~ IMOGEN MARK ~
I had woken up this morning as early as I could. I couldn't bear to get into trouble with that asshole of a boss.
I had worn a knee-length grey pencil skirt with a black shirt tucked into it and a grey blazer, with a pair of matching white stiletto heels and a white handbag which had fake diamond designs around it. My shoulder-length blonde hair had been dyed into black last night with hair extension to make it fall all the way down to just above my butt. My thin lips were covered in thick wine lipstick, making my electric blue eyes seem like they were shining brighter than ever.
I didn't bother to depend on Nikita for a ride to work but hired a taxi driver to pick me up every morning.
With a grin on, I patted myself on the back for achieving my goal of arriving early to work today.
I strutted into the company. "Good morning, Sarah." I winked at her.
She widened her eyes,obviously shocked to see me at this early hour of the morning. "Imogen?" She rubbed her eyes. "It truly is you."
I smiled smugly and got into the elevator. It took me to the 68th floor. After the doors reopened, I strutted out of it and opened the lock of our office door.
With a proud smile still o , I got in. My smile dropped when I realized that Hames was already in his seat. My eyebrows furrowed at that. "Wh–what?!" I exclaimed. My jaw dropped.
"Miss Mark?" He looked equally surprised to see me.
"How are you earlier than me?"
"I'm a very busy man and wouldn't waste my time sleeping away. I see you tried your best to come early this time. Good job." Was that really a compliment from him I just heard?
I regained my composure. "Good morning, sir." I greeted politely. Jeez, when did I ever become this polite?
He only hummed a response and opened his laptop, hitting its keys really fast.
I hurried to my office and hung my bag on my bag holder, taking out all the necessary files from it and my office tablet.
I received a call from Hames through the intercom. "Bring me coffee." He said and immediately ended it before I could reply.
I strolled out of my office, casting a glance at him before I left, making sure to leave the door open, then hurried to the kitchen.
I prepared coffee and poured it into two mugs. One for myself, obviously.
I returned to the office and placed the tray on his table.
He peered at both mugs for a while then cast a glance at me, picked one up then dismissed me with a wave of his hand. If I had expected a 'thank you' then I was probably dumb and hopeless.
I retrieved the second mug from the tray, strided to the door to lock it then returned to my office. I plopped myself on the chair then spent the next few minutes soothing myself with the magnificent taste of coffee. Its hotness burnt my tongue just the way I loved it.
I set the mug aside and took my office laptop out to start working on it. I ensured that I had cancelled all his appointments or meetings for today. I heaved a sigh when I confirmed that I had indeed cancelled them all. I couldn't bear the torture of accidentally not cancelling at least one of them.
I finalized his schedule for next week, fixing some of today's appointments to next week. I sent the schedule to his email address then printed it out. A silent groan escaped me when I realized that I had to see his damn frigid face again.
Nevertheless, I rose to my feet, left my office and walked up to him. He was on the phone with whoever was on the other end of the line.
Noticing my presence, he signalled for me to take my seat. I sat on the chair opposite to his.
"Amanda, it'll be lovely to see you but—" I guessed he was trying to sound nice but it didn't last as a frown formed on his face.
Silence.
"I can't—"
Silence.
"Okay, okay, fine." He groaned. "I'll fix a date when I'm less busy."
I think I heard squealing noises from the person on the other side of the phone but he only rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you soon too." He scoffed, ending the call and slapped his phone to the table. "What do you want?" He asked, still grouchy from the phone call he had.
This is your schedule for next week. I shifted it to his side of the table. He glanced at it then picked it up.
Just when I was about to stand, he stopped me. "Wait, Miss Mark."
I sat back in my seat, casting a questioning look at him.
"I—uh…" he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.
"Do you need something, sir?" I asked.
He stopped scratching the back of his neck and his cold look returned. "Obviously, yes." He hissed. How rude?
I pursed my lips with a nod, waiting for what he had to say.
"I'll need you to re-fix my schedule." He shifted the schedule back to me then passed me a blank paper and a pen.
A little perplexed, I took the paper and pen.
"Write. Remind me to visit my Mom next week Wednesday, to send a present to my cousin's daughter for her birthday party, to call the interior designer to redecorate some rooms in my house." Awkward. "I also have to change the equipments in my gym." It was evident that he used the gym well enough. I was writing it as he spoke, trying to write faster to keep up with his talking speed. "Also, you'll have to help me get new exclusive cloth designs from my fashion designer on Monday. Lastly for now, fix a free hour next week for me to go on a date with Amanda Hart." He cleared his throat.
I traced the head of the pen on the things I had written down. I never really did personal-related things for Kade so this was quite new to me.
"I forget these things so it's better you include them in my schedule." He explained and I nodded in understanding.
"Is that all?" I asked. "For now?" I added.
"No. You're following me to the date with Amanda Hart."
"Why?" I didn't mean to sound rude but it came out faster than I could control it.
