You have to act like me
The call disconnected and silence filled the black and grey outlined room. It also had white streaks in the room like the coffee mug and the white medium table for the computer.
The notification ping ruined the stillness of the room. It came from Felix's phone. He grudgingly clicked on the message since on the phone screen it displayed his grandma's name as the sender. He didn't want to face the reality. He was internally horrified by the planned date.
[ Grandma
At Seaside Hotel, sharp 8 pm.
DON'T DITCH OR TRY TO BE LATE!!! ]
The message was short and precise since she knew her grandson wouldn't prefer it if there was a long essay in the message, which is supposed to be concise.
He clicked his tongue inside his mouth before stuffing back his phone into his pant pocket.
"Seems like my love story won't even start." He heaved out a heavy sigh.
"Sir, is everything fine? Did something happen? Why do you look tense?" Alex broke Felix's reverie and overthinking with his worries.
Instantly a sly smirk replaced the downcasted smile on Felix's lips. A gloomy aura dissipated and it felt like the room got covered with cherry blossoms.
"What's happening today? First, the ice cold, then this out of nowhere happiness after gloomy nature? I'll lose my sanity if it continues to be like this…" He murmured as he was really confused by the change of the room's temperature.
"Alex." Felix said in a deep and hoarse tone that sent shivers down the spine of many and made Alex stand ramrod straight from his relaxed posture.
Alex didn't give any thought to the way his employer called out his name, "Yes, Sir! How can I assist you?"
Felix put both of his hands in the two pockets of his black pants, "If I remember correctly, in the morning you were upset for not being able to find any information regarding the girl I told you about. And you agreed that if I wanted to punish you, you would gladly accept it no matter whatever it is."
"Yes, sir, I would agree to anything you ask me to do since it was my incompetence and clumsiness that I wasn't able to complete my job and it is only right for me to get a punishment." He didn't hesitate for a second and replied to Felix. If only he would have seen the crafly smirk, he would have thought a thousand times before agreeing to him. However, Felix had his back to Alex and the mirror didn't show the reflection of Felix's face even though it would have, still Alex couldn't do anything as he wouldn't have been able to detect a change in Felix's stoic and neutral face.
'The fish fell for the trap.'
Felix cunningly smiled inwardly, not letting it out on the surface.
"Then everything that I am going to say now would be your punishment, you have to go on the date instead of me and make the girl understand that you, as in me, aren't interested in her as I already have someone I like. To make it short, you have to act like me and go on a date with the girl today at 8 pm. I'll forward the message with details."
Alex lost his footing after he heard his punishment. It wasn't punishment rather it was a deadly torture for him. It was the same as walking on the path of burning coal, barefooted.
'Did I commit so many sins in my previous lifetime that I had to pay severely in this lifetime?' He marvelled since it wasn't the first time that he had to suffer yet this punishment was the most tormenting one.
He wanted to bawl out and whine like a kid whose favourite toy broke down, 'I had survived all the past tortures however I feel I won't be able to make it alive this time. At one side there is the Devil himself while on the other side is the Devil's grandma. What should I do? I am getting squashed by both. '
He weeped simultaneously yet no tears rolled down on his cheeks from his eyes.
Felix could fathom the reason behind his assistant's for losing the ability to speak and become speechless since he had just passed through the same situation. His grandma had given multiple shocking news in one day. He was used to getting set up for blind dates and he made sure that his grandma never found the truth behind those unsuccessful dates.
'I thought I didn't leave any evidence. Then how does she know that I ditched all her planned dates? Apart from me and her, there aren't others who were aware about those dates….. than him.' Felix's sharp memory reminded him.
Except him and his grandma, only Alex, his assistant and secretary knew the authenticity of those failed dates as it was him, who Felix would use to keep the mouth of those annoying girl dates shut. Whenever his grandma planned out any date, she would tell him about the girl and her profession, likes and dislikes so that he would have something to talk about on his date with his arranged partner. But the information provided by his grandma wasn't used for the same cause that she thought, rather it helped him in saving the time to dig for the girl's background.
Since he knew about her name and profession, he would ask his assistant to dig deeper and if by any lucky chance he would find some dirt then Felix would use it against them and blackmail them for telling his grandma that they didn't like him and his cold personality.
All this was done by Alex, he was the one to gather the scandals and he was the one to go and make the deals with them.
Although that was what Felix perceived, there were some twists in the way Alex finished his tasks successfully, unknown to Felix, who didn't know or had any idea of the methods used by his own assistant. He sometimes wondered why those girls never came back again to ask about him.
Luckily for him, he found out the answers to his curiosity. One day due to overwork Felix had to sleep in his inbuilt bedroom inside his office cabin but Alex didn't have any knowledge of this so that day when he woke up and came out of his bedroom, he saw the door ajar.
With steady and noiseless steps he moved to the door. It was that day he found another side of his introverted and calm secretary.
At first he thought that the guy standing outside the door was not his meek assistant but some duplicate twin of him.
"Ms. Matthews don't force me to use some extra measures on you."
"What can you do? You are an average assistant only not the boss so shut your mouth and let me go inside. You don't know who I am and my family."
"Ha… it seems I have to make you understand the protocols of our company."
"Hey!! Who did you call?"
"You will come to know them soon. Just 2 minutes and you will meet them."
"Hey!! Leave my hands!! You low class girl, leave my hand before I make you regret it!!"
"Richa, make sure that Ms. Mathews understands the meaning of rules and why they say not to disobey or break them."
"Yaa!! I only want to talk to Felix why he didn't come up on time for the date. I am not here to create chaos and mess. I just want an answer."
"Ms. Matthews, it wouldn't have come to this point if you had told me the reason behind your unannounced arrival beforehand, to clear up your mind, I can answer your questions. Richa you can leave."
"Then tell me why he didn't turn up and only sent me a message saying that he isn't interested to meet. I want to know why I have been treated like a discarded material. I have my self respect and dignity too."
"Ms. Matthews, I can understand your aggression and sadness. But I can't tell you more than that, our CEO has zero interest in females."
"He could have come and told me by himself, but no, he doesn't have any respect for his own grandma that he wasted her efforts and neither I have any interest in him. I was forced too. I have a boyfriend who I love dearly."
"Ms. Matthews, it wasn't him who sent that rude message. It was me who did. Our CEO doesn't have time for anything apart from work related matters and even his family members had to continuously give a reminder for family gatherings. He doesn't message anyone. He had instructed me to do so, if you have any grievances from it. You should take it out on me and not badmouth my CEO. He didn't know about it. I only told him that I had his date cancelled."