I took my stuff from his hands and hurriedly stood up. My phone rang again and suddenly, my eyes widened realizing that my client must already be annoyed waiting for me. Luckily, I'm already in front of our building so I hastily went inside.
And just like that, I quickly forgot about the good-looking man.
As I entered the building, I witnessed the usual reactions of people I meet every day.
"Good morning, Attorney Luminaire," a woman wearing a fake smile greeted me.
I didn't reply. Why should I? I knew it was all just superficial. I just kept walking with my head held high. Some of the people I meet were obviously trying to change direction while making sure they didn't catch my eye. Others would quickly turn around as soon as they saw me approaching.
I'm very well known as a wicked witch in this building. It all started with a simple rumor that I mistreated my employees. Yeah, I fired people, but I didn't hurt any of them. Maybe one of those I let go started the gossip. People believed simply because the gossips suited my looks.
Just because I always look serious and never smile, I'm perceived as a mean person right away? I've gotten used to the impression people have of me. I let them think whatever they want. As long as my clients still see me as a good lawyer, I don't care.
As I arrived at the elevator, I was the first one to enter. I pressed the 16th floor button and opened the door for others to join me, but no one did. They all hesitated as if I had a contagious disease.
'Don't worry, being a witch isn't contagious!'
I was dying to shout it out, but instead I calmly waited for the door to close and then allowed myself to ride alone in the elevator. On the 16th floor, you can see a gold plated letters 'Luminaire Associates Law Firm' engraved in the front wall.
When I opened the door to my office, my two staffs were startled. They immediately stopped their loud conversation and frantically looked for something to do as if a tyrant had suddenly arrived.
I looked at the closed doors of the two private rooms within the floor.
"Are Attorney Davis and Attorney Wilson here?" I asked my young secretary, who was standing near the door of my personal office. The floor has 4 rooms inside: one is my office, the other two for my partners, and the last one for our client's room.
"Not yet, ma'am. Attorney Davis has a schedule for a hearing today. As for Attorney Wilson, he's in a client meeting outside," she replied tensely.
"Ah, by the way, has the client you said was coming already arrived?"
"Regarding that matter, they called and said that they wanted to reschedule since they had an emergency appointment. If possible, they wanted to meet at 11 AM. I told them that I would return their call once I get an approval of you."
I sighed in relief. At least I'm not late. I hate it when I'm late for my appointments with clients. I don't want to add more negative impressions they have of me.
"Why are you asking me that, Abby? You're the one who's holding up my schedule."
My secretary looked a bit flustered and quickly grabbed her planner. "Ah, yes, I forgot. Okay, let me check if you have no schedule for 11 AM."
I finally sat down at my desk. I pulled out some documents from my briefcase and started reviewing them. While I was reading, Abby came in with a cup of coffee and placed it on the table.
"So, how's my schedule?" I asked while reading the documents.
"Unfortunately, you can't make it at 11:00 AM. The paralegal applicant will be arriving at 10:30 AM and it might cause a delay for you. You don't want to keep the client waiting right?"
"So what time did you move my client meeting then?"
"Later at 2:00 PM. The client also agreed with it."
"Okay."
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
An hour has already passed and Kaia is still busy reviewing her files. She has a hearing in two days, so she is already preparing for it early on. While fully engaged in reading, her intercom rang. She answered it with a serious face.
"Attorney Luminaire, the applicant's already here."
"Give me the resume and let the applicant in after five minutes."
She ended the call and calmly organized the documents scattered on the table. Abby came in to give her the resume she had requested.
"Just place it on the table," she said with a blank face as she put the documents she was holding away in a drawer.
Abby knocked on the door again, "Ma'am, shall I let him in?"
She didn't respond as she quickly tidied up her clothes and took out her compact mirror from her bag to make sure she didn't have any dirt on her face. She also slightly fixed her hair and applied a little lipstick. No matter who she would face, she wanted to always look presentable.
"Let him in!" I shouted while picking up the resume to quickly read it.
"Good morning," said a familiar voice.
She immediately lifted her face and was startled when she saw who it was, "Y-you!"
The man was also equally startled when he saw her. She quickly look at the resume again. She looked closely at the photo attached to it, then looked at the man's face that had just entered. They were the same. She started to panic but still, she managed to keep a serious face.
She adjusted her mirror-like complexion and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She took a moment to compose herself before speaking and unconsciously straightened her back. She felt a little embarrassed when she remembered how she swooned over the young man a while ago.
"Come in. Have a seat."
The man sat down in front of her and shyly smiled at her, "Thank and I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't know you were Attorney Luminaire."
"It's fine. Forget about that incident already, you've already apologized to many times. Is saying 'sorry' one of your hobbies?"
"Ah, no ma'am," the man said while smiling.
Again, she was mesmerized by his smile.