, after all, it was nothing new to her, but the intensity was much worse than when she was a guy. She felt her expression tighten along with her back unconsciously stiffening, prepared for someone to do or say something stupid.
Thankfully the building only seemed to have professionals present who had self-control, so she was able to get to the elevator without any trouble.
She arrived on the 27th floor where the Branford group's parent company head office was located, and it had been a complete contrast to the main lobby.
Her inheritance of the company was of great importance to many due to the controversial decisions her male self had made and their impacts on the company's future. The way she decided to direct the company had the potential to influence many people's lives, so they were all interested in meeting her and seeing where her stance lay.
She had been fine upon entering, being able to freely move to her secretary’s desk with only curious looks from the employees who apparently did not know who she was. However, that changed after Sasha had started to lead Aurora to her office.
She imagined it was quite a sight to see the two women in their smart, form-fitting suits with pencil skirts walking along with a handsome butler in tow, but it seemed that the revelation that she was Aurora Branford had been more impactful.
She wasn’t complaining, it was refreshing in its own way to have people focus on something other than her looks, but she still found it tedious. One thing she did notice was that her eyes were drawn unconsciously to Sasha more than they had in the past and that her mind kept trying to lead her to indecent thoughts despite her need to focus on why she was there.
She had spent at least five minutes trying to walk towards her office but was constantly stopped by different senior figures who all tried to make their introductions and give their condolences for the loss of her male self.
While her decisions had been controversial, she had still been quite popular amongst those she had met. She got on well with many of her staff, having been introduced to many when visiting with her father before she eventually took over the company after he passed away.
Either way, the situation was incredibly weird to her, and as much as she tried she was certain she had let a peculiar expression onto her face a couple of times. Being given condolences for her own death was surreal, but she internally mused that it was just one of many factors about her current situation that was surreal.
She had to go through the process of greeting people she already knew like it was the first time. It had been relatively easy when she first came back in time as Chester since she just had to pretend not to know things about them she learned in the future, but in comparison to now, she had to act like complete strangers.
However, after the tedious walk giving greetings, accepting condolences and pushing away annoying questions with a simple dismissal that everything would be answered in a communication later in the day, she made it to her office door. She took a moment to address the people who were either following or were nearby, expressing that she would be busy with important business so she did not want to be disturbed, but would try to take the time to talk to everyone when she got the time.
After she had finally entered her office she let out an exasperated sigh which Sasha had giggled at much to her exasperation since she didn't have to deal with the bizarre scenario. She was pleased to be able to get a short respite from her employees as she moved around to her desk and collapsed into the chair, letting out another long sigh, this time in relaxation now she was sat down.
“Now that was rough. Harold, would you mind getting Hilda to prepare something relaxing for when I get back? At this rate, I will be run dry and catatonic from receiving my own condolences.”
Harold had a knowing smile on his face as he gave a respectful nod, clearly amused by her situation.
“Of course, I shall relay your message.”
Sasha stood to one side waiting for an opening to speak while she gave Aurora an odd look, likely caused by her slip of the tongue just now about receiving her own condolences. Dismissing her concerns she sat back up and started to pull a number of documents from the desk.
“Ah, Miss Branford, we should go through the scheduled meetings and events that have been planned for today first, most of the documentation that you should need is in this file.”
Sasha who had become particularly flustered moved over to the desk and placed a relatively thick document on top of its flat glass surface before taking a respectful step back. She clearly thought that Aurora was some kind of clueless girl with no idea what she was doing which she found quite amusing.
After sifting through her draws for a minute she found the desired pile of her old documentation she had locked away and placed it on the table. She started to flick through the small stack as she distractedly spoke to Sasha.
“Sasha, I understand I look young and that you may think me ignorant and clueless, but I assure you I am not. You will find me as knowledgeable and experienced as Chester, even if you don’t believe it at first. I would recommend that you treat me like Chester in another body and work with the idea that I know absolutely everything he did.”
While Aurora was unsure if she should reveal everything to the young girl just yet, right now the choice was out of her hands due to the glass walls of her office that would allow people outside to see in. While she could prevent others from viewing her office, the whole explaining process would take time which she did not have at this moment, so she attempted to streamline the whole process.
It seemed to have at least some of the desired effect as Sasha first looked at her in mild shock with her clipboard hugged to her chest, attempting to speak while she stubbed for words.
“Miss Branford, that's not- I did not mean to insinuate you were ignorant- I wasn’t judging-“
Aurora cut her off with a raised hand, not bothering to look up from the page she was checking over.
“No need, I would do the same in your shoes. What is important at this moment is getting as much done as we possibly can with the little time we have. I am not sure what Gareth has told you yet, but I will be making absolutely no changes to what Chester implemented. After all the internal drama has been dealt with, we need to speed up the progress of the other projects that were recently started. The tragic events of the last week have created delays in the timeline. Oh, and I will need the full report on the list of companies I- Chester had you look into, that has also been delayed longer than it should have.”
Sasha looked to have been bombarded by too much information for a few moments before she finally shook herself out of it.
“Yes miss, I guess it would end up easier if we didn’t create extra confusion by reverting the changes made in the last month. I am still not completely sure what their aim was outside of the speculation that has been passed around.”
Aurora let out a slight laugh as she looked at the woman, her eyes lingering a little longer than she wanted them to as she spoke.
“Well, it's complicated. Message me some times when you are free and I will find a time that works when I can properly explain what's going on.
