Loving With A Heavy Heart 101 Brewing Storm

Sunday came, and it was Jacob's turn to go out to have some fun. He was joined by the regular group of friends, which included Michael of course.

The next day would be a working day so instead of going to a bar as they often did, the group decided to go out for dinner instead. Abby had very kindly helped Jacob get reservations at her family's restaurant for the occasion.

"Ah, there you are." Michael said as he saw Jacob come in. "Come grab some drinks with me." He said it with a smile but his eyes were full of worry.

"Is something wrong?" Jacob asked once they were out of ear shot of their friends.

"Nothing's wrong exactly." Michael began. "You know I appreciate you helping my store with the sales but I think we should slow things down. It's starting to become odd how well our store is doing. I don't think it's wise to continue."

"It's fine." Jacob said. "Your store hasn't even hit the top five locations yet."

"Jacob, I'm serious. Let it go for now."

Jacob looked at the earnestness on Michael's face and reluctantly agreed. Little did they know it was already too late for them.

Elle spent the next three days practically living in her office. She hadn't seen Adam and barely spoke to him since they had met for MK's shoot. She poured all her attention into finding the source of the discrepancies in the sales. It was a long and tedious process. The first two days had few results, but then Wednesday arrived and Elle realized what the issue was.

Tae's sales system was computerized, the numbers were entered automatically, but changes were being made manually. All Elle had to do was go through the log in records to discover who had been making alterations. She had already requested the IT department to provide her the records. While she waited she went through some other doc.u.ments that required her attention.

When Elle put her full effort into her work she often became so focused that everything around her seemed to fade away. She didn't even notice as the lunch hour came and left, but late into the afternoon Elle was suddenly pulled from her thoughts by the sound of her phone ringing. It was a video call from Adam. Elle shyly ran her fingers through her messy hair before answering the call.

"This is unusual." She said with a smile. "A video call, and during working hours at that."

"I wanted to show you something." Adam said in a low voice. He turned the camera away so instead of pointing at his face it was pointing at several photos on his desk. Photo's of an elegant young girl in a beautiful gown.

Elle's eyes grew wide with amazement. "Is that really me?" She asked in barely a whisper. "I hardly recognize myself."

"This one is my favourite I think." He said, pulling one aside. "We would crop the image about here, so the upper half of your face wouldn't show. What do you think?"

"I think you're very lucky to have such a beautiful girlfriend Mr. Hayes." Elle teased.

"Is that so? I seem to remember thinking that pictures don't do her justice, but it's been so long since I've seen her that I've forgotten. Do you think she would do me the honor of dining with me tonight so that I may be reminded?"

Elle laughed, "I think she would be very happy to."

Just then a knock at Elle's office door sounded. A manager poked their head in, "Director Shaw I have compiled the records you requested."

Elle fumbled with her phone, quickly hiding it in her lap. "Just leave them on my desk." Elle mumbled, quickly waving the manager off.

The manager left and Elle was about to return to her conversation with Adam but something in the doc.u.ments caught her eye. Adam didn't seem to mind as she cast her phone aside to go through the reports, piecing together what had happened. It was a change of pace for him to be able to watch her attentively working.

"What is it?" Adam asked, noticing anger slowly fill her eyes.

"Someone has been stealing my sales numbers."

"Who?"

Elle looked up with a dark look on her face. "Jacob."