The merciless alarm clock destroyed my sleep exactly at 6:30 AM. My muscles declared a strike and it took me about 20 minutes to convince them to move. The negotiations were hard. I went downstairs feeling like I had previously been run over by a truck… or a few of them. My Grandma snickered, seeing how pathetic I looked.
"I thought that you would be exhausted from working overtime, but you actually look hilarious," she giggled.
"Ha, ha, ha… very funny," I gave her a gloomy stare.
"Oh, come on! It is funny!" She kept laughing, "You are a witch! You should be able to put magic even in the water that you drink! It's easy. Here… do it with that tea," she handed me a cup.
I took it from her, confused. My mind was still asleep.
"Think of it as a recovery potion, and drink it. The stronger your intention will be, the more magic you will give yourself," she chuckled.
"How can it be that easy?" I asked, being quite doubtful.
"It isn't. But there is a lot of power within you… So I would rather say, it is easy for you, my lovely Witch," she smiled and patted my cheek.
"So all I have to do is concentrate… and then drink it?" I kept thinking it was a dumb thing to do.
"Yes… but you need to believe in it," she answered with a serious expression.
I was absolutely skeptical about it, but suddenly reminded myself of that person who claimed that the herbs I put a spell on worked… Maybe it was time to use some magic deliberately to help myself.
"Do you do it? Do you heal yourself with magic?"
"All the time!" Grandma replied laughing, "Of course, it works to some extent. You can recover from exhaustion, lack of sleep, hangover, migraines, et cetera, but it will not cure a serious disease, or make up for plastic surgery," she chuckled.
I guessed it was worth trying. I took a deep breath, focused on getting myself tons of energy, and then drank the tea…
"Well… how do you feel?" Grandma asked.
"I feel… refreshed!" I grinned, completely stunned, "My muscle pain is gone!" I laughed rejoiced.
"See? What did I tell you?" she smirked.
It was hard for me to believe that I could actually do such tricks when I was… sixteen! That actually irritated me a lot. My school days could have been so much easier if I knew… Anyway, I suddenly didn't feel fatigue at all.
"What exactly can I improve that way in myself?" I inquired hugging Grandma, trying to coax her.
Grandma looked at me and sighed, shaking her head.
"The more power you possess, the more your possibilities are. For women… magic can work as your best beauty product. You can also stretch the natural abilities of your body… like strength, speed, agility, or mind… like memory, focus, perceptivity…"
"Wow! So magic can make me a superhuman or a genius?!" I got overly excited.
"No. That kind of magic works only temporarily, and it is exhausting to use it often. There is always a price to pay… So do not overuse it!" she advised me.
I nodded my head, absolutely thrilled, and already started thinking how I could use magic at work. Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't told my Grandma about Samil yet… I got more serious and sat down by the kitchen table.
"Granny… something happened while you were away…" I started, "I found that person I had saved then…"
"That's great news! He should be naturally attracted to you, so he will kiss you back in no time!" she called happily.
"Naturally attracted…?" I laughed bitterly, "I don't think so… He is my boss. He is cold, serious, annoying, and certainly not into me…"
"That cannot be," Grandma stated, "The kissing spell doesn't work that way."
"But it's true! I don't think he even treats me as a woman, and I don't think that would change," I sighed.
"Something doesn't feel right… Do you find him attractive?"
"Yes! He is very handsome… My heart beats faster when I look at him, but I'm sure that he doesn't feel a thing like that."
Grandma sat down and looked me up and down suspiciously.
"Kassi, you have dreams about him, right? So should he! He should dream about you at the same time! That is how magic helped you find each other. I bet that he offered you a job because of this, even if he did it unknowingly," she assured me.
I smiled faintly. I wanted to believe that what Grandma said was true, but I deeply felt that wasn't the case. Perhaps, it happened because it wasn't a real kiss that I gave him… or maybe I was too pathetic for him to find me attractive despite the kissing spell. Grandma moved closer to me and patted my head.
"Cheer up, Kassi. If he is your boss, you get to spend a lot of time with him. He will soon find out what a beautiful person you are," she smiled warmly.
I hugged her tight, thinking that my Grandma's love was the most wonderful magic I received, after my parents died. I was grateful to still have her by my side.
I had to get ready to work. I was glad that magic boosted my energy… too bad it didn't work on shattering my anxieties as well. I kept thinking about what Grandma said. Could Samil really dream about me as well? I bet that if he did, he treated those dreams as nightmares… He acted so differently from what I experienced in my visions of him.
