"How did you do that?" Clara was impressed watching Austin silence the banter around with just a simple glance.
"All thanks to our boss. Staying with him for this long helped me to learn a few tricks" Austin stated smiling and pulled out a chair for himself before they settled down.
Clara gave him a thumbs-up. She genuinely came to like this guy, who spoke his heart out. He didn't seem like a threat to her and was kind enough to help her when everyone started talking about her appearance.
"By the way, why did they start gossiping about me," Clara could tell they weren't happy with her being Adrian's assistant but why...
"It's not your fault that you managed to become Adrian Emerson's assistant and that too personal. Did you know how many of our employees wanted to grab that position"
Clara shook her head in denial. If she had known it before, she wouldn't have applied here. Adrian was a pain to her ass.
Austin sighed recalling how his email inbox was filled with resumes of the lady employees who already worked here. He had to reject everyone and select the eligible one keeping the criteria in mind.
Knowing Adrian's behavior, he doubted if he would allow any lady to step in for the interview. But when he didn't oblige, Austin finally saw a ray of hope and he couldn't stop being happy.
But even that happiness didn't last long when he started rejecting every candidate without looking at their resume.
Internally crying and praying to God to help him with the situation Clara came in like an angel, who managed to stand for more than a minute and ended up clearing the interview without any hurdle.
Austin kept staring at Clara in a daze as his eyes sparkled like glitters and he kept smiling at her like a fool.
Clara's lips twitched finding his behavior very annoying. They had already grasped a lot of attention the moment they stepped inside and now him staring at her like a lost puppy made her want to punch him.
Pursing her lips, she dropped her head and turned around, sneaking at their surroundings.
'Damn,' she cursed and shut her eyes getting embarrassed. She thought after Austin's warning she would not be gathering any more attention but she was wrong.
The whispers had stopped but the eyes still kept gawking at them and now she wanted to smack his head.
Looking up, she tried snapping Austin out of his trance but whatever she didn't seem to work on him. Having no other choice she,
"Awe..." Austin hissed in pain when she kicked his leg underneath the table and it was then he realized what he was doing.
"Oh... I am so sorry Clara... don't take me wrong" Austin tried to defend himself.
He was so busy praising and admiring Clara in his mind that he didn't realize how stupid his actions turned out.
"I didn't mean to stare at you that way" Austin tried to pacify himself when suddenly a deep voice startled both of them.
"Then, what did you mean Austin?" Adrian's cold deadpan voice made them look in his direction.
"B-boss"
"...."
Both Clara and Austin were utterly speechless and so did the people inside the canteen.
Their ever so cold and indifferent boss who never stepped foot in the canteen area was standing in front of them and suddenly the temperature inside the room dropped.
Adrian's dark, penetrating eyes looked at them like a beam of light ready to slit them apart.
But wait!... what is he doing here?'' everyone inside the room had the same question as Austin.
Adrian darted his gaze from Austin to Clara. The second he laid his eyes on her, his lip twitched. The way she stared at him in shock made his blood boil.
'Did he disturb them' he thought and quickly pulled his attention from her to Austin, who immediately stumbled standing on his feet and greeted his boss.
"Boss, what are you doing here? Do you need any help" Austin being habitual asked without thinking but regretted the next second as he tried to rack his brain thinking if he missed anything.
Clara on the other hand remained seated, but just like the others, even she was clueless to find Adrian standing in front of them. Even she tried to recall the schedule, thinking if they had any round-up inspecting the canteen area.
"Aren't bosses allowed to have lunch with their subordinates" his words startled everyone.
The employees who were eating the food choked while the ladies who were busy admiring Adrian's handsomeness bulged their eyes wide out from their sockets.
Ignoring the startled faces, Adrian walked and took the chair used by Austin, and settled down.
"Austin, I am hungry. Get me something to eat" Adrian's voice broke Austin out from his statue self and he bobbed his head quickly rushing to the food counter.
Clara who watched Austin quicken his step, got up from her seat to follow him as it was her job to look after his meals but was stopped.
"Stop!" his cold, chilling voice made her halt her step and she turned her attention toward him in confusion.
"He will get the food" he instructed and motioned her to get back to her seat.
Clara was surprised by the way Adrian was using his authoritative tone to control her. She wanted to oblige but she couldn't, knowing their status.
She was his assistant after all, whom she couldn't reject, or else she would end up landing herself in big trouble.
She pursed her lips feeling helpless, nodded her head, and returned taking her seat.
Adrian's eyes kept following her movement darkened when she saw her face contorted when he stopped her from following Austin.
Looking around, he cleared his throat, saying," You all can get back your attention from us to your food" his authoritarian tone snapped everyone out of the daze and they quickly averted their eyes from them.
Once he found that no one was staring at them, Adrian looked back at Clara who kept her gaze downwards, sitting on the chair as if she was forcefully asked to join him.
"Did I disturb you both? My presence seems to bother you" his words were plain but the meaning behind them stabbed like a knife to her heart.