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She nodded at my words, and to my surprise, she agreed with me.
"You’re right," she replied. "So rather than quitting, can I ask for an extra day to learn the ropes?"
"You think you can learn how to be a legal secretary, not to talk of being my legal secretary, in one day?"
"No, but I can find someone who can guide me," she said. "I’ll find someone who can guide me, and as a result, you won’t feel the pain or bear the consequences in any way for my incompetence."
I stopped at her words, and I had to admit that I was tempted and somewhat impressed that she was indeed fighting like I had expected. It made me realize now that perhaps I hadn’t just liked her from the very beginning simply because she was pretty.
I decided then to confront her about this.
"Yesterday," I said. "You were very clearly uncomfortable with the client that you were meeting with, the man I assume is your boss?"
"Yes, he is," she replied.
"Well, if you were uncomfortable, then why did you tolerate it? I understand that afterward you searched for a new job, and I suspect you were already doing so, but why tolerate it for even one second?"
She stared at me, and then she responded.
"Money," she replied, and my eyebrows raised.
"Money?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied. "From all the jobs I applied to before I got that position, that was the one with the highest pay. So far, I had been indeed searching for something else to replace it, but everything else was lower."
"Is money worth your discomfort in such a way?" I asked, and she shook her head, and then she nodded.
"Yes and no. What you saw yesterday isn’t an everyday occurrence, and not all the clients behave that way. And my boss, well, my previous boss, though he turned a blind eye to a lot of things, would have reacted if the man went further than flirting. So, with this, I got to know the clients that behaved like assholes and prepared myself mentally to deal with it."
"You didn’t seem as though you were dealing well with what I saw yesterday," I said, and she replied.
"That particular client was getting bolder and bolder. At first, when we began working with him, he held back, but as time went on and he realized that he wasn’t really getting criticized, he became more and more intrusive, and that was why I felt uncomfortable. The other clients mostly just used their words, but this was almost unbearable."
"Hmm," I nodded. "So why are you trying to insist that you don’t lose your job with me? Money as well?" I asked.
She nodded, and for a moment, I was almost amused.
"How honest of you."
"There’s no point in lying now," she said. "I need the money, but I also take my work incredibly seriously and don't ever want my bosses to bear the consequence of my inadequacy. Which is why, although I quit just a few minutes ago, I’m back here asking for another chance."
"You do have quite the way with words," I said, however none of this was needed. The conversation was positive, but it still didn’t change the underlying problem, which was that she was too goddamn attractive for my own good.
Chapter Fourteen
Hannah
This very moment of verbal exchange made me feel as though I was fighting for my life. Yet, as I saw his interest wane at me and my words, I knew that I was losing him. However, I couldn’t lose this job, and I most certainly couldn’t lose the bet with the girls, so I thought of what to do, what to say to ensure that I got the time I needed to find my footing. Threatening him with the potential lawsuit coming his way should he refuse sounded like the dumbest thing I could ever possibly do, because he was basically the best lawyer in town, so how the heck was I going to get away with that? In fact, it might even aggravate him enough to get back at me, so I didn't see any sense whatsoever in going that route.
Completely defeated, I nodded in understanding and had no choice then but to take my leave. I had already offended him, argued with him, and now it was over. I felt a bit more relieved than I had earlier, though, because of this confrontation with him. Maybe it was senseless to feel that way, but I couldn't deny it, so I held onto it as I exited the restaurant. I had to call a taxi to take me back to the office so that I could quickly get my things; however, just before I could hail one down, a dark town car stopped a little distance away, and in the next second, I heard my name. His tone of voice was more than enough to send shivers down my spine, but now I didn't need to respond anymore or pay him any attention, so I ignored the call altogether.
He, however, didn’t have any intentions whatsoever of allowing me to ignore him. A taxi started to approach then and pull up to the curb, but before I could even reach for the handle to open it, my hand was suddenly caught like a vice. I gasped; my eyes filled with fear as I turned to look at the man.
"I was right?" he said, refusing to let me go even when I tried to pull my hand away. It was all somehow presented as him being nice and friendly, and so even when I thought of making some sort of scene to show how uncomfortable he was making me feel, without the context, everyone around was sure to conclude that I was being pointlessly sensitive and overreacting like a typical woman.
"What are you doing in this part of town?" he asked. "I just saw you yesterday; I called you, but I didn't get a response. Are you ignoring my call? I'm pretty sure your boss won’t be happy to hear that I had an update for your company from mine."
"I don’t work with him anymore," I replied and wondered if it was appropriate to say so, since I had more or less simply taken a sick day off. Now, and since this job with the firm didn’t work out, then it meant that I was basically unemployed, and I couldn’t have that.
