A/N: Hello everyone! How was your week? My was just tragic... but, since I'm able to update, I'm doing well than expected... hehehe...
Anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, and this chapter is going to give a spark that would start a whole new set of problems for dear Mitch. *cue evil laugh*
So, enjoy and happy reading! Have an awesome day!
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Seven
The silent drive to the company’s main office building made me think of the new position I have starting today. I got my phone and contacted my secretary, Fran. At first few rings, there wasn’t an answer. Then, an operator directly my call to my father’s office, this confused me a little.
“Good Morning, this is Ms. Newman’s office, how may I help you?” The other end of the line was a familiar voice, but it wasn’t my secretary.
“Where is Fran?” I asked, getting straight to the point.
“Ms. Newman?” The voice slightly became airy, like the person was speaking to the phone at a distance. “I’m sorry, Ms. Newman. Miss Fran is not here. If you like, I can direct the call to your old office. Your father told us to direct all calls here in your new office.” She added after a short pause.
“Thank you. And, whom am I speaking right now?” I asked sternly, feeling annoyed that my father is still running the place even though he said I would be acting as boss starting today.
“I’m Hana. I work at the president’s floor reception desk. I’m currently sitting in until your secretary reports today.” She replied softly.
“What do you mean my secretary? I thought Fran still have that position.” I asked a little flustered by this new information.
“Ah… Wait a moment, Ms. Newman…” Hana replied shyly, her voice becomes distant again.
“Hello, Michelle? This is Louise. I’ll explain everything when you get here at the office.” My father’s secretary suddenly spoke from the end of the phone.
“Oh. Are there more surprises from my father today?” I asked, not anymore hiding the annoyance from my tone.
“No. He isn’t done yet as it seems. I’ll see you when you get here.” She replied with a little chuckle.
“Okay. Thank you.” I ended the call before I loose my cool and asked the woman for some answers.
Louise had been my father’s secretary since before I was born. I couldn’t really treat the old man like another employee since she had some fair share of time taking care of me when I crash my father’s office at a young age. She has seen me grow up and might have heard many of my exploits as a teenager on my rebellious stage. She was like a family to me.
When Russell parked the car in front of the building, I quickly got out and asked him to go to my old office if Fran needs any help with taking my things up to my new office. I made my way through the lobby in quick strides and got into the elevator before it closed. As I reached the top floor, where my new office is located, I was greeted by an empty reception desk. From the call I got a few minutes ago, I knew where the attending receptionist was.
I didn’t take the time to assess the interior design on the entrée way of the offices and went straight the hallway the leads to my new office. I passed by a small kitchen and a break room before I reached an open space where two desks are located, and it wasn’t empty.
“Ms. Newman, Good morning. I’m Hana. I spoke to you on the phone.” A blonde girl who sat on the desk in the left side of room stood up. She held out a hand towards me.
“Nice too meet you.” I walked towards her and greeted, shaking her hands briefly. I turned to the desk on the right, and eyed the fifty something woman who sat there, with her eyes stuck to the monitor of the computer. “Hey, Louise.” I greeted.
“Half of your things are already in there. Your father had the place redesign. But, you can redecorate everything if you don’t like it. You can use his personal credit card for that… And, your new secretary is late.” She stated in a business manner, but paused in the end as she looked at me with disbelief.
“Don’t look at me like I was at fault that this new secretary is late. I didn’t even know I have a new one.” I defended as she turned her attentions back to work. Louise didn’t like tardiness, which kept me uptight a little with how to use my time.
“You can go in there now. Hana can help you with setting up until your secretary arrives.” She commanded, her tone sounded pissed as she said the words ‘secretary’.
I couldn’t help but chuckled at her annoyance. I was supposed to be the one pissed at this person. How the hell did they get the job when they aren’t even this uptight about work? The business world is very demanding with time.
“Did my father tell you anything about this ‘secretary’?” I asked, air quoting the word secretary.
