Dually Devoted ✓

Chapter 4

"I'll be there," Sid promised his client-cum-college classmate.

He really didn't want to go to the success party. It had almost nothing to do with him. But he had to. Higher positions always come with such unwanted responsibilities. If you need one, you have to endure the other.

He beckoned Arpita to his office. Within seconds, she was in front of him with a notebook and pen in her hand. She was wearing an executive suit, unlike the first day he had met her. She must not like heels, he had thought in the beginning. Now, he wondered if she simply didn't wear them in order to work faster. But she wasn't short. Almost 5' 6", he calculated.

Her hair was braided like a mermaid's tail, falling on her chest and ending too soon on her stomach. He wanted to run his hand through them, using his fingers to unravel each of her curls and let them fall free. She would look ravishing with her hair open. He imagined.

"Sir?" She tilted her head.

...What was I thinking? He was surprised at himself. Masking it with expertise, he spoke,
"I have a success party to attend. You'll be accompanying me. Choose a nice dress... Actually, no, I'll choose one. It'll be this Saturday."

She processed his words in her mind. Did he just ask her to be his date? Success parties don't need secretaries to attend. Then, why?
"Is a secretary needed, S-"

"Not particularly but you're coming," he said in a dismissive tone.

"I can't, Sir." She shook her head slightly.

He was taken aback.
Did she just defy him?!
"What?" He asked, his voice icy, as he raised his brow, leaning forward on his desk.

She looked at her ballerina flats, trying to not meet his gaze. He doesn't like to be denied. What else could you expect? But, no, she wasn't going to back down. She wouldn't let him toy her around. Her loyalty and devotion towards her work was not to be misused. She would make that crystal clear. "If the party doesn't require the assistants to attend, Sir, I would have nothing to do there. While I have a lot of pending work in the offi-"

"You don't get to decide that. Stop f**king defying me." He spoke through gritted teeth, his voice raising in volume with every word.

Startled, she glanced up. And her eyes met with his furious black ones, turning confident. She hadn't commented on his bossy ways, because clearly, he was her boss. That didn't mean she was okay with being spoken to so disrespectfully. "Sir, this has nothing to-"

"I pay you to listen to me," he snarled, cutting her off, his glare daring her to talk back.

Anger seeped through her, but so did a hint of fear. She took a deep breath. "...If that's what you think, then you're mistaken, Sir." She declared coolly, thankful that she hadn't stuttered. "Like I have mentioned before, I'm here to reduce your workload. Nothing more. Nothing less, Sir."

"You have No Reason to disobey me. It's not like you have a boyfriend who'd misunderstand this," he mocked, making a wild guess. "Yet you just want to misuse the freedom I gave you?" He questioned, more astonished than angry now.

She kept her voice low, as she spoke. "... I do have someone I love," She does?! His brow raised. "-but that's not the point here, Sir. If I was to attend the party with you, the media would not think of me as your secretary-"

"What they think does not matter," his tone flat and definite.

"It matters, Sir," she retorted, meeting his gaze, "It matters to me."

He got up from his seat, taking slow steps towards her as he gritted out impatiently, "You may have enough free time to worry about such measly stuff. I don't. Because of such a stupid reason, you want me to attend the party alone?" He stopped in front of his desk.