The Voss Effect

Chapter One

It was one of those days when nothing went as planned. It was bad enough that I barely got to work on time, but to get your boss disappointed in you was on a whole new level. Especially if you were one of her favorites and the fact that you've worked there for a long time.

We were in a meeting with our new possible client to start doing digital marketing for them – and the luck I was having today was not in our favor... at all. I started strong with the presentation of all the ways we could help and examples of all the marketing ads. Our possible clients including the CEO were starting to like our ad ideas and such until I screwed up badly by spilling water on the table after taking a sip of water and placing the glass back onto the table.

As I said my luck wasn't in my favor today and some of the water got on the CEO's laptop. All the sound in the room evaporated into thin air as everybody waited for the first reactions and getting their shovels ready to start digging a hole into the ground so that they could disappear. I of course as any person would, started panicking and frantically apologising while trying to save the fragile piece of technology.

My boss, of course the sweetheart that she is, helped out and we got the meeting to an end as quickly as possible. "I'll be in touch after our decision." Was the only reply that we got before our clients left.

You can only imagine the worried faces that we made as soon as the meeting room door closed. The rest of the work day was quiet and full of repeating the cringe moment over and over again until you wished that you could disappear into thin air. Worse than the constant recap provided by my brain was the disappointed look Mrs. Bevens gave me before telling me to lay low for a while for my own benefit – which means that I should just focus on my work and avoid Mrs. Bevens like the plague.

Fair enough.

But I'm telling to you that the CEO – Mr. Voss had planned all this and had something against me. Usually the CEOs don't even attend these kinds of meetings because they have much better things to do than sit in a meeting room considering what kind of marketing they should do for their big company. Usually they have enough trust in their workers to do it for them.

Apparently he doesn't contain that kind of trust – stupid Mr. Voss

The clock hits 5 pm and slowly everybody starts collecting their belongings, ready to head home while I on the other hand stay put on my desk muttering to myself about stupid Mr. Voss and cursing him and his family for ruining possibly everything. I knew deep down that it was my fault and me being just clumsy, but it was way easier to just blame someone else for your own mistakes.

I gathered my few belongings and left my desk. There were still a few people waiting for an elevator when I got to the hallway. "I heard you had a little accident today." A familiar hand was placed on top of my shoulder as my favorite co-worker Kade decided now was a good time for confrontations and interviews about today's happenings.

A groan slipped from between my lips as Kade bursted into laughter and started practically screaming about what happened to me today – telling me the story again like I didn't already know what happened.

"Okay, okay I get it!" I gave Kade a glare over my shoulder while stepping to the side. Kade's hand falling from my shoulder back to his side. "I don't even get why he had to be at the meeting today." I started one of my usual rants to Kade, while he gladly listened and simultaneously directed me to our favorite afterwork place.

As we arrived at the doors of 'The Fifth' I was finally done with my rant – not leaving out the part where I cursed Mr. Voss' family for making my job harder. "Calm down Alakay, Mrs. Bevens loves you and definitely wouldn't fire you for something like that." Kade tries to assure me for the hundredth time while cheekily smiling, like this is the best drama series he's ever got to watch.

Kade knows that I know that Mrs. Bevens wouldn't do something like that over something like that. A small mistake. She knows I'm clumsy and that this definitely wasn't my first time spilling something.

This just was my first time spilling something on top of someone important – or more specifically on someone important's belonging. "It's not your fault that Mr. Voss-hole got his panties in a twist." We both burst out laughing at the stupid and childish name Kade came up with for Mr. Voss and take a seat at our usual table at the far back where we can talk without anybody hearing.

A waitress comes asking for our orders as Kade talks about his current work-crush Ellie. That poor soul. I would imagine it being awful for Kade to harass her daily with his last season pick up lines.

"And she just rolled her eyes and walked away... Does that mean she secretly likes me? Tell me Alakay that she just secretly likes me." I think that Kade got my answer by the crazy look that I gave him and the head shake after.

Of course I just couldn't handle looking at my best friend's sad and disappointed face, so I gave him a pat on the shoulder while taking a drink from my glass of Manhattan. "Maybe just give her some space Kads." That was the best advice I could give at that moment and just kept my fingers crossed that Kade would understand and give Ellie some space.

"Let her come to you in her own time." I continued while eating the cherry in my glass and downing the rest of my strong drink to numb out the worst parts of today.

Kade seemed to understand what I told him by the way he was nodding his head and taking the last few sips of his drink – whatever the hell he was drinking. "Okay, but only if you tell me again in great detail of how you managed to spill water on a CEO's laptop Alec." Seems like Kade is back from his depression session as he continues to make fun of me.

I firmly shake my head like my life depends on it while I stand up and go to the restroom – Kade staying put on his chair laughing his arse off. Weirdo. I make it to the bathroom and start doing my business when someone else opens the restroom door and steps in, taking the urinal two from mine. I don't dare to look 'cause that would be rude, so I mind my business and zip up my pants before walking in front of the mirror to wash my hands.

The light is low inside the restroom just like it is on the other side of that door to make the place look more intimidating and private – which is why Kade and I love it so much here. But still I try to peek at the man that entered after me through the mirror, even if it's hard to see him that clearly, as I wash my hands.

Naturally I can only see the backside of this mystery man, but that is enough to kill the curiousness in me. The man has a full black suit on and is very very tall with broad shoulders. His dark hair is groomed back just as I would expect him to do, considering the tidiness he gives off just by the look of his clean, wrinkle-free suit.

As I'm done staring at mystery man and washing my hands I dry them with some paper as he turns around – and my jaw briefly slags as I see who he truly is. Mr. Voss in all his glory comes beside me to wash his hands while he stares at me through the mirror without saying a word, just like I did a couple of seconds ago.

My brain tells me to drop the eye contact and run, which is exactly what I do. 

Hello lovely readers! Still trying to come up with a book cover so sorry for that ugly thing. Trying to update this as much as I can. Toodles xoxo.