4

It was the most precious car her faded and worn eyes had ever seen, it wasn't even within her capabilities to imagine how expensive it had been, maybe it was a number she couldn't even pronounce or write.

Leonardo had asked her to get out in front of him, Emma did so, although when she reached her boss's car, she slowed down, giving a glance to the blond, who smiled at her, it was a barely perceptible gesture, so much so that she attributed it to a hallucination due to the deep tiredness she felt.

"That skirt is a little short for you, Emma, don't you think so?" The woman's hands trembled when she heard him say that, her serious face, agitated by a blush, turned tremulously towards the man, the blue of Leonardo's eyes seemed to want to undress the soul of the secretary, who didn't say a single word. "I asked you a question".

The woman hesitated what to answer, she remembered the times when she had thought that skirt was a little tighter than the others, but she had paid little attention to it.

"If it bothers you that I use it, I-I won't use it anymore," she said, almost in automatic mode, then she realized that she had contradicted her own wishes to resign, there was something in Leonardo's look that did not allow her to process well even her own needs.

"Das stört mich nicht, im Gegenteil, ich mag es, deine Beine sehen so schön aus" Emma looked at him nervously, she had not understood a word, the only thing she knew was that the language he had just spoken was German.

‘I don't mind, on the contrary, I like it, your legs look so beautiful’.

"What?" was the only thing she asked herself, and it was only when she settled down on another foot that she realized that she had been holding those heavy papers for more minutes than she thought she could have endured.

"Ты такая красивая, Эмма, тебе кто-нибудь говорил об этом?"

‘You're so beautiful, Emma, has anyone ever told you that?’

She still didn't understand a word, he really liked the woman's confused expression, so much so that he was tempted to talk to her all night in a language unknown to her, but he told himself that it would be more fun to watch a cheeky blush involuntarily spread across those feminine cheeks every time he said something unregular to her.

"Get in the car, Emma".

The woman gave him a suspicious look before obeying him, she didn't want to do anything like that, in fact, she just wanted to give up and send to hell every one of her responsibilities, or at least that was what her lumpy mind demanded because of her tiredness, which was beginning to reach its limit, she knew it when at the moment she opened the door and tried to get into the expensive car, her vision was covered by a dense cloud of darkness.

The papers slipped from her hands filled with a sudden sweat, her legs became two flabby and useless masses that threatened to fall off, barely a gasp escaped her cracked and dry lips, her body no longer resisted the little rest she had had.

"Emma? Emma!" His voice sounded far away, as if he was calling her from an alternate dimension. "Are you all right, Emma?!"

Leonardo's arms managed to hold Emma before she touched the hard floor, their bodies rubbed involuntarily, Emma's eyes barely opened and looked at the man who was holding her without understanding very well what had happened, Leonardo did not know very well what he should do, He thought about going with her to the company, but then he told himself that it was several minutes away, so the best option was to put her in the car, so he held her by both legs and placed her in the passenger seat, giving her a somewhat throbbing look.

"Stay... stay here," he asked her, feeling stupid, she could barely move, even if he left and came back in a couple of hours, she would stay there, between fainting and lucidity, "I'll go... get some water..." He looked around thinking about where they could sell water, but then the focus in his head filled with color as he realized that he kept in his car a couple of bottles of water. He quickly opened the door in the back and pulled out the water bottles, moving over to Emma again, he opened the bottle, held the woman by the neck and made her drink, but was a bit clumsy doing it, causing the woman to choke on the water and the liquid to slip past her lips and a deep cough to echo. "At least it did some good," Leonardo mentally said to himself, seeing how as she coughed, her eyes expanded more and more, she seemed to cling more tightly to lucidity, and he was grateful for that.

What would Leonardo do if his secretary passed out in his car? He had no idea.

When she finally finished coughing, her eyes opened a little wider and she looked at Leonardo, then at the leaves scattered on the ground. Worst of all, that had not been the first time she had fainted that month, in fact, two days earlier, an identical event had taken place, only she was alone in her apartment, there was no boss to help her.

