The Rhyme of the Depositary

083 - SEASON 2

This morning Alice held a lightning meeting with the directors of the company regarding the issue of embezzlement with Jasmine. After agreeing to make an important decision, Alice decided to leave the company immediately.

It was already noon time as they exited towards the special parking lot. Alice frowned as an old song from evanescene softened from the ringing of her phone as a dial tone.

*Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside

Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without

Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow

Don't want to let it lay me down this time

Drown my will to fly

Here in the darkness I know myself

Can't break free until I let it go

Let me go*

After the ringing of the phone almost stopped, Alice pulled out her phone and shifted the receive button.

"Yes, what's up, Rachel?" alice asked, looking at her friend's name clearly on the main screen.

"Where are you? Daniel and I were at the restaurant and had lunch together. Can you accompany us? The more people the better." Rachel asked expectantly.

Alice glanced at Jasmine who was seriously driving the car into the main road and thought for a moment.

"alright. I just finished a meeting from the office. Send your locations. Jasmine and I will be there soon."

"You're such a fun friend, Alice. I'll wait here yes. Be careful on the road."

Connection interrupted. Jasmine who was at Alice's side glanced questioningly, feeling curious.

"We had lunch with Rachel and Daniel. They were waiting at the restaurant. Rachel's sending their location in a minute." Alice said lightly.

Jasmine who heard the word Daniel called, slightly displayed a dislike face. Alice caught this reaction at a glance.

"You don't mind us having lunch with them, do you? Aren't you and Daniel really nothing but a small fare because he kissed you the other day?" Alice asked with a slight seductive tone.

A little squeak came out of Jasmine's mouth. Each time the thought of Daniel made Jasmine annoyed a little. But he did not want to show the reaction to Alice.

"What if I had lunch with him? I don't matter. I never had any trouble with him." Jasmine raised both of her shoulders, trying to not care.

"All right." Alice smiled brightly.

They then split the city streets quite tightly. Jasmine is a person who is good at driving cars. He was skilled at finding gaps and maneuvering to each side of the road.

Jasmine is the most unique puzzle. Behind her beauty, she kept a lot of things that others could rarely guess.

They passed through the streets for over a quarter of an hour to the restaurant Rachel was referring to. There, Daniel had been sitting idly waiting for Alice's arrival.

The restaurant is designed in the oudoor style. Tables and chairs are neatly arranged in an open room like a beautiful mini gazebo. Some places there is a kind of candle holder that if night falls, the atmosphere must be more vibrant with bright candlelight.

Alice walked past several tables to the inner place towards her companions.

Daniel's face was glaring at Alice. However, when he saw the figure behind Alice, Daniel's mood turned dark.

Rachel and Alice understand Daniel's changing mood. They both gave each other a code without a sound. It was as if understanding these two people was like a firecracker that was ready to erupt at any time if ignited by the trigger.

"I hope you don't mind me taking Jasmine, Daniel." Alice leaned gently into Daniel's sturdy arm.

The four of them sat in a circle, Alice and Daniel sitting side by side. Rachel and Jasmine sat side by side. So that automatically Jasmine face to face with Daniel. It made their faces both dark as the night sky.

"You have the right to take whoever you want. It's just, I'd appreciate it more if you sort out friends on your social scale. Some people can have a bad effect on you." Daniel expressed his opinion.

Jasmine who heard that, stared lightly at Daniel, feeling unconcealed and humming the song as it was being played in this restaurant.

*On a dark desert highway

Cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas

Rising up through the water

Up ahead in the distance

I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim

I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway

I heard the mission bell

And I was thinkingin' to myself

'This could be heaven or this could be hell

Then she lit up a candle

She showed me the way

There were voices down the corridor

I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

The Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year (any time of year)

You can find it here

She got the Mercedes Benz, uh

She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys

That she calls friends

How they dance in the courtyard

Sweet summer sweats

Some dance to remember

Some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain

"Please bring me my wine"

He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969"

And still those voices are calling from far away

Wake you up in the middle of the night

Just to hear them say*

Jasmjne's voice was quite melodious. He was smart to put the tone according to the tempo so that Rachel and Alice carried the atmosphere. Rachel even went along with the mangosteen enjoying the beautiful voice of Jasmine.

Only one person was bothered by Jasmine's singing. Who else if not Daniel. As far as Jasmine was concerned, the man had never felt a match in the slightest.

"Can you stop singing? We don't all need your voice that you sell cheap."

Rachel and Alice looked at Daniel with questioning eyes. This time Daniel was outrageous. Jasmine's beautiful voice was referred to as a cheap voice. Just be right.

"What's wrong with you, Daniel? You're not usually this rough on women." Rachel didn't take it.

There is a limit to when Daniel just chattered unimportantly or started doing something that offended others. This time Rachel felt Daniel was outrageous. The man is usually not that subjective in judging a person.

