CHAPTER 4

She sat on the bed and placed her laptop on her lap, Tracy quickly joined, her eyes bright. One could literally see the excitement oozing out of her skin. "How hard can it be to find?" Tracy squealed, her annoyance apparent.

Andrea giggled, totally enjoying Tracy's discomfort even though she was just as curious and couldn't wait to see. As soon as she opened her email, Lucian Lyc popped up on the screen.

She smiled a little, it wasn't the company email rather it was his or so she would like to think. "That's it!" Tracy suddenly yelled in her ears. "Click it already."

"I am trying, you loud buffoon. Would stop shouting already!"

Tracy scoffed, "I know you're just as excited as I am." She rolled her eyes as she spoke but she kept quiet.

The subject was the first thing she saw when she clicked on the email. "Important!" Tracy read. "Wow, that's some way to put it."

"Shh!" Andrea yelled.

"Ugh, stop shushing me…" Tracy started to say but Andrea was already reading the contents of the email.

Miss Andrea Simone

Thank you for your application even though I already told you you've got the job, it feels like I should include it here. 

I am happy to inform you, you're hired and it would be great if you resumed on Monday. Below is everything you need, including my personal line. Do not hesitate to contact me if there is a need to.

I also regret to say that I would be away for a few days and I wish I could show you the ropes but you're going to have to figure it out yourself. It should be easy but if it isn't you can always reach out to me. I already adjusted my schedule. Try to make the new ones in the right order.

Do sign the contract and send it to me as soon as possible.

As Andrea read the email Tracy kept saying "Ooh" and "Ahh" until Andrea elbowed her in the guts. "Woof! That's some email you got there," she said as soon as Andrea finished reading.

"I need to sign it as soon as possible," Andrea muttered, suddenly feeling edgy.

"Calm down, I'm sure you still have plenty of time. It's just Friday morning."

"Yeah but it says here that he sent it since six yesterday evening. What if he thinks I'm incompetent?" Andrea panicked.

"Oh, now you're worried. I've been begging you to check it ever since." 

"Well, I didn't think he would have sent it."

"Calm down, okay. I am sure he won't fire you simply because you sent a reply fifteen hours later."

"You're the one who said he fires on a whim and what you said doesn't make it sound any better."

"Alright, just open the document already. You can worry about the little details later."

"Fine," Andrea replied and clicked on the top document titled contract. She assumed the other document was all she needed to know, she would go through that later.

She quickly read through the contract, it didn't seem any unusual except a small section. "Party A retains the right to terminate this contract along with the job whenever and without prior notice but Party B would be duly compensated." Andrea read out loud.

"I was wondering when this would pop up but ‘duly compensated' doesn't sound half bad," Tracy concluded with a smirk.

"Well, at least I've been warned."

"Don't want to take it?" Tracy asked.

"What? Are you nuts? Nobody is going to miss a chance to be the personal assistant to the CEO of Lucian Lyc Company. I'm not nuts." 

"I was just worried, your expression seemed a little lost."

"Nah it's just sad to know I would have absolutely no say in the matter but other than that I'm perfectly fine."

Andrea continued reading through the contract but then something caught her eyes. "Party B should be willing to undertake tasks that are not work-related."

"Sex!" Tracy exclaimed with a straight face clapping her hands together.

"What? Shut up!" Andrea yelled out, confused as to why she was growing a bit warm.

"What else do you think? Have you seen any of his personal assistants? Maybe you haven't but I did, none of them looked like all they had was an employer and employee relationship."

"You're yelling besides I won't be stupid enough to have sex with Lucian Lyc, everybody knows he's a Playboy. So not my style. You know that." Andrea protested.

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," Tracy murmured.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that."

"I said yeah, I have nothing to worry about." Tracy lied, she stared affectionately at her friend and hoped she was just worried about nothing.

"Well, I guess it is about time I signed up. We already spent an hour going through it and there's really nothing here that bothers me. I intend to do a good job, there's no way he is going to fire me like he did all the rest." Andrea muttered with confidence but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince Tracy.

"I trust you," she replied with a soft smile. 

Andrea smiled back and returned her attention to the laptop. She quickly read through and signed. She immediately began reading the attachment while Tracy ordered some Chinese.

She finished the documents less than an hour later after taking a break to eat and she didn't think she would have any need to call Lucian. She could handle this.

Tracy ended up staying with her the whole weekend. She forced Tracy to go out partying on Saturday as she was worried they probably wouldn't have a chance to spend this much time together again.

Sunday evening, Tracy left. Andrea was sad to say goodbye and Mikey was even sadder. He meowed after her partially standing on his hind legs as he stretched a paw towards her.

"Bye Mikey," Tracy said as she climbed into her car.

Andrea stood waving until she couldn't see Tracy's car anymore then she bent and scooped Mikey into her arms. "How come you're never this sad when I leave?" She would have sworn the cat scoffed at her. She turned around and went inside.