After that life threatening call from John, Céline had to revise her plan. She needed to stop playing around and hit the bull’s eye.
She needed to put her plans into motion.
John was getting close to finding her parent’s killer, she had to get her hands on the money before he found them.
As she prepared for work, she gave herself a pep talk.
“No more distractions, Céline. Focus on getting Damien to marry you.” She spoke to her reflection in the mirror.
There was not enough time for games. She had to go straight into the point at the same time try to make it seem as natural as possible. One more thing, she had to avoid, by all means, falling in love with the breathtakingly handsome Damien Culhane.
Whenever she was with him, she always found herself lost in his charms. That had to stop. She needed to stay in charge. All she wanted was his money, not love.
She checked her reflection in the mirror and thought the baby blue chiffon shirt she had chosen was just right. Not too sexy but sexy enough to draw attention to her perfectly formed perky breasts.
She chose a black pencil skirt to go with it. And as for her hair she decided to just place it into a chignon again. She wasn’t really into styling her hair, it was either a ponytail or a chignon. Since a ponytail was too casual in her opinion, then a chignon it was.
By the time she left the house, her aunt Elizabeth was still fast asleep. She tiptoed gently out of the door and waved a taxi to her new office.
Excitement sizzled through her as she took long steps to the building. She was excited. Not just for getting the chance to be close to Damien and making her big master plan work but, deep down, she missed the thrill of working in an office with outrageous deadlines and tasks. It was an exciting feeling she had missed.
She reached the reception area, and noticed the lady who had brought a tray of beverage the day before.
The woman had short black hair that had a few white strands in them but it was neatly trimmed and reached just above her jaw line. She had faint ageing lines around the corners of her eyes and Céline could only guess her age to be somewhere above forty.
She walked up to the woman’s desk and summoned her best smile.
“Good morning, I am Céline Fayet, new personal assistant to Da- Mr Damien Culhane.” She said blinding the room with her smile.
“Good morning, I am Tiana. Mr Lucas told me you would be coming.” Tiana, the receptionist, stood up and extended a friendly hand to Céline, smiling politely back at her. Céline gave her hand a firm shake.
“I am so glad we finally have an assistant for Mr Culhane. The files here are never ending.” She raised her hands for emphasis.
“Really?” Céline asked with raised brows.
She did notice the huge pile of files on the mahogany desk back in Damien’s office the previous day, but she didn’t think it would be never ending as Tiana was putting it. There was nothing a proper arrangement and sorting couldn’t fix. That was exactly like what she planned to do.
Fix and sort Damien’s life until there was a space for her.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll advice you get started with them right away before more arrives.” She got up from her desk and balanced her glasses on her nose. “Come with me, please.”
Céline quietly followed the lady and she led her to Damien’s office.
As Tiana opened the door, the smell of papers mixed with dust and coffee, swooped into Céline’s nostrils and she couldn’t help but sneeze.
What happened in here?
“I am sorry Ma’am, but the cleaning department hardly come in here for the fear of being accused of missing files.” Tiana explained. She rubbed a finger on her nose as she spoke.
“Missing files?” Céline stared around the room and could not understand how Damien had been using it the way it was.
The place looked neat from a distance, but when you look closely you could see the speck of dust on the table and the ones that had made a colony on the files below the long pile.
How come she didn’t notice all of these yesterday? Or did they just appear today?
Maybe she was too engrossed in getting the chance to be close to Damien that she didn’t pay attention.
“Yes, Mr Culhane doesn’t like having to search for his documents; hence he prevented them from cleaning the office when he isn’t around himself.” Tiana explained.
Weird. He must be a very cringy person on a low. He probably arranged his ties according to their colors too.
“And my office?” Céline asked.
No one had mentioned where she would be working and since she and Tiana had been moving around, she didn’t see any. She just hoped her office would not be too far from Damien’s so she could seduce him faster. She needed his money.
“Oh- Mr Lucas didn’t tell you?” Tiana asked rubbing her nose again.
“No, he didn’t…” Céline trailed.
Was anyone supposed to tell her something about where she would be working?
“Well, Mr Culhane didn’t make an arrangement for that. We might have to share my office-”
Céline soon understood that Tiana wasn’t comfortable standing in Damien’s office, it was why she kept rubbing her nose.
“No! it’s okay.” Within a blink of an eye, Céline had seen an opportunity.
The closer the better!
