I smeared a slice of white bread with chipotle mayonnaise and slapped that slice on the pile in the plate.
"Finally." I mumbled under my breath as I put the last sandwich in the fridge. The midnight mark on the clock chimed a couple minutes ago and I was tired. I still had to go to work that morning but I couldn't not make the breakfast Kayla and Nelly would eat later, as well as their dinner. For the hundredth time, I asked why I was putting myself through that amount of stress and an exhausted sigh fell out of my lips, I knew the exact reason why.
I was avoiding that talk with Nelly.
Since Monday night, I'd resorted to cooking by 11pm. That way, I could leave the house before she came by. When I got back home from work, they'd be eating the meal I'd already prepared the night before and I'd just breeze in, mutter greetings, peck Mikayla's forehead and retire to bed. I always made sure to avoid Nelly's eyes whilst doing those things, I couldn't bear to see the questions in them.
I retired to bed and woke up a couple hours later to prepare for work. For most people, Friday was the highlight of their week. To me, it was anticlimactic and that was probably because I didn't look forward to the weekends. I quickly did all I needed to and gave my still sleeping daughter a quick kiss before heading to the fridge to take one last look at the sandwiches for their breakfast. Nodding in satisfaction, I glanced at the wall clock before going outside. 6:25am. Nelly usually arrived around 7am so I was still right on time.
You can't run forever.
My subconscious reminded me as I drove on the highway en route WeCare Inc. Of course I couldn't, but I would run for as long as I could. I wasn't so sure why I was so terrified about talking with Nelly. Maybe it was because I couldn't put up a façade with her, she'd see right through me. Thoughts of the short Hispanic woman occupied my mind till I got to the parking lot of my office building. Taking a deep breath, I offered a quick prayer before stepping out of my car and into the tall building.
Everything was pretty mundane, up until Madison knocked on my door. I prepped my mind for her issues and grimaced slightly as she strutted towards my desk.
"Won't you offer me a seat?"
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Offering you a seat means I'm encouraging your stories. Why would I want to do that?" She cackled and pulled out the chair in front of my desk. Her eyes took a quick tour around my office in a split second before they landed on me. "What do you want, Madison?"
My curt tone must had been amusing to her, because she tittered a little before responding. "Are you in the mood now?"
I didn't always appreciate Madison's flair for drama. "What are you talking about?"
"You said you weren't in the mood for my story on Monday. So I decided to wait till the end of the week and now it's Friday. Are you in the mood now?"
"I'd never, ever-." Her boisterous laughter interrupted me for a second. "Ever, ever be in the mood for your stories but you don't give me so much of a choice, do you?"
She shook her head amidst her laughter. "Never." I voiced my displeasure with a grunt that only made her laugh harder. "Anyways, guess what."
I rubbed my face in agitation. "Please, just get out." Her laughter fizzled out when she spotted my unamused disposition. She always knew when I was edging towards my limit.
"Alright, alright, alright." She lifted her hands in a surrender gesture. "You're no fun sometimes." I ignored her childish pout and she rolled her eyes in repressed humor. "Anyways, he's single."
My right brow lifted in question. "Who is single?"
"The new boss."
Ohhh, Andre. What use did I have for that piece of information though? "Okay?"
Her head shake dripped with disappointment and I took a moment to review my question. "What do you mean "okay?" I just told you the man of my dreams is single and that's all you have to say?"
"What was I supposed to say? Congratulations?"
She bit her lips to keep in the laughter. "Stop being sarcastic. I'm about to turn my dreams to a reality."
I stifled a bored yawn and tweaked the dog-eared pages of the book on my desk. That activity was much more exciting than gossiping with Madison. "I'm happy for you." Her unimpressed huff floated into my ears. "Do I even want to know how you got hold of this information?"
She perked up in the seat and drew closer. "I spent days searching for his socials. It was a frustrating experience that finally paid off." She pulled out her phone and fiddled with it for a minute before handing it to me. "Just look at that work of art."
