Page 12 of Forbidden Professor

Okay, so Paul might be some big shot here, but he could really learn to talk to people better. Right now, he came off as an asshole. Largen Co. was on the brink of discovering cures and vaccinations that could save hundreds of thousands of lives and he doesn’t seem to care one ounce about that like the project managers did. It pissed me off.

Instead of letting the anger out, I walked right out of his office and bumped into his receptionist. She was rushing to get me my coffee.

“Sorry about him. I’m not sure what’s going on, but he’s in a worse mood than normal.” She handed me my coffee. “Just like you asked. Have a good day.”

I didn’t want to waste any time today. Going over these reports would take all day and if he wanted my decision before I left today, there was a lot of reading to do. The corridor was filled with people, more than yesterday, and eyes were landing on me. Right now, I was the evil woman here to take people’s hard work away.

Once I made it to my makeshift office, I closed the door and sat down. The ten reports beckoning me. Paul was smart. Names were left off the reports so if I didn’t know that Easton was heading up the Parkinson’s project, then there wouldn’t be an issue. But I did. So I put his at the end of the pile and started reading.

The reports were each very thorough, explaining where every dollar of funding had been allocated, and how much they project would be needed to continue through the first quarter of next year. Paul wanted me to focus precisely on results though. Not necessarily how much money the project was costing, but if it was worth the results. I had all the reports sprawled out over the desk on the same page. It was easier to cut it down from ten to two that way.

Within the first four hours, I had narrowed it down to two projects. One of them was Easton’s. Last night was not going to effect my professional opinion in anyway. He couldn’t receive special treatment, but my heart hurt. I knew how important this project was to him, and knowing that it came down to him and one other person broke my heart.

There was only thing that could help make her final decision. On the last page, they documented their trials. Easton’s project had only been in trials for three months whereas the other one had six months worth of results under their belt. Damnit! He wasn’t as established in his project, even though the results of the trials were going great, so was the other person’s. I knew what I had to do.

13

Easton

My mind has been stuck on Isla all day. I can’t concentrate. Never in a million years did I expect her to waltz back into my life. I know she has a job to do, and I didn’t want her to favor me, but I wanted to see her again. But after this morning, something was wrong. Something had changed since we went to bed last night and I needed to figure out what. So, I text her.

Me: How’s it going? Did you want to go to dinner tonight?

I could just go to her office, but didn’t want anyone to found out that we had history. If so, it would make everyone question her decision, and she doesn’t deserve that. Her professional career was important to me, and I wouldn’t ever do anything to jeopardize that.

Me: We could go to Rolando’s? Or are you feeling like something else?

Three dots appeared and then went away. She had read the messages. Why wasn’t she responding to me? There was bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Had I gotten my hopes up for nothing? She could easily walk away right now and never see me again. Would she do that? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Why was I doing this to myself? I was my own worst enemy. Sitting here, worrying about what could happen, instead of focusing on work. Isla wouldn’t do that to me. We might have spent years apart, but deep down, I knew her.

For once, I wouldn’t let my insecurities and doubts come between us. My mind could run through every single scenario and worry me, but until she had told me what she wanted, I would keep on trucking and focus on what was important today. My project. The same thing that I had been focusing on for years.

I turn on my computer and opened email. There was nothing else I could do until Amy brought me the updated results. Most were spam, like always, but one from Paul.

Good morning Largen Employees,

I wanted to let you know that we have decided to have a company Christmas Party this year. If you have any ideas on things to do for the party, kindly send Jenny an email. She will be organizing the event.

Hope to see you there,

Paul

Was he fucking serious? He wanted to cut back a project until the end of the year, but he would throw a company Christmas party instead? In all the years I’ve worked here, never once had we had a party. Shouldn’t that money be put toward projects instead? My face got hot and I needed to take a walk.

Isla

I needed to get my mind off of Easton right now so I could focus on the job I was paid to do without conflictions. I’ve always been able to separate work and pleasure but right now it’s posing to be more difficult. So, I decided to stay away from him until after the decision was made public to the company managers. After reviewing all the reports and going back over the bottom two, Easton’s has the least amount of results. Even though the results he did have were good, there were plenty of others that were closer to be completed and could use the funding more. I went back and forth but finally made the decision. The resources needed to be pulled from his project until the new year. He might hate me, and never want to see me again after this, but I had to do what is right. If I wanted to be ethical, then I must put my feelings aside and look at this from an unbiased perspective. Please don’t hate me.

The reports were gripped to my side to turn in my final decision. Jenny was sitting at her desk, but perked up when she saw me.

“Give him a second. He’s on the phone.”

I stood in silence. She kept looking at me. “Is he going to be long? I’d really like to get out of here.”

She looked at the phone on her desk. “He just got off the phone. Go ahead.”

I rolled my eyes and went into his office, laying the reports on his desk. “My decision is inside that first report. Thank you for the opportunity to work with Largen Co.”

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