Fourteen
Seeing Anders, Veil could feel her heart starting to race. She had been trying to avoid this exact scenario, and now she felt like a thief caught in the act.
“Good morning, s-sir…” she stuttered in her attempt at clearing the air. It felt awkward knowing that their first encounter for the morning was not supposed to be here, but at her desk where she should have welcomed him. But more awkward was having him so close, she could smell his cologne. It was intoxicating, causing her mind to wander in directions it should never.
“I apologize, I was a little tardy today but I promise that it won’t repeat…itself…”
Her voice steadily began to fade away as she noticed that even though he was not saying anything he was staring at her as if they were in some staring contest, or as though if he were to blink for a moment she would disappear or turn into dust.
She was almost tempted to give her fingers in his face to check if he was still there with her, but she resisted the urge to do so.
“I’ll be at my office,” she said and tried to escape from his domineering presence, but Anders beat her to it. Before she could discern what was happening, he pushed the door closed, and Veil found herself stepping back into the office again.
“Is there something you need me for? I’ve already dropped off the documents that… you asked… for…”
“Do you think you’re here for that reason?” He said to her as he settled into his desk.
“I want you to tell me in detail the reason you were late today. Don’t leave anything out… tell me what exactly you were doing that occupied your time so much that you forgot the importance of punctuality…”
He was tapping his fingers impatiently on his desk as he spoke. This obviously surprised Veil. While she had expected him to not be thrilled over her tardiness, she wasn’t expecting him to be this livid.
He looked like a man that had just come out of a nasty argument with his lover and nothing was resolved in that said argument. But, it was very unlikely that he would be having relationship problems. He was the kind of man that women would flock around but would never settle on one.
Hence, it was very unlikely that such was the case. How could he split his mind like this over a simple issue? She wasn’t even late, plus, she had already given him an apology and a promise that she would be better in the future so why was he dragging the matter for too long?
But because he was so demanding of an answer, she eventually gave it so as to satisfy him. However, by the time she was done with her story, he looked even worse than he had been before. More like every blood in his body had washed up to his face. Plus, he was insisting that she was lying to him.
The truth was that Anders couldn’t get the image of her talking to that man in such a light-hearted manner. She never spoke to him like that, not as if their positions in the office could ever allow it, but, the way she spoke with him, all carefree and casually. She had even smiled at him. Who knows, maybe the next time they meet, they might be kissing and sharing a bed.
Fuck!
The thought of it both irritated and infuriated him.
The fact that she never for once mentioned the man in her story disgusted him. He had clearly seen the both of them together.
He crossed his fingers on his desk and looked at the stared down at the documents he had earlier requested for. He needed to give his signature where they were needed.
This conversation could go on, especially since she didn’t want to tell the truth.
“Get out!” he said, coldly.
As she walked out, it took every fiber of self-control inside of her to not get overwhelmed by the tears welling up at the back of her eyes, they threatened to pour. When she opened the door, she sniffed in a few times, in an attempt to hold back her tears. Then, she forced a smile to her face as she walked through the corridor filled with Anders’ bodyguards. By the time she reached her office, she dragged in deep breaths.
“You can do this Veil, yes you can. You’re smart, intelligent, and hardworking. Anderson Rodriguez isn’t going to make you feel any less of yourself.”
“Oh Mom, ” she missed her parents. She’d have to go see them today.Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.
She ran her fingers through her hair and then let out a deep exhausted sigh. Were all CEOs like him? He thinks everyone is an obsessive perfectionist like him. He expects that no one is ever supposed to make mistakes, especially for her, of course, she was his assistant.
The weight on her back was becoming heavier and heavier every day, and the temptation to write a resignation letter was becoming even more palatable, but she had to remind herself that she was mostly stuck in the situation which was why she couldn’t even think about resigning, even if the opportunity presented itself. Her father’s life depended on her now.
She started to put her office in order starting with her desk which had a mountain of folders on it. Soon, he was going to call her to choke some awkward work down her throat, he had developed this new insufferable habit of constantly calling her for sudden work when lunchtime was close, meaning that if she wanted to eat it would have to be in between whatever work she had at hand at the time and most of the time, she preferred to avoid it because of the material she was working on.
And, just as predicted, a couple of hours before lunch, he immediately called her and dropped yet another elephant-sized job for her which from the look of his schedule he wouldn’t be needing urgently. But, he said that he might decide to shift up the meeting where that document was needed so she needed to work on it at once.
Before she dropped the intercom, she asked him if he would be needing anything. She resisted the urge to ask him if he also wanted her sanity as well, because, he was gradually taking it away from her.