Chapter- 02

"Family!!! Love!!!!??? Nonsense, absolute nonsense!!!" Ethan punches against the table, hurting his knuckles again— he shakes his palm incessantly, as he begins to trot all around his substantial office room.

"Who? Who the hell is he?? Why would he appear out of nowhere and dare to lecture me, The Ethan Smith about love, emotions and more of similar jokes after all these years again?" Enraged, he sweeps away all the vocational papers put on the Caramel desk before him.

He sways over that aforementioned desk, putting both his arms over it, closing his eyes to regain his serenity— Ryan Miller.

As soon as Ethan closes his eyes, the picture of Ryan Miller zooms off at the back of his mind.

"AHHHHH!!!" He pulls his hairs, before a thin stream of tear escapes from his right eye. Despondency taking over him, he crouches on the floor, "Why…why did it have to be someone like him?" He sighs, before his eyes fall at the thing beside him— Ryan's green handkerchief.

Ethan lay his hold on the piece of embroidery, crushing it ruthlessly, "Pass from sight!! Just disappear, you idiot!!" He puts his arm up to chuck it away, only to spare the fabric another look which makes him change his mind.

Ethan, with quivering hands, grips the fabric tighter than he was, and puts it in one of the pockets of his pants.

***

"Penelope Russell??"

Johnson nods, "Hm. Ethan met her in an audition for models. Penelope is also going to be the newest ambassador for LOVESICK. Ethan and Penelope have been dating for four and a half years now."

"That's- that is ridiculous," Ryan endeavours on bridling his fit of laughter, which results in absolute futility.

"What is ridiculous, Mr. Miller?"

"Ethan sa-"

"Uh-" Johnson chips in before Ryan can draw a conclusion to his words, "Do not ever call him by his name. Ethan absolutely hates it when employees whom he sustains, does not address him with enough esteem. And once he is mad," Johnson looks to his left, he looks to his right to make certain Ethan is not nearby, and then whispers, covering his mouth with his left palm, "He is a monster when he is mad."

Ryan sighs, "Well what I wanted to say is, Ethan- oh, sorry! I mean, sir says he does not believe in love and that it is a disillusion, and yet proceeds to date a woman. Isn't that fairly hypocritical?" A trail of grins plays at the end of Ryan's lopsided lips.

"I would like to not comment on it. Maybe Ethan has his own reasons?" Johnson fixes his stance, beginning to walk away from that picture hanging from the wall accentuated in nude contours, "From all these years what I have concluded is that Penelope is that golden goose for Ethan, who lays golden eggs. Now, if Ethan is sincere about his feelings towards Penelope or not, I will not comment."

Ryan chooses to stay mum since he feels he should not be too soon to judge without having the bare knowledge about his haughty boss or his past. Although Ryan feels an unusual urge to submerge into Ethan's past and fathom things, those, as of now, appear to be an enigma to him.

"Come this way, Mr. Miller," Johnson takes the lead and walks some steps ahead of the brown haired boy, "Here! Come in," he veers towards the right, "This is Ethan's meeting room, take note of this room very well and register in your mind the directions since it could be a little confusing at times. Ethan organises his meetings right here, so this is probably the room you will come across often."

"This is so…so big!!" Ryan exclaims, for he has never come across any room paralleling the size of his own entire house, "And this is just his meeting room??" He says, with his eyes widening with astonishment.

Johnson chuckles slowly, "Did you not see how huge the mansion is when you walked in it for the interview?"

"Umm," Ryan purse his lips, "Honestly, I did not take notice of it since I was too nervous and was worrying about whether I would get this job or not at that time."

"Anyway, do you see that big screen over there, attested to the wall? You will often need to access that screen, and there, in that shelf you can find the projector," drawing the door behind him, Johnson thereafter moves ahead, "Come. Now let me introduce you to Ethan's drawing room."

Johnson, with Ryan, passes across several wallpapers put on the walls— Ryan could not interpret why in the world would someone need disparate textures and wallpapers for all of the walls in such a huge mansion. To Ryan Miller, such extravagance was only for show and was parallel to squandering.

"Here, this is Ethan's drawing room, Mr. Miller."

"Uh- Johnson," before assessing the drawing area, Ryan hinders Johnson from proceeding any further, "You asked me to call you by your name, so I would prefer that over Mr. Miller, too. As I have already stated, I am really unprofessional, unprofessionalism runs in my blood. So, getting addressed by such a formal designation sounds too awkward to me. I will prefer it if you can only call me as Ryan," Ryan displays an affable smile.

Johnson returns a similar sort of smile, "I will keep that in mind, Ryan!"

They walk to the backyard of Ethan's mansion, where Johnson introduces the restroom and community hall— where Ethan often makes arrangements for his success parties to be held with enormous grandeur.

"Sir is really rich!" Without any contemplation, Ryan jabbers those words, right before realising what he just said, "I- I mean…"

"I understand, Ryan! It's not a big deal, relax," the black haired older man directs at the front, "There, let me show you the pool arena."

"Pool??" Amusement washes over Ryan for a second time that day, "He owns a private pool?"

"Are you fond of pools? Ethan uses this pool usually when he is exhausted at the end of tiring days. There is also a space for playing monopoly. Ethan usually calls Penelope over or his college friends to play with him,"

Afterwards showing Ryan the pool and the monopoly space, Johnson then begins to recur inside the pastel green building, "I shall introduce to you the restroom now and also to Ethan's bedro-"

"Uh!!" Ryan intervenes, "Why would you introduce his bedroom to me?" He blinks a few times before returning to complacency.

"Oh don't worry. It's nothing like what you are thinking!! Honestly speaking, Ethan prefers working in his bedroom more than his office. He loves to develop updates, and draw the outlines of LOVESICK on his bed. So, his bedroom is probably one of those rooms you need to be familiar with the most."

