Tortured Souls

3 - The agenda

I have been through eight separate stacks of paper, most of the files on his computer, and all of the drawers in his desk and nothing. Not even a false bottom revealing some nefarious plan to conquer the world, or something.

I am in the process of straightening his papers, because something tells me he's anal enough to notice the angle at which they are sitting, when Alexander walks through the door without warning. I shoot up pin-straight with the stack of papers in my hands, looking like a deer caught in headlights. As his eyes land on my form, he pauses mid-step. I watch as his eyes trail from my face down to my hands where they rest for a moment.

"What are you doing?" he demands, his voice monotone and his face impassive. Is he even capable of other expressions?

"I was tidying up since I didn't know where you went," I lie, straightening out the papers against the desk before laying them back on the table carefully. He stares at me for a moment longer. We both know that his desk is pristine and during my earlier search I noticed that everything is alphabetized (on top of being color-coded).

"Lying isn't a trait we value at this organization," he says as he begins walking toward me. I open my mouth to say something but it is lost as he rounds the desk to stand directly in front of me. I am forced to lift my head to make eye contact with him and it feels disgustingly submissive. At this distance, I can appreciate the way his left eye turns from brown to green at the top and his right remains a light brown. His hair is gelled back, unlike in the photo Jim had provided me, and it makes it look a shade of brown so dark it's almost black. His eyes are still analyzing mine when he says, "and even if it were something we looked for, you wouldn't be listed as having that quality. What were you doing?"

I barely stop myself from narrowing my eyes and widen them slightly instead, trying to look innocent. It's better for the plan if he thinks I'm a shit liar. "Well, I was learning your organizing system so that I could support you better in the future. Now I know that blues are for business propositions, oranges are for invitations, purples are for spam or things to be discarded, and reds are things you are prioritizing or actively working on. I couldn't figure out what pink is though." The pink thing was so that I don't seem like a nark but hopefully this would make it seem like I am interested in being his personal assistant in the long-term. And by long-term, I mean longer than the two week mark.

He maintains his gaze and I can see him analyzing my words, deciding whether or not it's a good enough reason. Finally, he responds, "pink is for anything related to my employees." I nod with a small smile and quickly step out of his space, returning to the chair on the other side of his desk. He lowers himself back into his chair and immediately begins to work on his laptop. I decide to let the silence continue, mostly to see how long it'll go for but also because I want some time to strategize.

As the time passes, I reconsider the outfit strategy. Even though Jim thinks that a tight shirt and some cleavage will be what does Mr. CEO in, he honestly didn't seem interested at all. If anything, his comment about professionalism this morning suggests to me that he'd value something work appropriate rather than some raunchy outfit. I did my research on him while I was waiting to hear back about the position and even though there were numerous articles about him with women, none of them were scandalous and none of them were with his personal assistants. They were all respectable business women or heiresses and, honestly, I think the only reason he was labeled a 'playboy' at all was because never committed to an official label with any of them. The first change to my game plan was my wardrobe.

As for the vibe I wanted to give off, I couldn't get a read on him. Granted, that was probably because I hadn't seen him interact with anyone else. Once I've seen him in social settings I'll probably be able to read that better but based on the aforementioned women he's been seen with, they all seem to be either spoiled brats or assertive business moguls. Again, not very helpful considering I'm not trying to date him.