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"I'm here because we have to send someone over tomorrow, but I really don't want you to also send this person away. Can you be a little more lenient if they make mistakes?"
"I'll forever be lenient if the mistakes they make are small mistakes," I replied. "If there are huge ones that could potentially harm the firm and my business, I will indeed lose my shit."
She smiled again, shaking her head, and returned to her meal. It was then I looked out through the window at the busy Manhattan late evening sidewalk and saw her. She was just getting out of the taxi, and the first thing that caught my eye was the glistening skin of her legs. Coupled with the heels she had on, they were so long my attention was arrested long enough to see the face that those slender pair of limbs belonged to. And unsurprisingly, she was just as gorgeous as I had expected. Her hair was a dark gorgeous blonde and bouncy. The loose tendrils framed her face in a way that made me unable to look away, and when she smiled at the suited man who came up to her, then I found my breath catching in my throat. She was dressed gorgeously in a red skirt suit, and although it was as elegant as could be, especially now that she was standing straight and tall and the skirt shaped her hips and legs all the way past her knees, it was impossible to hide the gorgeous curve and appeal of her body.
The man who had come up to them held out his arms as though to embrace her, but instead, she stiffened her spine and offered her hand instead. He boldly brushed it away and instead pressed her into his chest. I saw the deep unhappiness and disgust on her face as a result. She didn’t like him immediately. True to form, she tried to pull away, and after she succeeded, she was tense. I watched as she moved toward the man in a pin-striped suit, and then they both watched the one who had forced the embrace as he spoke to them both.
I'd had enough business dealings to understand the situation, especially the man in the striped suit gesturing ahead with his hand. This was a business meeting, and she was either a partner or an employee, and the man in the striped suit was her boss. This was definitely not the first time they had met, judging by how she shifted closer to her boss; she was expecting him to protect her. However, he didn't seem to even notice. As they walked, she tried her best to stay by her boss’s side on the extreme end, but the client soon mentioned something, no doubt complaining about this, and to her visible shock and annoyance, the boss moved and kept her right next to the client. He smiled at her like he was looking at a piece of meat that he was ready to devour, and then they all walked into the restaurant.
"Let me know exactly what you are looking for," Gloria said just then. “Would you prefer a male secretary? But the second candidate was male, and he seemed to last even less than the other females.”
“That's because women are emotionally intelligent enough to know when not to monumentally fuck up. Unlike that lanky moron.”
She smiled, and then she shook her head. “Alright, well, you need a replacement, and I'll be looking externally now rather than internally. We’ve been sending people over from the temporary secretaries’ pool I had, but we’ll have to go back to the agency tonight to get someone that will suit you best, so give me your requirements now, and I can use it as a strict guide.”
“For one, I know they should, of course, not be an eyesore, like you have previously stated, but now I am beginning to think you want someone that somehow looks like those heiresses you dated, and when this expectation is not met, you eventually miraculously find a way to fire them in the weeks following.”
At her accusation, a very blatant one at that, I looked up and couldn’t help but feel wrongly accused.
“That's not accurate,” I said. “I didn’t care what they looked like. I only cared how they performed.”
“I believe you, but in order for everyone else to believe it, at least pick someone with experience from this file and commit to trying to be patient with them for at least the next three months.”
“Gloria, I'm not committing to shit,” I told her. “Pick someone capable and send them to occupy that desk. They should be the ones vigilant and afraid of messing up, not me.”
At my words, she sighed and continued eating. “Will you at least look at the file? I came all the way here.”
“It's fine, minutes from the office. I'm sure you needed the exercise.”
I rose to my feet then, and she laughed. “I can't believe you're still the same little boy from twenty years ago.”
“Creature of habit,” I said as I grabbed my phone and headed over to the bathroom with it in my hand.
Chapter Two
Hannah
Itruly wondered just how much more of this shit I could take. It had been three freaking months now since I had been working for this bastard, and he hadn’t hesitated at every point in time to throw me to his clients in one way or the other. At first, I was sure I was mistaken, and he just hadn’t seen how some of them, especially the old geezers, tried to flirt with me, get close to me, or touch me inappropriately. In fact, he had almost encouraged it, almost as though I was some prize that they had access to taste and could get a full feel later on after whatever business deal was concluded.
I truly would have quit a long time ago, but there was something he always did, which was look the other way right until the contract was won over or the deal was concluded, and only then would he even put up a fight whatsoever for me. And since I was his only secretary, I had no choice but to be in on all these freaking meetings. It was upsetting every single day, but in all other areas, he was pretty kind and fair, except in this. And the salary, so far, was the highest I had ever gotten through the agency, and I wanted to move out of my trashy Brooklyn apartment to get a much better one with views and floors that weren’t being devoured by ants and termites. Also, hallways that didn’t smell like rat piss or Chinese food that didn't waft up to my bedroom at 1 am. All these were the dreams I held in mind, and so far, only the salary that this man paid me was enough to even allow me the hope to entertain any of these. It didn’t mean that I wasn't still furious and growing even more miserable by the day, but I couldn’t quit, not yet.
After a particularly discouraging encounter, I had a talk with myself, questioning if I could go on. I ultimately made the agreement to endure and save up for a year. Just one year, and with the experience on my resume from this top marketing agency, I could move on to the next stage. Just one year, I admonished myself, even as we were shown to our table, and I immediately hurried to try to get a seat next to the boss. However, he noted this and went immediately to the bathroom, leaving me to fend off the old shit by myself. So even when I tried to sit opposite him, he caught my hand and pulled me into the seat beside him in the booth. As soon as my butt connected to the seat, I couldn’t get up, and right at that moment, I wanted to shoot him. However, all I could do was smile and pretend not to notice his arm brushing against me, and basically his entire side rubbing against me. There was more than enough space on the booth, but here he was, glued to me like Velcro, smiling and bathing me with his disgusting breath that stunk of garlic.
His lunch was still stuck in his teeth, his hair thinning, and his supposed-to-be white eyes so dull that it all made me physically sick. I brought out my phone and pretended to be busy as I replied very seriously to the text messages I was receiving from the other secretaries at the agency; there was a plan to meet up later on. Something about a fired squad, all from the same boss, and hence it was supposed to be juicy. I usually didn’t attend these gatherings, but at that moment, I would have given anything whatsoever to be out of this freaking overpriced restaurant and be on my way over, or perhaps on my way home. Sighing, I replied and confirmed my attendance, and then I put the phone aside and picked up the menu again.
“What do you usually like to eat?” the man said, reaching out to brush my hair over my shoulders, and at that moment, I had truly had enough.
“Please don’t touch me,” I said, and the bite to my tone was unmistakable. He seemed startled, the smile on his face immediately dissipating, and then he slightly moved away. I had gotten what I wanted, but I couldn’t help but feel as though it would cost me my job instead. So, before my boss returned, I added, “It’s been so hot lately, and I am yet to cool down from all the heat outside. Don’t you feel hot as well?”
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Keep me company till your boss returns,” he said, reaching out to catch my hand. “I’d like to hear some of your ideas on the strategy we presented back at your office. You look like someone who would have a lot of wonderful and fresh ideas.”
He wasn’t wrong because currently I truly had some red-hot ideas, like pouring a pot of boiling water over his head and watching him melt like a candle as a result. Instead, I smiled, wrenching my arm from his.
It took him a little while to warm back up to me but eventually, he did, and thankfully, it was just as my boss returned.
“Let’s order some refreshing cold cocktails for you,” he said, but I immediately refused.