It was a shirtless picture of Andre and my eyes widened slightly on impulse. It was pretty obvious from his frame that he worked out, but I wouldn't have thought that he was that ripped. I counted his abs. They were 8. Eight beautiful mounds of muscles. My eyes caught a glimpse of those good ol' thigh muscles and had to give back the phone before I started to drool.
"Isn't he perfect? An Adonis?" She cooed and that irritating sound snapped me out of my awestruck state.
I cleared my throat and shrugged nonchalantly. "He's alright."
Her scoff pierced the air. "A very wrong depiction." She pulled out her phone again. "Did you even see the pecs? His chest? His biceps? Don't let me get started on his-."
"Madison, you're not a virgin. So why are you acting like a girl who just had her first kiss? Grow some balls, sweetie."
She had a suspicious look on her face. "I mean, I could but why should I? I want his in my mouth." I felt my face scrunch in horror and it must had been a funny sight to her.
"Don't you dare talk about body parts to me again. Don't fucking try it. Especially male body parts." Nelly already did that on a daily, I couldn't have Madison doing the exact same thing while I was at work.
Her guffaw reverberated in the office and I huffed in frustration. "You need to lighten up, Dee. You're so uptight." I hissed at her statement. "But truth be told, he is a gorgeous man."
"I don't give a fuck about your observations or deduc-" A knock on my door cut me off and I called out. "Who's there?"
"Lesley."
My last client for the day before the staff meeting. "Oh, Lesley. Please come in, the door is not locked." Turning my attention away from the door, I reduced my voice to a furious whisper. "You. Get out."
Madison chuckled one last time before she stood to her feet. "I'll get out of your hair, just for now." I shooed her away as Lesley opened the door. "At the conference room then."
My lips stretched to form a little smile as I welcomed the pink haired lady. Lesley had a history of panic attacks, induced by her drug addiction past. Our sessions were usually chill and I appreciated her sense of humor. We talked for about an hour and half before she left. I glanced at the clock while clearing my table.
"5:03pm." Damn, it was already time for the staff meeting. Actually, it was 3 minutes past the time but who was checking the time anyways? So I took my own sweet time strolling to the conference room. As usual, there was an empty seat beside Madison and I lowered myself in it. I ignored Madison's disturbances and the mild buzz of voices in the room. Amber wasn't in the room yet, neither was Andre, hence the chatter everywhere. I let out a sigh of boredom and burrowed my butt deeper into the seat.
Madison had long stopped pestering me and was talking to her neighbor. My face contorted with discomfort when I realized her neighbor was Georgina. Without meaning to, I picked up parts of their conversation.
"You saw the pictures right?"
"Of course. I spent the whole week scrolling through those pictures. The whole motherfucking week. Did you see the shirtless ones?" A gasp that sounded an awful lot like moan floated into my ears and vomit gathered my throat. "I mean, I can have his babies if he lets me." Their giggles scratched my eardrums and I shook my head in resignation. Those women would never let Andre take a break in their imaginations.
"I think he's dating a model though." My ears perked up at the intel. Madison said he was single, didn't she?
"He's not." If I wasn't already disgusted by their obsession, I'd have chuckled at the ferocity of Madison's tone. "He's not dating anyone at the moment. I saw the picture too. The ones he took with the model. They're not together though. I checked her page, she already has a boyfriend."
Georgina's laughter dripped with scorn and for once, I agreed with her. Even I, would have had the same reaction to Madison's desperation. "Damn, you really went far."
Madison's reply to Gina's quip was swallowed up by the hush sound that descended when Andre entered the room with Amber in tow. There was a majestic air about him, he looked like the type of person that would attract the most attention in a room of attractive people. His three-piece suit molded his body perfectly like a latex glove. Since I already knew what his body looked like beneath the suit, it made the whole ensemble a whole lot better. He stood at the end of the table and turned his neck to say something to Nelly. The short, olive-toned woman nodded briskly and whispered something back. I glanced around and saw that everyone seemed to be mesmerized by the simple interaction.
"Hello, everyone. I'm so sorry for coming in late." He glanced at the magnificent timepiece on his wrist. "32 minutes late and I apologise for that. We were in a board of directors meeting and it drew out longer than I expected." His phone rang and he handed it to Amber who went outside to attend to it.
