I kicked the door to my office open with my leg. I was carrying huge boxes around. Maybe I’d spoken too soon and concluded that work life was something easy and nice. My heart thumped wildly for exhausting myself and it was barely 9 in the morning. Judy – sorry, Jessica had taken it personally with me and now I was the office delivery woman. Nobody cared about my degree here or that I came out top of my class. “Newbie!” I groaned. I wasn’t even called by my name. “Yes?” I smiled at Jessica. I had already apologised and she told me there was no problem. The saccharin smile on her face said otherwise. “The main office is out of paper currently. Be a dear and have it restocked.” “The main office as in the CEO’s floor?” She nodded at me and patted my arm like I was stupid for asking her the question. “But don’t they have secretaries for that?” She cocked her head to the side as though she could not believe that I’d questioned her. “Of course but I want you to do it.” I pressed my te
I cleared my throat and entered the office. How could I possibly answer that kind of question? I groaned and smacked my forehead in embarrassment. Judy was so pissed that she avoided me the entirety of the day. I was stuck looking at my system, trying to find everyone who worked in this company so I wouldn’t be caught off-guard again. “Ryan Fisher.” I whispered to myself. That was the CEO. How was he so young? ‘Jared’s young too.’ I thought to myself but Jared was always going to be CEO, regardless of when. Rick seemed like he’d just taken over and by might. How did people get into such positions of power at such young ages? “That’s crazy.” I whispered again. “What’s crazy?” I almost screamed. My hands were on my chest as I tried to breathe. I scowled at David, the only person in the office who seemed remotely aware that there was a newbie in the office. The rest just seemed to completely ignore me. It was almost like I was invisible to them. “Nothing!” I said, a little too qui
I hadn’t seen Ryan Fisher in a while and I was starting to get curious about him it was almost getting ridiculous. “thinking...flower arrangement… Leah!” I looked at Aly, a little startled. “What?” “You’ve been distracted all day. What the hell is going on with you?” I blinked a couple of times, trying to find the word to say and settled on sorry. “Are you getting cold feet?” I paled at her words. “What? No! Of course not.” She narrowed her eyes at me for a few more seconds before looking away. Nalini seemed to be enjoying our conversation, looking at both of us with a smile on her face. She was such a happy child. “If you have a different opinion, you should talk. It is YOUR wedding.” She shrugged. I didn’t have a different opinion. In fact, I liked Aly’s input. I would have been hella confused on what to do if I’d been left alone with it. “Nah. It’s cool. I’m sorry, I should be more attentive.” I gave her a small smile to show that I was sorry for zoning out. I yawned tiredly
“I think we don’t have enough data on the Indian Market to rule it out as a failure.” I swallowed hard, feeling his piercing gaze nail me to my seat.He nodded his head and took lead of the meeting. There was a couple of whispers before he swiped the screen content away.“Miss Leah is right.” I started to wonder if I’d told him my name before. Most CEOs wouldn’t bother, well, I believed so.I squeezed my eyes in pain. He didn’t have to point out that fact. The rest of the meeting was filled with warning glares from Judy to me and from Ryan to everyone else.The meeting wrapped up with a need to reconvene much later as the day was drawing close and the CEO seemed to have more important things to do than school his accountants. At least he wasn’t a figure head.“Excuse me?” My eyes widened in shock. Had I said that out loud?“Hmm?” I acted dumb. If I didn’t confirm it, it would seem as though they’d misheard me. David dropped it, thankfully.“Where do you think you are going?” Judy scow
I breathed in the diner air. Fresh as ever. Jack and I had agreed after multiple scheduling and missed calls to catch up. He’d become a bestfriend too over the years and I missed seeing him a lot. To be honest, it was my fault.“How’s work with you?” He looked so tired I felt prompted to tease him but I was no better.“Ugh! No one told me this would happen! I thought I’d work and get paid.” He groaned.“Isn’t that what is happening?”“Not really. I leave work and still have work. I can barely eat man. My fridge has been empty for almost a week now.” I started laughing.“Trust me, I know how that feels.” I relaxed against my chair and looked around. I wasn’t one to notice faces around Joe’s but it was clear that they were new around here, freshers maybe. The nostalgic feeling hit hard and it’d barely been months.I took a large slurp of my strawberry milkshake, remembering how young I was back then.“How’s the wedding planning going?” That question wasn’t supposed to catch me off guard
I slept fitfully in a long while, even Jared seemed to notice.“Are you okay?” I groaned as I rolled away so I could get ready for the day. It was already past 10am and I was hungry for food.“Yeah.” I nodded and almost tripped over air. I could hear Jared scramble for me but I held him back with my hand.“I’m fine, really.” I felt terrible and I wasn’t sure it was only because I hadn’t been able to sleep well.I turned on the shower in the bathroom and let the warm water cascade down my back, turning my bones into jelly.I was tying my robe when Jared walked in.“Hey, can we talk?” I turned to him with confusion written all over my face but I nodded. It wasn’t like I had anywhere to go.“Sure.” I followed behind him into the room and sat down next to him.“I have to travel.” My brows dipped in a frown.“For how long?”“It could be weeks.” My brows skyrocketed towards my hairline.“Weeks?” He nodded. It wasn’t like I didn’t know what kind of job he had or the role he had to play in hi
I adjusted my skirt and my hair before knocking.“Come in.” It was faint but it still commanded authority. I took a brief look around the office before settling on him. He looked larger than his desk and it almost made me laugh.“Good morning sir.” I smiled nervously. He gestured to the seat in front of him and I sat in it.“How are you?” His smile was so disarming that I felt myself loosen up.“Good sir. You wanted to see me?” He nodded and pulled out a manila envelope. I was confused but I collected it from him and pulled out its contents.It was a new contract that had been signed between Elise Industries and Marque and Co. I’d heard of Elise Industries somewhere before but I couldn’t remember when or how I’d heard of them.“Why are you showing me this?” Even if I didn’t remember Elise, contracts only existed between big shots here and I would be stupid to take such documents lightly, which was why I was surprised I was being shown the documents in the first place.It was supposed
“You’re so big now.” I kissed Nalini on the cheek. Ugh! She was so cute. She giggled and grabbed onto my shirt tightly.“I hope you have something warmed up for me?” My stomach grumbled and I groaned. I hadn’t eaten all day and I was beyond starving.“I’ve got loaded mashed potatoes with pork chops.” My mouth watered at the thought. Thank God for Aly.She brought a plate to me and I was quick to drop Nalini on the floor.“Sorry dear, auntie’s gotta eat.” I gobbled down the food like I was being chased. Aly simply waited for me to be done eating before going for the jugular.I was cleaning up my mouth when she finally spoke.“What happened between you and Jack?” My head snapped to her, my eyes locked in on hers.“How do you know about that?” She rolled her eyes.“Does it matter?”“Uh, yes? Was it Jack?” I scowled, thinking about what happened at Joe’s.“That’s not the point, Lee. He told me about it ‘cause he’s worried about you.” My scowl only deepened.“Look, I’m gonna be honest abou