The next day Alec has meetings outside the office which he attends by himself, so Rose has a more peaceful start to her day. Quickly finishing as much as possible, she is done with most of the work by noon. With nothing much to do, she decides to pick up two iced beverages from the café next door and carries them to Sarah’s cabin, hoping to perk up her day. Getting there, she finds Sarah rushing through things and looking slightly overwhelmed. Placing the drinks on the side, she offers help. “Hey! What happened? How can I help?” Sarah tries to wave her off but Rose persists. “I used to work in this department earlier. I’m sure I’ve not forgotten everything. Just tell me. Dragon is out for a couple of hours and I am completely done with all my work.” In the absence of her team, giving in to the offer of help, Sarah briefs her about her upcoming meeting. She tells her to do some quick research on one of the competitors and the current trends in the industry while she finishes
Hearing the stupid woman blabbering on the phone, Alec’s first instinct is of putting her in her place. But then, his eyes lock on Rose. Looking at the surprised and confused expression on her face, an idea pops up in Alec’s head. Quickly picking up the receiver, putting on his sweetest voice he responds, “Hold on for a second sweetheart.” Looking at Rose, using a curt tone, he asks her to leave the room. “This is important and I am going to need some privacy for this call.” Frowning at the sudden switch in his tone, Rose picks up her beverage and exits the room. The moment the door closes behind Rose, Alec just ends the call without saying a word. Putting his feet up on the desk, he finally allows the smile to slip. She reacted on hearing someone else calling herself his girlfriend. Was there some displeasure on her face? His thoughts of the redhead are interrupted by the shrill noise of the phone again. Knowing just who it might be, he simply pulls the wire out and procee
The next two days go by uneventfully for Rose. She finds Alec seemingly distracted while talking to her and it suits her just fine. His obnoxious girlfriend though is another story. Wearing the most ridiculous outfits, she would saunter into his office, without even waiting to check if he was busy. Acting as if she was still on the runway and people like me were there like paparazzi. Rose had discovered her name when she had gone to hand over some documents to Alec in his cabin. Knocking on the door, instead of hearing “come in” she heard him moaning her name “Charmaine”. Since it sounded like he was getting a blowjob, she just turned around and decided to wait till one of them stepped out of the cabin. The major difference, the last couple of days, had been in Derek. He had been regularly calling, texting. Sending his selfies while making faces, telling her how much he missed her. Some X-rated stuff also made its way to her phone from him and it made her laugh. This time he ma
Rose is on a happy high and so she completely misses the shift in Alec’s body language when she says the name ‘Derek Muller’. But Alec is burning up inside. Realizing that she had been keeping him at a distance all this while and cozying up to a leech. And that too his competitor! Not wanting to show his emotions, Alec asks her slowly, “Did you know he is our competitor?” Rose puts her wine glass down and looks at him. Of course, she knew he was a competitor. Everyone knew. It wasn’t a secret. Not realizing where this is going, she waits for him to complete his thought. Wanting to hurt her, Alec looks at her mockingly and tells her, “He has cozied up to you only because you work for me.” And he succeeds when he sees her eyes widening at his statement and a look of hurt flashed across her face. But then he had been hurt too and thus he pushes further. “Do not flatter yourself into thinking he is genuinely interested in you or, worse still, in love with you.” This statement
By the time Rose gets home it is already 3 pm. Feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically, she decides to forgo cooking and orders some food for herself before stepping in to take a bath. She had refused all meals onboard the flight. By the time the food arrives, Rose is already feeling a little relaxed. Her home brings her a lot of comfort and a sense of pride. From each piece of furniture in the house to the paint on the walls and the dishes in the cupboard, each and everything has been picked and paid for by her. Being here she doesn’t feel as worthless as Alec was insinuating. Despite being an orphan, growing up in different foster houses, she has made something of herself. Thinking of her tough times, Rose starts searching for suitable job openings online, while eating her lunch on the side. She has given herself a month to find a job. Once she has signed on the dotted lines with her next employer, then handing in her two-week notice wouldn’t be as difficult. And if Ale
The next morning, dreading going to work, Rose decides to give a little boost to herself by a little power dressing. Picking out her perfectly tailored white blazer with the matching skirt, she contemplates the choice of an appropriate top. It isn’t that she wanted to impress others. She just wanted to feel a little extra confident in clothing that she knew she would look good in. Flipping through the tops in her cupboard, she makes her selection the moment her eyes rest on the silky royal green top. Getting ready, Rose reminds herself that she now has to spend a little under two months at Xander. Not wanting to pick fights during this time, she decides she will remain firm but a little extra polite. Clipping on her rose gold earrings and watch, Rose takes one look at herself in the mirror, and pleased with the overall look, heads out towards the subway on a cheerful note. Riding the subway, Rose decides to add a selfie to the chat that she is having with Maya. Seeing her c
With everyone else finally leaving the conference room after the conclusion of the event meeting, the last two people left happen to be Sarah and Eric. Seeing Sarah furiously typing away on her laptop, finishing the document with the roles and responsibilities that they discussed in the meeting, Eric has an idea pop up in his head. Seemingly muttering to himself he says, “I wonder if Xander Empire is not doing as well as it used to when senior Mr. Xander was the CEO.” Saying this he leaves the question open-ended and starts putting things together in his bag before finally getting up. As expected, Sarah hears him alright and in a more business-like manner asks him, “I am sorry, is there anything that you find missing? Is there something I can help you with?” Shrugging his shoulders, he simply responds, “Well, aren’t these meetings supposed to start on a congratulatory note? We won a new business. A prestigious one at that. A meal or a dessert would have been a nice way to s
The next few weeks pass by quickly in preparation for the big event. Eric and Sarah work very closely together with their teams and Rose supports them fully from the sidelines since Alec keeps reminding her that her primary role in the organization is being his secretary. Since that day of their lunch at the yacht, Alec and Rose had somehow gotten rid of the coldness between them but it is still a delicate professional relationship. Alec knows if he pushes even a bit, the cold walls would be drawn up between them once again. So he tries to stay reasonable around her. However, he is unable to stop feeling threatened by Eric’s growing closeness to Rose. It is one of the reasons he keeps a close eye on them and barges into meetings unannounced on the pretext of supervision and updates, just to keep a check on them Alec, with his eyes only trained on Rose, doesn’t realize that his brother is interested in Sarah and what he feels for Rose is a protective brotherly love, more so sinc