Impress Me Not: The Handyman

Chapter 6

"Wait," Niko furrowed his eyebrows. "Say that one more time,"

"Mr. Balter said that if you apologized for your behavior in person to him than he might consider your request," Frita already looked tired from all the phone calls that he had told her to make. He was getting close to his deadline, and it wasn't helping that the perfect man for this was being stubborn.

"And did he tell you where he wanted to meet?"

"No, sir," Frita said. "He simply told me that you'd have to find him and then hung up."

Great. What was this? A game of cat and mouse? Why was this man being so stubborn about this? He already offered triple the normal pay! Shouldn't that count for an apology? And he already told Frita to tell him that he was sorry for his behavior. But, of course, this man was so stubborn that he still refused.

And he needed him for this. Even without cutting his hair. He desperately needed him for this. Looking at the clothing that they were trying to show in the ad, he was the best person for it all. Niko just knew that it was going to be a great success.

If he could only get the man to agree to do it.

He sent his assistant away and sat back in his chair. This had been an annoying day with nothing but problems. He was behind on paperwork, and had to make some phone calls to other companies that always loved to give him the runaround about everything.

And the air conditioning was out.

Out of all the things that had already gone wrong that day, the air conditioning was the worst. So many people were already complaining, and the heat that was seeping in was already making workers grumpy and tense.

"Mr. Bennet?" one of the lobby receptionists paged him. "The repair man is here."

"Perfect," he got up. "Tell him that I'm already on my way down there and I'll see him soon."

That was one thing that would at least go right today. At least the repair service had come quickly. If they could fix the problem just as fast as they had come, he would definitely be using their service in the future.

He still couldn't get over this man, though. He pushed the elevator button to the first floor with a sigh. This man said that he wanted him to apologize to him in person, and then told him that he was going to have to find him?

Where was he going to find him? With his deadline coming up, he was better off just trying to find someone else for the position. It wouldn't be as good as he wanted it to, but there was no way that he was going to be able to find this man in a city like this in just two days. That would take a miracle.

The doors opened to show him the lobby to the building. It was always easy to spot a repair man. They always had a jumpsuit on that had their company logo, along with a bag of tools with them.

This one was surprising to say the least.

"Mr. Balter?" he walked up to the man. Out of all the things that he thought the man might have done, he was not expecting he was a repair man. He looked good even in a jumpsuit. The dark green outfit accentuated all of his curves and brought out the green in his eyes. He looked like he had been working quite a lot in the heat. His black hair was kept in a sloppy bun that had fallen onto his neck. It frayed from all the humidity, but still had a look to it that Niko was starting to like the more he saw the man.

And that tool belt on his waist looked good where it was too.

Looks like luck was on his side. This might actually be a good day after all.

"Before we get into anything," the man put a hand out to stop him from talking. "I'm here to repair your AC unit, not talk about anything else."

"Right this way, Mr. Balter," he gestured towards the elevator. The unit of theirs really did need fixed. He could try and convince him to take his offer while he was on the rooftop. The man looked happy that he had agreed to his request so easily.

He failed to realize that they still had a whole elevator ride and some time on the rooftop to talk.

"Do you know what happened to the AC unit before it broke down?" the man got straight to the point as soon as they were in the elevator. Niko frowned. This might be more difficult than he thought.

"One of our workers were saying that it made a rattling sound just before it stopped working entirely," he told him. "We've been trying to keep our doors and windows shut for the most part."

"Rattling," those hazel eyes looked focused. "That could either be an easy fix, or you could need a completely new part."

He groaned at the second half of that sentence.

"Please tell me you have that new part."

"Trust me," Balter said. "With how many units that have been going down lately, we've been stocking our vans with as much parts as possible."

"Good," he sighed. "Your company seems like it knows its stuff."

"Thanks," the man said. "We try our hardest to do our best. This company that you have here doesn't seem that bad either."

Did he give him a compliment? Well, it was his company, but Niko would take it. It only took that to completely make his day.

"So, I'm assuming you didn't know that you were going to repair our unit when you told me that I had to find you?" he tried to go about this topic lightly, at least. He really did want him to do this job for him.

"Unfortunately, not," Solomon sighed. Niko was shocked to find that the man even looked handsome when he was frowning. There was just something about his face that made him look good no matter what.

He was starting to absolutely love it.

"Look, I know you don't really want to talk about it," he started. "And you probably don't want to be here at the moment because of my antics. But I do want to apologize for my behavior. It was wrong of me to treat you unprofessionally at the interview, and I sincerely apologize for my actions."

Solomon sighed as he said that. He seemed to be the type of person to do that a lot. He had been looking at the elevator door the whole time, but finally looked at him after what he had said.

"I don't appreciate being treated like an object that can be used however you want, you know," he said. He crossed his arms and stuck out his hip a little while he looked at him.

"I'll do anything to prove that I truly am sorry for what I said," he told him. Why was he acting like this? Why was he going all out to try and get this man to believe him? This was his only chance to even see him. But this felt like it was more than just a desire to get the best person for the job. This man had become the center of his thoughts ever since the interview.

"You aren't going to say that I need to cut my hair last minute, are you?" he raised an eyebrow. Everything about him had a sassiness to it.

"No," he shook his head. "I talked to some other people that were working with me on the project, and they were completely fine with it."

"And you aren't going to do that again?"

"You have my word," he smiled as he promised. The elevator doors opened to the rooftop of the building. But it seemed like he was finally getting somewhere with him at least.

"Alright," the man shook his head, his cap moving with him. He looked good with a hat on too, surprisingly.

Was there anything that didn't look good on this man?

"Alright as in: 'Let's get to work on the AC unit' or you'll actually do the gig?"

"Both," he gave Niko a smirk. "As long as you never call me that many times for a job again. That was the most annoying thing for both me and your assistant."

"I'll agree to that too, then," he smiled. It was nice to see the man look happy for once. It seemed to spread to him as well.

"Good," they both walked out of the elevator. "Now let me see what's wrong with your unit."