A line appeared between his brows. "Because you're my Security-slash-Personal assistant so I have the right to ask you to do these things. You're not going to disagree, are you, Miss Mark?" The deep tone he said my name with possessed this threat which warned you that you had no other option but to agree to what he wanted.
"I won't." I agreed, holding back my frown.
"Good. Arrange those into my schedule for next week and get back to work."
***
"You've been so busy with work since you started working for that asshole. Now it's Saturday, get your lazy ass up!" Nikita yelled into my ear, pulling me up by my shirt."Kita, I've got to sleep." I groaned, flipping over to bury my face in my fluffy pillow."Girl, you're crazy. You've done nothing but sleep all day long. It's 2pm!" She shouted and slugged me.My eyes popped open at that. I turned to her. "Seriously? How's that even possible?" Not believing her, I shifted to reach for my phone on the nightstand. I checked the time and it was indeed 2:14pm."I've missed you, bitch. Let's party or do something fun!" She squealed, hopping off the bed. "Be ready in half an hour. I already made b
"Miss Mark," Hames called. "The Manager of 'Friz and co.' will be here in a few minutes. I hope everything is ready?""Uh— yeah, sure." I scratched my arm, dropping the files on his table. "I'll send the remaining part of it to your email."He hummed a response. His fingers drummed on his laptop keys really fast, forming the beat of a song.Seriously? He hadn't said a thing about last Saturday. He was really going to ignore it? I felt his gaze on me so I raised my head to stare at him."What do you want?" He questioned crankily."Nothing." I shook my head."If it
"You can leave now, Miss Mark." Hames said with a dismissive wave of his hand.I glanced at my wristwatch and it was three hours past my closing hour, if I even had one. "Thank you so much, Mr Hendrix, for releasing me at such an early hour of the day." I said sarcastically with a fake smile.He raised his head from his laptop, leaned back in his chair and intertwined his fingers. "Oh, really?" He scoffed. "Why don't you wait till it's not so early and do some more work."My eyes widened at that. I wore a grin at him, shaking my head. "No, thank you. I'll be leaving now." I nodded then turned around and took my leave. A frown returned on my face as I shut the door. "Stupid man." I hissed.A young m
"Wow, you're leaving for work so early?" Lila teased. "Your new boss has done more good than bad to you."A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I was in no mood to argue with her. "Silly." I stood in front of the oval-shaped dressing mirror, adjusting the collar of my pink button down shirt."Gosh, you're also dressing like you're going to work and not a club." She looked truly dazzled, buttoning her shirt."Silly." I chortled, brushing my hair and tied it into a ponytail."Why did you change the color of your hair? I liked it blonde and shoulder-length." She walked to the nightstand and poured herself a glass of water, pulling its brim to her lips.
I blinked multiple times with my jaw gaped. "Your girlfriend?" A frown appeared on my face."Yes, Imogen." He said through a fake smile. "This is my Mom and she has been dying to meet you."I frowned at him. "But—""It's so nice to finally meet you. I never believed Hames already had a girlfriend. I didn't believe him a bit, not to mention believing she's a really beautiful one like you. I'm Trisha Hendrix." She smiled with the small of her teeth in view.When it was patent that his Mom wasn't looking, Hames glared at me; a glare that warned me to go along with the flow. That didn't stop me from feeling pissed off b
Hames ignored my glare, focusing his gaze to Trisha. "Mom, we have to go now. We've had enough of your pestering self." He rolled his eyes, rising to his feet. "Miss Ma—" he cleared his throat, wearing a smile that showed off his one-sided dimple on his left cheek. "Imogen." Gosh, he looked way angelic when he smiled than the stern-faced demon he always portrayed."No, don't leave so soon." Trisha pouted. I found that cute though it wasn't exactly cute. I liked this woman's demeanor. She didn't give off the impression of a mean-ass rich son's mother like I mostly saw in movies, and probably books."We have to, Trisha." I also wore an angelic smile, blinking slower than usual for no good reason.Hames extended his hand towards me. I raised a questionin
Hames' driver drove us back to the company. As magical is it may seem, Hames made the accountant give me a $10,000 check.I couldn't stop staring at the check, counting the number of zeros over and over again. Excitement bubbled in my stomach. If he wasn't present, I would've surely jumped on the table and screamed my lungs out in exhilaration."If you're done swooning over the check, you can get your things ready and let's leave." He said gruffly, hanging his suit jacket over on his shoulder, holding it with his hand, with his other hand shoved into his pocket. What was he trying to do? Pose for a photo shoot?I pursed my lips, regaining my composure and shoved the check into my handbag. "Wait, leave?" I only heard him well enough.
"You're so lucky, you're going to Australia." Nikita plopped her chin on her palms, with her tummy flat on the bed, throwing her legs up in the air."How's that anyhow lucky?" I wondered, folding my clothes into my travel bag."How isn't it?" Her phone chirped in front of her and she picked it up. Slowly, her face flooded red."What's that now?" I smirked at her."Nothing I'd like you to know about yet." She giggled, rolling over to her back with her phone still in front of her face."That's not so nice." I faked a frown, zipping the travel bag close."Just shut