In my dream, he said he loved my coffee… not that I make a good one, but still. In reality, he strongly claimed that he would only drink what he would make himself… like he was afraid of being poisoned or something. I could feel so many emotions coming from him in those visions, yet he was cold as stone when I was with him at his office… If we both had those dreams, I was clearly the only one affected by them! That was unfair…
Another thing that I was wondering about was if the person who paid me a hundred thousand dollars for magic painkillers was truly one of my boss's employees. If those herbs were actually for him… was he suffering from some disease? Unfortunately, I found it hard to imagine that I could casually ask him about it.
Thanks to my magical energy drink, I even managed to get to work at 8:30 AM. I went to the top floor and immediately saw a new desk, chair, and computer in front of the CEO's office. It looked like it was all prepared for me…
I was wondering if I was the first one at work this time. I knocked on his office door… There was no answer. I was a little relieved, but at the same time, I had no idea what to do until he showed up. Should I sit behind that desk…?
I felt a little awkward. I stood right by his door, gazing at the desk, when suddenly the door to the CEO's office opened. I flinched… My boss opened the door with messy hair and a slightly unbuttoned shirt. It was obvious that he had slept in the office, and my knocking must have woken him up. I gasped.
"G-g-good morning, S-sir," I stuttered nervously.
He was looking at me with his usual indifference, but suddenly looked me up and down and smirked.
"Come inside and close the door," he ordered.
I did what he said. There was his creased jacket lying on the sofa. All of the contracts I marked yesterday were lying carefully stacked in one pile on one side of the table. The rest of the table was filled with some other documents. It looked like he read them through most of the night and fell asleep at some point. I couldn't tell if I should admire him for that, or send him on some therapy to treat workaholism.
As soon as I closed the door, he disappeared into some other internal room. Maybe it was his closet, or a toilet attached to his office. Whatever it was, I felt awkward being alone there without any instructions. After a few minutes of standing like an idiot, I decided to at least try asking him what I should do.
"Sir… should I… take those documents and make notes… like you said yesterday?" I called, hoping he would hear me through that door.
"Yes," I heard his answer, "Your workplace should be ready. Take the files and get to work," he stated coldly.
I got irked again.
"Seriously?! He couldn't say that first, instead of making me wait like a moron?!" I cursed him in my mind.
The stack of contracts was way too heavy for me to carry at once. I decided to move them to my desk in a few rounds. I took the first part and carried it over, then another, and finally got back inside to take the last one. I bent over the table, sticking out my bottom, trying to grab the last part of the documents, when I suddenly heard my boss's voice…
"Are you done taking those contracts?" he asked, scaring the hell out of me.
I screamed, immediately straightened up, and dropped the documents back on the table. Then I turned around… He was standing wearing a bathrobe that was revealing half of his perfectly muscled chest. His hair was wet. He was drying it with a towel, smirking. I screamed again, then turned around.
"I'm sorry, Sir!" I called out, gathering all the contracts from the table and running out of his office.
I collapsed, sitting at my new desk, patting my chest, hoping to prevent myself from having a heart attack. My head was still filled with vivid images of my boss's dripping wet hair and body.
"Couldn't he at least warn me that he has a bathroom there and he is about to take a shower?! Or… could it be that he just did that… on purpose?!" I wondered in panic.
Of course, I quickly gave up on that last thought. It couldn't be that he saw my previous reactions to him, and he suddenly decided to tease me, right? Right???
