2

She had not finished processing it, and perhaps she would not finish processing it for the rest of the days to come. Two weeks had passed since she had gone from being just another secretary to being Leonardo White's exclusive secretary, and she still felt the same bewilderment as the time he had announced himself.

At the time, she had wanted to refuse him and tell him that she did not want to work in his office, but that would be hanging a noose around her neck; seeing how cruelly he had fired Sofia, she had found herself almost unable to refuse the order he had given her. Because he had not asked her, Leonardo White had not asked her to be his exclusive secretary, he had ordered her, and he seemed to have gone to her just to say that, but to her friend's misfortune, he had listened to her words.

Everyone was talking about it, everyone was saying that Emma had become a closer secretary to Leonardo White, not even Emma herself knew what that implied, the only difference from her previous position was that now she had the gaze of a guy on her face... all day long. She would raise her gaze, and she would meet those male eyes, she was going to get up... and she would meet those male eyes...

"Emma" Leonardo's voice brought her out of her thoughts, she looked up quickly, straightening her back, remembering the words the man had said to her once they were alone: ‘From this moment on, you are not a secretary anymore, you are my secretary, that means, you will dress differently, in a more formal and elegant way, you will wear make-up, higher heels and you will always keep your back straight, did you understand, Emma?’ "You seem distracted".

"No, no, of course not, sir, it's just that..."

"Call me Leonardo," he interrupted her, "Or Leo".

She shook her head almost imperceptibly, she couldn't see herself calling her boss in such an informal manner.

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

"You're not used to calling your bosses that way" If there was something that never ceased to amaze her about that guy, it was his ability to almost read her mind, no matter what she was thinking, he seemed to guess it, she wondered if it was due to the expression in her eyes, her movements, she didn't know, but she had stopped liking days ago that he seemed to know what she had to say, even before she conceived it. "Well, if you're not used to calling your bosses that way, you should get used to it from now on, because I don't want you to call me sir for all these days".

"I'm sorry, Mr... Leonardo... Leonardo... Leo".

A smile was marked on that perfect face in which more than once she found herself fantasizing.

"You've been here for several days, but my busy life hasn't allowed me the time to get to know you better" Emma swallowed hard, tried her best to keep the nervousness that those simple words caused her from being revealed, but failed when she heard him speak again. "You don't need to be nervous".

"I'm not..., I'm not... I'm not... used to... forget about it..."

"To what, Emma?" He took a chair and placed it in front of the woman, taking a seat. "Tell me, what?"

"It's not important, really..., forget it..."

"But I want to know, Emma" That had sounded more like an order than a request, which aroused some fear in her. Being the owner's son and being the owner, according to what she had heard, in that company was almost the same thing, so, technically she was in front of the owner of the company, she felt that a slip, a badly formulated word or a clumsy comment could get her fired. Although Leonardo had not shown himself to be a despot in front of her, she feared that he would get his claws out at any moment.

"It's j-it's just that I've never had such... direct communication with one of the bosses... it's just that..."

"One of the bosses?" he laughed, "The boss, Emma".

The woman swallowed saliva, nodding.

"Excuse me".

"You have nothing to apologize for" Leonardo pulled his chair closer to Emma, looking her over from head to toe, those eyes seeming to have the ability to search her spirit. "How old are you, Emma?"

"Twenty-three," she answered, avoiding eye contact with Leonardo, there was something in his eyes that paralyzed her, or maybe, it was just stupid thoughts that she had allowed to enter her head based on what everyone was saying about him.

"You're young," he said, looking at her face with a completely indecipherable expression, "I'm twenty-seven, almost twenty-eight".

"When is your birthday?" she asked, without even knowing why: she didn't care about the man's birthday.

"In two weeks," he replied, with a sly smile, "And you, when do you turn twenty-four?"

"In a month..."

"You look very young for your age, you look like a sixteen year old girl" Emma didn't know how to consider that, if as an offense or as a compliment, she constantly received similar comments, but coming from that enigmatic man, she didn't know how to feel. "It's a compliment".

Again, reading her mind.

"Thank you," she replied, averting her gaze to the papers in front of her.

"How long have you been working here, Emma?"

"Two years..."

"Were you always a secretary?"

"Yes..."

"How did you get to this company?" he asked, he himself knew that it was not too easy to get a job there and that most of them did it by contacts, but a shy and young girl like her, did not look like someone with too many contacts. He could be wrong, he doubted, although he very rarely was.

"My dad helped me get the job" She didn't understand the reason for those questions, but with each answer, her ability to speak without stuttering became a little more and more nil.

"Do you live with them?"

"No." A thread of a voice with her answer was what he heard her say. It was, easy to notice her nerves, she didn't understand them, Leonardo doubted that he looked like an intimidating subject, although he had to admit that he liked to see that tremulous movement in Emma's face every time he asked her a question of any nature, maybe that more than anything else was what drove him to continue with the conversation.

"Do you live alone?"

"I do".

Leonardo's gaze fell on the papers, then returned to her, detailing her a little: she was a petite girl, with red curly hair and white skin, the most exquisite white skin he had ever seen, her lips were pinkish, and her nose was as small and delicate as she was, the only defect he could see in that face were the huge dark bags that were drawn under her tired-looking eyes.

"Did you sleep badly?" he guessed.

"A little..."

"Why?"

Emma raised an eyebrow, then pointed to the papers on her desk, wasn't it too obvious?

He laughed, pushing the papers away from her.

"Don't damage your health for work".

"But it is you who put all that work on me..." she dared to say.

"So you won't have time to meet with other men" A laugh emerged from those male lips, she looked at the floor, having no idea how to respond specifically to that. "It's a joke, Emma! Come on, laugh, woman!"

A small smile escaped Emma, it was more out of obligation than true grace.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but it's the company's job, I don't do it intentionally, you understand that, don't you?"

"Yes, yes... of course I understand, sir... Leonardo".

"But, speaking of men... tell me, Emma, are you single?"

The woman played nervously with her fingers at that question, she did not understand the reason, there was no need for him to have so much information, but by the look on Leonardo's face, she knew that answering was her only option.

"Yes, I am".

The man's smile widened, he was about to say something, but his phone started ringing.

"I have to leave you, Emma," he warned her, standing up and heading for the exit, but before he left, he stopped and looked at her one more time, "By the way, I'm also single like you, what do you think that means, Emma?"

And he withdrew, before she could give him any answer.