Master of his Heart

2

As Christian settled into his office at the family's company, he knew that some things were going to change. His father did not favor any of his children, and even here at the company, it was well known that all three of them worked well together. He didn't know how his father did it, but it kept the balance. That was simple, and Christian liked the simple things. Nate was the one who seemed to surprise everyone. Of course, he was now busy dealing with his wife, and Chris didn't think that he would be around all that much. With a new wife and a child on the way, Chris knew he had lost his partner in crime. That was fine. It was a part of growing up and finding new things and people.

Though he let the sigh out in the empty room, and then he called for his assistant to come in. A young woman came to the door, and she looked in. "I am sorry, Mr. Akechi, but Sharon didn't come in today, and I am here to replace her for the week." Christian was looking at her and had no idea who she was. He had never seen this person before. He was sure that he would have remembered as he had worked at the company in all the different departments to earn his place at the top. He had met nearly every person in the company at the same time. Either this woman was new, or he had somehow overlooked her. That wasn't something that he thought he would ever do, really. He knew almost every person in the company. It was his job, too, at the end of the day.

He looked her over again as he stood up. She was small. Her mousey brown hair was wild though she had tried to contain it in some sort of bun. She had two pencils already lodged in the pile of hair on her head. Her circle-rimmed glasses were perched on her nose in a way that made him remember one of the school's librarians.

Instinctually he reached out to shake her hand, but she looked at him and blinked her eyes, and she really didn't know where to put the things in her hands. He began to chuckle. "What happened to Sharon?"

"She was in a small car accident." The young woman said as she looked at him and then placed the notebook in a chair that was in front of his desk. "She is fine, or she said she was, but the lead assistant said I needed to take her place while she is out."

"I see," Christian stated as he looked her over again. He wasn't sure this was going to work out though he didn't know why. There was something about this woman in front of him that made him think that she was not going to be a good fit to work for him. "And your name is?"

"Ophelia." She said as she looked at him.

"Like the Shakespeare character?" Christian asked as he looked her over, and he knew that she did not fit her name at all.

"So I have heard." She said, not impressed with the comment. He knew that this woman was going to be trouble, but not in the way he viewed most women. There was nothing he could do that seemed to crack her forcefield just to get her to relax. He knew this was going to be a really long week. "What was it that you needed right now?"

"I normally go over the week with Sharon to see what I have on the calendar." He said as he looked at her.

"Well, I would love to be able to go over that with you, but there is a problem." She said as she looked at him. He could hear the almost panic in her voice, and she looked away. "Right now, I am locked out of the computer system."

"Of course, you are." He said under his breath. "Well, what are we going to have to do so you can access the computer."

"I already called the IT department, Mr. Akechi. As soon as I can access the system, then we can go over the entire week." Orphelia said as she looked at him. This wasn't going well at all, and she seemed to know that. This was not how she had planned her day to go. She wanted an easy day doing the things she normally did by filing and typing up things for whoever needed things done. She had no idea why it was thought of that she should be here doing this now. The fact she was also locked out of the system in the out cove of his office was just the icing on her really bad day.

"What is the problem? Maybe I could help you." Christian stated. He liked to keep to his schedule. If he, didn't it seemed the rest of the day was completely off. However, this was important to him because Sharon was the person who handled making all of his appointments. He often didn't know who or where he was supposed to be unless she told him. He was now seeing that was a problem that he had never thought of before.

"Sharon, it seems password protected all the files she worked on for you. I can access the system, just not anything relating to you." She said with a sigh. It was easy for Christian to see she didn't want to get one of her co-workers in trouble. Sharon should have known better. One of the things that the Akechi's ran on was no secrets within the company. This was something that was a major issue. Now, for the time, being Christian had no idea if he was supposed to meet with a client at all this week. He really had no confidence in the woman in front of him being able to find out before there were some problems, and he knew that wasn't her fault. Though she would probably be the one to be blamed. Sharon was not supposed to have done this at all. They did not allow for private passwords on company computers when it came to files. He really had no idea what the point of this was.

"That is not protocol." He said, and she nodded.

"I know." She replied as she shook her head. "I was trying to figure out how to get into the system without letting you know because I didn't want to get her into trouble."

"Next time, please let me know. That way, when someone calls complaining that I am late or didn't show up, I at least have an idea of what is going on." Christian said as they walked out of the office, and he looked at the locked computer and shook his head. He continued down the hallway to his father's office to give him the report. This was not going to go well.