-The Assistant-

-New News-

It was finally the weekend and Julia could relax. She lazily pulled herself out of a daze, her bed felt like a fluffy cloud but she promised herself she would be productive today (attempt to). Saturdays were always her favourite days, she loved having time to herself; reading, cleaning, shopping or whatever it was.

As she wrenched open her eyes to her warmly casted room, she reached for her phone. She noticed she had a message, she rubbed away the blurriness to have a clear vision of the message. From Alex?... What would he want this early on a Saturday? She opened the message, it read: "Julia, I need assistance in the office. Be in at your soonest convenience.". - Sent 36 minutes ago.
"Just fantastic", she thought. Despite being quite tired from working for nearly 6 days consecutively she got up and readied herself.

Out of spite, because it was meant to be her day off, she didn't rush. On her way she thought it would be a good look on her first official day to buy Alex coffee. She decided on black coffee, it seemed fitting.

As she greeted Kathleen at reception, she heard footsteps... his footsteps. They stopped behind her and she could feel his presence. She turned to face him, trying her best not to look sheepish. He, as always, had that dangerous look in his emerald eyes accompanied by a stoic expression.
"Julia, so nice of you to finally join... well me", said he, standing close enough for the scent of leather and coffee to fill her nose. Handing him one of the coffees in her hand she said: "here I got you a coffee" while tucking her dirty blonde wavy hair behind her ear.
He took the coffee from her outstretched hand while watching her action, "Thanks", emotionless.
"What do you need assistance with then?", Julia said after an excruciatingly long silence. Alex looked at her, his emerald eyes shining in the light, God how gorgeous he looks.
"I need you to give one of these to everyone from floors 3 through 6.", and he handed her a large stack of papers that she had to balance on one hand. Nothing on them stood out to her, just a sheet of small text (she wasn't even going to try to see what was written on it).
"Okay... I am aware that I'm your assistant but-", she started before a threatening look entered his eyes and forced her breath to catch in her throat.
"But? I need you to do your job Julia, I'm still in the position to demote you I hope you are aware", he said finely. (She was going to say he could email it around but she thought better of it, maybe the internet was down...).
"I'm sorry, I will do this right away", she said with a slight smile.
"That's better", he said huskily with a grin that caused butterflies in Julia's stomach. Just as she turned to carry out this task he began: "Julia..."
"Hm?", she sounded as she half-spun around.
"Meet me in my office in 1 hour, I need to speak with you".
She turned fully so she could face him dead on, "in relation to what?".
"That is a discussion for later. For now, do your job", he said in a threatening tone.
"Will do...", she said as she once again headed for the elevator.

Later on about an hour later, Julia went to the break room for a coffee as she didn't get a chance to have one that morning. She grabbed her coffee and headed for her new desk which sat right outside the entrance of Alex's office. "Shoot that reminds me, he asked me to see him", she remembered. She sighed as she got up, carrying her coffee and strolled up to his big wooden door. She lifted her hand and knocked three times then waited for an answer.
"Enter", he said flatly.
She turned the door handle and entered the office.

"Alex, you wanted to speak with me",she started."Again..", she added under her breath
"What was that?", he shot at her coldly, raising an eyebrow.
"Fuck...", she thought.
"Oh umm... nothing", she responded, she didn't know why but she was not in the best mood today. Might be because she was called in on her day off.
"I know what you said Julia. Don't lie to me", he says. Julia hated but loved when he spoke like this. She got flushed and gave in due to his commanding tone: "...oh umm... well I said 'again'. But only because I seem to be in here a lot lately. I didn't mean anything of it".
He breathed deeply.
"Well this weekend isn't going to be very easy", he said leaning forward on his desk and folding his arms.
"Er- what do you mean 'this weekend'?", she asked.
"That what I called you in for: to tell you we have a meeting conference in Paris this weekend", he said unbothered.
"What!? Paris!?", she said shocked. Julia didn't expect travelling this early on in her position.
"Yes. We leave at 7am on Friday. You may meet me in the lobby at 6:30am and I can drive us. We will be staying in the city for two nights and three days", he said with his usual cool tone.

Julia took a second to breathe, she had always wanted to go to Paris it was her dream, a dream she shared with Cassie. A strange feeling of guilt passed over her as she thought how she won't be going together with Cassie. After a couple of seconds she said; "Okay, I'm really excited if you can't tell. So what work do you have out there?"
"I have a meeting on both days with top French CEOs. Although they are 'top' they are still beneath me. If you didn't already know, you work for the biggest CEO in all of the United States and greater Europe", he told her rather smugly. "They do however have some resourceful benefits to me, that is why I have called these meetings. I would not if I did not have to, and I hope you would already know that", he added.
"Of course. But a tad cocky Alex", she said as she stifled a laugh. "You wouldn't want your competitors using that against you, it may damage your public image", she added.
"I don't need to worry about that foolish nonsense. On a separate note, I want you to find suitable accommodation in Paris for our stay.", he said bluntly and ended the conversation and shooed her away.

Julia exited his office and returned to her desk outside the door. Alex was left sitting at his desk, alone. He leaned back on his chair and sighed deeply.
"Why do I always do that goddamnit", he thought (referring to his attitude). There was something about Julia that caught his eye, more than any woman he has met before. Is it the way her beautiful dirty blonde hair frames her graceful face? Or was it her mannerisms? How she acts innocent but he sees right through her facade. He has never been in love, or anything remotely similar. Love was a hoax to him, he hasn't had the best experience with it. Unfortunately Julia didn't change his opinion on the topic.
He was... unenthusiastic about this weekend, he wasn't sure how it was going to go down. Alex returned his focus to the conferences coming up and delved into his work, like always...