Monday arrived and I was determined to make it to work on time despite the heavy Monday morning traffic in the business district. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel anxious about going to work today. Honestly, I didn’t know what kind of face to make when I met Reiner after seeing him and his fiancée together on that day. I was spying on them, and I was paying the price for that dishonest act now. I got into the elevator, and I was on my way up to his office. There was no point running away from it. Unless I give up this job entirely, he’s going to remain as my boss and I’m still going to be his secretary. Reiner called me countless times yesterday. Of course, I didn’t answer any of his calls. The reason was obvious, I didn’t know what to say to him and I wasn’t exactly in the mood to have a pleasant conversation with him either. I didn’t even wonder why he was calling me. He probably found out that I had moved out of his mansion, and he was probably glad about it. The ele
“Zero, thanks for coming. It’s been many years since we last met,” Reiner said before smiling pleasantly. “Don’t worry. I remember you well enough, Knight,” the huge man said, and his voice was surprisingly light and cheerful. Unlike the stern and scary-looking photo of him in his profile, this man smiled a lot and seemed to have a good sense of humor. He shared some small talk with Reiner before laughing loudly. The way he laughed made me feel a lot less intimidated by him. It was like, this giant of a man had a human touch to his character. He seemed like a nice and very friendly guy. When he turned to smile my way, I found myself smiling back at him with ease. “Right, let’s get down to it. We want to improve agents’ survival rate on missions and my secretary here believes that talking to you and asking you some questions will help us achieve that. So please, answer all questions truthfully. There’s no need to hold anything back,” Reiner explained. “I never hold anything back,”
My place is around here but…“It’s ok. There’s no need for you to do that. I can get back by myself. We don’t have the same destination anymore so there’s no need for you to go out of your way to drive me back. Thanks for the offer, though…” I declined politely before my eyes shifted to his large hand that was still holding the door close. Do I have to enter into a wrestling match with him before I can open that door? “You’re right…” Reiner said softly. To my surprise, he removed his hand from the door and gave me some space. Well, it wasn’t like I could win against him in a wrestling match. “Please send Queen my regards…and I’m sorry for being in your way all this time,” I said before I smiled a tight smile at him. Before he could say anything, I opened the door and walked out of his office. That night, I didn’t sleep well at all. I wondered what Reiner wanted from me and why he was suddenly acting kind towards me again. Thinking about it wasn’t going to give me any answers. I
“That’s something that you can help me study and while you’re doing that, I’m going to reach out to some experts in this field to ask for their advice. Training courses need to be properly designed. We have money so we can invest in this,” Reiner said confidently. “Ok. Let’s do that. I’ll help you look into what team trainings we have now,” I agreed readily. “Don’t wander around the training grounds or facilities on your own. If you want to go, let me know and I’ll come with you,” Reiner ordered seriously. “Ok. Sure, I’ll let you know…” I promised. Just like that we both focused our efforts on working together to crack the problem in front of us. Despite the unfavorable development that I witnessed between Reiner and his fiancée and my confused involvement with Charles, our work wasn’t affected. Thankfully so. Reiner seemed more open to me at work, and he turned out to be a very supportive boss. How he worked with me was very different from the dynamic that I had working with Edw
“Ok…” I mumbled. The line clicked dead, and I looked around the still-empty office as I tried to collect my thoughts. Don’t panic, Natalia. Reiner will be back soon…How soon? The expert is literally on the way here right at this instant. I looked at the clock hanging from the wall and found out that the expert was perfectly on time. Where is Reiner now?!“Knight? Where you are right now?” I asked after the line connected.“I’m in the car. I’m on the way back to the office,” Reiner replied.“How much longer?” I asked anxiously. “10 minutes or a little more…depending on the traffic,” Reiner replied casually. That’s a long time, isn’t it? “Ok. The expert is taking the elevator up here as we speak,” I reported. “Good luck, Natalia…” Reiner said. I stared at my mobile phone after Reiner had suddenly hung up on me. Guess someone just threw me under the bus here. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. The expert is here!This is it, I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and took
“I didn’t know that you were an expert at the things that I asked you about. You must know so much about all this,” I said in appreciation. “Not really. I just know a bit more than the other people…” Charles said humbly. “Knight is taking a while. I guess, I’ll get you some of the cookies that I got after all. I sort of feel guilting for making you wait without offering you anything,” I said. “Don’t worry about that. You talking to me is more than enough,” Charles said with a smile. “Well…” I murmured. “Sit down with me. Why are you still standing up?” Charles said invitingly as he patted the empty space on the sofa next to where he was seated. “Thanks…” I said softly before sitting down on the sofa. There were so many things that I wanted to ask Charles that I didn’t know where to start. I wanted to ask him about what he knew about Reiner, and I also wanted to ask him things related to the project. “You look quite tired. Have you been getting enough sleep lately?” Charles ask
Reiner didn’t seem to like it that I knew Charles or that I was a little close to him, but he was engaged to someone else and wanted me to go away. Charles was interested in me, but I haven’t decided to progress with our relationship yet. Mostly because of my lingering feelings for Reiner. How do I explain such a messed-up situation? The answer was simple: I couldn’t clear up anything. Amazing. Truly amazing. …The hand of the clock is ticking by so slowly today. My eyes stared at the hand of the clock as the seconds ticked by. Was it just me or was the clock ticking much slower right now than on other days? I hated myself and how rotten I felt inside. I knew that it was my fault and not the clock’s fault that time was slipping by so painfully slowly. Since the two men went into Reiner’s office, all I was able to achieve was moving my ass from the sofa to the chair behind my desk. From this location, I could stare up at the clock on the opposite wall like I had nothing else better
**A week later**Although it had been decided that Charles would help out on the project, things didn’t work out quite as I had expected. At first, I thought that he would be spending time working with Reiner and me at the office on the project. However, as it turned out, Charles working on the project meant that he would engage in a few calls with Reiner to give advice each week and if required, he would come to meet Reiner in person. I wasn’t sure if this was the original plan or if this was what Reiner decided afterwards and I had no way of finding out. However, from this arrangement, I had next to no exposure to Charles at all for the project. It wasn’t like I was eager to meet or talk to Charles in the office. After all, I could meet him at the bar or elsewhere if I wanted to. It was just a shame that I couldn’t learn more from him even though he was acting as the expert on our project. Of course, it would be a suicide mission to voice this concern to Reiner because he definite