THIRD PERSON'S POV.
Fredward headed towards the elevator in a hurry to get to his office floor. He felt amazingly uneasy at the thought of Skyler feeling unwell. He had seen the amount of effort she had put into the event and the result was amazing. The thought that she had work herself sick made Fredward anxious.
As he got out of the elevator he headed immediately to Skyler's office which was just next to his. He paused for a moment, hesitating for a reason he was not ready to dissect before he gently knock on the door.
When he knocked thrice and it went without any response the strange emotion that was brewing at the pit of his stomach was now bitting in his insides. He immediately pushed the door open and he almost heave a sigh of relief when the door gave way.
Fredward didn't switch on the light of the office as it was dimly lit by the small lamp on her desk that sat at the other edge of her table which illuminated her figure that was folded in her office chair.
"Mr White?" He called carefully. Fredward almost felt ridiculous addressing her as a man when he knew perfectly well that she wasn't.
"Mr White." He called again when his first call was left unanswered and he took slow hesitant steps towards her and when she remained unmoving, his steps became strides as he quickly reached her side.
"Mr Skyler." He tried again as he gently shook her shoulder and he almost sagged his shoulders in relief when she let out a small grunt but that had just heightened his fear.
He shook her again." Open your eyes. Are you okay?" But all he got was another groan again.
"Skyler." This time he spoke in the normal octave of his voice as worry began to seep into bis chest.
"Are you okay?" He took hold of her wrist and could tell that she was burning.
"Goodness, Skyler. Open your eyes. Skyler " the panic was evident in his tone. He moved to hold her in his arms when her eyes fluttered open.
"Mr Montgomery?" She called drowsily and her words slurred like she was drunk. Her eye lids kept opening and closing on its own free will.
"It's me. Hey, are you okay?"
His words seemed to make her snap out of her trance as her eyes shot wife open and she immediately sat up in her chair even though every muscles in her body was aching in protest and the little devil in her stomach had decided to start fir herself and her entourage a little party.
"What are you doing here? Is the party over?" She looked down at her wrist to check her watch for the time.
"The party could not have been over, it is still too early and a lot of events ahead."
"Well I had to check on you since I heard that my assistant had worked himself sick."
"Oh." Skyler didn't know what to say to that .
"It seems to me, Mr White, that you love collecting compensation from the company. I'll tell you now that working yourself to death would not amount to a work injury."
"Even if I fainted while working?" Skyler nervously let out a humorous smile even though that was the last thing she was feeling then was humor.
"Mr White." Mr Montgomery shunned in a hard voice.
"What, the company has more than enough money to compensate me." Skyler continued, not ready to listen to her boss scold her.
Fredward let out a sigh and shook his head.
"You are very sick right now. It's not a matter of jest." He scolded.
"I'm a strong male man. I'm fine. I'll shake it off." Skyler did her best to say the most chuvenistic response she could think of.
She was feeling dizzy, so figuring out what an egoistical male says when he does not want to seem vulnerable was hard to figure out.
Fredward was tempted to ask her how long she was going to do whatever she was doing for?
"I'm taking you to the hospital."
Skyler's eyes widen at the thought of going to the hospital. They only need to take one look at her to figure out what was wrong with her. It'll be a disaster if the way her boss finds out that's she's a girl is because the doctor says.
"It's normal for some women to have severe cramps during their menstrual cycle."
Skyler groaned inwardly at the mental image that came to mind. It'll be a disaster and she knew it.
"No!" Her voice grew higher than necessary. " I mean—" she cleared her throat to adjust her octave. "—That won't be necessary. I'll be fine."
"Really? " Fredward raised a brow. "You look as pale as a vampire and your eyes is barely concentrating, it's like you'll soon pass out." The worry in Fredward's voice that he's been trying to surpress now seemed more and more evident.
"I'm pale because I am in pain and feeling dizzy because of said pain." Skyler said in her mind which was more preoccupied by the fact that the man in front of her right now was genuinely worried about her and her heart was giving a weird reaction in response, and it wasn't because of the cramps.
"U-Uh i-it's fine. I'm fine. Really —" a thought floated out of nowhere to her mind and her eyes widen. "—you shouldn't be here!" She looked at him in horror.
"What?"
"The event. The party. Your speech." Panic began to settle in her stomach.
"It'll soon be time to give your speech." Skyler immediately got to her feet and looked down at her wrist watch, Fredward also stood up from his squatting position and stood tall before her.
"You shouldn't be here. You've gotta go." She took his arm and tried to pull him along with her towards the door.
"What do you think you're doing?"
