Chapter 9
Mandy:
Six weeks later
"Don't forget to bring my scripts, I need them for Monday!" Adelaide sighs frustrated but calmly lays her head on Edwards's shoulder.
Oh yes, Adelaide and Edward made it official about a month ago. It was big news in the entertainment world, it was even a segment of a newspaper article. Because Edward is the adopted son of Ezekiel Dragomir all kinds of rumors spread, even Nick was brought into the equation. Some even said it's odd for Nick to be single since he's the number one bachelor in the business industry. I only get annoyed when they speak of him. I for one haven't seen him in six weeks, I just kept replaying everything over and over in my head trying to make sense of things.
"Andy! Stop spacing out." Adelaide calls out to me.
"You're okay Ands?" Edwards asks with a worried expression, "You don't like Harry Potter?"
"No, no I do… I'm just tired from work." I wave dismissively at them. "I will always… love Harry Potter and the Wizarding World," I say.
"You work too much." Adelaide says.
"I need to work." I snap.
"You need a vacation, you haven't taken any vacation of what I'm aware of."
"I'm good Adelaide… I have important things at work to be attentive to," I smile. "Speaking of which, I need to finish some tallies."
"Say something to her," Adelaide turned to Edward who simply shrugged at her.
"Speaking to the wrong Dragomir."
"That's right!" Adelaide sat up straight. "Just speak to-Nicks-Nick!"
"I'm not doing such a thing." I roll my eyes. "He's busy and we're in high season… can not be helped."
"I'll talk with him," Edward smirks as if he solved the problem, he didn't know he's creating a worse one.
"No." I snap firmly. "I'm going to bed gotta wake up early… both of you sleep well and turn off the lights!" I walked to my room and firmly closed the door behind me.
I looked over to my phone and saw it was only 9:32 pm, what am I going to do? Should I read something? Maybe on Webtoon or WebNovel to pass the time? So many options.
I'm late! I walk at a dangerous speed considering the type of heels I wore today; I woke up late due to being up till one in the morning reading Let's Play from Webtoon and Disamore from WebNovel. I also wore an incredibly tight long-sleeved navy dress that reached my knees but if I walk too fast or I sit for too long my skirt will rise. I only wore it because it was the first thing I found in the case of this morning.
"Andy!" Carlos calls out to me handing me my cup of coffee.
"I could kiss you!" I say while taking a sip of my delicious coconut milk double espresso coffee from Starbucks.
He laughs and opens the main door for me. After passing security we fast-paced to the elevator, once we reached the sales department I was singled out by Mr. Fox.
"You're not supposed to be here." He says while directing me to his office.
I am in panic mode, did something go wrong while I slept? Did I turn in a wrong report? Did my team not meet the quotas? Did the numbers drop? Did we lose some big exporters I importers? Am I being fired?? Mr. Fox closed the door and told me to sit.
"Am I being fired?" I said almost in tears.
"Fi-fired? What? Why would we fire you? You're not being fired, Ms. Fletcher…"
What?
"I received an interesting email this morning from Mr. Dragomir acknowledging that you have too many OT's and have a large sum of PTO collectively with sick days. Due to this, you are to take a week paid vacation if you do not accept the terms of your forced time off, Mr. Dragomir expressed you are to be terminated effective forthwith. He needs all of his employees well rested… I just thought you knew since you weren't here in time for this morning gathering." Mr. Fox says.
"I see… I wasn't informed." My blood is boiling! "I have no other choice…"
He's gonna hear me. I said my goodbyes and went up to Mr. Dragomir's office. My body shook with a mixture of rage and nerves as I played over and over what I was going to say and how I was going to say them. The elevator doors opened and once the receptionist saw me she smiled.
"I need to see Mr. Dragomir," I say obviously in a harsh tone.
"I'm sorry he's in a call-"
I walked past her and straight down the little hallway. I noticed it's no longer all open how it was last time I was here, all the glass windows were covered. Good because I cannot think about my fear of heights right now. I pushed the door open and let it slam closed behind me. I marched right up to Nick who was giving me a distinct glare as he held the phone. He looks well, I'm glad- no Mandy! Be mad!
"I understand… I will get in touch with you once I can… I already made all the arrangements… Yes, I took care of it… I must go, something just popped up needing my immediate attention….It looks to be quite a problem for me in fact… Goodbye." He hung up and unfasten his tie as His dark green eyes darted up at me.
"You must need something of dire importance."
"I do."
The door opened and the receptionist came in giving me a deadly glare but she smiled kindly at Nick. "I'm sorry Mr. Dragon it, she walked right past me."
"Like you put up a fight." I snarl at her.
"It's alright Ms. Dorbrock, I have this." Nick waves her goodbye and waits till the door completely closed before going back to his death stare.
"Why am I being forced to take PTO's when I never requested any of them." I snap while crossing my arms.
"You are aware I am slapped with a fee if my employees do not take their necessary care? To them, it looks like I am forcing you to slave away at work." He stood and made his way to the front of his desk where he is now only a few feet away from me, he leans against his desk and crosses his arms just like me.
"I did not ask for it," I said again.
"I gave it anyway," He snapped back.
"Mr. Dragomir, I am kindly requesting you let me work."
"Your request has been denied Ms. Fletcher, have a nice day." He gets up and walks past me.
I took a hold of his hand stopping him in his tracks but quickly let go. "I only work, all I'll do at home is just be there and watch tv but even so, for a week it's too much."
He veers to face me, he gave me such an expression that it made me take a step back so that there'd be much more space between us. He smirked.
"Go home my little Zaya." He says in a tender tone even his posture had softened.
"Stop calling me that, I don't even know what it means." I take another few steps back avoiding collision with the chairs he followed closely. "Stop you're making me-"
"Making you what?" He asked me, still smirking proudly.
My butt clashes against his desk, I'm stuck! He's now close enough that if I put up my hand it'd hit his chest. But I didn't feel uncomfortable; I wanted him closer, to smell his Cologne again, to feel his warm soft hand caress … What the hell am I thinking!?
"What are you thinking of my little Zaya? You are incredibly flushed." He says in a tone I have never heard him use, almost seductively…
"Nothing…" I look away and try to go right past him but he traps me in place when he lays both his arms on either side of me and leans down to me. Now his legs are clashing with mine and I found myself pushing him off me but he was strong and didn't budge.
"Get off-"
"Kiss me and I will get off and let you go back to work." He says.
I glare. "No!"
"Then everything stays as is." He leans a bit lower now inches away from my face. His loose strands of hair started tickling my face, I blush as the thought of him kissing me or me kissing him played like a movie scene in my head.
"I won't kiss you, this is sexual harassment…" I say feeling my legs quiver.
"You entered at your own risk." He smiles down at me. "This won't be the moment not the place for such things…" he lowers his head down to my ear. "If anything is to happen it will be because you ask for it, I will never force you." He backs off and fixes his suit and his hair. I noticed he too was blushing but I also noticed he had an erection he is desperately trying to hide by sitting on his chair behind his desk.
"Have a good day my little Zaya." He says blowing me a kiss as he chuckles in delight.
"Have a good day." I storm off.