The CEO's Kryptonite ⚣ ✓

15

Christian went on, talking about the expected revenue and growth. I sat there listening, completely taken back by how much work he really had thrown into this. While I knew this deal was important to both him and the company, his ambition felt... different.

It was a whole new drive I was seeing today. One I'd never really seen from him before. Or at least not in regards to this company.

Something had to of happened. Something that made this even more pressing. Nothing else could explain his reasoning for driving across town to see me personally.

"How are we on the Gala aspect? Have we worked on a set list?" I asked Christian. He slowly shook his head no.

"I thought working on the crunch numbers would be more important." He replied.

"Yes and no. The Gala is apart of that, because if they are to partner with us, the Gala will be the kick off for both their line, and our company. We need to make absolutely certain it, itself, has a perfect pitch. Let them know the events we'll be hosting, and the A-listers we've invited as potential business ventures." I explained.

Christian eyed me for some time before slowly nodding. His eyes then cast down to the cup of tea I had in hand.

It almost didn't click till now that I hadn't really offered this asshat anything to eat or drink. Then again, this was the same asshat that barged into my apartment unannounced.

Okay.

So technically, not totally unannounced. He did write me an email... or like twenty.

"Would you like some tea? Or some coffee?" I offered.

"Coffee would be great, thanks." Christian replied. I limped back over to the kitchen area. The knobs on the burner didn't work very well, so it took some time to get the flame going. Once it clicked on moments later, I set the kettle down to heat.

Christian

I tried not to stare too hard.

Everything was just a new experience for me.

Even sitting on this futon.
Like I'd heard about these before, but I'd never actually sat on one. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

I grimaced slightly when I saw Alex limp.

The injury may have been in direct correlation with his stupidity, but I still felt sort of... bad? That was another new feeling- one I had definitely never felt for any employee, let alone someone I barely knew.

I was grateful, however, for his help. Just being here the last 30 minutes had influenced this pitch a lot. Alex had a different and fresh approach to things. I could tell he was meticulous in different ways...

Definitely not with his home, but when it came to work, he didn't leave a stone unturned.

"Do you take sugar?" Alex asked, turning back to me and pulling me from my thoughts. I had to pretend like I was reading some information on the laptop screen so he wouldn't think I was still staring.

"Straight black is good, thank you." I replied.

He pulled out this weird looking glass carafe and some coffee beans. I was taken back when I saw him start to manually grind the coffee beans into a small bowl with this ceramic pestle. It looked like the same bowl and pestle my mother would use to crush spices when she cooked.

She was a little old school that way.

Seeing Alex assemble a carafe of coffee from absolute scratch had me baffled. I had full heartedly expected him to use a coffee machine... but watching him make it this way sorta made me feel weird.

A good sort of weird, I think.

When he started brewing, the smell of coffee instantly filled the apartment, and I leaned back slightly to take it in.

It smelt absolutely amazing.

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