“Well, honestly, I thought you wouldn’t turn up to work if I told you that your new boss is Reiner. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I could tell that you were avoiding him like the plague,” Queen said followed by a depressed sigh.
She stuffed more cake into her mouth, and it looked like she was stress-eating. I followed her example and stuffed a large chunk of cake into my mouth and began chewing on it.
“Maybe you’re right. It’s ok though, I’ve decided to continue working even if he’s my boss. I’ll make sure to do my job well,” I stated firmly.
“It’s good to see that you’re so motivated and determined. I’m quite relieved. I was scared that you’ll just up and leave the island for good,” Queen said before smiling at me.
I watched Queen stab the cake with her fork while I wondered if she had anything to do with the manager and secretary pairing. There was a sure way to find out.
“Please tell me that you didn’t have anything to do with me being coincidentally paired up with Reiner,” I said as I narrowed my eyes slightly at her.
Queen looked at me with wide innocent eyes before shaking her head in denial.
“I did no such thing. Well, I did mention to someone in HR that your character might, you know ‘might’ be compatible with Knight…” Queen said before smiling slyly at me.
Now it was my turn to laugh at how meddlesome the lady sitting opposite to me was. I couldn’t blame her or get mad at her though. She helped me so much and I was sure that she had the right to have some fun. I wasn’t sure about my character being compatible with Reiner though…
“You’re so funny, Queen. Don’t worry, I’m not mad or anything. I was just curious. My first day at work went well although I didn’t get to do any real work,” I told her.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be busy soon enough. Reiner has been swamped with work since he started helping out at the company. He’s back home much later than before. I don’t know what time he’ll be back tonight…” Queen said lazily.
“Really? He mentioned that he had to go out and told me to go home…” I mumbled.
I felt a slight sense of guilt knowing that Reiner was working hard while I practically didn’t do anything today. I better help him out tomorrow…
“You’ll be working together with him now so try to get along, ok?” Queen said with a teasing smile.
She definitely planned this.
“I’ll try. You really caused a big problem for me…” I muttered.
“You can’t blame me. I don’t want some other man to snatch up my future daughter-in-law!” Queen said followed by a loud theatrical laugh.
I didn’t want to believe that she found this funny. This is no joke.
For a moment, I like the idea of having Queen as my mother. She’s an awesome mother for sure and I envied Reiner a little for having a mother like her. Some parts of her made me miss my mother. She reminded me of my mother in some respects.
It doesn’t really matter though. Reiner will be marrying his fiancee soon enough and I’ll probably be reporting to her on what he’s up to as his secretary. I found the thought of that depressing yet amusing at the same time. It was a strange mix of feeling.
“Hopefully, I’ll get invited to his wedding…” I mumbled softly.
Queen looked at me with a stunned expression on her face before her expression softened and she smiled at me gently without saying anything more.
…
The next morning, I woke up early with renewed energy and motivation. Today is going to be the day that I start proving to Reiner that I am great at my job. First mission was to arrive earlier than my boss at work. After all, what kind of secretary gets to the office after her boss does? Not my type.
I raced down the stairs with my heels in my hands to save time. When I reached the central living room, I spotted Queen sitting there on the sofa. She’s up so early. Why do I get the sense that it isn’t normal for her to be up this early?
“Morning!” I called out to greet her cheerfully.
“Wow. You’re going off to work already? So early…” Queen said.
“Yup, I don’t want to be late. You can’t underestimate rush hour traffic,” I replied with a smile.
“Good luck!” Queen called after me.
Deciding to leave the house early was the right choice because traffic was quite bad. Despite the heavy traffic, I arrived at the office ahead of schedule. The elevator was not packed which was a plus and I got up to Reiner’s office in no time at all.
I made it! I stood in front of the office doors as I concentrated on taking deep and relaxing breaths. Today’s my second day at work and I pray that it will be a productive day. I pushed the door opened firmly and my mouth hung open in shock.
“Why are you here so early?!” I asked, speaking louder than I had intended to.
Reiner turned around to look in my direction as I continued to stare at him in disbelief. Why is Reiner here so early? He’s not supposed to get here before me!
“Why? Did you think that managers would turn up to work straight on the mark of starting time and never before?” Reiner asked before grinning at me.
“Good morning,” I decided to reply instead of turning this conversation into an argument.
“Good morning, Natalia,” Reiner replied politely.
Somehow that ticked me off…
I put my stuff on the table as I watched Reiner walk through the door into his private office. Now what do I do? Reiner didn’t mention anything about my work for today. There’s got to be some work for me to do right? Why else would they hire me if there wasn’t any work for me to do?
–To be continued…