Alex Hamilton ignored her request, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "A woman represents a man's dignity. As my special assistant, you didn't follow my instructions to tidy up your appearance for the banquet, which has already embarrassed me. And now you want to eat voraciously in front of everyone and further embarrass me. Is that what makes you happy?"
"I'm not eating voraciously, okay? I'm just really hungry," Emily Williams said, tearfully frustrated. She couldn't understand if the man in front of her had a split personality – being nice to her one moment and controlling her the next.
Emily Williams shook her head. Forget it, she thought. He must be feeling uncomfortable because he's new here, and he's taking it out on her.
Alex Hamilton glanced at her and said, "If you're hungry..."
"Really? That's great!" Before Alex Hamilton could finish speaking, Emily Williams showed an excited expression and almost danced her way towards the food.
But the next moment, Alex Hamilton shattered her excitement with just one sentence. "I haven't finished yet. What are you happy about? You can eat as much as you want after the banquet is over. I don't care. But before driving me back, you can't eat anything, only drink juice."
Emily Williams felt her heart sink. She no longer hoped for anything and obediently followed behind Alex Hamilton, introducing the restaurant manager who came to toast him.
After meeting the restaurant manager, Alex Hamilton looked at his watch and then turned to Emily Williams. "That's enough. Drive me back."
"But there are still some employees who haven't seen you," Emily Williams reminded him.
Alex Hamilton surveyed the room and said, "I don't want to waste time on insignificant people." With that, he walked out of the banquet hall entrance.
"Are they really insignificant people?" Emily Williams murmured softly, following his footsteps.
In the car, Alex Hamilton remained silent, just resting his eyes.
Emily Williams focused on driving, passing by a restaurant. She glanced at Alex Hamilton in the rearview mirror and asked, "Do you want to eat something?"
"No, thanks." Alex Hamilton replied absentmindedly.
"Well then, if you're tired, I'll take you back first, and then I'll go eat. Once I finish, I'll also go home from work. I'll come pick you up tomorrow to return to the hotel." Relieved that she didn't have to have dinner with Alex Hamilton, Emily Williams let out a sigh of relief.
The car entered the villa gate. Emily Williams waited for Alex Hamilton to get out of the car, preparing to reverse and leave.
"Oh, by the way, I'd like a cup of coffee," Alex Hamilton suddenly became interested and called her back.
"In the kitchen, there's instant coffee. You can make it yourself to drink," Emily Williams had no intention of getting off the car to do it for him.
"I don't want instant coffee, I want freshly ground coffee," he replied.
"You didn't say you wanted it on the way back just now," Emily Williams looked at him discontentedly through the car window.
Hamilton moved closer to the window and smiled seductively. "I didn't want it just now, but now I do. Any problem with that?"
"Why would I have a problem? I'll go to the city center to buy it for you now. Do you want any food as well? It seems like you haven't eaten anything tonight," Emily Williams didn't want to buy coffee and then have Hamilton ask her to buy food again, so she asked in advance to help him buy everything at once.
"We'll see. I just want coffee for now," Hamilton said dismissively and got off the car, stepping onto the doorstep.
Emily Williams stepped on the gas and drove away.
Hamilton, holding onto the door handle, turned around and his lips curved into a smile.
Half an hour later, Emily Williams appeared again at Hamilton's residence.
The interior was dimly lit, and with Hamilton not turning on the lights in the living room, leaving only the entrance light on, Emily Williams had to navigate upstairs in the dark after entering the living room.
"Mr. Hamilton, your coffee is here," Emily Williams lightly knocked on his door.
No response. Emily Williams gently pushed the door and walked in.
The bathroom door opened, and Hamilton emerged, startling Emily Williams.
"Why didn't you make any noise when you came back?" Hamilton frowned, continuing to dry his hair.
"I knocked on the door. Here, your coffee," Emily Williams handed him the packaged coffee.
"Oh, just leave it. I don't feel like drinking coffee now," Hamilton leisurely lay back on the bed, opening his laptop.
Emily Williams widened her eyes, wanting to argue with him, but also worried that she might annoy him and he would make even more unreasonable demands. She could only wave her hand and say, "Never mind then. It's not good to drink coffee this late. The coffee is here. If there's nothing else, I'll go back."
"I'm a bit hungry. Help me make something to eat," Hamilton impolitely said.
"Now...cook?" Emily Williams looked at Hamilton in front of her, her mouth twitching. He really thought highly of her, not even asking about her cooking skills first.
"Hamilton shifted his gaze from the computer screen to her face. 'Do you have any questions?'"
Emily Williams gestured with her hands. 'No, it's just that I'm not very skilled in cooking. If the food I make doesn't suit your taste, I hope you won't mind.'
'I'm not that picky.' Hamilton turned his face away and stopped looking at her.