“No. He only told me you have a new one and that - who ever it is - will be here Monday morning. I’m quite doubtful if this person even show up now.” She replied sternly, pursing her lips as she showed her distaste.
“Well, ring me up if ever they show up. I’ll be in my office for awhile…” I stated with a smile and sighed as I think about the pile of boxes waiting for me inside.
As I entered the door located in between the two desks, I was greeted by a neatly pile of boxes on the right corner of the room. I turned my attention to the rest room and let out a defeated sigh. It wasn’t like I haven’t been in here. But, the last time I went up here, the placed looked like it came out of a historical fiction. All the wooden table and huge renaissance painting were gone and replaced by a new modern interior design.
The place was quipped with a huge, glass center table, where a slick, black leather chair sat behind it. And, a huge abstract black and white painting placed on the right side of the wall, which used to be home of a replica painting by Da Vinci. There was also a mini counter top with a coffee maker, a mini fridge and cabinets on top of it. Across from it, there was huge, ten sitter rectangular glass table, with black leather chairs surrounding it. I can’t believe he had it done for me. When did he have time to renovate this place?
“Ms. Newman? Are you ready to get your things out of the boxes?” Hana asked shyly as she entered the room a few minutes later.
I was still in a slight dazed by the place as I replied. “Ah. Yeah. Sure.”
I gestured her to the boxes on the right side of the door as I walked towards the desk. When I reached the glass table, I can’t help but touch it. Is this safe? I walked around it and went straight to the leather chair. It took a second for me to get the feel of it, before I got comfortable and started spinning the chair around a few time.
“Ms. Newman? Where do you want me to place this?” Hana’s question snapped me out of my moment of childishness, making me stand up from the chair.
“Let me what those are…” I stated as I walked toward her with a stern expression, eying the folders she had in her arms.
For almost half an hour, Hana and I were alone in the office, with the sound of our heels clicking back and forth from the boxes the file cabinets. And then, Russell arrived with a few boxes piling up in his hands.
“These are the rest of your things, Ms. Newman. There isn’t anything left from your old office.” Russell stated as he placed them down beside the unsorted boxes.
I couldn’t help but sigh as I eyed it. And, here I though we were almost done. Why do I have so many things?
“Do you need some help here?” Russell asked, as he remained standing by the box.
“Thank you.” I mouthed in gratitude. “Can you unpack the boxes you brought so that I can see what they are? Just place them all on that huge glass table there.” I instructed as I pointed at the mini conference table in my office.
Russell nodded in reply and quickly went straight to work. For an hour, all we did was pile things and placed them in cabinets. But, after the files where place neatly, we went straight to the decorations. I have a few personal things with me from my old office; one of them is my nameplate, which should be renewed with a President underneath my name, and my own penholder and lucky mug. I also have a few picture frames that complete my desk.
“Is this all Ms. Newman?” Hana asked as she placed my lucky mug on the counter beside the coffee maker. “Can I make you some coffee or something?” She added as she eyed the coffee maker in interest.
“Sure. You can make a batch for us.” I replied with a smile as I walked towards my desk, finally able to seat down.
“I’ll be going now, Ms. Newman. I have to report to the security department.” Russell stated as he stood by the door.
“Aren’t you going to wait for the coffee?” I asked.
“Thank you for the offer but we have a vending machine downstairs.” He replied with a weak smile.
“Oh, okay. I’ll just text you if I’m ready to go. I might go home late today.” I stated sternly, getting back to business.
“No problem, Ms. Newman. I’ll make my leave now. Have a good day.” Russell silently retreated and walked out of the room, closing the door softly.
When the coffee was done, Hana also left the office as she went back to her station, bringing two cups of coffee with her. As she closed the door, the room became silent. I can’t help but sigh as I eyed the huge office and turned towards the monitor of my new computer.
While I turned on the computer for the first time, the phone on my desk rang, startling me. This eerie silence is making me edgy. With a steady breath, I picked up the phone and place it directly to my right ear.