“I need to be closer to him to get the job done. So, I think I’ll stay here for the time being.” She spoke confidently as she eyed the lounge at the far corner of the office. That would make a good spot for her temporary office until, they got married. Yes, she was confident she would be marrying Damien.
A large smile appeared on her face. This would be perfect, she thought grinning from ear to ear.
“I am not sure that’s a good idea.” Tiana stammered, her nose going red from all the rubbing.
“Why not?”
“You see Mr Culhane gets really cranky when he gets overwhelmed with work. You might not like it…” Tiana explained with a shake of her head. She looked like she was having a flash back of a time Damien had actually over reacted to her.
“Do not worry about that. I know just how to handle Da- Mr Culhane.” Céline whispered with a confident smile.
“But before that, I need you to send the cleaning department here.” Céline announced, clapping her hands together cheerfully.
“I also need you to order that strong coffee you brought in last time with biscuits.”
Tiana was a bit taken aback with the instructions, but she soon understood that Céline was about to do what they all feared to do. Céline was about to become the true personal assistant. She smiled.
“I will get it done right away.” She chirped happily.
Alone in Damien’s office, Céline walked to the lounge at the corner she was staring at a while ago and dropped her bag.
She returned to Damien’s desk and got to work. She started sorting out the huge pile of documents.
Two guys from the cleaning department came shortly after and they started cleaning the office. By the time she finished with the last file, the guys had finished cleaning the entire office and everything was looking spotless.
She thanked them for their good work and they left. She then took some of the important files and kept it in Damien’s drawer, transferring some to her make shift office.
She took a small coffee table in the lounge and placed her aunt’s laptop on it.
She had borrowed the laptop from her aunt. She had a feeling she would be needing a laptop, and since hers was damaged, she had to bring her aunt’s despite its shabby state.
She brought out her notepad and started jotting down important points from each file. When she was done she transferred them to her mail.
Tiana returned shortly with the coffee. The smell of the fresh brewed cup, filled the room and took away the smell of cleaning agents, leaving only the strong smell of coffee.
Céline wasn’t a fan of coffee persay, but she enjoyed the smell of a good strong coffee. Since she heard Damien orderring it a day before, she figured he enjoyed it too.
So, she got it ready, for when he came in. It was already way pass his arrival time, she knew he would walk in at any moment.
“Tiana, I’ll be needing Da- Mr Culhane’s official email. So I can pass some of these files to him.” She said mentally scolding herself for always calling him by his first name in front of his workers. She didn’t know if Damien would appreciate such behaviour.
“I think there has to be more.” Tiana whispered. She took out a piece of paper and wrote the email address and then handed it to Céline.
Tiana rubbed a hand over her nose again as her eyes skimmed the door with anxiety in them, Céline tried to ignore this behaviour of hers. Yet somehow she couldn’t keep ignoring it, even if it was only her first day and she was trying to be on her best behaviour but Tiana was going to lose her nose, if she kept rubbing it so harshly.
“Tiana are you alright? Is there a problem?” She stared hard at Tiana, waiting for her to respond.
“Oh- yes! I am just fine. I-s there some-thin-g else yo-u n-eed?” She stammered, her eyes trying hard not to venture to the door again buy Céline had caught on it.
Was she scared of Damien?
“Is he such a bad boss?” Céline asked, lowering her voice.
Alarm flashed in Tiana’s eyes as she gaped at Céline, who dared to speak of something none of them wished to ever say out loud.
“No! No! He is not a bad boss…” She trailed and looked down at her shoes.
“But you have been rubbing your nose and staring at the door. Tiana please, what is it? Is there something I should be worried about? Does he perhaps eat his workers?” Céline joked trying to make the woman feel comfortable.
Tiana looked horrified. “No, he doesn’t!”
“He just doesn’t like us coming into his office when be isn’t in.”
“Ah! I see.” Céline let out.
Damien didn’t like his staff hanging around in his offfice when he wasn’t around. It explained a lot of things. He didn’t want them to disorganise anything because it would take his time to organize them back into place.
“May, I leave now?” Tiana asked, looking like she would pee her pants if she stayed any longer.
“Sure.” Céline said, lost in her own thoughts.
By the time she looked up, Tiana was gone and she remembered the biscuits she had asked her to bring.
She facepalmed herself.
Working with Damien was not going to be about seduction only as she had earlier thought, this was real work.
“I guess I would just have to bring those here myself.” She whispered, leaving her chosen spot at the office lounge and heading out to Tiana’s office.