My Brother's Boyfriend

5. Morning scenes

The picture you see above is me dabbling around trying to make my own covers which failed terribly.

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"Have you finished signing all the documents?" Donna, Riian's secretary, asked awkwardly.

It had been one year since Donna started working under Riian. After firing eleven secretaries in a row, it was President Park, Riian's grandfather, who requested her personally to look after him until her retirement. At that time Donna felt honored, she would get to work with the President's son directly, a dream position that everyone yearned for.

However, after getting to know Riian, Donna realised her young boss was capable of having more mood swings than a girl with cramps and threw tantrums like that of a six year old. Even at fifty eight, Riian often scared the old lady with his unusual grunts and sudden growls.

So Donna knew her boss was agitated when his left leg was constantly making a tapping sound against the tiled floor.

"Yes I am done. Please check once more to make sure everything is okay." Handing over a blue file, Riian forced a smile. His mouth was smiling, his eyes were not.

Donna was aware what this meant - something happened with his younger sister Pia again. Donna was no stranger to the grumpy expression that Riian currently had on. Everytime something happened to Pia, Riian would always be in one of his cranky moods.

As Riian moved on to the next file, Donna scanned through her own. Asking extra questions or making mistakes now would only earn her an earful from her young boss, despite being older than him.

Unlike the rest of the staff, Riian never treated Donna as an old woman. While most people talked to her politely because of her age, Riian would swear in front of her, if needed. He always judged her solely on her merit, Donna was thankful for this.

Careful not to miss even a single word in the documents, her fingers traced each line on the smooth sheet. Although the constant sighs and unusual mumbles from Riian was making it hard to concentrate. This guy had no regard for other people when his sister problems troubled him.

"Is something bothering you?" Donna asked, looking through her big glasses.

Pressing his lips in a line, Riian looked up to meet a pair of curious eyes. "Is it that obvious?" he asked, to which his secretary nodded.

Showing his feelings on his face was not Riian's style, much less sharing them. "I am just exhausted I guess. I didn't sleep well last night," Riian added a yawn at the end to make it look real. He was in no mood of sharing what he witnessed last night.

Donna understood her Boss had no intention of sharing, at least not at the moment. After months of experience, Donna knew this guy won't give her an straight answer, if he didn't want to.

"Alright. As you say," she tried not to sound sarcastic much,"I will take the papers back to my cabin and check the rest." Obviously she won't get any work done if she spent another minute listening to Riian's constant sighs. 

"Make sure you do it right now," Riian instructed, his eyes back on another document in a different file. "Before you go, walk me through my schedule once."

"Just a second." Placing her file on Riian's desk, Donna powered up her tab to check his schedule for the rest of the day. "You have a meeting at 2pm, followed by a meal with our foreign client. Then you have to go for factory visit. In the evening, you have an appointment with the new secretary."

As Donna read the schedule, his ears perked up at the word secretary. "What secretary?" Riian asked, clearly confused.

"Mr. Riian, last time you said yes. I hope you have not forgotten."