Hannah was dressed to go to work after two weeks of staying home with Penelope. She knew that the CEO must be very angry and may threaten to destroy her annunciator so she finished her routine as quickly as possible, and headed to the company while thinking of excuses to give him.
Starlight industries…..
Axel sat in his office, staring at the screen of the laptop in front of him, watching Hannah making her way to his office. From the look on her face, he could already guess that she was thinking hard to come up with the perfect excuse to give him.
He smirked.
There was nothing she would say to him that would help her escape the punishment he had in store for her. After speaking to Raymond, he had thought of the different punishments to give her and he had come up with the perfect punishment for her. Though he was not pleased with the punishment as he felt it was too light a punishment to give her, this was the only punishment he could come up with and he thinks it would suit her, after all, Raymond had asked him to punish her severely.
He sat up straight and arranged his features trying to look as intimidating as he could. When he saw Hannah coming closer to his office, he shut down the laptop on his desk and closed it. Taking a pen and a notepad from his desk, he started scribbling on the notepad, trying to look very serious.
Camden, who had been standing behind Axel the entire time, had a few things running through his head. He didn't understand why his boss was watching the girl when she would soon be in his office. On top of that, he even smiled. Not the type of smile that made him relieved, but the type that sent shivers throughout his body. He thought his boss looked like a devil, waiting for the next person to walk into hell. He gulped silently the thought in his head. He could already imagine his boss with two black horns on his head with red glowing eyes. He shook his head and adjusted his tie. He was already feeling uncomfortable inside the office.
Hannah took several deep breaths before knocking on the door to the CEO's office. She had thought hard of the excuse to give him but nothing came up and finally, she settled for the truth. She went over what to tell him in her head before raising her hand hesitatingly to knock on the door.
'Knock knock'.
Silence
Knock knock
Knock knock
No response.
She got no answer after knocking so she assumed he wasn't inside. She sighed and turned back to her cubicle but she paused after taking the first two steps.
'What if it was like the last time?' She asked herself. She turned back to the door and knocked again but still got no response. Her hand found its way to the knob. If he wasn't going to answer them she was going in herself.
"Hello", she called out softly, "it's Hannah, I'm coming in". She announced and turned the knob and walked into the office only to see Axel sitting behind his desk as usual, with Camden standing behind him. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the both of them. One was writing on a piece of paper while the other stood behind him like a statue, both of them completely ignoring her presence. She cleared her throat loudly to gain their attention but they gave no reaction.
"Good morning sir?" She greeted him but still got no response. Well, if they were going to ignore her then she would leave. She turned to face the door and held the knob ready to leave when she heard a calm but audible voice.
"Who said you could leave?" She turned back to face axel only to see him still scribbling away on his notepad like he didn't just speak.
She stood and waited for him to speak again but she got nothing so she greeted him again. "Good morning sir".
Axel's eyes slowly left his notepad and raised his eye to meet hers. He stared at her for a few seconds before dropping his gaze back to his notepad and kept writing. Hannah frowned. What was wrong with him? She tilted her head and looked at Camden but he quickly lowered his eyes immediately he noticed that she was looking at him. The poor guy was already feeling uncomfortable in the office and now, it only got worse.
After some minutes of standing, she turned her back as if to leave because it seemed that was the only way to get Axel to speak. And she was right because, in the next second, she heard his voice again.
"Care to explain why you were absent for the past two weeks?" Axel asked and she turned back to look at him. He was no longer writing, this time, his fingers were interlaced and placed under his chin.
"I'm sorry for not taking permission from you before taking a leave but something came up so I had to stay away for some time". She paused and looked at him, trying to grasp the expression on his face. He looked uninterested in what she was saying but he was still listening to her.
"Go on". He said and Hannah exhaled. Maybe he was going to listen to her.
"My child fell ill so I had to stay back home till she fully recovered".
Axel creased his brows slightly. He didn't know that she had a child. But then again, Raymond didn't tell him anything about her having a child. Maybe she was just trying to fool him to reduce her punishment, or else Raymond would not have asked him to punish her.
"Camden". Axel called out and Camden immediately responded. "Leave us". He ordered and Camden immediately walked out of the office as he was already feeling suffocated inside.
