Recap
“Sir list of employees attending the workshop and their last 3 quarters performance appraisal chart”
He quickly flipped the pages with his mind still on Julie’s absence and her weird behaviour.
He stopped midway when he felt like he had seen a familiar name on the list
“Juliet Rozana”
Too many questions crossed his mind, what?? why?? Did not even inform me? He turned her performance appraisal and it was all at par, then why??
Why do I have a feeling that she is trying to run away from me? Like hiding or maybe avoiding? Whatever!
If something is hidden, it need to be sought!
call it Hide & Seek or Peekaboo??
“Now that’s getting interesting” Henry exclaimed rubbing his palms.
“Two can play this game, July” Henry said with a devilish grin.
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   The picturesque autumn landscape of the nature welcomed them when they got down from the bus. The camp coordinator, Kevin Renton announced, “pick up your bags, it’s a 2 mile walk through the scenic trail to reach the camp”
“What??? 2 miles with the baggage?” Many of them protested.
“It’s nothing compared to the real time activities for the next three days, get used to this, it will be handy” he said in his loud voice to reach out to all.
   The enchanting hues of oranges, yellows and greens made the path mesmerising. There were beautiful lavender flowers all over the trail.
   Angela from architecture (Core team member of Convention Center project) was also on the group. She waved at Julie and joined her. By the end of the trail, they were exhausted.
   Kevin said, “for all the 20 members, there are 20 glasses of water kept at the end of the ground, one who reaches ahead, gets the privilege of one extra glass of water so the last few will have to miss their share. So drop your bags and run on my whistle” he blowed.
   People started running like crazy, forgetting their fatigue, their focus was only on the water. There was a trench and a hurdle on the way. Julie finished the race on time to pick her glass, she gulped and took the extra glass looking at Angela, who just reached breathing heavily.
Angela smiled and thanked her.
“Please take your seats, you will be served with welcome drinks and snacks” everyone hooted in happiness. They all enjoyed the refreshments.
   “The purpose of the previous task is to make you focus exclusively on the goal, ignoring your personal shortcomings (fatigue walking 2 miles) and hindrances(trench and hurdle) on the way to reach your goal.
   Time management and punctuality are so essential in life. You have 30 minutes to refresh and come to the dining there you will be served with hot breakfast. People who cannot report on time have to give up their breakfast. Here are your room cards, see you in the dining” Kevin waved and left the ground.
   Julie and Angela picked the consecutive numbers so they can be next door neighbours for the next three days.
   Julie looked at the wall clock, she quickly unpacked, took her clothes to shower. She checked the time when she came out of the washroom. 10 more minutes left for the breakfast call. She laid on the soft mattress, she loved this place,the calm and serene atmosphere just relaxed her mind.
   She knocked on Angela’s door when it is only five minutes left, they both went and got the breakfast plates filled with a bowl of English pea soup, a French toast, cheese omelette, steamed veggies and sausages. They have also taken fruits Custard trifle for dessert.
   Kevin proudly stated, “once you are done with your breakfast we will be meeting our respected leader The Kingston Sr” Julie dropped her folk in jitters. Angela was worried, “What’s wrong Julie?”
“I was in his bad books once due to a misconception, although I was proven innocent, I don’t know whether he would be forbearing enough to spare me”
“Just pay no heed to the past, chuck of the old man girl” she kept eating casually,” if you are not wrong, fear no one”
“Who said?” Julie asked curiously.
“A wise girl named Angela Banks” they both laughed.
Kingston Corporation
   Henry called Ben to his office. “Connect to the live footage of the camp.”
“I will ask Lee (Security Officer to Senior Kingston) for the access, Mr Kingston”
Henry nodded and looked at the TV screen impatiently. In next five minutes, almost 10 cameras footage were on the screen.
   He kept a close eye when Ben asked shockingly “Is that Julie?” He gone closer to the screen with widely opened eyes in curiosity. Henry nodded with a grim face. He still did not know the reason behind her stunt.
   “Sr Kingston has just arrived at the resort” Ben added as a matter of fact. Both of them does not want Julie to end up in Senior Kingston’s bad books again, because he is known for his infamous and ruthless treatments.
At the Camp
   Senior Kingston, Lee and Kevin stood at the podium. All the members gathered in the hall when Kevin came forward and addressed, ” let me explain how the workshop and the activities will work, every task or challenge will be based on physical or mental games, you would win golden and silver tickets along with the points that would reflect in your appraisal chart. There are group and individual activities too. The Motto of the camp is to up-skill and revamp your performance, productivity and output. We have designed games, activities and challenges to refresh your efficiency and your overall personality and well-being as well. Every evening you will have different therapies to relax. Like I already said, your punctuality will be tested and trained during meal time. You will have to starve if you miss the timing” They all looked in disbelief.
“Over to Kingston Sr.,”
Sr Kingston walked ahead, “Welcome you all to this refurbishing camp. This is a wonderful opportunity to enhance your mundane performance, this three day session would reflect in your efficiency back at work. This is not the place for goofing around, being sluggish, poor participation or inactivity. Such people would be facing very interesting punishments” he eyed at Julie for a split-second. She could feel that he was addressing her and he had stressed about the punishments to frighten her.
   She remembered his cold behaviour with Lisa, he was so nonchalant when people suffer right in front of his eyes.
She vowed to herself, I would never fall prey to his sick ways of punishing people.
“Grumpy old man” Angela sniffed, rubbing her nose dramatically.
   Kevin called out, “Let’s all proceed to the ground for the first physical game of the day”
“Group yourself into five in each team. There will be six pairs of metal discs. Weighing from 1 to 6 kgs totally 12 discs( 1kg disc 2 numbers, 2 Kg disc 2 numbers, 3 Kg disc 2 numbers etc)
You will be given an overhead balancing bar with basket on both ends hanging through a metal wire like a balancing scale. You should add weights to it, carry it and reach the end point, not more than 15 kgs at a time, the team who transports all the weights in 3 minutes would win the Golden ticket followed by Silver tickets.”
   Henry kept an eye on the footage every now and then. When they all gathered in the ground, his focus was completely shifted to the game, ignoring his files.
   Kevin blown the whistle signalling them to start the game. They did not get enough time to plan. Working with numbers is a piece of cake for Julie(refer chapter 2) she calculated based on equilibrium.
Round 1:
Similarly she paired 5kg discs with 2 kg discs to each side on round 2.
For round 3, she planned to put 3kg and 4 kg discs together on both sides, thus equalling to 14kgs each on 3 rounds keeping it under 15kgs.
   She discussed her plan to the team mates and they have started executing it. Other three teams were struggling with uneven weights so they were lagging.
  Julie equalised the weights on both sides, so each one carried each round and other 2 helped loading and unloading discs. They have finished by 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Julie’s teammates congratulated her for her precise and quick calculation, though it was an easy one, the others could not come up with this solution as stress and pressure over powered them once they heard the whistle.
   Kevin explained the intention of the game,”as you may be pressured at work to complete your target, but think rationally, the solution will be simple. Stress just clouds your mind from thinking logically and fogs your brain”
   Julie was explaining with hand gestures to the other members about how she equated the weights thus making it easy to reach the target within the time.
   Henry was mesmerised by her action, precision and wit, he involuntarily muttered “That’s smart work Darling” Ben looked at him with wide eyes.
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