I had to admit that working at my own desk, outside of my boss's office, finally allowed me to actually focus on work and remove the image of Samil's naked chest from my mind… partially. My heartbeat returned to normal, I was able to breathe and the best thing of all, I could drink coffee and go to pee without asking for his consent. Apart from my given assignment, I was now acting like a "real" secretary, answering the phone and transferring calls to the CEO's office. For the first time, I found the fact that I had been writing a script for an office romance useful, since I already a basic formulas to answer the call memorized in my head. I just had to remember to say my name instead of the name of the female character that was a secretary in the drama. Some part of me even enjoyed this type of act… I could at least pretend that I knew what I was doing. Writing my suggestions for the contracts was much harder than that. After some thought, I decided to stay true to
“Kass…” I heard Elijah's voice, “Kass!” he repeated louder, “Kaaass!”“Y-yes!” I responded startled.“Did the news, that your boss has a fiancé bothered you that much?” he chuckled.“No…” I laughed nervously.“Liar,” he giggled, “It's written all over your face… You like Samil.”“I don't! I don't even know him well…” I kept laughing awkwardly, taking a step back towards the door.He walked closer to me, smirking. I took another step back, he kept walking forward.“I don't know what it is about you… but you intrigue me,” he gazed at me intensively.I took another step back and reached the door. He got closer and looked me up and down. I stretched my hand back hoping to grab the doorhandle. He noticed how I was trying to escape and sighed.“You are absolutel
“Hello! I heard from Grandma, I'm glad the herb potion worked… but I didn't expect that you will really insist on paying such a huge sum of money for it…” I laughed nervously.The man smiled and walked closer to the counter.“I've been serving my boss… my Master, for many years. He suffers from a very specific hereditary disease. Young bodies are able to suppress it, but is he is getting older, his power weakens and he suffers more… No drug, no medicine could stop his pain, but your herbs remarkably did it!” he stated with excitement.From his words I could easily tell that he was deeply devoted to this “Master”. The disease he described sounded quite mysterious, but I was glad that I could do something ease this person's pain. I wished those herbs with magic could cure him, but, basing on what Grandma said before, complicated illness would be impossible to heal with this kind of magic…
I got back to my desk and a huge pile of documents I still needed to check and divide. Again, the only reason why I knew what I was doing was because I wrote a scene like that in the drama. Of course, the heroine, which struggled with the same kind of task had help… I didn't.“I am an intelligent woman. Those documents cannot beat me. I will prove that I can deal with whatever that sadistic boss would throw at me!” I motivated myself.It was fortunate that I once had an out of my job description assignment to gather the data from all kinds of tv shows and put it in statistics. That was the only reason I knew how to use a spreadsheet, and I knew it well. Although, I never was a mathematical genius, I came up with a formula that made my work a lot faster. Perhaps, someone could do it quicker and more accurate, but I was quite proud of myself. Moreover, I had finished all my work before two hours past…Of course, before I placed all the da
Sitting on the same sofa with my boss felt terribly uncomfortable. My perfect plan to put a spell on him failed miserably. I guessed it was time to realize the facts, he didn't feel attracted to me in the slightest. Somehow, my heart started to ache each time I thought about it…He got up from the sofa as soon as he finished drinking. I was finally able to take a deep breath after he walked away. It seemed that, unlike me, he found my flusteredness greatly satisfying. Perhaps, he started treating me like a mascot, kind of idiotic but entertaining.He came back holding the proposals I had previously brought. I thought he would pass them back to me and announce his decision, but he sat on the sofa next to me again instead.“Did you read those ideas for the show?” he asked casually.“Yes, but briefly…” I replied.“What would you chose?” he smirked.“Sir… you would really want to kno
I went to sleep trying to comprehend all what happened during the day. I went back to the square one with my plan of trying to make my boss kiss me. Perhaps, the whole problem was that I found him handsome and sexy, I was greatly physically attracted to him, but my heart beat warmly towards that guy from my visions instead of “the real” Samil Borda…The more I thought about it the more I was certain that something about that kissing spell of mine was malfunctioning. There was no bound between us. I was tragically nervous around him but mostly because he was amazingly handsome. That was true that I hardly ever reacted to anyone just because he was handsome but that was all it was – a physical attraction.Strangely enough, whenever I dreamt of Samil, I was filled with deep emotions towards him. Some part of me wished that I could feel this way around my cold boss… Then again, the rest of sensible me wished for him to kiss me, so that I cou
I went outside trying to keep a polite smile… until I saw my loving Grandma casually chatting with a driver she previously called a “gangster”. I walked closer and got absolutely stunned. The fearsome guy in the black suit was eating a piece of cheesecake my Grandma made!“The secret is to wait until the biscuit gets a little colder… only then you should add the layer of cheese melted with pudding and milk,” she was telling him her recipe for the cake.My jaw literally dropped. That guy, who looked like Caucasian Shepard looking at my Granny – the barking Chihuahua, was eating the cake she brought for him on a white-pink plate, and kept nodding his head trying to memorize her words.“Granny… what's going on here?” I asked laughing hysterically.“Oh, nothing… I was just telling Joe my secrets for baking,” she giggled.“You… were telling… “Joe&
“You're seeing it right?” Mr. Chairman smiled observing my reaction. “Y-yes…” I stuttered nervously, trying to comprehend the situation. “Only powerful witches can see it… It was said that if someone can read the words spinning in the seal, it can lift up the curse. Unfortunately, no one really knows what language is that,” he sighed. “Mr. Borda… you said that “only the powerful witches see it”… But, can you see it as well, right?” I inquired, hoping to learn more. “Yes, I can see it sometimes appearing in the mirror, but not every seal owner sees it. You have to believe in magic to see it,” he stated. I wanted to ask him more questions about the seal, but he suddenly got up from his seat. “Ms. Eder, would you to take a stroll around the garden? Mr. Romero will join you. I have some things to settle before the dinner,” he wore a polite smile. I guessed that our private chat was over. “I would love to see the garden,” I