She turned to him and gave him an obvious look. "You can't just ditch the party of the year just because I'm a little under the weather."
" It's just a stupid party It's just a formality anyway and an excuse for them to do their unnecessary ritual of networking and unhealthy comparison of what they've achieved so far." He rolled his eyes while he maneuvered their hands, so he's the one holding her by her arm instead before it shifted to her wrist.
"I'm taking you to see a doctor and that's final." He deadpanned and pulled her along with him as he opened the door to her office and let her out and towards the elevator.
"But, your speech—"
"I don't care about the speech!" His voice thundered in his chest and didn't fail to shake Skyler to her core. His eyes softened as his met hers. "Do you see yourself right now? You look sick and pale and your hand is burning hot—" his hand around her wrist tightened. "—and you've done nothing but run around all day, not saying anything." Although his eyes had softened, his voice was still hard and reprimanding, making Skyler feel like a child who just did something wrong.
"I just wanted the party to turn out well." Skyler mumbled beneath her breathe but not low enough to escape his ears.
And at that moment, with her gaze lowered, her lips pouted and her arm stretching forward as he held on to her wrist, Fredward heart began to beat faster, for that moment. It was like for the first time he realized it was Skyler. Skyler White.
Not Skyler White, the little man who had got knocked into the chairs at a seminar he had to speak at, or the little man with scrawny body who had helped save his sister-in-law. No.
Fredward was seeing the Skyler White. The girl with short hair and black painted nails, who loves black leather jacket but that might just be part of her disguise. The girl who was some how accident prone and wasn't shy to collect medical compensation. The girl who held on to his hand on a drunken night. The girl who always have a mischievous look in her eyes half of the time, like she was hiding something. And she is.
The girl...
The girl who seems to exact a reaction from him he couldn't explain or understand.
His assistant in disguise.
Skyler returned her gaze to Fredward and worry filled her as she stared back at him as he did, but he stared at her intensely and Skyler couldn't help but be worried if he was really mad at her for not admitting that she was sick.
But Skyler could not ignore the beating in her chest. He was worried about her, and Skyler could see that. He thought her welfare more important than an event which is exclusive and important to the company, and here he was too... holding her wrist tightly.
The more he stared at her, the more Skyler became aware of herself. She felt strangely self conscious, she felt both ice cold and flaming hot. She felt like...
Why are you looking at me like that? She thought.
Stop staring at me like you are seeing me for the first time
I don't feel comfortable under your gaze. I feel... tingly.
Your eyes are pretty. I could get lost in them. I am... lost in them.
You make me feel weird
I think...I don't think I see you as just my boss anymore.
At that moment, Skyler immediately pulled her wrist away from his hand and took a step back.
"I-I'm fine." Skyler stuttered, feeling flustered. "Really." She chuckled nervously "You should go back to the party and I won't faint in work if it's the medical compensation you are worried about. I'll just leave early and get some rest."
"Yeah, do that." Fredward agreed immediately even though he was still worried. A few seconds ago, it had been... He couldn't explain it but he knew he had to put some distance between them as soon as possible.
"You should go now. Sam will take you home. And you can take the rest of the week off."
"Really?"
"Yeah."and with that he turned away and headed to the elevator.
"Shit, Skyler. Falling for your boss, wasn't part of the plan." Skyler murmured to herself beneath her breath.
************
AUTHOR'S NOTES.
Hello all🤩🥰
It's been a while. I uploaded last week after what feels like forever 😅 sorry about that. I've just been busy, and honestly, I can't recollect what I was busy with.
I guess the whole new year thing and resuming immediately to school less than a week after, and getting ready for a new semester.
Well, I'm already settled in school, I've continued writing How to make the Mafia love pink,😁, just shocked my sister with the fact that I might make a story for Verona while I was charting out the plot for Natalie's story —she didn't take it so well if you were wondering 😏😓— and I'm updating suit and Leather again. I hope on time.
I told you guys suit and leather wouldn't be long right? Well, it won't and How to make the Mafia love pink won't be long too. In fact, it'll be shorter since I'm actually done with charting out the whole story.
Nothing is new with school, I guess. I'm still a loner with no special social life, which is totally my choice, but I feel left out sometimes, you know😔 I guess not😏 . Sitting alone with music blasting through your ear piece while you watch your colleagues mingle is a little sad😏😆😔.
It's a common misconceptions that introverts wants to be alone all the time or that they are sad people.
Don't worry, I get to make that up by making friends with people online. Like you guys—i think —the anime otakus who love anime like me and book lovers, and that's all... that's my social pool 😁😆.
Wonder if some of you are happy introverts too?
Until the next chapter.