Immediately the door closed behind Camden, axel leaned forward on his seat and faced Hannah. "You were saying?" He asked. Hannah looked at him like he had grown a second head. Does this mean he has not been listening t? her?.
"I said that my daughter was unwell so I had to…" She was cut off by Axel's voice. "I don't want to hear that. Tell me the truth". He said. He had seen Hannah and Raymond in his estate, looking for a house to settle in and now, she is talking about a daughter. Who was she trying to fool? He scoffed inwardly as he waited for her to speak. He could see that she was at loss for words as she stared at him with creased brows. He knew that she had nothing to say so he spoke, "Anyways, regardless of what caused your absence, you would be punished and your punishment starts now". He paused to see her reaction. She didn't look surprised. It was as if she had expected it. He continued, "From today, you will be working overtime. You must be here early and you will only leave when I leave". He said and leaned back on his seat to have a good view of her face, but to his disappointment, she gave no reaction. He could swear that she had just sighed in relief right now. He thought that this would be the best punishment for her but maybe he was wrong.
"That will be all. You can leave now". Hannah turned and left the office and as soon as the door closed behind her, she exhaled loudly and patted her chest twice in relief. When she was heading to the company earlier, she had come up with the worst scenarios in her head of how he would punish her but this was way below her expectations. She had imagined him destroying her annunciator in anger, or worse still, getting her arrested for being an assassin but to her relief, she only has to work overtime.
As she reached her cubicle, she thought of her punishment over and over again. All she had to do was work overtime, that was not going to be a problem right? Besides, she just has to come early to work and leave when he leaves. She could work with that. The more she thought about it, the more confident she felt. She will be able to pull through this. "I just need to put up with all of this till I get back my Annunciation". She said and began her work.
Hannah sighed for the umpteenth time, she has been working nonstop for three whole hours. From collecting different files from various departments in the company to reviewing and organising them. And much to her dismay, she still had more work to do. She has not felt this tired in a long while. When axel said ha she would be working overtime, she didn't expect him to overwork her. She looked at the door of the CEO's office. Ever since leaving his office, she had not seen him. She was starting to think that he had a secret room inside his office because she couldn't understand how he managed to stay cooped up in there.
Just as she tore her gaze from the door, she saw one of the employees walking towards her desk with files in his hand. What caught her attention were the files in his hand which meant more work. She glared at him and the closer he approached her desk, the urge to place a knife on his neck increased. When he finally arrived, he greeted her politely and dropped the file on her desk.
"Is the boss inside?" He asked, looking at the door to the CEO's office Hannah thought he looked uneasy, which he was. The last time he had come to the CEO's office, his palm was severely injured and there was blood everywhere, and with the way the CEO had reacted to him, he wasn't sure if it was safe to come across the CEO, at least not now. ,
"Yes, he is in ''. Hannah replied after some time to see him nod. His eyes darted away from the door and he looked at Hannah. "By the way, I'm Dave''. He said, extending his hand for a handshake. Hannah stared at his hand like it was her biggest enemy. That was the same hand he used to bring more files to add to her work and now he was extending it for a handshake. She raised her head to see him smiling at her. At one point, he even wriggled his fingers and raised his eyebrows when she wasted time taking his outstretched hand. She hesitatingly shook his hand and his smile widened.
She rolled her eyes mentally. It seems she had found a second Raymond in the company. "You didn't say your name". He asked after releasing her hand which she withdrew immediately. Hannah kept quiet, not wanting to answer his question, thinking that he would leave after seeing that she was ignoring him, but instead, he bent his body from his standing position to meet her eyes. "Hello?" He called, waving in front of her. She moved back on her seat and cleared her throat, making him rise back up.
"Hannah". She spoke, and once again, he smiled. She had expected him to leave after she told him her name but he was still there, hovering around her.
"Okay Hannah, I will see you later". He said with a wave of his hand, then he turned around and left. Hannah felt like she could finally breathe as soon as he left. Having him around her made her irked. His presence alone had already worsened her already bad day. She leaned forward and up pickup ed the file he brought and went through it. Luckily for her, most of the work has been done, all that is left is to review it and then she can go back to her remaining work. She exhaled as she skimmed through the pages, trying to be as fast as she could.