When they reached the PR department, Alex followed Karen to her cabin, ignoring everyone else. As she sat down to relax, she found Alex looking at her with a questioning gaze.
"What is it now?" Karen asked. She wanted to relax and wanted some peace, but all she got was a curious newbie.
"Chief, I want to ask something, can I?" Alex asked.
Though Karen was not really in the mood, she knew that she had to keep her personal and professional lives at arm's length, which she had been unable to do all day. So she nodded for Alex to continue.
Getting her approval, Alex hurriedly sat down on the chair in front of her, "Boss, what were we actually doing there?"
"What do you mean? We went there to think of ways to get that company up and running. What assets and resources are at our disposal? What more we need, we have to be prepared by the end of next month," Karen said as she raised her eyebrows.
"But this is not our job. It's the job of those from the Marketing department, isn't it?" Alex asked, confused.
"Don't you know? We don't have a marketing department in the company for about two months now," Karen told Alex to his surprise.
"Huh... What?" Alex was more than surprised, 'How can a company not have a Marketing department?'
"Well, I won't go deep in the story, but the head of the Marketing department and a couple of other employees were fired because of a bribery scandal. They took a hefty sum from different companies and did not promote a few of our projects well, leading to huge losses to the company in the first half of the year," Karen told him about the scandal in brief.
"What about the other employees?" Alex asked, "Were the rest of the employees also kicked out because of what those trashes did?"
"No. The rest of the employees were adjusted into other departments, while the PR department took over the additional work of the marketing department for the time being. Ah... because of those rascals we have got our hands full," Karen complained and could not help but sigh in exhaustion.
"So that's how it is" Alex nodded as he understood what was happening.
"Anything else?" Karen asked him.
"Yeah, why do we need to promote the company so intensively? I mean, we just need to promote the books, right?" Alex asked.
"I guess you don't know the plans for the company. It's not just a publishing company. The whole building will be remodelled. The first two floors will be turned into a library so that people can come and enjoy reading there," Karen told him about the expectations Jessica had from the company.
"Boss, what is this messed up, all in one company Jessica trying to revive? There must be a reason for her to be so hell-bent on reinstating this company. She already has a cash cow, Theation," Alex continued to ask.
"Alex, you need to keep this in mind, not all ventures are done for the purpose of money-making," Jessica told him. When she said that, there was a slight smile on her face thinking about something.
'What could be the reason?' Alex thought to himself.
"So, where do I fit in all this?" Alex asked, "Why did you take me there? You know how hard it was for me to be alone with Jessica?" Alex expressed his pitiable situation in front of her.
"What happened? Did she say something?" Karen asked.
"Did she say something?" Alex laughed a bit sarcastically, "First of all, she completely ignored me, not putting me in her eyes. And when she did talk to me, it was as if I was some small change in her purse."
After that, Alex told her what happened during the time she was away. Hearing him, Karen could only let out small giggles from time to time. After Alex was done grumbling about Jessica, he looked at Karen only to see her looking at him with a smile.
Alex had a sour expression on his face looking at the smile on her face.
"What's with that smile on your face? Did you even hear what I was saying?" Alex asked.
"Sorry, but you looked too adorable with all your complaints," Karen said.
"Ha… ha... ha… Very funny. It was not very nice of you to just leave me alone with her. Do you know the pressure an intern like me feels standing right next to the boss of such a large corporation?" Alex asked.
"Fine... Fine... I am sorry, but I will only say this. Don't feel bad for how Jessica treated you. I have known her for a long time. She was not like this, but situations changed her, and now even I hardly see her express any kind of emotion," Karen said and tried to make Alex understand Jessica's situation.
"Well, leave it. If you are trying so hard to justify her actions, it must be something serious," Alex said as he shrugged and relaxed back on the chair.
"Aww... our Alex is so understanding," Karen said, complimenting Alex.
"Yeah... Yeah... Now tell me, what am I supposed to do?" Alex asked.
"Just a minute. I am going to assign you some work," saying this, Karen picked up her phone and called Amber in.
Within a minute, Amber was standing outside her cabin, with her neck peeking inside.