Page 58 of Taken By My Grumpy Pakhan

“You fucked your boss,” she continued, “and you liked it. There’s no shame in that.”

“I’m not ashamed, Anna. I just don’t like recounting the details every time.”

I walked out of the bathroom and her lips split into a smile of approval.

“Pity he won’t get to see you in this.” As though an exciting thought entered her head, her eyes lit up almost immediately. “Does he follow you on Instagram? We can upload a few photos to bait him. Bet he’ll end whatever took him there and be home in a flash.”

I rolled my eyes at her delusion. Kazimir was hardly a man who would be found dead on social media, and even if he was, he wouldn’t be the type to stalk anyone, let alone hop on the next flight because they wore a short bodycon red dress.

“What?” Anna queried my reaction. “He ended a meeting once to fuck you, he can do it again.”

I winced at the crudeness of her words whilst clasping a necklace at my back. “Can you stop saying it like that?”

“It’s the facts, baby girl, your boss is pussy-whipped.”

I didn’t bother arguing; it only gave her the opening to say more.

A moment passed before she spoke again. “Heard from Leo?”

I drew in a deep breath. My brother had gone from being my most fond topic to being the most sensitive.

“He called, something about going straight and wanting to return to college.”

Anna nodded behind me, taking a brush from my vanity and proceeding to brush my hair. “And what did you say to him?”

“Told him I had to see the proof and I would only pay his school fees directly to the school.”

“That’s good. Hopefully, he doesn’t get into more trouble.”

“Yeah.” I stared at my reflection, wondering how our parents would feel if they saw how things unfolded between us. Would they be disappointed or proud?

I was finally doing good, got a new apartment in a nice neighbourhood, paid off my debt and began setting up a nice savings account.

Leo was one of the reasons I worked hard and now we barely spoke. It hurt to not be able to share my success with him completely.

“He’ll come around," Anna reassured, pinning my hair up and letting a few curls fall in front. “I think he has learned his lessons.”

“I hope so,” I muttered in response.

“Well, look at you,” Anna suddenly exclaimed. “You look like you belong on the front page of a magazine.”

I winked at my reflection. “I know, right?”

“That Russian dick doing you real good.”

“And here we go again.”

She let out a bark of laughter. I swear she was enjoying this a little too much.

“You think I’ll fit in?”

“Fit in?” she scoffed. “Girl, you'll hold everyone’s attention the whole night.”

I was grateful for her effort to make me feel good, but I couldn’t shake off the nerves.

I’ve been at the office for almost three months and was just finding out about a monthly get-together.

Despite Caroline and Rose’s kindness, it felt like I was only just becoming officially accepted into the flock, and this felt oddly like a debut.