"Then I'll go and busy myself," Emily Williams left his room and hurried downstairs.
After going through some hard work, she, who had never set foot in the kitchen before, finally managed to cook the meal. But when she went upstairs to call Hamilton to eat, he was already asleep. This made her furious and she couldn't help but suspect that from wanting a cup of coffee to feeling hungry and wanting to eat, it was all him teasing her.
With the smell of cooking oil clinging to her, Emily Williams drove back home, took a shower, and finished the meal her mother had saved for her. It was already dawn, so she just fell asleep.
The next morning, Emily Williams drove towards the villa where Hamilton lived. The air in the suburbs was particularly good, and the cool morning breeze came through the half-open car window, she breathed in the fresh air, trying to wake herself up.
She had stayed up late last night so that Hamilton couldn't find fault with her. Before going to bed, she deliberately set the alarm clock an hour earlier. Today she got up early, put on delicate light makeup, and even though she was still wearing an unremarkable suit, the light makeup made her look better.
And in order to make sure Hamilton could have breakfast when he woke up, she specially bought some breakfast items from a nearby café. She got chicken sandwiches, bacon egg muffins, and Chinese scallion pancakes and fried dough twists, which she usually ate with her family. She didn't know what flavor he liked, so she got one of each for herself and even bought him a cup of coffee.
She didn't do all this to control his appetite, she just hoped that Hamilton would stop finding faults with her.
She drove the car into the villa, holding the breakfast items, and walked into the villa in high heels.
Worried that she might disturb Hamilton's sweet dreams, Emily Williams carefully lightened her footsteps. But she didn't expect Hamilton to wake up so early. She bumped into him while he was standing in front of the table drinking hot water.
Hamilton had probably just woken up, his hair looked a little untidy, but it made him appear handsome. Compared to his intimidating appearance from yesterday, at this moment, he seemed harmless, making Emily Williams unable to help but look at him a few more times.
"Good morning, Mr. Hamilton," Emily Williams greeted him cautiously.
Hamilton glanced at her. "It's not morning anymore, you nearly ended up being late again."
In just a second, he reverted to his original self, and all the goodwill Emily Williams had towards him disappeared without a trace.
"Mr. Hamilton, last night I cooked too slowly. By the time I finished and went to call you, you were already asleep. So, I specially prepared breakfast for you this morning. Enjoy it while it's still hot."
"Hmm? Breakfast from Taipei? It's been a while." Alex Hamilton seemed quite interested as he pulled out a chair and sat down.
Emily Williams laid out various breakfast items in front of him, and finally brought him a cup of coffee.
Alex Hamilton picked up the chicken sandwich and took a bite. The taste instantly triggered memories from his childhood, causing him to furrow his brow as he savored it.
Even though many years had passed, he would never forget this flavor. Back then, his parents were still in China and didn't have time to take care of him. It was an old butler at home who took care of his daily needs, and this old butler would prepare different breakfast items for him every day. His favorite was the chicken sandwich.
As his parents expanded their business, the family immigrated to the United States. Since arriving abroad, he never tasted this flavor again. He suddenly missed that old butler, nostalgic for the warmth and happiness of the past. However, he wasn't someone who easily showed his emotions. It's just that he didn't expect Emily Williams to bring back these memories for him. Finally, she did something that satisfied him.
"So, how are these breakfast items?" Emily Williams sat down in front of him, eagerly awaiting his answer.
Alex Hamilton glanced at her. "They're fine. By the way, the room was too humid last night. Get a dehumidifier for me, and also have my suit pressed. I'll need it after my shower." Alex Hamilton coolly instructed her on what to do before he stood up and went upstairs.
"Alright, I'll take care of it," Emily Williams said, watching his figure walk away.
Back at the hotel, Emily Williams realized that this was the beginning of a terrible day for her. Ever since she walked into the hotel lobby with Alex Hamilton, she could sense the hostility around her. Indeed, becoming the CEO's assistant had made many people jealous. Nobody knew that the job of the CEO's assistant was to do menial tasks and endure the CEO's sarcastic remarks.
If given a choice, she would rather go back to dealing with her numbers than following behind Alex Hamilton like a servant, facing enemies on all sides. It was only the first day of her official job, and she already knew how tough the days ahead would be.
As Alex Hamilton entered the finance department's office, he glanced at the list of employees, pondered for a moment, and made personnel adjustments that seemed heartless to others. When he handed Emily Williams the revised list for assignment, she curiously glanced at the personnel changes and was instantly shocked.
A few senior employees in the office were assigned to grassroots level work, tasked with moving all the accounts and inputting the data into the company's database. Emily Williams knew that this was a massive workload, and it seemed odd to assign such a task to the experienced staff in the office. She tugged at Hamilton's sleeve and said, "Isn't this a bit unfair?"