Georgina and Madison were whispering at my side but my brain couldn't pick up their words. It was busy observing Andre with hawk-eyed attention until his eyes clashed with mine and I was forced to look away.
He clapped his hands together once and the sound echoed in the room. "Shall we begin?" I was attentive for a while until my mind wandered to my predicament with Nelly. What was I going to do? The next day was a Saturday, it wouldn't be possible to go to work. My saving grace would be if she got a booty call over the weekend. That way, she wouldn't be available to interrogate me. My wandering thoughts were brought to a halt when I felt fingers poking at my ribs.
"Dee." I turned to glare at Madison, why the fuck did she always have to be a nuisance?
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" My whisper was filled with unadulterated annoyance. Her reaction was quite the opposite of what I expected though. Instead of her usual chuckle, she darted her eyes around quickly and my brow quirked in question. What was up with her? She jerked her head forward and my face scrunched in confusion. "What?" Her head made the same motion again and I followed it, only to find Andre staring at me. Him and every person in the damn room. Confusion didn't cover my emotion at that moment.
"Miss Rodriguez." His silky voice wrapped around my name in the most pleasing way possible. "Were you even paying attention to me at all?"
"Of course." I lied through my teeth, without batting an eye. Top tier skill, in my opinion.
There was an indiscernible look in his eyes I couldn't quite pinpoint and that was quite disappointing. I was a therapist, I read people's body languages for a living. "Alright then. But on the odd chance that you weren't paying attention, I said you'd have to wait behind after this meeting." I nodded in acceptance and he gave me one last look before turning away. "I guess that's a wrap. Goodnight everyone."
The cacophony of chair scraping, indistinct murmurings and feet dragging made me want to pull at my ears till they detached from my head. Madison gave me a uneasy wave before she left and I didn't trust myself to reply her with words so I just nodded once. Why couldn't I have a drama free life like most people had? Why would he want to meet with me privately?
It might not be that serious.
I scoffed at my subconscious. Of course, it had to be serious. Otherwise he wouldn't have informed me about it in the staff meeting. I tried in vain to think of a possible query he'd have for me and shook my head when I couldn't think of any. Everybody had already left the conference room, save for me, three other workers and Andre himself. I offered silent thanks when I realized I wasn't the only one in "trouble". For some unknown reason, that made me feel a tad bit better. I risked a glance at Andre and averted my eyes when I saw he was already looking at me. Damn, I was definitely screwed.
I kept my face down while he spoke with the three other people, one after the other. I knew the exact moment he concluded with the last person and my heart dropped a mile down.
"Miss Rodriguez." He called out and I raised my head. "Please, come along." My head bobbed in agreement and my legs shuffled on the tiled floor to make me stand. It was finally time. I walked to the end of the table and stood awkwardly with my hands behind me. He jerked his head towards his rotating chair and I looked at the furniture for a second before turning back to him. What did he want me to do with his chair? His eyes rolled in their sockets and he sighed. "Please, sit."
I glanced at his revolving chair again. "In that?"
"Yeah, of course. I believe it was built for that purpose. To be sat in." I ignored his sarcastic retort and sat in the chair that brought me a little too close to him. I tried to push the chair back but was met with the dull thud of the table. Nice! I couldn't get any farther away from him. "Are you okay this way?" I wasn't but I just wanted to get everything underway so I nodded in affirmation. He nodded slowly and cleared his throat. "How are you doing, Miss Rodriguez?"
"Good." Maybe that was why I asked me to wait behind. Maybe he was just a super caring boss who cared about the wellbeing of his employees. My subconscious mocked me and I cursed inwardly.
He nodded again. Why did he keep doing that? "I have certain concerns about your work, that's why I asked you to wait." Wow, he was going in hard, with no foreplay.
I gulped in nervousness but my voice was surprisingly strong, full of false bravado. "Okay?"
He studied me for a moment and I tried to not squirm under his watchful eyes. "You haven't submitted the complete records of your sessions for the past two weeks." Confusion must had been evident on my face because he backtracked a little. "Or have you?"
