The last person Rosie wanted to see was in the elevator next to her.
"Aren't you going to say hello to me?" Cedric asked in the smuggest voice she'd ever heard.
For a brief moment, Rosie closed her eyes tight.
She was never using the executive elevator ever again.
"Good morning, Mr. Orion," she stuttered, giving a small nod his way.
A pause, then, "Why can't you look me in the eye?"
"I'm sorry. I just remembered my awful behavior last Saturday."
"And you're actually embarrassed?" There was a hint of amusement in his voice. "My, my. I guess I was wrong."
She carefully glanced at his handsome face and found herself asking, "Are you going to fire me?"
Cedric's brows rose. "For what?"
"For my rude behavior?"
He shrugged. The elevator doors opened.
"Um, sir?" she hurried behind him, nodding at the people in the reception area. "You haven't answered my question."
"Why would I give an answer to such a ridiculous question?"
"May I speak freely?"
"You've been doing so since the moment we've met but go on."
"It's not ridiculous. It's a life-or-death situation for me."
Cedric let out a long, controlled sigh. He stopped walking and she looked up at him expectantly.
"So you aren't going to fire me?"
"No."
His answer was given in such an abrupt voice, she grinned. "Thank you."
Cedric frowned at her, turned and reached for the handle. He pulled it open, gesturing for her to walk in before him. Maribel stood up as they entered his outer office and she gave her a small smile.
"Any idea why Maribel asked me up here?" she whispered up to her boss.
"Yes. You're to replace her temporarily since she's going to be on leave next week. She's going to teach you the ropes before then."
Her mouth dropped open.
"I'm certain you can handle her duties and do as well as she does. If not, well... You know what will happen right?"
And after saying that, he retreated into his office, smirking over the flabbergasted look on her face.
Rosie thought he was joking.
Her boss certainly was not.
Short of begging Maribel on her knees not to take a four-day vacation leave, Rosie had no other choice but to master the fine art of being a personal secretary to a ruthless boss all she could before then.
She still couldn't believe they requested her.
Not one of the other senior staff but her.
Maybe it was because she was a pushover. She would really have to fix that soon.
Meanwhile, Rosie could see why all those articles were written about him since she'd started working in Cedric's office. Because even though his future was already set, having being born into a wealthy and successful family, Cedric clearly wasn't an Orion by name only. Having acquired the company and being the newly appointed CEO, he was already making several sweeping changes that was boosting the company's sales and profits in just a month. He worked non-stop, from the moment he walked in until the moment he walked out of the company. He was aggressive, tenacious and would stop at nothing to get what he wants. He was also a fair boss, gracious to the hard-working and merciless to the slackers.
Problem was he liked to pick on her a lot.
It was not because Rosie was being irresponsible or lazy nor was it because she failed at the tasks assigned to her. He just liked to find faults in the very baseless things with her.
"Your hair is too long," he would sometimes say.
"Your face has too much glitter."
"More ice."
"Less ice."
"Don't slouch."
And the most frequent and irritating thing that he would say to her was, "You wear pink a lot, don't you?"
Rosie slammed the glass of juice she'd been drinking on her small dining table. "I mean, was he always like that?" she asked Aiden who was sitting across her. "Has he always been a jerk?"
Aiden chewed thoughtfully on a piece of fried chicken before saying, "He thinks you wear pink a lot?"
She gave him a frown. "Really? Out of everything that I told you, that's your takeaway?"
He shrugged. He seemed to be still in between the boundaries of sleep and wakefulness so she immediately forgave him.
Letting out a soft sigh, she grumbled, "I don't wear pink a lot, okay? That's just his most consistent bullying tactic. And he just doesn't know the difference between peach and coral or rose and fuchsia."
"Maybe. Or maybe not. His family does own two companies with popular cosmetic lines."
Her shoulders fell over. "I know."
Aiden took a sip of his coffee, watching her over the rim with an amused expression. "You know, maybe Cedric likes you."
Rosie snorted. "Fat chance."
"He's acting like a kindergartener with a new crush."
"A kindergartener acts better than he does," she said dryly. "Infinitely better."
His lips twitched. "That's true. Does he always scold you like that?"
"He doesn't scold me but insults me," she corrected with a disgruntled mutter. "A scolding would probably be better. Infinitely better."
"Don't take it to heart, Rosie. Just let it go in one ear and out the other. Whatever he says, pretend to listen, apologize if needed be and just forget about it."
She smiled. "Don't worry. I'm the world champion of forgetting things. What's wrong?" she added when she saw the slight startled expression that came over his eyes.