"It's okay. His voice just doesn't match my taste." Daniel said lightly.

Alice and Rachel were still staring at each other with concern. Daniel cursed in his heart. There was no way he would be honest with them if a few days ago he had a dream about Jasmine playing the song.

Daniel just doesn't want to remember that. She's been pretty haunted with all the thoughts about Jasmine.

Hearing Jasmine sing the song, made Daniel feel uneasy.

"Since when do you feel fit and unsuitable for certain types of sounds?" This time it was Alice.

"Leave it. A man like him why should he mess around. He is the product of a man who suffered many emotional failures. I tend to feel sorry for her." Jasmine said cynically, responding to Daniel's sadistic comment. The woman did not want to take too much heart over every sharp word that Daniel uttered. He switched their topic by calling the waiter and ordering some menus. Others followed Jasmine's actions, including Daniel's.

"I heard that people in your case were embezzling the company's funds." Daniel begins a conversation with Alice.

The mood returned even better when Daniel chose not to corner Jasmine back. Alice smiled wryly, starting to explain her case in outline.

"Yes. He is the main accountant. So, during this time, he was detected forging many fictitious bills that were claimed to the company. There are more employee salaries submitted in double. It was only discovered last week because the person was smart enough to do the action."

Alice recalled how many nominees had been successfully embezzled. Pretty fantastic nominees of course. It is fitting that the last five months Alice felt the company's expenses were unnatural. Someone is playing a game.

Since Alice's company is still healthy and still making a profit, Alice has not been too concerned about the swelling of operational financing. If Alice had followed her instincts and investigated, this might not have increased badly.

"Finance is very vulnerable to being played. You have to put people you really trust, Alice. In some companies, there is a tax fraud. It turns out that the difference in the report is used by the accounting who made it. Everyone is very clever at lying to the law."

Alice nodded in confirming. Many cases of financial embezzlement are rampant. Everywhere the name of accounting and treasurer is quite vulnerable to make mistakes.

"It's all done. Now the company's lawyer will take care of his legal case. I hope, in the future there will be no such thing as this again." Alice stared at the corner of the table with a weak look. It is really uncomfortable to face your own employees doing this.

As it turns out, Alice's kindness doesn't always go both ways. There is a kind of person who, though many times given kindness, still desires to break the hand of the helper.

"I'm sure this won't happen again. As long as you can control the company and enforce a tighter audit, everything will be fine."

Daniel patted Alice gently on the shoulder, giving her support as a friend.

Jasmine who saw that was silent. In his heart he began to wonder. Daniel could be that gentle to Alice. When could he treat Jasmine with the same portion.

In fact, come to think of it, Daniel was quite good-natured and objective. His warm attitude comes out at any time. Only, it was all an exception for Jasmine.

After their lunch was over, Jasmine and Alice returned home. They both had time to go to the cake shop to buy some kind of favorite cake Axel.

"Actually, what's going on between you and Daniel, Jasmine? you two are like men ready for war at any moment." Alice asked this on the way home. He had often seen the two men not befitting of each other. Alice just wanted to find out why.

"There's nothing. You should have asked Daniel directly. He always starts something." Jasmine replied as she was. Indeed, in every silat of the tongue they do, Daniel is the one who starts it. Sometimes, trivial things can be the trigger.

What Jasmine said was true. How many times have they yelled at each other outraged just because it was started by Daniel. As a man who rarely provokes women's emotions, Daniel is quite provocative in provoking Jasmine's anger.

"I saw you yesterday while kissing Daniel. You guys seem to get pretty carried away. What say?" Alice's idle nature began to appear again. He nudged Jasmine's arm and looked at her meaningfully.

"I always get carried away with my customers and every guy who pays me dollars. If you want to pay me, maybe I can get carried away too."

Alice immediately retreated and shuddered in horror. He rubbed his stomach gently and recited the swearing.

"I'm still too normal to be moralizing with a fellow woman."

"Hahaha I'm kidding, Alice. I still want men, too. I'm trying to go broke if I'm having an unhealthy orientation."

They laughed together and talked about light topics. Several times Jasmine receives calls from her customers and she coordinates her men over the phone.

Alice glared at Jasmine who was working fast serving their every wish. Several times, Alice heard that some of them wanted strange things in an unnatural way.

If Alice was in Jasmine's position, she could not imagine how complicated her life would be.

"Newly this time I am grateful to live as a businessman rather than pimps. It turns out that being pimps is more complicated than taking care of a complicated company's finances." Alice was inexhaustible.

During this time Alice worked more often to observe the numbers. Something that is dead and easy to take care of. While Jasmine had always intersected with people who had thousands of complicated requests. Each request is different-brda and has its own way of handling. Too inconvenient.

"We each have our own talents, Alice." Jasmine chiming.

They stared out, observing the streets of Manhattan which began to solidify again.

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