A Reputable Charity

Lydia looked at the door to her inner office of her boss in anticipation. The sounds of the chairs moving on the plush carpeting were faint, but there was a change in tones from the room as a meeting would conclude and she was well-accustomed to catching such signs. So she turned to the door with a charming smile just before it opened. If the smile looked a shade off, though, it was because of the sounds coming out of the office earlier. It was almost as if... But no, that made no sense. Ms Cho was a no-nonsence professional Asian woman reaching an executive position in her late 20s and she would never do something so... Well, weird, to put it mildly, in her workplace in the heart of the corporate tower.

Lydia could not see her boss as the latter said her goodbyes to the two visitors, though, which was a bit unusual... and there definitely was something wrong with her voice, the stress audible in it. To continue the pattern of odd behaviour, the young executive stayed largely behind the half-open door as the man and woman from the World made their way out of the office. Lydia added her own polite goodbyes, of course, and closed the outer door behind them... Only to realise that Ms Cho still kept herself out of sight. "Lydia, can you please clear the next hour for me" she called out in the same voice. "Of course!" Lydia responded automatically but even as she headed back to her desk she hesitated. "Are... Are you alright?" It never paid to pry into one's superiors' affairs, but at least as a fellow woman Lydia felt she had to ask.

Still without showing herself fully Ms Cho answered that she is fine and just needs a minute and closed the door. Lydia spent the next few minutes readjusting the schedule as requested (which was fairly quicky) and then making her boss a cup of coffee. Whatever Ms Cho said, she knew a person in distress when she saw one... Or especially when she quite couldn't see her. It's not like she would be fired for this kind of intrusion. With the said cup in hand, she made her way to the inner door, knocked, and after a couple of moments left for propriety's sake, entered...

... to realise that the propriety delay was very very necessary as the young executive was hastily adjusting her pants suit with her back to the mirror on her wall, her mouth open in a silent warning not to come in that never quite got pronounced. Lydia froze for a moment too, but quickly looked away as if nothing happened and proceeded to put the cup onto the desk giving her boss a chance to finish getting herself in order. Once she saw Ms Cho in the corner of her eye straighten her jacket and step forward, she turned to face her, all work relations firmly put aside.

"Jenna, I'm sorry if I'm overstepping, but what's going on with you? Do I need to call someone? Did they... do something?" A short but intense struggle made itself apparent on the young execute's face as she made up her mind, but after a moment she spoke. "Look, yes, they did something... But not like that!" she adds, seeing Lydia is about to burst out in fury on her behalf. "And I should tell you, rather than leave you guessing... But you cannot mention it! I promise it's nothing violent or dangerous or illegal or against the company's interests, but you do have to promise to keep this to ourselves".

There really only was one way to respond to that. Lydia nodded.