Dania took the elevator that would take her to the highest floor of the building, where it was the first time she had set foot there. Dania has never been in direct contact with the owner of the company where she works, nor does she have any reason to come to an area occupied only by these executives.
A man that Dania knew named Mark Hartmann let himself into the room at the corner of the hall while the man only escorted Dania to the outside of the door, then bowed politely to him before leaving. Dania did not ask again why Mr. Hartmann had not escorted her inside. Her mind was starting to go haywire when she knocked on the big door that served as a link between her and the big boss where she worked. Dania breathed nervously many times. All this time she could only glimpse her boss's face every day without ever interacting further, and now Dania could already imagine what the man's expression would look like if he was angry.
Dania entered after knocking on the door three times. The sound of her heels against the marble floor could be heard clearly echoing in the large room when she stepped on her feet, although with a bit of hesitation. Mr. Chris who was sitting in his chair was busy looking at the documents in front of him, but when Dania came in he immediately turned his attention to Dania without lifting his head. His sharp eyes as if reading the contents of Dania's trembling heart and made the girl really uncomfortable because he had the ability to strip himself naked with that piercing gaze right then and there.
"Mr. Chris, did you call me?" asked Dania while biting her lower lip nervously. He tried not to stammer under the intimidation from Chris.
"Mister?" Chris repeated the call that Dania gave, he objected but a moment later his eyes fell on the girl's lips which were polished with nude lipstick.
Dania looked confused. One word that the man said really intimidated her, so Chris could take his attention away from Dania's lips and then let the girl sit on the dark brown sofa that was neatly lined up in the middle of the big room.
Chris crossed his legs while leaning comfortably on the sofa, which for Dania also felt very comfortable, but she didn't have the courage to do the same thing as her boss did.
For a moment, the two of them were silent. Dania's guts shrank for a moment. The look in Chris' eyes really made her look like a mouse in the corner, ready to be preyed upon by his hunter, even though she didn't know what mistake had brought her to that place.
"How long have you worked here?" Chris' deep voice made Dania's body shudder, and the hairs on her neck stood up.
"Five... five months, Sir."
Chris nodded, his eyes still looking at Dania sharply. "What kind of person do you think I am?"
Dania raised her head and looked at Chris confusedly, until their gazes met for a while, but this time Dania, who had lost didn't dare to look into Chris' eyes anymore because the man was always looking at her too, until Dania's eyes were deeper into her eyes.
"Decisive, authoritative ...." Dania was at a loss for her own words. Only that part described the leader of the biggest shopping center company in New York City, while Dania herself didn't know Chris personally. So if Chris was expecting more answers than just now, Dania didn't have them.
"This is the first time Mr. Chris and I have met face to face because usually I only see you passing in the lobby, so I don't know much about your nature." Dania lowered her face again, staring at the floor she was stepping on, as if her ordinary shoes were very inappropriate on the expensive floor.
"Sorry," Dania added, after she sensed that maybe Chris wasn't satisfied with her answer.
"You never heard of me from the other employees?" Chris knew very well that he was the subject of conversation, especially among women, so it was impossible that Dania had never heard his name mentioned in their casual chats.
"Yes? That, perhaps, I have. All I heard was that they were talking about Mr. Chris being unmarried. "
Chris's facial expression immediately changed when Dania said it, and the girl realized that maybe she was wrong with the way she conveyed the information or that Chris didn't like it when his personal relationship was discussed.
"Sorry, I'm sorry, Sir, for being presumptuous to speak like that." Dania was really scared by the expression Chris showed, even though the man seemed normal.
"Besides that?"
I don't know what Chris wants, but Dania really doesn't know what else to answer. She rarely even gets together with her office mates to talk about their boss, Dania has indeed become a little introverted since Darren always tortures her and is possessive of her. Forbidding Dania to socialize with her friends for fear that the girl would gather even outside of work.
"You've already met me, so you should have your own judgment about how I am in your eyes."
Chris noticed that Dania had no reaction other than confusion and continued to stare downwards, avoiding the two's gazes meeting again. Again,
"You know, in the business world, eye contact is important." His round and sharp voice made Dania's body shiver strangely every time she heard it.
Dania understood the meaning of the satire even though she was still a little hesitant, but Dania wanted to get out of her boss's room and no longer deal with this man. Dania didn't know what Chris had called her there for. It's impossible just to hear gossip among the employees about his name, right?
Chris adjusted his seat. This time he propped his elbows on his knees with his hands intertwined, his eyes on Dania and waiting for a response from the girl.
Dania no longer had a choice. She ventured to look at Chris up and down and tried to give an assessment only from the naked eye.
"You are a handsome, charismatic, tall person with beautiful irises."
"Yes, your eyes are very beautiful, as if they came from the deepest ocean." Dania was lost in her own judgment as she looked at Chris. The girl liked her charming and dark blue eyes as if they were ocean trenches that she could not enter but also gave peace when Dania saw her. One of the eye colors that was able to hypnotize, Dania seemed to have been hit by that magic.
Chris often heard compliments about it except for his eyes, because even though he had beautiful irises, one would say that Chris had a sharp gaze. No one was talking about the navy blue color he had on his eyeballs and Dania could see it.
Being around Chris actually made Dania feel even more cornered. It was something that was natural considering Chris was Dania's boss and someone extraordinary. Even in Dania's environment, where there was no charming human like Chris, she felt very small and weak in the eyes of that man.