Johnson thereafter introduces Ethan's bedroom, his dining room, his walk-in closet, his walk-in freezer and winds up the introductory episode with introducing Ethan's garage to Ryan.

"So, that is Ethan Smith's paradise, Ryan. Do you like it?" Johnson speaks, a smile of complacency attending his pair of lips.

Ryan's jaw passes from the state of being agape, "Paradise!!"

"Umm. Paradise."

"Well," Regaining Ryan's lucidity, he voices, "Paradise is not equal to luxury. It might be sir's heaven, more like a fool's paradise. But things like these will never tempt Ryan Miller."

Johnson's deportment spoke volumes about his impression on Ryan through his smile, "Then, what is Ryan Miller's paradise?"

"Love. My paradise lies in and within love. I believe anything could be won over with a little bit of love."

Johnson scratches the back of his nape, "You and Ethan are polar opposites. I have no idea how you two are going to work out for real!!"

Ryan brings his head down, staring at the parchment hued coat stained with coffee blotches, pressed under his own arm— "Work out, huh?"

In Ethan Smith's world everything is organised, everything is in order, he is a worshipper of discipline. Whereas, in Ryan Miller's world everything is disorderly, jumbled, disarrayed, indisciplined.

"One month," Ryan smiles warmly to himself when bringing his boss's coat closer to his chest.

"One month?"

Ryan nods deftly, "One month. I have only one month to find out all about Ethan Smith."

***

"Ethan," before trudging into Ethan's office, Johnson gives a modest knock on the door.

"Come in," Ethan's voice is heard from inside, although terribly dim.

Johnson, with a loitering Ryan behind him, walks into the room— only to discern a dull Ethan, fidgeting with his paper weight, and salient papers dispersed all around the room.

Ryan stands gracelessly, watching Johnson gaining in on a solemn Ethan,

"Ethan, I have shown Ryan around your mansion. He says he likes it."

"Good!" Ryan notices clearly that Ethan is nearly robbed of any generosity.

Ryan spares a look at Johnson, and then at his boss, Ethan Smith,

"You take everyone for granted, don't you?"

Johnson is taken aback with surprise at such an audacity of the younger, and immediately enough he beckons to Ryan to keep his mouth shut, but Ryan purposefully ignores,

"You asked Johnson to show me around this majestic palace-like mansion, including giving brief descriptions of each and every corner. You asked Johnson again to make a weird schedule for me and to abide by it. Don't you think you at least owe a little gesture of appreciation to him? For example two little words like 'thank you'?" Ryan pulls his jaws in, without realising that subconsciously what he is doing is provoking the sleeping demon.

Ethan has had enough, he exhibits the dismay through his face. But, on that day, weirdly enough, Ethan chooses rather not to react against anyone or anything. He gathers his belongings, and heads to the egress,

"Abide by the routine. Sunday to Saturday, 9.00 a.m to 12.00 a.m. There shall be no change. Alright, Mr. Miller?" Landing an unsettling elbow over Ryan's shoulder, he commands before leaving.

Ryan watches the physique of his superior, Ethan Smith disappear into the corridor which is not visible from Ethan's office room. The brunette puts up his right arm in the air, feigning an act of throwing a large rock at Ethan's head.

***

"So, how was it, Ryan? Is your boss handsome?" Ryan's stepbrother, Lillian Miller, more popularly known as the 'ball of enthusiasm' after making a way for his older brother to come in, jumps over the brunette's nape, "I am so excited to learn all about your day!!" He says with a broad smile.

"Handsome my foot! That man is a devil," Ryan pulls his younger brother in his embosom, as Lillian's existence, to Ryan, feels like a stroke of luck for Ryan, amidst all his despondency. It would be wrong to say Ryan did not love his family, he did but he never accepted his parents as conventional offsprings do or would do. At the age of 7, Ryan was put into foster care by his biological mother— at the age of 9, he was adopted by a generous, altruistic couple. Therefore, Ryan could never accept his foster parents as his own parents, it did not matter how much he strived. Although, he loves his younger brother more than he loved anyone ever.

"Devil?"

"Devil!!" Ryan blabbers while taking his boots off, "Anyone who doesn't believe in love, is nothing more than a devil!"

Lillian begins to cackle sonorously, "You must be kidding me right now? Ethan Smith is literally the owner of the biggest dating app in Allentown. It is not possible that he doesn't believe in love, Ryan!! Think before you speak!!" He hits the temple of the brown locks.

"I thought like that too. Listen to me Lillian," Ryan places a hand over his younger brother's shoulder, "Get rid of such elusive thoughts that people are what they appear to be. We all are nothing but a facade, hm?"

Lillian faces away from Ryan at the mention of the word 'facade', a little while later however he returns, "So…are you going to work there or not?"

"One month!" Ryan tosses the coffee smeared parchment coloured coat at the top of Lillian's head.

"Huh?" Lillian brings the coat down from his head embellished with black strands of hair, "What do you mean by one month? And what is this thing?"

"Coat. Mr. Haughty's coat, over which I spilled coffee and now he wants me to wash this thing for him," Ryan rolls his eyes taking off the formal attire he managed to be in for the entire day somehow, "Mr. Haughty, also known as Mr. Ethan Smith appointed me as his Personal Assistant for only a month. It is the time period in which I have to prove him my worth. If I cannot prove myself, then he will throw me a farewell party. Ridiculous!!"

"For real?" Lillian begins to clap jeeringly, "So, what are you going to do within that one month? Have you thought about it?"

Ryan steals a sly look at Lillian through his peripherals before responding, "I am going to change his world!" He pulls his jaw and flashes a smirk,

"For the worse!!"