The CEO's Proposal || ongoing

chapter seven || 07

She gives me a warm yet sympathetic smile, but also looks worried for me as if she's scared about what will happen.

Oh fuck, he's mad isn't he.

I look at her name tag, and see the name 'Laura' being displayed on her right breast pocket of her blouse.

"You might want to hurry miss, he seemed to be in a bad mood when he came in this morning." She warns me as she hands me back my card.

I nod and begin to walk away but not without thanking her.

I repeatedly press for the lift to come down on the floor and wait rather impatiently as the doors finally open.

I quickly go inside and go to the floor, feeling like it took absolutely forever to get to, and rush to Mr. Russo's office.

I check the time, I'm not exactly that late. Only five minutes.

That's not bad. Right?

I take a long, deep breath and mentally prepare myself on how I'm going to apologise for being late then eventually build up the courage to lift my hand and knock on his door.

"Come in."

His voice brings back flashbacks to when I first saw him in his car, the deep husky voice going straight through to my body.

I open the door by pulling down the handle and awkwardly just stand there not really knowing what to do.

I see Mr. Russo sitting behind his desk, typing away on his laptop and filling out some forms and not paying attention quite yet.

So I just stupidly wave.

What is wrong with me? It's not like he can hear the wave, idiot.

I really thought that would make him look up and forget about the fact that I am late but how I was wrong.

After what feels like ages, he finally looks up from his laptop screen and crosses his arms while also leaning back against the support of his chair.

"Miss. Brown, could you look at the clock above me and tell me what time it is?" He says, with no hint of amusement in his voice.

I clear my throat, scared it will crack and look up at the clock. "It's 9:07 am, sir."

He stands up from his seat, placing both his hands in his trouser pockets on each side. "And would you care to explain what excuse you have today for why you are late?"

I blink quite rapidly, not knowing what to say but attempt to sound brave. "W-well there was a lot of traffic. Sir." I stutter out and mentally cuss myself for not sounding confident as I always do.

It's as if his aura does something to me personally. Anywhere I am close to him it's as if all the confidence that I have in me along with my wit just immediately vanishes.

I snap out of my trance and see him walking closer towards me with his head facing the ground and he slightly bites on the inside of his cheek.

"You must know, Miss. Brown that I take my company very seriously. Any incompetent behaviour like you have just shown me right now is not tolerated. Since you are new, I'm letting you off with one and final warning. If you fail to obey and this carries on, well, let's just say you would rather be kicked out of the country than what would happen to you here." He says with all seriousness present in his voice.

I look at him in the eye and I give a confused look. "With all due respect, sir, don't you think that sounds a bit too harsh? It was only seven minutes." I blurt out.

Why do I never think before I speak?

But to be fair, what I said was true. He was being unreasonable and I was simply telling him that.