"Okay, you can get back to work." Chris got up from his original position. He put his hands in his pants pockets and waited for Dania to stand up from his place as well. Dania breathed a sigh of relief, Chris seemed to be satisfied with her answer, and although she was curious as to why the man had called her to come up to this room, Dania didn't ask anymore for fear that it would only make her stay there longer.
Dania descended the elevator that she used earlier. She still didn't understand why she was called to Chris' room without anything clear other than all the questions that Dania thought had nothing to do with the work she was doing.
When Dania arrived at the reception desk where he usually spent the day, Mr. Matt was standing there talking to Dania's friend. Both of them turned when the girl came and approached, and it turned out that they were indeed waiting to hear something from Dania, who still looked confused.
"Mr. Chris said what?"
"Are you okay?" asked Dania's friend worried. But the girl just kept quiet and went back behind the reception desk without answering, she didn't know what to explain to them.
"You must have been scolded to be shocked like this." Mr. Matt shook his head with his hips and then looked at Dania with a sorry face. He had thought that Dania would be fired soon and that he would have orders to do so.
"You must have gotten a better job." The man who was Dania's superior spoke to himself while nodding his head and then left Dania and his friend with a guilty expression on his face.
"Mr. Matt must be kidding, right?"
Fired up? Dania didn't want to be fired and she liked her job.Those words kept ringing in Dania's brain until she came home. The girl recalled her meeting with Chris and didn't talk about the terrible thing, but Chris didn't seem happy with Dania's answer either. So, is it wrong for Dania to praise her boss only a little?
"I should have said he was perfect." Dania was weak and limp. She opened the door to her room with the key she was holding, but when she entered the key, it turned out that the room had been opened from the start. The culprit couldn't have been someone else and Dania found the answer she could have guessed when Darren sat on the chair beside the bed.
Dania's body immediately stiffened when the man looked at her sharply. Dania knew when Darren showed this kind of expression it meant Darren was in a bad mood.
"Who did you go home with last night?" Darren asked without looking at Dania. The man fiddled with his fingers tapping on the table that Dania used to read.
"What? By myself, I took a taxi."
Darren then got up from his chair while walking towards Dania. He opened the tie that was still hanging neatly around his neck and then wrapped it around Dania's neck. Even though the girl had already guessed what Darren was going to do, she propped it up with one hand, but it was still a thin object. It made Dania suffocate until she coughed and suffocated.
"Da-darren... Darren ...."
Ukhuukkkk ... ukhhuuuukkkk ....
Dania felt tight when Darren removed his tie from the girl's neck. She coughed, then fell backwards while trying to breathe normally again.
Darren didn't seem finished with Dania. He pulled the girl and threw her on the bed. His hands held Dania's hands above her head and didn't let the girl fight back because her legs were also being held by Darren's feet. The man smirked when Dania was so scared. He was afraid that Darren would do something that would make Dania hate him more than this.
"Darren, please!!" Dania cries, begging the man to let her go.
"Why? Are you afraid? Isn't that after we get married everything will be normal?" Darren still smirked and made Dania tremble even more. Her hands were weak because Darren was pressing her so hard. She felt pain in several parts of her body including her leg, which was crushed by Darren, but there was something that scared her more than all of that.
"Darren... hikksss... hikssss...."
The man tried to silence Dania with his lips but missed so many times that he could only kiss the girl's cheek, Dania's head kept moving because she avoided what Darren was doing and made a hard slap land on her cheek that made her ears ringing.
Darren was already angry at Dania's rejection. The man again landed his second slap on Dania's cheek and left a red mark that also hurt the girl's skin.
Darren forcibly unbuttoned all the buttons on the top of the shirt that Dania was wearing, causing a crisp sound from the buttons being cut from the thread and causing Dania to turn around to protect her body. He felt Darren had gone too far and had insulted him more than he had ever done.
"Dania...." Darren suddenly changed. The look in his eyes was no longer the same as before when he looked at Dania who was hugging herself to cover her exposed clothes.
"You... I... what did I do to you?" Darren tried to come closer and his hands tried to hold Dania's cheeks, which were red and swollen, but the girl ran to open the bedroom door and avoid Darren with the remaining strength she had. The heels she was using made it difficult to run, so Dania decided to let go and throw her in any direction.
The girl kept running without turning her head. She held both ends of her shirt to keep her body covered even though Dania was having a hard time, Darren kept calling her name from ten meters away, making Dania more panicked. Her leg strength was rapidly diminishing, she didn't stop crying, and her vision was blurry, but she didn't want to give up. She didn't want to continue being treated like that by Darren, but she was really having a hard time letting go.
A black car drove fast and passed Dania, then stopped not far in front of her, suddenly causing a squeaking sound due to the friction of the asphalt and the tires being braked tightly. The sound of a car horn sounded as if it was giving Dania a signal to get into the car. Dania didn't know who it was. Obviously, she needed to save herself right now from Darren who was getting closer.
Dania opened the driver's side door and immediately closed it. Just as Darren managed to grab the back of the car, the driver stepped on the gas, causing Darren to fall onto the road.
Dania was scared to death. She was shaking all over her body. Even her lips were shaking. Dania could feel that there was blood coming out of the corner of her lips even though it didn't feel like it was there. The salty taste of the red liquid made him panic even more.
Suddenly, a coat was thrown onto Dania's lap, a coat belonging to a man whose scent was familiar. Dania lifted her head and found a man she did know driving the steering wheel from behind the wheel.
"M-sir Chris?"
"Cover your body!"