* * *
"Honey?!"
My eyes twitch at just the thought.
What the fuck was going on in there? I told Chase to bring her here by any means possible, but he knew all too well that this strategy was touched on for an interdict reason:
It was off-limits!!!
This is no good. I'm not a house rat avoiding a cheese trap; if I want to know exactly what's happening in there, I'll just have to walk in. It is my office after all.
"Da-Da-David! I mean, Mr. Marquis."
"Mr. Jacques," I greet the impoverished soul staring at me... pinned below the bosoms of Ms. Rose.
"Sir, it's not what it looks like!"
"Oh, I'm sure it's not."
I'd known she could be a touchy person, but I didn't think it this time. I mean, how touchy does a touchy person get? The situation felt more like I'd interrupted a blatant attempt of a sexually induced interrogation—poor Chase looked more scared than aroused. But then, that would beck the question of what she was trying to accomplish; what was she up to? This certainly wasn't the ideal way I sought to reconnect with her since 12 years ago.
I cover more area, picking up on how she practically caved Chase's figure deep into the wing chair's skeleton, exerting her body on his with her voluptuous chest.
Her chest...
Her chest...
Her chest...
Those words rang in my head like a serpent melody, riling my blood up to unprecedented temperatures.
I feigned a pitiful attempt of indifference, however, I was unable to control the snarl lodged at the back of my throat. Chase would be well-accustomed to its underlining meaning religiously because It was always for one of two reasons, and this time around, my vermillion eyes were echoing savage jealousy.
He smartly removes Rose from off himself and exits the room as I cross over to my desk, gathering contracts I'd prepared the night before. It should do well to fix the stark bend in our relationship that transpired yesterday and progress it also.
"Mr. Marquis," I hear her soft lips call out my name and I stop in my tracks, agog to lock eyes with hers. But there was no need to search them any further than their demeanor showed—a vast, deserted emptiness.
Her emerald eyes were nothing like the ones that broke down my defenses with their glimmer... the ones she fed me so carelessly in grade school... the ones that made my heart run marathons... or the ones that played mystifying crescents across her creased eyes and lit up her face up with an irresistible shade of pink.
Currently, that smile she wore with all its quirks looked at me with open resentment written all over her face. Even at our initial encounter, she seemed to be releasing pent-up anger at me.
"Miss Rose," I expressed a level-headed greeting, burying my head back into my tower of files. "I've asked you to come today to offer a deal," which I'm starting to reconsider, "so I'll simply brief it over before handing them to you for deeper consideration. You must be curious about the depths of its terms too—"
"Hmm," she muttered.
I peak up to decipher her face.
She seemed... disinterested.
"I want you to intern as my secretary."
She scoffed then. Or was it a cough? Should I offer her a drink?
"I found your resume quite trivialized and felt the need to push you to your full potential. I've provided benefits from this program, which, by the way, is soley exclusive to you. It's yet to be given out to other competent employees, so yes, this will be a trail which you happen to shoulder first." Looking her dead in the eyes this time, I dare her to protest the prospect.
"As you know, this cooperation is climbing ladders to international markets, so having interned here will be strong on your records."
I flip to page 3.
"So unlike practical, stationary secretaries, you won't just be booking meetings, receiving clients, answering calls, making photocopies, and molding my schedules. I expect you to be at my side for as many working hours legally possible. Your company will be required at meetings and business outings, so whenever I step out of my office, you should be packed up and ready to leave with me at the reception. No exceptions. No excuses."
"Essentially, I become a maid who waits at your hand and feet?"
"If that's how you'd like to think of it, I won't judge your kinks."
"Kinks!?"
"This program will last a mere 6 months," I sink into my seat, satisfied with her cute reaction—a more accurate side of the Rose I had once known. "Per its benefits, you'll find no need climbing up the office's social ladder because you'll immediately be assigned a team of your own and be placed in charge of high-end projects. Your pay will be inflated, and if you impress me enough, maybe, just maybe, you could find yourself as part of the company's executives," I then grinned from ear to ear.
There was no way she would turn this down. And yet, she pondered.
"This is quite tempting."
"Yes, it is," I agreed.
"But I'll have to turn it down."
... what?
"I don't particularly feel like selling my soul to anyone today."
"P-pardon?!" A hysterical outburst escaped my lips; my face burning red with amusement. "I didn't take you for the unprofessional type, Miss Rose. Where exactly did you see or hear a thing about exchanging one's soul?"
"It's a metaphor for my dignity! Asshole!."
"I didn't think you had any of that left after yesterday." I couldn't help myself.
"Okay, now you're just starting to piss me off!" She about takes off but freezes as I aloud:
"Who hurt you, Miss Rose?"
Halting in her tracks, stricken by my uncanny accuracy, I get up from my desk and slowly approach her.
"Yesterday, when you cursed me out there, it wasn't me you were really yelling at, was it?"
"You fired me!"
"Yet here we are."
"... your point is?" she pouted.
"I'm not the enemy you keep making me out to be. I know how your kind thinks of mine—"
"Oh, like hell you do! You're just a pathetic sadist who finds pleasure in abusing his wealth, and no social standing can blind anyone to that, so of course, they're many more victims you've encountered on the daily!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb! I know you threatened to fire Chase if he didn't do as you asked and brought me here this morning! I guess he also counts as my 'easily deluded kind' to you too, right?"
"I said no such thing."
"You implied as much!"
"Miss Rose! I'll say this once, and once only. Without your stupid, thick walls up, could you actually tell me why you do not care to take this offer?"
"'My stupid, thick walls?!' Mind you, people of your likes would never understand why I constantly have them up!"
"I'm not one to repeat myself—"
"Neither am I!"
That was it! "WITHOUT YOUR GOD DAMN WALLS UP, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU REJECTING MY OFFER?!"
I had never been more rilled up in my life; she was purposefully tearing down my composure for reasons unknown. I wanted to know. But she was making it impossible to reach her.
"I. Won't. Say!" she sterned, moving towards me; a brand new step with each piercing word, hands clenched at her side with scowling eyes I had never seen before eating into me.
I reciprocate her movements—and sentiments—inching even closer to her.
"Then get out of my office."
She was right. Her walls were ridiculously high to breach after all.