The first meeting between the two of them.
Camille knocks twice on Andy's door, she is impressed by the perfection of each of the spaces around her, she knows to herself that the only office out of context like hers was his.
The door opens automatically, she is dumbfounded to see the office of her boss, it looked like a space of a God of Olympus, but modernized, it emanated a perfect smell, in front of it was located a desk of a fine solid glass, which was only occupied by a few documents and a beautiful laptop with a giant screen.
Behind the desk was on his back in a giant presidential chair, the boss, THE CEO, you could only make out his hair sticking out and his hand on his forearm, glinting the beautiful gold watch.
"It took you seven minutes to get to my office, Camille Ibis, weren't you warned that punctuality is the company's motto?" The tone of voice is quite high and threatening.
She didn't even know the name of her boss; she had been so clueless that she barely knew that Martha was the one who hired her. And such was the contempt of her colleagues that no one spoke to her to get some information.
"How many minutes did I tell you had to approach?"
"Two minutes, sir."
"Why did it take you six minutes to get to my office, if knowing the spaces on this floor, I know that the distance between yours and this one is approximately one minute and thirty seconds, I gave you thirty seconds more in case you slipped or something similar."
Camille did not expect to hear this from Andy, the cold and calculating way he was talking to her made her shiver.
"I, I'm sorry sir, excuse me, it won't happen again." Her voice becomes softer and to Andy's ears, for whatever reason, it is endearing.
He turns to face her, his gaze fixed on her face, the two of them gaze at each other in rapture, as if they already knew each other. She immediately turns red, and embarrassment invades her, she never imagined that her boss was such a young, handsome, and overwhelming man.
- Ah, but it's you, the one who bumped into me and my fiancée in the street, I see that your absent-mindedness is one of your most notorious defects- She tells him while making a grimace with her mouth and sketching irony.
Camille's face is now full of fury, everyone in that company was miserable, from her boss onwards.
"If it's me, tell me what you are calling me for, sir".
"I'm Andy Alf, the CEO of the company you work for, in case you hadn't been informed, and in case you didn't take the trouble to find out".
"Tell me Mr. Alf, why were you calling me?" Camille answers, gritting her teeth to avoid shouting at him for his arrogance.
"You made a spelling mistake in this report, you are missing a tilde, in a word, which could change the context of this, this would bring you a sanction, did you know that?
Inwardly Camille thought that it was the most ridiculous claim that anyone could make to him in the world, he can correct it, there was no need for all this spectacle.
"I'm sorry sir, forgive my absent-mindedness, as you said, it's my biggest fault, I promise it won't happen again." She says looking at him ironically.
"You are suspended for a week without pay, you should have read the regulations when she entered".
"A tear rolls down Camille's cheek, tired of everything that happens to her. A week without payment would mean she wouldn't have enough to cover one of her scheduled expenses" Please don't do this to me, I need the money.
As Andy gets closer to her, he realizes that despite her clothes she is a very beautiful young woman, the skin on her face is smooth and free of makeup, her hair, although not perfectly combed, is shiny and she emanates a particular scent.
No employee had ever asked her to surrender to one of her sanctions, since none of them had any consequence of being left without a week's salary thanks to the huge salaries they received there, so he understood that the girl really needed the money.
Andy closed the door and asked her to sit down, he asked her about her life, and she told him about everything she was going through, feeling compassion for her, he made her sign a memo, he didn't leave her out of work for a week, he wasn't as insensitive as everyone thought.
She left his office fifteen minutes later with her head down, locked herself back in the room she had been assigned to work in and went about her duties without so much as a word, her frustration was palpable.
After that moment she couldn't stop thinking about her boss, how handsome he was, how perfect, and how "generous" he was with his sanction. From then on, her jobs were perfect, she didn't want to affect her salary that she sacredly sent to her mother every time she received it.
Again, it is Friday night, this time she has too much work commissioned by Martha, she takes advantage of the well-paid overtime to get more money and survive in that huge city, there is no one in the office or so she thinks, so she leaves her burrow to look for a coffee. She sees a light on and approaches to observe that it is Andy's office, for her it was unbelievable that someone who could delegate everything to a third party would work as a slave just like her.
She doesn't notice and hears a voice over a loudspeaker speaking to her.
"Ibis, come to my office, you have thirty seconds".
Camille runs off in a panic to the restrooms, then remembers it is her boss talking to her and runs back to the CEO's office like a marathon.
"What are you doing hanging around here at this hour, Ibis? Your workday ended four hours ago and it's Friday." He says as he looks at her from behind his desk, sitting with his tie loose on his pedestal.
"Sir, I'm working overtime, you know I need the money," she says.
"Apparently for you it's all about money," he is sarcastic again.
"Well, if I were a mega millionaire I'd be at home, or in a spectacular place making a billion - She responds sarcastically as he does.
Andy, despite having shown that he was an ogre in front of the others, gives her a smiling smile, he thinks it's funny what he just told her".
"You see Miss Ibis, we don't all think the same way, I work for my future estate, I don't delegate to anyone that I can do myself. By the way, were you going to the kitchen for coffee?"
"Yes sir, I know I'm on my working hours, but I need a drink, I feel like I'm going to fall asleep on my desk, but I'll be right back, I won't take another minute over the hour."
Andy stares at her, since the day of the report he can't stop thinking about her, he can't explain why, he doesn't know why, she wasn't even close to the profile of woman that Keyra was, or anyone of her social stratum, she was humble, she was simple, uncomplicated, but very applied and efficient, during all that week he had watched her from his camera, every movement, every second, every time she cried, and that night he had stayed intentionally just to be with her, even if it was from his office. All in all, it was the first time his reason was affected, and he had no idea what was going on with him.
"I'll join you; I'll have coffee with you" He gets up from his desk and moves to her side.
The smell that the man was emanating flooded Camille's nose, she stared at him, he was so much like a God, she could not even believe that her boss was going to have coffee with her in the company cafeteria.
They walked out together down the office hallway, and without thinking they found themselves together drinking coffee from a fine pot, which he intentionally had ready for his employee, he already knew that when he stayed overtime, he would prepare a small one and follow his duty. They both kept silent, but never stopped looking at each other, she asked him for permission and went back to her office, Andy stood there, staring at nothing, what was so special about a woman like Camille...? It seemed that she was becoming one more of his obsessions.