6

   Nate rolled the tip of his ball pen as he frowned, a habit which he had been doing all day. 

How rude of her! I offered her a job and she was yet to reply, he thought.

No one ever kept Nate waiting, once he requested their presence, they showed up without any hesitation. He rubbed his chin, he now had a five days stubble.

The business plan was due, he still hadn’t come up with anything, to make matters worse, the one person he had counted on still hadn’t shown up.

   He could understand what Ruby wanted, weeks ago, she was begging him to offer her a job, but now that he did offer her the job, she didn’t reply to the mail or show up.

  

   “That little minx is clearly playing mind games,”he muttered, drumming his fingers on the table.

   He sighed, his mother was on his neck all week, she had visited once and raged on how she thought he was losing all his business skills.

  He rolled his eyes as he loosened up his tie, millions of dollars were at stake, he could already imagine some of his business rivals mocking him. Nate always won businessman of the year amongst other awards but with the way things were going, he wasn’t so sure about that.

  

  “Mr Jacobin,” Martha smiled excitedly as he let herself into his office. “Miss Ruby Barlow is here”

Nate sat up in his chair quickly, straightening his back. He quickly wiped the crumbs of the baguette he ate earlier and smoothed out the creases in his shirt. 

  He felt relieved she had arrived in the nick of time but decided to mask it.

   “Let her in” he said in his usual cold tone

  Ruby sauntered into his office, she was a nervous wreck but she had to put on a false face to hide everything. The only reason she showed up was because her house rent was due. Before, she had assured herself that she was going to get another job but that was almost impossible. She had spent the previous week job hunting but there was no positive feedback. Of course, working at Wesley’s construction company was her dream job but working with Nate wasn’t part of it. She was well aware that being around Nate for a long time meant big trouble. 

   She had tried to forget all about him but he kept coming to her. Once, she had gone on a walk for fresh air but she ended up staring at his face on a billboard. It was almost as if he was mocking her and he could see through her.

  “Mr Jacobin, I’m here for the job” she said in her professional voice, her voice void of emotion.

Prior to what happened the last time in his office and how embarrassed she had felt, she decided to be nonchalant and pretend as if he had no effect on her.

It took her two hours of pep talk and her wearing her best dress to gain a little confidence.

  “Well, good day to you too,”Nate replied sarcastically as he motioned for her to take a seat.

  “I don’t have much time to spare,” she lied.

Ruby had all the time in the world to spare, any day she wasn’t job hunting, she spent her day lazing about, watching romcoms.

  “I received emails from other companies too so I’m quite busy and booked. You should be grateful I’m doing you this favor”

Ruby took a little moment to enjoy what she was doing, she knew Nate was going to have a better comeback. She bit her tongue in hopes that he couldn’t see through her lies.

 Nate laughed sarcastically. Who the hell does she think she is? He thought.

   “Miss Lucy…”

   “It’s Ruby” she spat, cutting him short

It upset her when he forgot her name. She was torn in between yelling at him and walking out. He knew how to ruffle her feathers without putting too much effort. 

  “My bad, Miss Ruby” he started mockingly with a smirk.

  Ruby wasn’t the best he could find but he decided to employ her because he didn’t have many options. She knew how to bruise his ego badly, starting from when she dumped the hot chocolate on him. The fact that reporters caught it on camera upset him even more.

  “I was about to offer you the job but I can see you’re very much busy with other companies, so, I don’t think I should bother you any further” he said, finishing off with a sly smile.

  Ruby tried to keep up with her act by wearing a fake smile. Her plan had backfired badly. 

They were very much egoistic and neither was willing to admit that they needed each other. Ruby pinched her sweaty palm as she reminded herself to keep it cool. 

Nate had seen her vulnerable too many times, she wasn’t going to let him win this one.

    She adjusted her glasses as she thought of what to do next.

  “Mr Jacobin,” Martha cried as she barged into Nate’s office the second time. “A representative from the board of companies is here. He has asked for the business plan and we have none!”

     The board had called an emergency meeting in order to hear what Nate had come up with.

  

 Ruby smiled to herself, the desperation in Martha’s voice and the look of alarm on Nate’s face was all she needed. 

Nate was stuck in a corner, he was sensible and he would have to employ her.

  Nate groaned as he watched the brunette smile triumphantly, he drew the battle line between them mentally. He racked his brain to remember where he had seen that oddly familiar smile. Something about Ruby felt strangely familiar but he still couldn’t figure it out.

  With her around, he felt the need to show her how powerful he was and how he could easily dismiss her and still get the business plan done but that was almost impossible especially after sleeplessness and bouts of coffee drinking.