“Michelle. Your secretary is here. Now, I know why he was late.” Louise voice stated on the other end of the phone, her annoyance was clear from the tone of her voice.
“My secretary is here. Wait, did you say ‘he’?” I asked in interest as her words sunk in.
“Yes. And, I think I shouldn’t be letting this guy in today.” She replied, her tone unchanging.
“Who is it?” I asked as I try to think of people who made Louise act so unprofessional. But, there isn’t one I could think, until a light bulb idea switch on my head. “No.”
Before I could order Louise to tell the man to leave, there was a knock on my door, stopping me from saying a word. I put the phone down and pushed the chair as I crawled underneath the table. It hadn’t really got to me yet since I was stressed out and in need of somewhere to hide this instant.
Without me asking the person to enter, the door opened wide as he entered the room confidently. He closed the door behind him, making me more nervous than I should be. What is he doing here? And, why the hell did my father hired the one man in the world I hated to see, hear or even breathe the same air as?
“You know that table is made out of glass, right?” He asked cockily as he eyed me in amusement. He stood towering the table in front of me.
“I know that this is glass, you idiot.” I countered in a hiss as I shyly got out under the table. “I was getting something that fell… Here it is…” I added breathlessly as I showed him my watch that was tightly placed around my wrist.
“Sure… whatever makes this less embarrassing for you…” He stated in a chuckle.
I stood up and patted my skirt down before sitting back on my chair. I ignored his presence for a second as I entered the password on my computer, glad that my father placed it on the family’s default password.
“So, are you just going to seat there and ignore me?” He asked as I continued to stare at the computer.
“What the hell are you doing here, Burns?” I asked almost in clenched teeth as I tore my eyes begrudgingly away from the monitor.
“Oh, come on. Mitch. I know that you miss me.” He cooed confidently, giving me one of his signature sly smiles.
“Yeah, I missed you being dead and not breathing anymore.” I countered softly to myself, but the room was silent enough that he can overhear.
“Oh, don’t be such a killjoy. We will be having so many fun times together starting now. We should be rekindling the…” He started but trailed off when I looked at him deadly.
“Fuck off, Hugh. I don’t want to rekindle or even remember anything in my life that involves of you. So, can you please get out of my office and just pretend that my old man never offered you this job.” I hissed angrily at him.
“Bitter are we? Just because your old man like me more that you.” He countered in a tease.
“What are you doing here? We both know we hate each other’s guts. Why get this job?” I asked in exasperation, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to go from the way he stood sternly in front of me.
“You aren’t the only one who was played with this, Mitch. I had no choice too. But, at least, one of us had a promotion.” He replied bitterly as he gestured at my desk.
“Well, it’s not my fault you whore around during college.” I snorted in distaste.
“Well, sue me. I didn’t want to graduate a virgin, unlike you…” he countered in the same tone.
“Who said that I graduated a virgin, you ass?” I asked, my voice rising an octave in challenge.
“And, you accuse me of being a whore…” He replied with one of his eyebrow raised.
“Shut up, Burns. Can we not do this now? I have work to do. And, if you want to keep this job, I advise you to do the same.” I ignored his reply and switched it to our current situation.
“Why do you think I’m here?” he asked sarcastically.
I eyed him deadly, my eyes slightly twitching at the anger I’m trying to hold in. If I don’t get this man out of my office, I might go to prison on my first day as acting president.
I looked away from him and grabbed a few files on my desk that need to be encoded and sorted out in the database. “Here, I think your education is enough that you can figure out what to do with these.” I stated sourly.
He got the files from me and flipped it open. “Glad to know that you don’t think I’m not stupid.” He mumbled cockily.
“Now. Get out and let me work.” I commanded as I eyed him deadly again.
“As you wish, my evil mistress.” He said sarcastically as he curtsied elegantly.
I clinched my hand in to a fist as I fight for the urge to throw something at him. What the hell was my father thinking hiring him as my secretary? And, here I thought that finding a husband for one hundred days was a pain.