"Congratulations! You were the only one found qualified," the man said on the phone.
"Me? Are you sure?" she asked surprisingly as she couldn't believe that her disguise wasn't busted.
"Yes, we are. Please come at the Suarez Corp. tomorrow at 8 AM sharp."
"Yes, yes. Thank you." The phone call ended with another reply of, congratulations. Sharmaine paused and stared at the blank white walls. It took a while for her to fully grasp the reality of earning good money in a month.
Her heart pounded in excitement, as she jerked up to shout and jump out of joy. Her voice was so loud and high-pitched that it might've annoyed the people around the neighborhood, but she did not care.
"I will be rich!"
—
The next day, she prepared herself for the first day in her new job. She arrived at the Suarez building thirty minutes early, so she decided to look around. As expected, there weren't many women working. Most of the employees are men; the hallways were always flooded with their presence.
Does their boss have a fetish on boys, she thought slightly cringing at the thought of an old fat guy as the director. A few moments later, she arrived at the reception area to ask for her 8 AM meeting-thing.
"Hello, I am quite new here. I have an appointment with Mr. Suarez. Where shall I go?"
The clerk assigned a man to guide her. "Here, he'll accompany you to Mr. Suarez."
"Okay, thanks!"
"Hello, I am Ron. Pleased to meet you," he said as he shook hand with her.
"Call me Shawn,"
"Ahh, pleased to meet you, Shawn. Come this way, Mr. Suarez highly discourage late comers." Ron said as they headed for the elevator.
The place was grand. It was nothing like the other companies Sharmaine used to work at. The halls were somewhat identical, but they made it so that one could tell it apart from each other.
A few minutes passed before they arrived on the twenty-fifth floor. The doors slid open as they stepped out, walking until they reach a glass door at the end of the huge hall. It was tinted and very reflective; it was certainly not translucent.
Ron knocked three times, which was weird considering that she thought there might be something like a doorbell in this gigantic and modern place.
"Come in," a manly voice said.
"Please come in Mr. Shawn," Ron said, stepping aside to make way for Sharmaine.
"Aren't you coming in?"
"No, I have to go back to work. See you later." Ron was surprisingly cheerful but formal.
Sharmaine smiled. "Sure, thank you Ron."
When Ron left, Sharmaine smiled even more. She could feel her heart pounding out of excitement; she could finally work in a real company with a real boss. Her trembling hands made its way to the gigantic steel handle, which she used to enter the premises.
"Good morning, Mr. Suarez," she greeted with a smile.
She observed her new working area; it was a place unlike any other. The place was not modern but was a mix of decent dilapidated style furniture.
The CEO of this giant empire sat in front of her, Mr. Denzel Suarez—he was a handsome young man with a prominent jawline and fierce eyes, who wore a suit that must've costed more than her house.
Though handsome, his fierce eyes were solely empty. His lips were red, but did not form a warm smile, and his stance was as stiff as a rock. Frankly, he had such a good voice; it was deep and silky.
"Your office will be here in my office," he said as he pointed at the table to his left, "That's your table."
"Yes, Mr. Suarez."
"Also, you should call me by my first name." He said it with such a sharp glare.
Sharmaine was struck with confusion. Could it be that her boss has a first name fetish? Suddenly speaking his name made her heart pound even louder and faster. "Y-Yes, Mr. Sua—Denzel."
The glare subsided and Denzel continued to speak. "You will be living with me as I know you live far away. Ron must've told you that I despise late comers."
"I'm going to live with you?" She was stunned by the words that came out of him. At first, it was just the greeting, now she would be living at his house?
"Crap, you do know I am just a woman under this suit. Well, I guess not," she muttered.
"What was that?"
"Ah! It was nothing," she said, awkwardly diffusing the silence between them, "Is it true that my salary is 100k a month?"
Denzel smiled. "Yes, salary is 100k a month, your work here as my assistant secretary is to arrange everything from meetings, flights etc. Simple right? Do you have any more wishes?"
"N-No, Mister... I mean, Denzel"
"Now go and sit at your table, also," he opened his drawer and grabbed out a thick book, "This book contains the rules and regulations and how this corporation works. Please memorize this by tomorrow." He placed the book on his glass and wood table.
"What?" Sharmaine shockingly reacted, "By tomorrow?!"
"Yes." It was a firm answer by Denzel.
Sharmaine had no choice but to follow the boss' orders, so she grabbed the book and went back to her table.
At first, it looked nice. A brown wooden table with a thick clear glass on top. It had drawers with varying sizes and a nice height to it. She sat down on the leather chair and flipped through the pages of the book. Dang, this is one thick book, she thought. The office suddenly went quiet. All you could hear was the wall clock ticking. Sharmaine glanced at Denzel.
"Look at him being so focused at what he's doing," she murmured.
Sharmaine placed back her focus on the book. The font size is big but still, it has a lot of contexts, it smelled kind of old and very vintage-like, the paper had already a pale-yellow tint on it. It also smelled like coffee, making Sharmaine think that the book must've been splashed by caffeine some long time ago. Time went by fast, and before Sharmaine knew, it was already lunch time. Being focused on memorizing, she did not notice Denzel's presence in front of her.
"Get up and have lunch", he bitterly said to Sharmaine as if she made some sort of trouble.
Being distracted as she was, Sharmaine replied, "Nah, I'm good. I just need to—" A sudden growl interrupted her.
Crap.
Her boss seemed pissed off by her polite behavior which lead to embarrassment making the conversation more awkward; she felt the need to laugh it off as she squeezed her tummy, showing a red flush onto her face.
Denzel sighed, looking at her with his cold eyes. "Get up. Have lunch with me."
Sharmaine quickly stood up otherwise, she might lose her job in just a blink of an eye. They went out of the office and surprisingly, noise filled the air. The employees greeted Denzel as if he was a king, but their genuine greetings had a feeling of intimidation. They rode the elevator down and left the building.
"Denzel, where are we going?" Sharmaine asked.
Denzel glanced at her; his eyes alone was just enough to make one young man shiver. "Be quiet, and call me 'Mr. Suarez' in public."
Geez what a grumpy man, Sharmaine thought and followed Denzel to his car.
"Get inside," he said.
"O-Okay..."
Denzel also got inside and closed the car door. Obviously, she though, he has a driver that can take him wherever and whenever he wants to go. The atmosphere within the whole ride was very quiet; the ambience was so intense that even the driver felt uncomfortable himself.
Why does he always have more male employees?
Is he gay? Well, if he is, it would be a shame, he has good looks too, Sharmaine thought, trying to ignore the awkward silence spreading in the car.
Eventually, they stopped at a place with extravagant architecture. They were escorted, yet again, by male employees who wore such nice uniforms.
"Looks like I'm going to be poor for a while," she said to herself.
The inside was just beautiful. It was almost a piece of art so unworthy of her filthy hands to touch. The vibe was a bit romantic yet had a rustic looking interior with big hanging chandeliers. The tables were well decorated and it was so peaceful. They sat down on a reserved table as the waiter gave the menus.
"What?! 8087 for pasta?" Sharmaine said, looking devastated, "I might eat noodles for a while."
"It's on me."
"Eh?!"