"Are you all right?" asked Leonardo when he thought it was appropriate.

"Yes, just... it was just a little dizziness, I'm sorry for bothering you, but I think I won't be able to go to your house, I..." The woman tried to stand up and again her legs failed her, before she could fall, once again those strong arms held her. The man's perfume slapped the woman, who held on to those strong shoulders, looking her boss straight in the eyes for a couple of seconds. Almost a full month as his secretary and she hadn't noticed the birthmark Leonardo had on his face, on his face so perfect...

The woman threw herself back into the car, separating from Leonardo, thinking about the contact they both had maintained for a few short seconds. She took a breath of air, as one who is ready to swim, but in reality, she felt herself suffocating, from something that wanted to leave her, but fought to stay.

She soon learned what that was.

She held her stomach and forcefully pushed her boss away to keep the vomit that came from her lips from falling on her. She threw up more than she had eaten in a week, in front of her boss, she felt suffocated, not from the nerves she had just released, but from her own embarrassment.

Leonardo immediately raised an eyebrow. "Dizziness? Vomiting?" he thought, turning his lips into a line. One of Leonardo's particular qualities, was that at times, he lacked any tact or discretion in saying things, soon his secretary would prove it.

"Emma," he called when she seemed to have recovered from her second symptom of the night. "Are you pregnant?" The woman raised her face sharply when she heard Leonardo say that, and immediately her face was covered with denial. The last time she had had bed action with a guy had been three months ago, and she hadn't had those symptoms of wear and tear until she had started working with him. Plus, her period had come the week before.

"No... of course not," she answered him with barely a voice.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, feeling deeply uncomfortable with the way he had asked her that question.

"Of course".

"It's just that those are the most common symptoms of pregnancy," he commented, without moving his eyes from the agitated girl, she could not find an adequate way to tell him that she was not pregnant, that for three months the only thing that had been fucking her was misfortune.

"Believe me, I am not pregnant..."

He looked at her in silence, as if he doubted her answer and at the same time believed her, she didn't even know how to decipher those eyes. She was too exhausted to try.

"I'm sorry for... this," she apologized after the awkward silence that ensued.

"You don't have to apologize for being sick," she reassured him, for a second she didn't believe that this was the same man who exploited her at work, "Are you suffering from something?"

She sighed, averting her eyes from the puddle of vomit he was ignoring perfectly.

"No, it's just stress".

"Stress?"

"Yes, when I put myself under a lot of pressure... my body goes crazy..." She restrained herself from telling him that she had been diagnosed with some kind of hormonal disorder, she told herself that this information was not relevant.

Leonardo nodded, he could not deny that guilt was breathing down his neck, maybe he had exploited her too much. Although in his head, when he assigned her that excessive amount of work, there was only present the intention of making her stay more hours with him, in order to know her better, something in her generated a curiosity that he could not describe, but seeing what his curiosity had caused, he told himself that he had to resort to other methods if he wanted to know her, and, seeing that she was not in very good conditions, he thought of the ideal thing to do.

"You look very exhausted, I think we should postpone going to where I live, do you think so?"

"It seems best to me," she whispered, not even possessing the strength to speak much. Her voice came out as an exhausted whisper from someone whose only sighs separated him from a silent death.

Leonardo asked her to write something down and so she did, without asking too many questions, although then she began to question herself.

"Why do you want to know where I live?"

"To go to your house," he replied with the utmost simplicity, "I'll take you there and leave you there, I'll come in, we'll talk about my proposal, I'll leave, simple".

She looked at him, puzzled. Her boss at home?

"To m-my h-home? No b-but... not my house..." The last thing she wanted was for her boss to go to her house, she didn't even have an exact reason: she simply didn't want to.

"No buts, Emma," Leonardo told her, "I'll go, we'll talk, I'm leaving, that's how it will happen".

And without letting her protest, Leonardo started the car, heading towards his secretary's house.