I had been sitting in the CEO's office for over eleven hours. I didn't dare ask if I could go home at a normal work time. Furthermore, I only left the CEO's office twice. The first time was to get a coffee from the coffee machine in the hall, since he didn't allow me to use his, and the second time was because I had to pee… I was too intimidated by his presence to think about eating, which was a good thing. I couldn't even imagine asking him if I could grab some lunch in the meantime.
On the other hand, he kept working nonstop without taking a minor break from the moment I entered his office. He was incredibly diligent about going through tons of documents, making notes, writing emails, and making calls. I started to wonder if he was even human… He never asked me for assistance even once… Maybe he figured out that I wouldn't be of use anyway.
It was almost eight o'clock and I had over five boxes of contracts left to go through. Of course, sitting right by my extremely handsome boss didn't help much with my focusing on work. Each time I raised my head, I unknowingly started looking at the serious and professional expression on his face, at his captivating blue eyes, at his commanding posture… It made all the work I was doing twice as hard!
"Concentrate! Concentrate! I need to concentrate!" I kept repeating it inside my head.
I read the same sentence for the fifth time. My brain clearly lost the ability of comprehending anything. I glimpsed at Samil…
"Con… cen… … … God!" Looking at him didn't help at all. "Why does he have to look so good?! Why does this jacket compliment his muscled chest so much…? Why am I drooling just looking at him?!"
Our eyes met, I flinched, and instantly lowered my head. Thankfully, he chose to ignore me. I took a deep breath and made another attempt to read the complicated paragraph in the contract.
Although I was doing my best, I was doing this kind of thing for the first time. Furthermore, I was pointing out the fragments of the contracts basing on my opinion only. I truly hoped that I was doing it right… I wouldn't like to go through all of it again.
I had to admit, some of the things and sums I saw made the blood in my veins boil. If the new CEO was about to make some changes based on what I noticed, then a huge storm was about to approach the TVM station…
It was almost midnight when I finally finished my assignment. My boss was still writing something on his computer. I couldn't even notice any signs of fatigue on his face, while I could barely remember my own name… I bet we were the only two people left at work. I only hoped this wasn't what all of my days here would look like. Otherwise, I would die sooner than I would receive my first payment! I stood up, walked to his desk on wobbling legs.
"I… finished going through… the contracts," I informed him, barely hiding the level of my exhaustion.
He looked at the piles of contracts on the table and sofa and… smiled. He actually smiled! And… I had no idea if it was a good thing, or a bad thing… Then he gazed at me and stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Good work. Tomorrow you will have your computer and a desk, and you will write down notes from the paragraphs you marked, with your own suggestions on whether the contract should be changed… or terminated," he smirked.
I gulped. There were nearly a hundred contracts with ridiculous demands. I knew that they could have been a huge burden on the station's budget, yet how could I casually decide whether someone should lose his job or not?! This responsibility was a bit extreme…
"It's… It's not that I don't want to do my job properly… but… is it really ok?" I laughed nervously, "How can I decide whether someone loses his job or not?"
"Easy," he stated indifferently, "Stop thinking about the people. Think about what is on the paper. I trust you will do the job well… Now, you can go home. Tomorrow you can come at 9 AM."
"O-ok… Thank you…" I muttered, still uncertain about my next day's task.
I was about to turn around and get out of there, but I got terribly dizzy. I tripped on my own feet and lost my balance. He looked at me and got up on his chair…
"Oh, God! Is he going to catch me like in some romantic scene…? And then our faces will get close…"
Half a second later, my butt and thigh hit the floor hard. My boss didn't try to rescue me from the fall… he was simply stretching up a bit. I got up completely flustered and embarrassed. Of course, I started by crawling on all four, and my movements were as awkward and inelegant as possible.
"G-good night… Sir" I mumbled without looking into his eyes and rushed out of his office.
"Wait!" he called.
I stopped right by the door, and turned around with the most foolish smile.
"Are you going to drive the car in that state of yours?" he asked, surprisingly concerned. "If you do, you will certainly cause an accident…"
"I don't have a car," I explained, "I usually take the bus to get here."
"There are no buses at this hour."
"Then, I can call myself a cab," I bowed my head and reached for the door handle.
"No need. My driver will take you home," he stated.
I wanted to say that I could take care of myself, but he was already making a call.
"Jacob, you will drive Ms. Eder home. She's coming down right now," he commandeered over the phone.
I figured I was in no position to object to his proposal…
"T-thank you…" I smiled awkwardly again.
"Just get home safe."
For the first time, his words almost sounded… kind.
"And you… Sir?" I asked, wondering how long he was going to stay in the office.
"I still have things to do," he smirked.
"Please… don't overwork yourself," I said that without thinking and flinched, not knowing how he would respond to my honest concern.
He stared at me kind of stunned. I started to wonder if I didn't get ahead of myself too much. My heart began to pound nervously.
"Ms. Eder…" he looked me in the eyes and faintly smiled, "I will keep that in mind."
I sighed in relief, and somehow felt happy.
"Good night, Sir…" I grinned, opened the door, and finally left.
When I walked out of the building, I saw a kind-of-limousine, black car, and a driver wearing a neat suit-slash-uniform standing by it. When I walked closer, he opened the door for me and invited me inside with a gesture. It felt strange. I looked around, but there was nobody except for me and the driver, I smiled nervously. He stood still, bowing and pointing at the backseat of the car with his hand until I got inside. Then he shut the door and got back into the driver’s seat.
"Where are we going, Ms. Eder?" he asked, glimpsing in the front mirror.
"Liberty Park, Jane Street, please…" I replied, hesitantly.
"Acknowledged. Fasten your seatbelt, please, Ms. Eder," he said in a polite manner.
I did what he said and looked around. The car interior was extremely luxurious. There was leather upholstery, carefully made details, doorhandles, tinted windows, and there was also something that looked like a small bar. I had never been inside such a car before. I felt quite uncomfortable driving in it, out of place, but I was grateful that I didn't have to take a cab.
When we came to the right place, he got out first and quickly opened the door for me.
"T-thank you…" I smiled nervously.
"My pleasure, Ms. Eder," he responded, bowed, and began walking back to his seat.
Suddenly, I saw something familiar on his uniform, something I had already seen before. It was a small pin in his jacket lapel. There was a star inside a circle on it. He drove away and I kept thinking where I had seen that pin before. It kept bothering me.
I got inside my Grandma's house, swaying on my feet from exhaustion. Grandma was already asleep. I could hear her sleeping soundly in her bedroom downstairs. I climbed upstairs to my bedroom and kept thinking about that pin. First, I started to wonder if any of the workers at TVM station had something like that, but no… that wasn't it.
I washed my teeth and face, and was ready to go to sleep. I lied on a bed, closed my eyes, and suddenly I remembered! The guy who bought my kind-of-magical painkilling herbs had a pin like that… Could it be that he worked for Mr. Borda, and the herbs were actually for… him?!
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.
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&