******
The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows in Scarlett's room. She was given a room due to late-night shifts, but Scarlett preferred her home. However, tonight she was staying the night. She shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her. She had to find the remote control for the air-conditioner.
"God, it's freezing in here," she muttered in a low voice as she stood up, putting on her flip-flops. "Maybe I should ask Nana." Stepping out of her room, which was on the second floor, she headed downstairs to the kitchen.
"Hey, Nana!" She waved at the old lady. It was already six p.m.; why was she so early in the kitchen, cooking with the two other female cooks?
Nana looked at her and smiled. "Thank goodness you are here. I was just about to send someone to get you."
"What is it, Nana?" Stepping further into the huge kitchen, she helped Nana set the tea cups she was arranging on a tray.
"Oh dear, the young master needs his tea. Come, give it to him; the water is almost ready," Nana said as she walked to the other counter, which was arranged with many kinds of green tea.
"Oh dear!" Scarlett grumbled. "Not this guy again."
"Ah!" The two other girls gasped at Scarlett.
"What?" She raised her eyebrows. "I didn't say anything."
"That's enough now, Scarlett. You can't talk about the young master in a bad manner," Nana warned as she wiped her hands.
Scarlett folded her arms and watched the look on the other females as they shook their heads at her. "I don't mean anything bad, it's just that he lacks respect."
"You better watch how you speak of him, or he will punish you, Scarlett," one of the female cooks said, looking at her with a worried face.
"I just don't get why the young master, or whatever you call him, can't be corrected," Scarlett sighed as she waited for the water to be ready.
******
The twilight deepened as Levi's eyes scanned the threatening email sent from an unknown person. He was furious, and his grip on the tablet tightened.
"Did you find the sender?" he asked, his eyes darkening and emitting a cold stare.
"No, Boss," Charles replied as he scrolled through his phone for images. "This is what we found also." He passed the phone to Levi.
A dark smirk played on Levi's lips as he looked at the images of his men's dead bodies at the Blackburn Mafia Base situated in Washington. It was one of their underground bases. They had about fifty bases with a total of five thousand men: one thousand swordsmen, two thousand gunmen, one thousand five hundred archers, and the remaining five hundred were street fighters.
"How sweet," he let out a dark chuckle. Charles looked up to his murderous gaze, taken aback by his words. He knew his young master too well; he loved a challenge, but this unknown threat had gone too far by killing fifty men of the Blackburn. It only meant this person wanted to really irritate the Blackburn and incite war.
Levi relaxed back into his chair, closing his eyes. Breathing in, he chuckled again like a maniac. He spoke, "How are the ratings?"
"We are doing great, sir," Charles said with excitement. Levi sat up straight, signing some documents again as he put on his glasses.
"We have surpassed BOTCOIN, and Hamster Kombat is top one across the world," Charles explained the good news of their cryptocurrency company owned by Levi. He is the CEO of the HAMSTER-KOMBAT mining app.
He nodded at Charles' words, not really happy about the progress of the newly launched app.
"What about the airdrops?" he asked as he signed a red cover file.
"Umm ...we are still on it, sir. The programming team hasn't dropped their results yet, Boss," Charles explained with a pale face. Levi stopped what he was doing to look up.
"What did you say?" he asked with a cold stare.
"I--"
'SNAP' Charles swallowed hard, looking at the broken pen in Levi's hand. It only showed he was angry, but Levi had a poker face on, which was very deceiving.
"You have 30 seconds."
"We would--" A knock interrupted their conversation.
****
Knocking on the study door, Scarlett heard no response but decided to come in, holding the tray of green tea. Stepping in, she froze at the sight of Levi, who was looking at her with a murderous look. She hadn't seen him this way before, and it scared her to death. She looked at Charles, who smiled at her, thanking his stars that she came in to interrupt his death sentence.
"Why are you standing like a fool over there?" Levi's gaze hardened on her.
She gulped. "I--I only came to give you your tea." She walked over to his desk with shaky legs. _'Gosh, why am I stammering? Get it together, girl; he is the silly one,'_ she thought as she dropped the tea on his table to serve him. With shaky hands, she poured the hot water into his tea mug. She couldn't help but notice his physique. The top three buttons of his white shirt were undone, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of his chiseled chest. Each muscle seemed perfectly sculpted, teasing her senses. Her eyes traveled upwards, taking in the sight of his long, black hair that flowed down to his waist, silky and mesmerizing. His dark green eyes, now fixed on her with a hint of irritation and anger, sent shivers down her spine. _'Oh my God!'_ she thought, unable to tear her gaze away from his magnetic presence. Her breath hitched as she noticed his piercing stare.
Distracted by his allure, she didn't realize she had poured hot water all over his important files.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry..I..I didn't mean for this to happen," she begged as she struggled to move the tea away to get the wet files. Levi growled at her. At this point, she could see he hated her guts.
"Get out!" he growled, but Scarlett didn't leave and tried to apologize.
Charles stood up to save some important files so they wouldn't get wet. _'Why is she so clumsy? Argh, this is more work for me to sort out at work. I hope the boss doesn't blow her head off,'_ Charles thought as he reached out for his phone to call Nana to bring a napkin.
"I'll clean it. I am so sorry." Scarlett took out her scarf to dry the table but ended up spilling more hot water on Levi's body. He didn't flinch. _'Oh God, I am so dead! What is wrong with me?!'_ Scarlett screamed in her head, sweat dripping from her face.
"Charles, get her out of here," Levi stood up, his imposing figure pointing to the door. Charles was quick to give Scarlett the tray of hot water and tea, but she stubbornly refused to leave, trying to place the tray back to clean the mess on the floor. Levi's anger got the best of him. Remembering the threatening emails and the dead bodies, he hit the tray with full force. It hit the wall as the glass jug of water shattered, making the hot water splash on her face and pour down to her left breast.
"Aaahh!" Scarlett screamed in pain as she felt the burn from her face down to her breast. It was so hot she fell to the ground, crying in pain. She held her face in pain as she screamed. Charles was quick to squat down to turn her over.
"B..boss, she is burned," Charles looked at Levi, who was still fuming with anger. Levi walked out of his desk area to see she had bruised her leg too due to the shattered glass.
"Tell Nana to take care of it," he said coldly, barely sparing Scarlett a glance as he returned to his work, indifferent to her suffering.
Scarlett's cries of pain filled the room, but Levi showed no sign of concern or remorse. He picked up a new pen and resumed signing documents, his expression as icy as ever. Charles, frantic, tried to help Scarlett up, his face pale with worry.
"Come on, Scarlett, let's get you to Nana," Charles urged, helping her to her feet.
Scarlett's vision blurred with tears as she clutched her burnt skin. "I... I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"Just go," Levi's voice cut through her apologies like a knife. "And don't come back until you've learned how to serve tea properly."
Scarlett stumbled out of the room with Charles's help, her heart pounding not just from the pain but from the terror of Levi's cold, unfeeling gaze. As the door closed behind them, Levi didn't even look up. His focus was already back on the documents in front of him, the threatening email, and the business at hand. To him, Scarlett was nothing more than a minor inconvenience, a distraction to be dealt with swiftly and without emotion.