"Of course." I submitted them to Amber that afternoon. What did the woman do with the files I gave to her? "I gave them to Amber this afternoon. Everything. The minutes and the log-." I blinked once. He quirked his brow and I blinked again. That was the last thing I did before rubbing my face in utter agitation. How could I have been so careless? I only gave her the minutes of my sessions, not the log-ins and that was because I had forgotten to write my log-ins for the past two weeks. The fuck was that?
"As you probably realized, you didn't send in your log-ins." One of his brows lifted in question to confirm his accusation and I nodded wordlessly. "Why is that, if I may ask?" Because I hadn't written any log-ins for the past two weeks. I was so embarrassed, I couldn't respond. Even newbies didn't make that mistake. "If I didn't know better, I'd have called you a lousy worker. Based on the evidences on full display, I wouldn't be completely wrong." I wouldn't lie, that one stung a little but I couldn't afford to be offended because I knew I deserved it.
"I'm so sorry. I apologise for my oversight."
He brushed away my apology with a curt nod. "I'd perused your records for a couple weeks and I know you're worth your salt so I'm not actually doubting your proficiency. I also understand that you're a human with a personal life outside this work environment. You probably have private struggles and all, and I'm aware of that shit. And that's just me talking as a decent human." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "However as an employer, I can't afford to sympathize with you. You might think it callous, but that's how it works. I need to push you to your limit and even past your fucking limit. That way, you would excel and that will in turn make the company excel and if the company excels, I also do. That's why I can't afford to consider your personal life, Miss Rodriguez. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say."
"Of course, I need to be more serious and dedicated."
He snapped his fingers. "Exactly. As a human being, I am empathetic about whatever you're facing but as an employer, I don't care. As long as you're working the exact way you should be and bringing in the results you should be bringing in, I'm satisfied." I understood perfectly so I nodded to highlight my acceptance. "Well, I'll give you till next week Friday. You should turn in three weeks log-ins of all your sessions by then. That is the two weeks you missed and the ones of next week." He glanced at his watch and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's already kinda late. Do have a beautiful weekend ahead of you." I thanked him and rose from the chair, putting me directly in front of him. At 5'11", I was taller than most females and a few males, but then I was a midget compared to Andre. He easily towered over me and I couldn't help but shiver a little. Goddamn, he was a fucking giant.
On my way back home, I cursed myself for forgetting about the log-ins. That was rookie mistake. I tried to think of a way I'd be able to do it and still come back home to see Mikayla before she goes to sleep. I grunted in frustration and banged my fist on the steering wheel when I realized it wasn't possible. Even if I shared the log-ins between the five days, I still won't be able to finish a minute before 10pm. I'd have to sacrifice nighttime with Kayla for a week and Nelly would have my head on a gold platter whenever I decided to break the news to her.
By the time I got home, they'd already finished eating and I did my usual "Avoid Nelly's eyes" moves before slinking to the bathroom for a quick shower. An hour or so later, Nelly brought my daughter into the room to tuck her in. I listened to their mindless chatter while pretending to be asleep. From their interaction, I deduced that they'd gone to that diner Kayla took me too. I waited for Nelly to leave before releasing the breath I'd been holding in. Funny how I was a refugee in my own house.
I was still thinking on the bed with Kayla's arm thrown over my torso when I felt the need to drink some water. I didn't remember to take any when I got back home a couple hours before. Slowly and carefully, I removed my daughter's arm from my body and cooed her to sleep when she stirred. Tiptoeing, I opened the door quietly and went to the kitchen.
"Hey."
I shrieked in horror and dropped the glass in hand. The shatter sound the cup made against the floor couldn't be compared with the loud pounding of my heart against my ribcage.
"Nellllllyyy." I whined. "Why would you do that?"
Her brows went up. "Do what?"
"Scare me." I pointed at the glass pieces scattered all over the floor. "Look what you did. You made me break it."
Her expression when she looked at the mess was filled with boredom. "Sorry."
I looked away and hurried to clean up the mess. She didn't go away and I knew it was inevitable, we were going to have that talk that night.
"So tell me, Dee. Why have you been avoiding me all week?"