Michael POV:
I stared at the mirror in the rest room, my lazy blue eyes hid behind the glasses, my lean face still looked laced with anger, I was trying to keep it check before I stepped out again. My dark wavy hair slightly mussed in back from my restless stless fingers combing through it.Aurora shouldered into her long swey shirt jacket just as I walked into the hall. Like she promised earlier, she had waited till the end of the day. She was the only one left in the office, she was still clearing her desk and look about done.I stopped and glared at her.“I hope I’ve made my point about the coffee,” I said bluntly. “Have you reconsidered your impulsive resignation, by the way?”She stared at me with her sad eyes and gulped nervously."No, I haven't. I will be leaving as soon as possible""You aren't in control of your emotions Miss Hardy, I'm willing to give you till tommorrow morning to think it through overnight. You are behaving like a child throwing a tantrum" I replied“You can call it that if you like,” she replied abruptlyI felt a pang of anger rise from my gut by her reply. “In that case, you can consider this your last day and forget the measly notice. I’ll get Libby to finish your work and I’ll mail your two weeks’ pay to you. If that’s satisfactory?"Her face felt tight and uncomfortable at the taunting question, but she stood her ground. “That will be fine, Mr. Angelo. Thank you"I glared at her again, furious that I couldn’t get a rise out of her. “Very well. Your office key, please.” I saidShe fumbled it off her key chain and handed it to me, careful not to let her fingers touch mine. Her heart was going to break in two when the shock wore off, I know how much she loved working here, that was why I wanted to give her till tommorrow to think about it. she was trying so hard to hide how devastated she was, but I saw through it easily.I stared down at her dark head of hair as she placed the key in my fingers. I felt an unfamiliar, uncomfortable surge of loss. I couldn’t understand why.She had a sort of empathy with people that was disturbing. She was easily hurt. I could see that this was killing her, being tipped out of my office, out of my life. But I have to let her go.It was for the best, I told myself firmly. She was only infatuated with me. She’d get over it. I thought of how much she’d lost in the past year: her father, her home, her whole way of life. Now she had her invalid mother to care for, a burden she shouldered without a word of complaint. Now she had no job. I winced as I sensed the pain she must be feeling."It's for the best" I muttered UncomfortablyShe looked up at me, her blue eyes hazel in her rounded face.“It is?” she asked“You’re confused about your feelings. You’re only infatuated, Aurora. It isn’t love eternal, and there are eligible men elsewhere. You’ll get over it.” I said as kindly as I could, watching her face flush violently.Her lips actually trembled as she struggled for what to say. I knew my words made her feel like sinking into the floor. It was the worst humiliation she could ever remember feeling in her life. But I couldn’t possibly have made my own feelings any clearer.“Yes, sir,” she finally manage to say before turning away. “I’ll get over it.”She picked up her bits and pieces and headed toward the door. With both her two hand fulls, I opened the door for her. I was a gentleman till the end"Thank You" she said absent mindedly"Don't work go work for Jordan, he's a terrible human being and boss, with a devilish temper.""She can't be as bad as you sir, you are the worst of the worst" she said without looking at me"Besides why do you care, you've always hated me and I'm finally out of your hair" she added in a dull miserable toneShe walked toward her car with her heart around her ankles. Behind her, a tall man stood watching, brooding, as she walked out of his life.Only after she drove away did I notice the cake she left behind. It was so unlike her to forget things, but I guess she wasn't in her right state of mind.I wouldn't call her over a measly cake, so I did the the next logical thing; I w waited to see if she would come back for it. I waited for over half an hour, yet there wasn't any sign of her. I picked the cake furiously and threw it into the dumpster, I didn't know why I was hoping she'd come back for it, guilt I guess.I finally took my bag and walked out of the office to my car.Aurora POV:Few kilometers away, I remembered I had forgotten the Cake. I’d promised to drop it by the Hart ranch for Tess, but it was still sitting in Michael's office. I no longer had a key, and I'd rather have died than phoned him to let ne in to get the cake. He’d think it was a ruse, so that I could see him again.I stopped by the bakery instead and to get another cake. I approached the lady behind the counter."Good evening Ma'am" I said"Evening""What may I get You" "A Cake?" I replied "Is it for an occasion? Most of the cakes available are blank" She said Luckily for me Tess didn’t want a message on it, just the cake. "That's fine" I said"I will have that one" I added whilst pointing to the pink one I stopped by the Hart ranch property at Tess and Cag’s enormous house and handed it off to their housekeeper, with a beaming smile that never reached my eyes. I finally headed home. I was on the verge of tears on my way home. I parked at one side of the road and calmed mys
Aurora POV:I woke up with a summat stuck to my gut. I remember sleeping with a rejuvenated hope, but the hope was no where to be found again. I was in touch with reality again. I had told myself I could secure a job easily,Actually, that wasn’t quite the case. Jacobsville was a small town. There weren’t that many office jobs available, because most people lucky enough to get them worked in the same place until they retired.There was one hope though. Leo Jordan, an extremely wealthy local rancher who had a real war going with Mr. Angelo. Rumors says he couldn’t keep a secretary neither, perhaps worse than Mr. Angelo. He was hard, cold, and demanding. At least one secretary leave his employment in tears every month. His wife had left him for an unknown reason, along with their young son, and filed for divorce. He consistently refused to sign the final papers, which had led to a furious confrontation between himself and Mr.Angelo. The fistfight escalated until Chief of Police Cash Gri
