STRANGE ENCOUNTER

“Mother, it's too early,” Jason grunted as he knotted his necktie and adjusted his black pants.

“Too early for your mother to have a word with you?” The ever-cheesy Catherine followed her son around.

Her hair was a rich silver with streaks of gold and styled in a grand puff. She had a sizable nude gown that matched her skin tone and a light brush of pink lip gloss. For sixty-one, she defied the number.

Jason sipped from his teacup and set it down on a saucer. He knew what his mother had to say and was avoiding the topic by all means possible.

“How about we do that when I return from work?”

"Then I would be in the salon fixing my hair or getting spar treatment." "We need to talk now."

Sealing her point, she stopped by the door, silently telling him that no one would leave the room until they had a discussion. The last time she sat on the foot of his bed in protest, he ran out without remorse. She wasn't about to make that mistake now. Yesterday, he purposely ignored her calls and sneaked in when she wasn't watching.

Argh!

He groaned in his head, accepting defeat. Picking up his black tuxedo, he shrugged it and began to brush his beard.

“I’m all ready, mother, can this talk be brief, please?”

“I'll try.” She said bluntly, knowing that she was in charge.

“When are we meeting your mysterious woman?”

Not again. He said in his head and sighed softly. He knew this was her mission. He thought about changing the locks on his bedroom because now his mother had a spare key. She was a constant thorn in his flesh.

“Soon.” He lied for the umpteenth time. She made him lie about a mysterious lady, and now he had to provide one.

"How soon?" "You keep saying that." She wasn't having it this time. “As soon as I needed to get to work.”

“Jason, I'm not joking.” She scolded. "Thane, your stepbrother has brought home a woman that your father approves of." "Your father needs either of you to provide an heir before he gives the chunk of his property to you."

“I know, mother…”

“You don't!” She yelled. “He is an illegitimate son of your father, the unlucky child of our maid your cruel father slept with.”

"He has apologized, mother." "It was a silly mistake."

“Still, he wants his true heir to contend with hers for rights to his father’s property?” She paced about in demonstration. “And there's my reckless son who can't even get a woman.”

“Fine, mother.” He flipped his watch, seeing that he was far behind in time for his first board meeting of the day. He picked his platinum briefcase from the bed and started for the door.

“You'll meet her this weekend.” He made a hasty assurance.

“Should I take your word for it?” She pouted, her cheeks turning red in excitement.

“I promise, mother.” He pecked her forehead. “Now, may I?”

“Have a great day, my son.” She brushed off imaginary dirt from his shoulders and arranged the collar of his long white sleeve.

When she stepped aside, he rushed off, wishing that his mother would forget the promise he had just made.

“I’m behind time,” Jason told Lucas as he slipped into the back seat of his fine silver spot car.

He opened his tab and ran through his emails, rearranging his schedules and fixing new meetings in his tight calendar. Also, he jotted down a few of his meetings so he wouldn't forget them.

This was why he had pestered his manager, Ryan, to get him a new personal assistant. His last one had to stop temporarily because she was pregnant and couldn’t keep up with the stress.

“We're here, boss,” Lucas informed Jason.

Jason got down and walked into the elevator car with long strides. His eyes were on his tab the whole time, and he got out of the elevator after the loud binge.

“Good morning, boss.” A few staff greeted him, and he just hummed, as he headed to his office.

He took a bend and unexpectedly bumped into a fragile figure. He quickly held onto his tab, preventing it from crashing on the tiled floor.

“Are you blind?” A feminine voice cried out.

He looked down to find a young petite blonde scooping the papers that were sprawled on the floor.

“You are equally at fault, else you would have missed me.” Jason defended himself before he tried to help her get the other papers.

"I don't need your help, leave." She sighed and haphazardly gathered the papers.

Jason squinted as he looked at her with scrutiny. "You look familiar." "Have we met before?"

“Really?” She scoffed and tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear. "Just get out of my sight." She groaned, scaring him away.

Without a word, he got up and started upstairs, leaving the young lady behind. In his office, he tuned in for a brief conference call, before logging out to sort himself for the day.

There was a knock on the door. Ryan’s voice sounded afterward. He came in once because his boss, Jason, asked him to.

“Good morning, boss,” he greeted her cheerfully.

“Yeah, Ryan, you seem quite excited,” Jason noted.

“About that, I finally got you someone to fill in as your assistant, till Jane returns.”

“Good job.” Jason looked up from his tab, happy that he would be relieved. “She should get me a cup of coffee and come for assessment.”

“Alright.” Ryan walked out.

Minutes later, there was another knock on the door. Jason demanded that she enter, guessing that it was his new employee.

The door opened and she walked in. Seeing her boss, her hand began to shake, as she almost dropped the thick white coffee mug.

“The coffee.” Jason asked and barely lifted his head to get it. When he caught a glimpse of her, he paused and held her gaze. It was the arrogant girl from the hallway.

“You?!”

She swallowed and remained immobile. "I’m Kendall."