New magical solution

The merciless alarm clock destroyed my sleep exactly at 6:30 AM. My muscles declared a strike and it took me about 20 minutes to convince them to move. The negotiations were hard. I went downstairs feeling like I had previously been run over by a truck… or a few of them. My Grandma snickered, seeing how pathetic I looked.

"I thought that you would be exhausted from working overtime, but you actually look hilarious," she giggled.

"Ha, ha, ha… very funny," I gave her a gloomy stare.

"Oh, come on! It is funny!" She kept laughing, "You are a witch! You should be able to put magic even in the water that you drink! It's easy. Here… do it with that tea," she handed me a cup.

I took it from her, confused. My mind was still asleep.

"Think of it as a recovery potion, and drink it. The stronger your intention will be, the more magic you will give yourself," she chuckled.

"How can it be that easy?" I asked, being quite doubtful.

"It isn't. But there is a lot of power within you… So I would rather say, it is easy for you, my lovely Witch," she smiled and patted my cheek.

"So all I have to do is concentrate… and then drink it?" I kept thinking it was a dumb thing to do.

"Yes… but you need to believe in it," she answered with a serious expression.

I was absolutely skeptical about it, but suddenly reminded myself of that person who claimed that the herbs I put a spell on worked… Maybe it was time to use some magic deliberately to help myself.

"Do you do it? Do you heal yourself with magic?"

"All the time!" Grandma replied laughing, "Of course, it works to some extent. You can recover from exhaustion, lack of sleep, hangover, migraines, et cetera, but it will not cure a serious disease, or make up for plastic surgery," she chuckled.

I guessed it was worth trying. I took a deep breath, focused on getting myself tons of energy, and then drank the tea…

"Well… how do you feel?" Grandma asked.

"I feel… refreshed!" I grinned, completely stunned, "My muscle pain is gone!" I laughed rejoiced.

"See? What did I tell you?" she smirked.

It was hard for me to believe that I could actually do such tricks when I was… sixteen! That actually irritated me a lot. My school days could have been so much easier if I knew… Anyway, I suddenly didn't feel fatigue at all.

"What exactly can I improve that way in myself?" I inquired hugging Grandma, trying to coax her.

Grandma looked at me and sighed, shaking her head.

"The more power you possess, the more your possibilities are. For women… magic can work as your best beauty product. You can also stretch the natural abilities of your body… like strength, speed, agility, or mind… like memory, focus, perceptivity…"

"Wow! So magic can make me a superhuman or a genius?!" I got overly excited.

"No. That kind of magic works only temporarily, and it is exhausting to use it often. There is always a price to pay… So do not overuse it!" she advised me.

I nodded my head, absolutely thrilled, and already started thinking how I could use magic at work. Suddenly, I realized that I hadn't told my Grandma about Samil yet… I got more serious and sat down by the kitchen table.

"Granny… something happened while you were away…" I started, "I found that person I had saved then…"

"That's great news! He should be naturally attracted to you, so he will kiss you back in no time!" she called happily.

"Naturally attracted…?" I laughed bitterly, "I don't think so… He is my boss. He is cold, serious, annoying, and certainly not into me…"

"That cannot be," Grandma stated, "The kissing spell doesn't work that way."

"But it's true! I don't think he even treats me as a woman, and I don't think that would change," I sighed.

"Something doesn't feel right… Do you find him attractive?"

"Yes! He is very handsome… My heart beats faster when I look at him, but I'm sure that he doesn't feel a thing like that."

Grandma sat down and looked me up and down suspiciously.

"Kassi, you have dreams about him, right? So should he! He should dream about you at the same time! That is how magic helped you find each other. I bet that he offered you a job because of this, even if he did it unknowingly," she assured me.

I smiled faintly. I wanted to believe that what Grandma said was true, but I deeply felt that wasn't the case. Perhaps, it happened because it wasn't a real kiss that I gave him… or maybe I was too pathetic for him to find me attractive despite the kissing spell. Grandma moved closer to me and patted my head.

