"Good morning."
I lifted my head up and saw William, dressed in one of his immaculate suits, approaching the desk I was seated behind.
"Hi,"
He went ahead to open his office door, entered and some scant seconds later came back out.
"Let me show you around," he said and I stood. He walked across the wide space to the small glass office I'd briefly wondered about while waiting for him. Through the glass, I could see it had the basic office set up; a desk, chair, cabinets and other accessories. He unlocked the door with a key and we entered, allowing me to view more of the little office. There was a black couch next to a brown shelve which I couldn't see before. It was a cozy space.
"This will be your private office. You can alternate between here and the desk outside. Lilian is quite organized so finding anything shouldn't be too hard. And these are the keys to my office and this office," he handed me a bunch of keys which I collected. "What's first on my schedule for today?"
"A meeting with the CFO."
"That will just be Mark and I. I'll show you the boardroom to set up as well as other boardrooms and some executives offices up here." He exited the office and I followed.
"I thought Mark was your VP?"
"He is, but he's also the CFO."
"Oh," I nodded.
"Have you changed your locks?" He suddenly asked and I bit my lower lip. I hadn't changed it yet. Probably because Jiggy hadn't disturbed me since that night which was surprising enough considering my rent was due again soon.
"Uh, no." I answered and he turned to me seemingly ready to scold but I stopped him before he could begin.
"I know, I know, I should have. It just skipped my mind. I will, this weekend." I smiled. He skeptically shook his head but remained silent and we continued moving.
Asides missing the company of my friends at D&L, the next couple of days working at Illston tech weren't entirely terrible. The staff was nice, lively and innovative. William wasn't completely unbearable either. Plus I had a private office, that was definitely the win.
"What do you plan to do with Dieter and Leona?" I asked William as we went through some ideas for the next tablet in their series line. It was still my first week, Friday afternoon and we were alone in one of the numerous boardrooms. His suit jacket was gone and he had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The only comfort I allowed myself was releasing my bun and leaving my hair in a ponytail.
He looked up and for some unfathomable reason, when his eyes met mine, my chest tightened. I ignored it and waited for his answer.
"Ordinarily Mark would have us sell it."
"A few months in, it should have definitely surpassed the original market value and the value you bought it at, and selling it would be very profitable to you." I said and he nodded.
"Yes but we have other plans and forgetting the bad management, in the end, they remain the third leading marketing company in the state. If we we work hard enough, that position can improve and sales of Illston tech would improve as well."
"Was it really bad management or a tale of very unfortunate events. The Twain Yanus case was quite sad." I frowned remembering the man behind the last product D&L put out.
"Very sad indeed," he cleared his throat.
"All in all, your plan is a good one, whether long run or short run." I shrugged. Rather than returning his gaze back to the papers he'd been staring at just minutes ago, he silently stared at me for a few seconds, grinned then stood up.
"Let's go."
"Go where?" I slowly stood up.
"To all the Illston tech outlets in town. Let me show you just what we are made of."
"That's a lot."
He looked at his watch, "we have time."
"I don't even want to see your stupid accomplishments," I grumbled underneath my breath but I guess he heard me anyway because he laughed and placed one of his arms over my shoulder then pulled me closer to his side.
My chest tightened again.
"It will be like an excursion, I'm such a generous boss." He chuckled but my mind was miles away. His arm was still over my shoulder. He must have finally realised his mistake and quickly removed his arm and stepped back.
He coughed. "We leave in the next thirty minutes," then he left.
That bastard.
How dare he ruffle me up like that? Did he have no shame?
I left the boardroom with all the files I'd entered with and went straight to my temporary office. Midway putting the files away, the door to the little office opened and William entered. He was fully dressed now.
"Something came up and I have somewhere else to be right now. We will visit the outlets another time. Also, give these files to Mark." He didn't meet my eyes as he dropped the files on the desk.
I knew nothing came up. He just recognized the depth of his mistake and probably didn't want to give me any ridiculous ideas. I should have laughed. I'd still stand on it; only a fool would fall for him twice. Infact, only a fool could fall for him twice. Luckily, I was no fool.
"Okay."
"Ophelia," he called.
"Hm?" I turned back.
"Nothing. I will see you later."
I didn't respond and only focused on finishing with the task at hand. Once I was done, I carried the files on the desk and went down to Mark's office.
"Hey, is he in?" I asked his PA, Jonah who nodded in affirmation. I knocked and slowly opened the door to see Mark sitted on one of the side couches, chatting away with a very handsome Indian man.
