I ran my fingers into my hair, feeling so drained. Propping my elbow on the table in front of me, I let out a sigh. I couldn't wait for the weekend. Work could be very tiring sometimes.
The knock on the door caught my attention. I had thought it would be Ryan, but well, I didn't think he'd be dumb enough to knock, when he could easily walk in.
Grouchily, I pulled my swivel chair backwards, stood up after dropping my pen on the table, and walked to the door. I could have just asked the person to come in, but due to how tired I was, my voice might not be loud enough.
I pulled the door open, took a step backwards. "Oh, you." I noticed a smile creeping to my lips. "How're you doing, Kenneth? Nice seeing you again."
Those green eyes were staring deeply at me, his lips smiling widely at me. I really liked seeing this guy. But woah, why had he come to my office?
"I'm great. Nice to see you too." He clipped something to the bag he was holding, then handed the bag over to me. "Um, this is for Ryan Arthur. He ordered food."
"Oh, okay." I took the bag from him, glimpsed at it before turning back to him. "I guess you came over to deliver this to my boss. Nice."
"Yeah."
I kept staring, not knowing what to say. Realizing that this silence was very uncomfortable, I bit my lip. "Oh, well, I guess that's a bye, right? I hope I see you some other time."
"Of course." He winked. "As long as you keep working here. And honestly, I wish to be friends with you. You seem pretty nice."
"Thanks." I grinned. Wait, was I blushing? Oh, gross.
"Bye," he added, then turned around to leave.
As soon as I shut the door behind me, I headed to Ryan's office. I walked in, and good for me, he wasn't in there. Dropping the bag on his table, my eyes caught a bunch of photos laying on the table. I took one of the old photos which had been wiped off, twitched an eyebrow when I saw a red cross drawn on it. Words like: abandoned, rejected, lonely, were written on it.
Was it about him?
About dropping the photo, I flinched when the door opened up. Seeing Ryan, I felt my beating hard against my chest.
Suddenly, he glared. He glared with so much intensity, which made me even more scared. Ryan hadn't ever had a problem with me coming into his office. What was with this angry look?
"What're you doing here? Who asked you to come in?" he interrogated.
Okay, to be honest, he had been acting weird since this morning, but was I the reason for his problem?
"I-I came to—"
"Why are you with my stuff?" He trudged to me, grabbed the photo from my hand. He glared so much, wrath running in his eyes. I hadn't committed a sin or crime, had I?
I gulped. "I-I'm sorry. I only came in to drop your food."
"Get out!" He roared.
I nodded swiftly. Not thinking twice, being totally scared, I hurried out of his office. Gosh, that was so scary. I knew he wasn't so friendly, but he truly wasn't that strict. So creepy.
Raking my fingers into my hair, I exhaled, and sat on my chair. In a short while, someone knocked on the door. Without asking the person to come in, the door opened up. Of course, it was Natasha.
"Hey, Serene." She poked her head into my office. "Mr. Shawn wants to see you. He said he's ready for the meeting between you guys."
I rolled my eyes. "Alright, I'll be there soon."
She smirked. "Tell me, what's going on between you two? Have you been seducing him or something? Why would—"
"Please. Leave. You're not needed here. And yeah, I won't answer your questions," I uttered.
She shot me a glare. "You're so mean."
With that, she spun around, slammed the door behind her. I closed my eyes for a while, feeling quite uneasy. I didn't know if it was because of Ryan, or because Mr. Shawn wanted to see me.
Taking my phone from my table, I stepped out, heading to the elevator. Getting there, I made my way to the first floor. That was where Mr. Shawn's office was located.
Soon, I got to the floor. I knocked on his door when I reached his office, taking a deep breath. I hoped everything would be fine.
"Oh, hi, Serene." The moment he opened the door, he greeted me. He stepped backwards, asking me to come in. I feigned a smile before walking in. To be frank, I felt like I shouldn't have come here. Something wasn't right about his behavior.
"Good evening, Mr. Shawn." I tried brushing off my fear. After all, he couldn't harm me.
He walked to the coffee maker, grabbed a coffee, and began sashaying towards me. "So good to have you here. I'd thought you wouldn't come."
"You need something?" I asked. Okay, I wasn't ready for shitty talks. He had to go straight to the point.
He sniggered. He leaned over his table, just beside me. For some reason, a sinister smile coated his lips. What was going on?
"Don't try to act immature. We both know what's going on," he sputtered.
I stared up at him, my heart skipping beats. What was he saying? Would it be better if I just left?
"I have work to do." I stood up immediately, ready to leave. "Goodnight."
Twirling around, attempting to leave, he grabbed my wrist, and pulled me to him. My body dashed in between his legs, his hand curling around my waist. He almost locked me to him. And yes, my heart was pounding hard against my chest.
"Serene." He dropped his coffee, tucked some strands of my hair behind my ear. His voice was low and rough, flirty as well. "Don't act like a child. No one's a saint, you know? What do you want? Money? A car? A house?"
This was an insult to my pride. I felt so bad.
I scoffed, and swallowed my tears. "Are you crazy? What the heck? So, you're really trying to hookup with me or what?"
He tugged my jaw with his fingers, pulled my face towards his. "I yearn for you. You're the rare female worker in this company. I wanna make you mine. I'll give you all you want. I'll take you around the world. I'll treat you like a queen in bed. I'll show you love. I'll be yours and yours alone."
"Is this a joke?" Luckily for me, I was able to snap my body off his grip. I looked up to prevent my tears from falling off, put my hands on my waist, feeling so embarrassed. I turned to him, being as dauntless as possible. "Hey, do you have no respect for women? You call your worker into your office, and try seducing her? Making stupid promises she absolutely doesn't care about?"
He snorted. "I'm not joking. Serene, I want you. I need you. If you give me a chance, I won't fail you."
"Deal with yourself. I'm done speaking with you, okay?" I informed him.
He glared. "You think I'll let you go freely? What a joke. Until I have you to myself, you're going nowhere. I'll get you, I promise."
"Such a fool," I spat out.
He raised his eyebrows at me. Before he could prattle further, I hurried out of the place. The desire I sensed in his eyes wasn't normal. I knew I had to leave before anything would happen. I guessed Ryan was right. Mr. Shawn could be dangerous.
Walking in the hallway, heading to the elevator, I felt so, so bad. This was getting crazy. It seemed like too many men were getting attracted to me. Wait, I wasn't a princess, was I? I didn't have anything special, right?
What was going on?
***