"Cheer up, Kassi. If he is your boss, you get to spend a lot of time with him. He will soon find out what a beautiful person you are," she smiled warmly.

I hugged her tight, thinking that my Grandma's love was the most wonderful magic I received, after my parents died. I was grateful to still have her by my side.

I had to get ready to work. I was glad that magic boosted my energy… too bad it didn't work on shattering my anxieties as well. I kept thinking about what Grandma said. Could Samil really dream about me as well? I bet that if he did, he treated those dreams as nightmares… He acted so differently from what I experienced in my visions of him.

In my dream, he said he loved my coffee… not that I make a good one, but still. In reality, he strongly claimed that he would only drink what he would make himself… like he was afraid of being poisoned or something. I could feel so many emotions coming from him in those visions, yet he was cold as stone when I was with him at his office… If we both had those dreams, I was clearly the only one affected by them! That was unfair…

Another thing that I was wondering about was if the person who paid me a hundred thousand dollars for magic painkillers was truly one of my boss's employees. If those herbs were actually for him… was he suffering from some disease? Unfortunately, I found it hard to imagine that I could casually ask him about it.

Thanks to my magical energy drink, I even managed to get to work at 8:30 AM. I went to the top floor and immediately saw a new desk, chair, and computer in front of the CEO's office. It looked like it was all prepared for me…

I was wondering if I was the first one at work this time. I knocked on his office door… There was no answer. I was a little relieved, but at the same time, I had no idea what to do until he showed up. Should I sit behind that desk…?

I felt a little awkward. I stood right by his door, gazing at the desk, when suddenly the door to the CEO's office opened. I flinched…  My boss opened the door with messy hair and a slightly unbuttoned shirt. It was obvious that he had slept in the office, and my knocking must have woken him up. I gasped.

"G-g-good morning, S-sir," I stuttered nervously.

He was looking at me with his usual indifference, but suddenly looked me up and down and smirked.

"Come inside and close the door," he ordered.

I did what he said. There was his creased jacket lying on the sofa. All of the contracts I marked yesterday were lying carefully stacked in one pile on one side of the table. The rest of the table was filled with some other documents. It looked like he read them through most of the night and fell asleep at some point. I couldn't tell if I should admire him for that, or send him on some therapy to treat workaholism.

As soon as I closed the door, he disappeared into some other internal room. Maybe it was his closet, or a toilet attached to his office. Whatever it was, I felt awkward being alone there without any instructions. After a few minutes of standing like an idiot, I decided to at least try asking him what I should do.

"Sir… should I… take those documents and make notes… like you said yesterday?" I called, hoping he would hear me through that door.

"Yes," I heard his answer, "Your workplace should be ready. Take the files and get to work," he stated coldly.

I got irked again.

"Seriously?! He couldn't say that first, instead of making me wait like a moron?!" I cursed him in my mind.

The stack of contracts was way too heavy for me to carry at once. I decided to move them to my desk in a few rounds. I took the first part and carried it over, then another, and finally got back inside to take the last one. I bent over the table, sticking out my bottom, trying to grab the last part of the documents, when I suddenly heard my boss's voice…

"Are you done taking those contracts?" he asked, scaring the hell out of me.

I screamed, immediately straightened up, and dropped the documents back on the table. Then I turned around… He was standing wearing a bathrobe that was revealing half of his perfectly muscled chest. His hair was wet. He was drying it with a towel, smirking. I screamed again, then turned around.

"I'm sorry, Sir!" I called out, gathering all the contracts from the table and running out of his office.

I collapsed, sitting at my new desk, patting my chest, hoping to prevent myself from having a heart attack. My head was still filled with vivid images of my boss's dripping wet hair and body.

"Couldn't he at least warn me that he has a bathroom there and he is about to take a shower?! Or… could it be that he just did that… on purpose?!" I wondered in panic.

Of course, I quickly gave up on that last thought. It couldn't be that he saw my previous reactions to him, and he suddenly decided to tease me, right? Right???