"Ophelia, hey come in." He smiled.
"Hey, I have some documents from Will– I mean Mr Illston." I quickly rectified but his smirk had already formed. To my chagrin, he wasn't able to say anything about my slip up as his friend spoke up.
"Mark be a gentleman and introduce me to the pretty lady." The man nudged him.
Mark grinned before speaking, "Ophelia, this is Rahul, Rahul this is Ophelia."
"Lovely to meet you Ophelia." His smile was charming. It was a blessing and a curse really, working beside and seeing such good looking men nearly everyday.
"Likewise," I returned the smile and moved further into the room to drop the files. Mark stood up and met me halfway then collected them. He glanced through the papers.
"Is Will in?" He looked up.
"No, he left a few minutes ago, said something important came up."
"Where did he run off to when I told him I was coming in today?" Rahul asked from behind us. I surmised they were all friends.
"No idea," I smiled then turned to Mark, "Is there anything you need me to carry up?"
He shook his head. "It's fine, thank you."
"Alright then, bye."
"Bye Ophelia!" Rahul called out.
"Bye Rahul." I chuckled lightly then left the office. The corridors were empty and so was the elevator. I went in and as the doors were about to close, a hand stopped it.
"I thought I was going to miss it." The middle aged man laughed before fully entering. He looked at the panel button and smiled. "I guess you are going up as well."
"I am," I nodded and faced forward as the doors finally closed.
"I'm sorry but you look a little familiar, have we met before?" The man said now staring intently at me.
"I don't think so." I felt a little odd and looked everywhere but his direction.
"Ophelia Duhamels?" He asked and hearing my name all of a sudden, made me finally stare at the man. It was then it clicked.
"Uncle Mike?" I relaxed.
"What a pleasant surprise, it has been years." He smiled. It had truly been years. His hair was now a salt and pepper shade but his build was still the same. Uncle Mike, William's uncle and guardian. I immediately felt bittersweet as memories of him conjured up in my mind's eye.
"It has. I'm surprised you even remember me."
"Of course I do," he paused as the doors opened and we both stepped out, "you are the first and last girl that rascal Will ever brought home." He laughed. "Are you and Will back together? He never said anything–"
"We aren't, I work here now." I quickly explained and he nodded in understanding. Twice bitten...
"Well that is interesting. Are you on your way to his office then?"
"Yes, but he isn't in."
"Well so much for my surprise." He chuckled.
"You can wait with me, if you don't mind." I pointed to the open desk opposite the little office. He sat on the chair placed by the side of the desk and soon we were discussing, mostly he telling me old and new tales. All of which completely cracked me up. He was always funny. It was in this position that William met us nearly thirty minutes later.
"Uncle. I didn't know you were coming today."
"I wanted to surprise you but you had an even bigger surprise up your sleeve." Uncle Mike said and I flushed a little knowing he was referring to me.
"We should go in." William said and almost immediately entered his office.
"That boy," Uncle Mike shook his head then stood up.
"It was great seeing you Ophelia." He shook my hand warmly before going into the office as well. I reclined back in my chair and instantly thought about the first time I met William's family.
***
7 years ago...
"I'm nervous Will, what if they don't like me?" I frowned and he drew me closer and hugged me. We pulled apart seconds after but my frown remained.
"Trust me, they'll love you." He reassured me.
We'd been offcially dating for nearly six months now. At an early age, I became rather grounded in what reality really was. The fairytales were cute but prince charming was probably overrated. As a teenager, I experienced my first real life romance, after multitudes of hopeless crushes. At that age, all emotions were heightened. Whether it was really love we felt or just the high of coming of age, I was still unsure.
At my current age, I didn't care much for the fairytales and old wives tales anymore, yet everything with Will since the moment we first met in that park, where he ran into me with his stupid coffee, had been almost magical. I could barely understand it.
He was annoying, silly and wonderful all at once. He'd stare into my eyes and the world around us would seemingly pause. We could spend a whole day together but time would run like it was been pursued. Fast and slow, that was how he made me feel.
I knew I loved him.
I understood this was love.
***
Funfact: I've had a total of three books previously published on here. The first was called Uncharted, later changed to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It was a teen fiction. The second was called The Story of Us, also a teen fiction and finally, Ruthless, which was a vampire novel.
Extra funfact: TB&I was actually meant to be a backstory for The Story of Us but it kind of just took its own dimension.
I doubt if I have any OG readers from 2016 though :)
If you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote, comment and all that good stuff♡. P.s: I'm posting this half asleep, pardon any mistakes.