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“Yes, them.”
She laughed. “I heard Leila showed up at your gym.”
“Showed up?” I asked. “You mean she signed up at my gym. And because she was my secretary, of course, she had access to both the building and my schedule. When I asked, she said she lived with a friend there, which was obviously a lie. Imagine training at night after work and seeing your secretary’s ass right in your face? She managed to skirt the indecent dressing at work bit and decided that I couldn’t fault her for this at the gym, and she wouldn’t stop hitting on me either.”
“Wow,” she said, and I wondered for the first time ever if I had said too much.
“Wow, what?” I asked.
“That sounds like something I would have done. It sounds like something I should have done.”
Once again, I was amused, but I didn’t know what to say to this.
“If I - do you think we crossed the line because of a change in location and pace?”
I contemplated this response. “I think we got here because you gave me the time to notice you. It could also be because rather than getting me to notice you, you simply just did your job and did it well. And there was no need for the extreme dressing. The Human Resources head was just being over the top. The other girls were either intentionally provocative, so with you, he just went overboard.”
“So I can wear skimpy strapless tops and miniskirts to work now, Sir?” she asked. “Yes! Thank you.”
At this, I narrowed my gaze at her, and she immediately changed her tune.
“I didn’t mean that, Sir,” she said. “I was kidding. I don’t dress like that on a normal day, not to talk of in the office.”
“You’re going to keep calling me Sir even when I'm with you like this?”
She looked at me.
“We’re not working right now,” I pointed out.
Smiling, she lowered her head. “I’m sorry, force of habit.”
“It’s okay,” I replied.
We continued eating further in silence, and then she asked.
“So... where do we go from here - Sir?”
I lifted a brow once again at her and chuckled my chest in laughter.
“I'm sorry. I just can't drop it that easily. It's been six months; every single day I have called you boss. In your presence... you have no idea how imposing you can be.”
“I'm imposing?” I asked, and her smile reduced. She lowered her head.
“You are. I mean, besides the fact that you could fire me, which would technically and almost immediately make me homeless, by the way, and -”
“Wait, why would firing you immediately make you homeless?” I asked. “Isn’t your salary high enough for your role? I thought we were paying a premium salary compared to other offices in the city. Is this not accurate?”
It was as though she had frozen in place from all the questions.
“Uh... so, this is where things might get tricky between us,” she explained. “I mean, you’re paying me a very high salary, and I won’t technically be homeless immediately. This wasn’t a lie, but I was just trying to point out that in case you were considering firing me, it really wouldn’t be a good idea. I mean, you can do what you want; you're the boss, but I was trying to use a bit of - I was just trying to exploit this into securing my job. I’m sorry.”
She lowered her head and released a heavy breath.
“We have to set very clear boundaries, or else this won’t work, right?” she asked in a low tone.
“Yes,” I replied.
“All right, one boundary is that I wouldn't ever try to use our personal relationship for professional courtesies or favors, whether directly or indirectly. I’ll put this in writing.”