"Nothing," he muttered, clearing his throat. "Nothing. So... so you see each other that often?"
Rosie gave him a speculative look and answered, "Well, nowadays, I'm almost always with his secretary to help her review some records and update the database so I'm in his office a lot. I don't want to point fingers, but our previous CEO's personal secretary was not so... how should I say this... effective," she ended lamely.
"You mean she was negligent with her job?"
"And liked shoving her responsibilities to the secretarial office, yes," she grumbled. "But she was so pretty and curvy in all the right places that everyone just lets her get own her way."
"Is she still working there?"
She shook her head. "I heard she left when Cedric took over as CEO. But I'd like to think she got kicked out. I know it's unkind of me to think that way but she'd been especially unpleasant to me and my friend Jenny."
"Why?"
She let out a sheepish grin. "Because Jenny once told her she looked pretty with makeup on and I laughed. I didn't mean to. The way Jenny said it was just so funny." Glancing at his cup, she went on, "Do you want more coffee, Aiden?"
His lips quirked. "Yes, thank you."
Rosie walked over to the coffee pot and poured him more coffee, saying, "Anyway, let's not talk about my boss anymore or else I'll completely lose my appetite. I'm sorry I vented on you, Aiden. He just brings out the worst in me."
"He brings the worst out of a lot of people," he agreed and she laughed.
"Definitely."
"You haven't replaced the vase." Aiden pointed at the entryway and she half-turned on her chair to look. Then she shrugged.
"Well, I can't have another mishap like that, can I? Anyway, I really appreciate you helping me with my bathroom tap," she finished, diverting the topic immediately. "Really, Aiden. Thank you."
He looked uncomfortable when he said, "You don't have to thank me over and over again."
"But you're a lifesaver," she insisted. "I wouldn't have bothered you if our landlord would only answer my call."
"We're neighbors. We should help each other out, shouldn't we?"
Rosie smiled and nodded. She'd woken up to see her bathroom about to overflow with water from the faucet that was running full blast out of it. It wouldn't turn off no matter how much she tried and the landlord or management wouldn't pick up her calls. Desperate, she ventured to the end of the hall and knocked on Aiden's door. When he opened it, he looked like he just woke up because his hair was messy and he was shirtless, only in sweatpants. After she managed to stammer out her predicament to a shirtless Aiden who had looked like he had just woken up, Aiden grabbed a t-shirt and a toolbox and went right to work. So she offered to make him lunch in return.
She was about to ask him if he wanted dessert when her cell phone began to sing a popular pop song. Excusing herself, she stood, picked her phone up from her dresser and looked at the screen. It was an unknown number. She answered anyway.
"Hello?"
"Where are you?"
She blinked. The impatient voice sounded eerily like her boss. But she had his number. She even had it saved it as "TYRANT".
Still, she asked, "Who's this?"
"Cedric Orion. This is my personal number. Now answer me. Where are you?"
"At home?" She lifted her shoulders in a what-the-hell gesture to Aiden. Aiden smiled and continued to eat. "Why? Do you need me in the office—?"
"Who's with you?" he rudely cut her off.
"Aiden. We're having lunch together. He fixed my—." She paused when he suddenly cursed on the line. "Are you okay?"
"Give Aiden the phone," he ordered.
She lifted her phone from her ear and stared at it incredulously. Then she put it back. "Now?"
"Now!"
Grumbling about high-handed bosses, Rosie made her way back to the table and held her phone out for Aiden. "My boss wants to talk to you," she muttered sullenly.
He took it and answered, "Yeah?"
Rosie returned to her seat and bit into her chicken, watching Aiden listen to whatever Cedric was saying on the other line. Then he grinned and glanced at her.
"I can explain," he murmured then stopped. "It's not what you think."
More pause. He glanced at her again.
"Alright. I'll see you."
"Where are you going?" she asked when he stood up.
"Your boss needs me."
"You mean our boss," she corrected. "And it's a weekend. Surely he's not making you work on a weekend?"
Aiden shrugged. "I have to go. Thanks for lunch."
Rosie watched him leave before she shrugged and continued to eat. If Aiden didn't care if Cedric was making him work on his rest day, Rosie shouldn't bother being indignant about it.
She had just finished washing the dishes when she received another call. It was an unknown number, probably the same unknown number as earlier. Sighing, she answered.
"Hello?"
"Don't invite him over again."
Then the call ended.
Her jaw dropped and her eyes grew wide. She stared at her phone, becoming increasingly indignant.
Cedric wasn't serious with that order, was he?