Recap
  Henry was wearing the lava stone bracelet that she had gifted him. It was the same one with the Crown charm. She jumped up and down in excitement. She did not have a clue of where she left it and how did he get it. The bracelet looked awesome on his wrist. Julie’s stress, sadness and anxiety of the past few days had vanished in thin air on seeing Henry’s picture, especially the bracelet on his wrist. Julie was extremely happy.
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   Mr Ross called Julie in. “I will be leaving for a meeting now and will go home from there, finish of these reports and you can leave too”
Julie quickly worked on the reports as she had appointments with realtor. She saw Jim and thanked him for saving her from getting fired.
Jim asked, “looks like you’re leaving early”
“Yes, Mr. Ross has got a meeting so he let me off” Julie smiled.
   A young girl walked towards them. Her face had the prettiest smile,
“Hi baby” Jim smiled the brightest in response. He side hugged her and both of them faced Julie.
“This is Eva, my girlfriend”
“Hello”
“And she is Julie, working for Mr. Ross”
“Hi Eva, nice meeting you if it wasn’t for Jim, I would have lost my job on my first day”
Jim giggled, “that’s only half-truth, I heard from Norah that your performance was top notch that Mr Ross could not find any fault” Julie blushed.
   Julie and Jim noticed that Eva was carried away in thoughts.
“What’s up baby, you seem occupied” Jim asked.
“It was the Jonas compay’ project which I told you, got rejected today” she said sadly.
“What project?” Julie questioned.
“They were a start up firm, looking for government funding for an infrastructural project, they were so hopeful that it would be approved” she pointed to the file in her hands.
“Let me see” Julie asked.
Her love for numbers and Finance had kindled her curiosity and took control over her. She quickly analysed the report, it was obvious that it was not prepared by a professional so she corrected few costs. She had googled market rates and applied on the costing. After few minutes, Julie gave back the file and said, ” I hope this time they would fetch the project” she winked.
   Eva was stunned at her confidence.
“But how did you do that?” she asked in surprise.
“I was working as an Assistant financial manager previously”
“Woah, where?”
“Kingston Corp”
They both raised their eyebrows in shock.
“What? So you must have done well in the university”
Julie smiled modestly.
“A topper????” Eva guessed. Julie shrugged with a smile.
“Wow” they both said at once.
   “Thank you Julie, I would ask the Jonas guys to resend the report to my boss’ approval, bye baby” Eva excitedly ran off.
“Crazy girl” Jim smiled and waved goodbye to Julie too.
   Julie had seen four places and it was almost dark when they came to the fifth which the realtor said was the last one. She received a phone call from a number,
“Hello!”
“Hi Julie, Eva here, the project is almost okay, my boss has asked for a more detailed report, the Jonas guys would like to talk with you, would you mind?” She asked doubtfully.
“Not an issue, I am with a realtor right now looking for an apartment, I will be back to the hotel in an hour and I shall discuss with them, is that fine?”
“Sure, thank you, Julie” they ended the call.
Julie said she would finalise one among the apartments and move in tomorrow.
   It was late when Julie finished preparing the reports for Jonas company. The next day when she met Jim, he said, “we have one of our neighbours vacating, Eva said you were looking for one, did you finalise anything or would you like to see ours?”
Julie actually felt so lonely in this new city, so she quickly said yes to him.
   By evening Finn Jonas called Julie, “Finally the project was approved, thank you, Julie. But we do not have enough funds to pay you now as we’re working on borrowed resources, soon we would pay you in some form”
“That’s not needed Mr Jonas, I did it on my own interest, Best wishes for your project” Julie’s boring report writing, data entry were not boring anymore, the Jonas Project approval lifted up her mood.
   Eva was talking to Nora when Julie came out of Ross office.
“Eva! What a surprise” Julie greeted her.
“Julie, you know something, my boss wanted to meet you regarding Jonas project after work, do you have any other appointments?”
“Nothing Eva, I told Jim that we would go see your neighbours Apartment”
“Oh! Yeah, we will go together after meeting my boss. See ya”
   Julie was waiting in the office of Mr John Doris, Eva’s boss. She was called in, Mr Doris welcomed her with a warm smile.
“Hello sir, I am Juliet Rozana, working as an assistant to Mr Stephen Ross”
“Welcome, please be seated Ms Rozana, your analysis was very professional, are you into Finance?”
“Yes sir, I was working as an assistant finance manager for three years after my college”
“To be honest, I did not expect a young girl, the knacks and minor techniques used in the report, looks like it was worked out by a professional with not less than 10 years of experience, where did you work previously?”
“In Kingston Corp, Sir”
“Now that says it all, you could have seen many such reports and dealt with large-scale projects” she smiled in response, she thanked, Mr Smith and Mr Kingston in mind for being her guide and mentor.
   “As you have strong mathematical and analytical skills, I would suggest you to register as a freelance financial analyst in the Department of State economic affairs, you can get access to the Archives, all government documents and projects. Also you can get into the university and public libraries for all the references. Small and medium scale business who are looking for financial services would contact you as you will be listed on the state portal. You can work after office hours”
Julie was so grateful, “Sir, thank you so much for guiding me, finance has always been my passion” Julie said excitedly.
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“How much did you charge for Jones project?”
“Nothing sir, It was just a favour”
“No, do not give services for free. Your skills, your knowledge, your input, your time, your experience, everything has a value and a price”.
“Sure sir, I will be mindful! it’s a pleasure meeting you”
   Julie came out and hugged Eva for bringing her back to Finance. Working for Mr. Ross was not bad but her heart always flutters around Finance.
   Julie was smiles all evening, when Jim and Eva took her to their complex. It was a studio apartment, but Julie liked it as it was economical too, she wouldn’t need any extravagant place to stay. That night she checked out from the hotel and settled in her new place with the help of Eva and Jim.
   Though it was late, she was still energetic, so she dialled Mr. Smith’s number and shared him about her new job and regarding the services of financial analyst that Mr Doris had suggested. He wished her and advised her to use the nice opportunity. Mr.Smith felt relieved knowing that she was doing good.
   She received a call from Finn Jonas, “Hello Julie, after discussing with our team, we have decided to offer you 1% of profit from the project and 1% of company’s shares for your service, I know it’s very meagre, but as a start up firm, we face tight budget, he said apologetically. Julie smiled, “Mr. Jonas, as I said earlier, I did not do this for monetary benefits, as it’s my first freelance project, I do not name any price, we can go with you offer for all your upcoming projects and services”
“Thank you good night”
Julie slept well that night after a long time.
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*I know many of you are waiting for a meeting between Henry and Julie, little more patience plss😬
*The upcoming chapter will be posted by July 13 (or before😉)
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