"Oi, Rina!" cried a voice, shaking me awake. "The boss is calling you!"
"The who?" I asked unconsciously, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and moving back in my chair very slowly.
"The New Demonic CEO. Did you forget already that you work directly under him?"
I was so startled that I coughed and fell out of my chair. I had never been summoned by any superior of mine, let alone the highest-paid officers.
"Whatever in the world happened?" I cried out in a panicked state of mind. "What have I done this time?"
"Now you are surely dead," deadpanned Yusra, the only colleague in my department with who I was close friends. "You have been asleep for thirty minutes. You have angered the demon."
The new CEO had rumours about him working people like they were horses. He was well-known for being tyrannical and over-working his team. That was what the rumours said and that was less than half of what the average person knew.
I had decided to not believe in the rumours until one of my colleagues from the marketing team had been made to work last week until the project was submitted. The poor lady had cried her eyes out and sat till early morning to get it done.
I tried to see the positive side by saying that it was probably an important project. But the project didn't come into effect until two months later. His degree of abuse astounded me and made me tread carefully on the slippery ground while living like a quiet mouse.
"What shall I take with me?" I asked her, still panicking from the sudden summon. "Did he say that I had to bring any files or create any new project? Why can't I remember anything?"
"Go quickly and see what he wants!" she said and gave me a push to shove me out of my comparted desk. "The more you delay, the more you'll anger him and the more will be the penalty you'll receive."
"But wait, since when did he become my boss? I thought I had to report to—"
"There, there, if you reach late, you'll ruin his lunch break. That would make you his dinner. I will just let you do as you please then. Farewell, my dear friend. I'll meet you on the other side of our life later."
I took to my heels, running in my short skirt and stumbling due to my pointed stencils. I had to fix my dress and stockings along the way as I couldn't delay meeting him lest I faced his wrath.
"Fix yourself in the washroom, young lady!" yelled Yusra from behind me.
I could feel all their eyes on me and the least I could do to avoid that attention was to run into the nearest restroom and fix myself. I had no makeup on my clear skin except for a soft pink lipstick. I tied my hair in a bun again, pushed my glasses up my nose and remove any noticeable drool on my face.
I had gone for a sleepover on a Sunday night, watching a movie with Yusra. She had slept off the entire time but made sure that I stayed awake to watch the movie until late in the night. Disrupting my sleeping schedule led me to feel sleepy and tired, but there was no way I could get back at the cunning lady.
I rushed to the CEO's room, fixing my white shirt, black skirt and stockings until the last minute. I cleared my throat, straightened my ID on my neck and my blazer, and then knocked on the door.
"May I come in, sir?" I asked as I opened the door slightly.
"Enter already," he said. "You already stepped in when you opened the door to ask permission."
I screwed my eyes at his statement, wondering how that made sense as my voice couldn't be heard unless I opened the door. I don't think I would even be able to hear him say "Enter" with the closed door.
I stepped into his dark room, looking around the place in wonderment. Every piece of furniture in his room was black or some shade of brown and black. Only the door that I had entered through and the desk that he sat at were a lighter shade of tan brown.
"You're on time," he said without seeming to spare a glance at me.
But from his frowning forehead peeking above the papers that he was reading, I could already tell that he was judging me from my very outlook. That moment told me that we weren't going to have a pleasant time at all.
I blinked my eyes to get them to adjust to the black room quickly and then said, "Did you call for me, sir?"
"Yes, it was me," he said as he put down the papers and leaned back in his chair with one leg over the other to have a better look at me. "Who else would have called you? You're the only high-ranked worker in your department."
I stared at him for a few seconds, taking in his sculpted face and his broad body in a black suit and blue tie. He ran his finger through his side-partitioned hair, propping back the fringes which came to fall in front of his face. His devilish handsomeness made him certainly look like a model from the Underworld.
"Sorry, sir?" I said and blinked again as I felt his hard eyes, which seemed to shift between yellow and hazel with the little light, stare right into mine. "I thought that I worked in the finance department and the person I would report to would be the CFO, if my position was anywhere near his, right?"
"Not anymore," he said nonchalantly. "The CFO resigned already and the CEO is on a long leave. So I'm a substitute for both the positions until they can find a better candidate. Or so they have told me."
I raised my eyebrow at his statement, wondering if it was a hoax or not. If he was the CFO and the CEO, shouldn't he be working as the CFO once the CEO returned?
"To answer your burning question," he continued, "I have never worked closely with the finance department, or even in the finance department. The jobs for CEOs have fallen short in the job market. And the company has fallen short in finding any suitable CFO so I'm here to take both the places for now."
"So, have I been summoned to discuss the finances of my team with you?" I asked carefully, knowing that I had some duties to fulfil.
"I have called you to let you know that you're the current head of the finance department and that we would be working rather closely from now onwards. So please fix your appearance a little more as I don't like seeing boring faces."
"Have I been promoted so suddenly? May I know the reason?"
"Is it not obvious? I was dissatisfied with the last head. So I do hope you'll be doing your job well, unless you want to be fired. Your job starts tomorrow and I want to see you here at 7 am sharp."
'7 am?!' I exclaimed in my head. 'The working hours don't even start until 8:30 am!'
But I ended up saying, "Yes, sir. I'll be here on time."
'And I hope there won't be any flirting as I have seen some books,' I told myself mentally. 'I want no scandal, whether I'm his secretary or not. If you can't accept my face as it is, you might want to find another pet for yourself.'
With an expressionless face, I walked out of the room and heaved a sigh of relief. Now I wanted to murder Yusra for telling me a blatant lie. And I meant to teach her a nice lesson for trying to screw my mind.
'I will beat the hell out of you later,' I messaged her when I got to my seat, the frown on my head evidently speaking of my frustration. 'You had better keep your eyes open for my attack.'
Her laugh was heard from the other side of the room. It shocked all the people rather greatly and she ended up hearing their long sayings of "Shhh". She apologized and excused herself to the restroom, stuffing her handkerchief and her hand into her mouth to stifle the laugh.
"Tch, what a waste of time," I said with annoyance.
But I was actually glad that she received a small amount of humiliation for giving me the largest scare in my life as well as humiliating me in front of the other quiet workers. Still, it wasn't good enough in my eyes as too much attention didn't matter to her. It was the most beloved thing to her in the entire world.
"Hey Rina," said a soft male voice behind me. "Want to lunch with me?"
I spun around absent-mindedly, finding myself facing the man of my dreams.