Page 10 of Deadline for Love

I was surrounded by the birds loudly chirping all around me, the sun’s rays breaking through the thick gray blanket of clouds and the warm rays prickling my cheeks. It was supposed to stay cloudy today, but I was glad the sun was still slightly visible. Before heading to my car, I made a little detour to the bakery that was near me and grabbed a snack to tide me over.

Then, I walked to my car and took a few deep breaths as I sat in the driver’s seat.

“Good morning, Blueberry; hopefully, today will be more pleasant than yesterday,” I murmured and brushed my steering wheel in greeting. I called my car little Blueberry because of its dark blue color. It was an old Peugeot coupe, but it was my everything. I experienced so many exciting journeys with this car, and I was sure there would be more adventures to come. I placed my coffee on the shelf and then drove off toNova Chronicles.

Once I arrived, I wasn’t surprised to be greeted by the smell of herbal mint tea and a glowing light. Aicha was already sitting at her desk, working steadily, typing on her computer, and occasionally sipping her tea. Today, she was wearing a purple abaya to match her hijab. Her colorful dress style radiated joy. She had applied makeup to match.

“Good morning, Aicha! You look adorable today.”

She lifted her eyes from the display, her long curved eyelashes almost touching her brows. Her pale pink skin shone with the light, and she sparkled with her broad smile.

“Thank you, sweetheart. Come join me, I want to show you something.”

I quickly put my bag and coffee on my table before sitting beside her.

She showed me her articles and asked me to review them to see if she could improve anything.

We always did this together. Aicha, Eric, and I were the only ones working in this department, and we managed well despite our age difference. Although you couldn’t tell by looking at Aicha, she was already in her mid-thirties, and Eric was in his early forties. And I was the youngster at twenty-five years old.

Since our publishing house was small, we had a solid team building with the other two departments; of course, we weren’t all best friends. But we all worked well together.

“It’s perfect,” I said as I finished reading.

Pleased, she leaned back in her chair and offered me a cup of tea, which I gratefully accepted.

“I heard you’re having a hard time finding material. James doesn’t seem to be happy.”

“Yeah, so far, he’s rejected everything. He would like me to find something shocking, but what am I supposed to do if there is nothing to find?”

“He must be under pressure to perform with how our competition’s reviews have been going.”

I nodded at her statement and took another sip.Insight News, our biggest competitor, seemed to be a thorn in the side of our newfound readers and tried everything to get attention, even if it meant lying.

James Wilson was always upset and under constant stress, but no matter how much pressure he was under, I wasn’t going to make up a story.

“He simply needs to accept that there are quiet days…”

“He doesn’t care. But I’m sure you’ll find something anyway. Will you be out with Nia then?” Aicha wondered.

“Yeah, Amara has to finish some photos; Nia and I planned to head out today. I’m going to see if I have any leads in my email first.”

Nia Davis worked with Amara and another colleague, Stacy Lewis, in the visual content department.

At the moment, we were all busy, and it was hard to be on the road with two people, but I liked working with Nia.

I took the last sip of the delicious tea and walked over to my desk, where I settled down on my slightly flattened seat.

“Good luck! Oh, by the way, Bella, I picked up some new books the other day, I’ll bring them to you tomorrow.”

“Romance?” I asked curiously, to which she raised and lowered both brows and winked. “Rivals to lovers, and it’s perfect.”

Although I refrained from romances in real life, it was different for books.

I checked and answered my emails and wrote down places to gather information and draft reports.

At eight o’clock on the dot, Nia arrived, armed with a camera in one hand and a bag in the other.

She wore a denim pantsuit, and her cloudy caramel-brown hair was made into two puffs. Her style was casual, and her black skin was so perfect, she never needed makeup.

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