Aurora POV:I drove towards south Jacobsville, in the direction of the biggest and the most beautiful house in the town.Leo Jordan lived in a huge white Victorian house. Local gossip said that his wife had wanted it since she was a child, living in a poor section of Jacobsville. She’d married Leo right out of high school and started to college after the honeymoon was over. College had opened a new world to her eyes. She’d decided to study law, and Leo stood by and let her have her way, sure that she’d never want to leave Jacobsville. But she got a taste of city life when she went on to law school in San Antonio, and she decided to work in a law firm there.Nobody understood exactly why they decided to have a child in her first year as a practicing estate lawyer. She didn’t seem happy about it, although she had the child. But a live-in nurse had to be employed because Mrs. Wright spent more and more time at the office. Then, two years ago, she’d been offered a position in a wellknown l
Aurora POV:The first few days out of Michael’s office were the hardest. I couldn’t forget how I’d looked forward to every new day, to each morning’s first glimpse of my handsome boss. My heart would jumped at the sound of his voice. My tingled all over when, rarely, he smiled at me when she finished a difficult task for him. Even the scent of a certain masculine cologne could trigger memories, because he always smelled of it. I felt deprived because my life would no longer contain even a casual glimpse of him. I was working for his worst enemy. Not much likelihood that Michael would turn up on Leo Jordan ranch in the near or distant future.But as week passed, I slowly fell into a routine at the ranch. The spreadsheet programs were easy to use once I learned what the various terms meant, like weight gain ratio and birth weight. I learned that Leo used artificial insemination to improve the genetics of his cattle, selecting for low birth weight, good weight gain ratios for offsprin
Michael POV: The past few weeks have been hellish and not just for me, my workers too. I just fired my secretary few hours ago. The sixth to be fired in many as 8 weeks. The latest one to be fired for arranging my files in non alphabetical order, it sounded petty, but Aurora understood that much. Aurora! I didn't know I would miss her this much. She had been little light in world I never noticed, I felt submerged in total darkness. Her overwhelming desire to make sure everything was perfectly done for me and her desperate attempts to make me smile or smile when I just gave her an undeserved tongue lashing. I couldn't get her to come back and I transferred the agression to my other employees. I flip at every error and thundered at the most petty mistake. I thought I was going to have to accept she was gone with time, but the anger got worse everyday. Like every other day, I was leaving the office a bit later than others. I closed my office and headed, I saw by chance the Letter I to
Michael POV:I was back at home, where the laughter happens and I can rest at the end of the day. From the street it is bricks and mortar topped with tile, the same as any other mansion. If you step inside you'll feel it's so different, a place where the lungs choose to fill a little deeper and the heart beat a little steadier. I had purchased it for a fortune.On the verandah were plants that reached up past the cedar railings and branched out gleefully into the sun, enjoying their fair-weather home. As was typical Gian, the pots were works of art in their own right. Every one was a pleasing shape and glazed in the same vibrant shades of blue I accented my home with. Some were like snapshots of midnight and ribbed like waves. Others were classically smooth, widening to a rimmed top, brilliant cyan glaze clinging to them like animal skin and dripping down the sides to add just the right dash of chaos. Against the deep browns of the wood, these simple pots were stunning just as I knew
Aurora POV:It was a busy morning, I was engrossed in the work I was doing. I was collating the number of calves brought to life yesterday and cross checking with the spread sheet to make sure there was no error. I still had quite a lot to do, Yet my mind strayed back to my ex boss. Through out the night it was he who was running a course through my mind. I was having a mixed feeling, I was so proud of myself I finally stood up to him and didn't allow him to do me as he please. Yet there was subtle melancholic feeling in my heart, I knew I was sad and I was yet to figure out the cause of it, but it was eating me out slowly. My mother also called my attention to my sad face this morning, I wasn't surprised she detected immediately, it is often said I'm like an open book, easy to read.I felt a cold hand on my skin, I jolted violently with fear out of my skin. "Calm down Mrs. Hardy" I turned around to see my taciturn boss, who looked shaken as much as I was. I presumed my reaction s
Michael POV:"Whom did I asked to deliver the emails for me" I hollered early the next morning.I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and like usual, I was going to take it out on my workers. They were the best option to relieve one of frustration and irritation. Watching them cower right in front of me is thrilling enough to start any day."I was""So, what happened? I clearly told you how important it was, yet you willy - nilly refused to do so.""I had a lot of to do yesterday, my mind must have skipped it at the end""That is not an excuse to forget what I asked you to do Miss Collins" I hollered "I didn't pay you that much to give excuses, I pay you to work and when I ask you to do something you do it""The weather was quite sombre yesterday, I also had to consider the possibility of both I and the important letter getting wet. I planned to mail it first thing this morning, that was why I got to work extra early, but it was nowhere to be found""Because I entered the rain you we