Three

“Are you even listening, Drake?” the slightly annoyed man he knew as his closest friend asked and Drake almost lost it.

“I told you, I don’t wish to talk about it. It’s all in the past, you of all people should realize that.” Drake was already contemplating getting off the car but he knew how crazy his friend of many years, Alex, was about people being mannerless.

“That past is back, Drake.” His newly styled hair which made him look, for a moment, like a gentleman from the Victorian age, danced a little as Alex bobbed his head slightly to buttress his point.

Pinching his nose bridge already, Drake swore inwardly at the fact that he was yet to figure out how to successfully get Alex off his back concerning the issue.

He sighed deeply as Alex practically breathed down his neck, still expecting that response that Drake would be anything but truthful about.

“Listen…” He adjusted the cufflink on the left which had taken a strange posture. “I know you are trying to watch out for me, but Amelia is really a topic I don’t want to touch. Just hearing her name makes me crawl.”

Alex’s face wore a look that said he knew it was time to give up the topic. As the dark skinned man relaxed into the car’s leather seat, he quickly wore a frown and asked, “Isn’t your present secretary named Amelia?”

“Is she?” Drake pondered and he realized he never really used his secretary’s name to address her. “Are you sure?”

The image of the tall, slim, eager woman who always did a little too much swung into his head.

“I hired her, remember?”

“Even when you knew her name is Amelia?” Drake shifted to glare a Alex accusingly and that caused the back seat to creak a bit.

“You never told me the name makes you want to spend all day throwing up,” Alex retorted and flashed his friend a grin afterwards.

As Drake narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his phone started to ring and one look at the caller ID, the CEO of IC. inc was already groaning.

“Who is it?” Alex tried to crane his head.

“Some girl with whom I had a session with last night,” Drake dryly replied and at the same time, he ensured his phone was in the airplane mode. “We should go upstairs and prepare for our meeting.”

"Sure, I’ll ring your secretary up right now and let her know,” Alex announced and soon, he was out of the car.

The mention of his secretary roused thoughts that were related with earlier Amelia topic. As he pondered on what to do about the whole thing, he looked past the rolled window and the first sight his eyes caught was this particular lady who stood out in he crowd thanks to her hairstyle.

Strangely interested in the woman, Drake found his suit trouser taking a small slide on the seat as he shifted to have his eyes zoom in on her. With a firm stance, she seemed to be taking in the building and she sure did look amazed.

As her head craned in a way Drake couldn’t really decipher, he wondered who she was. Her face wasn’t so visible but he knew she was a new face. No matter how busy or snobbish he might seem, he actually knew, if not all, most of the faces working under him and that was thanks to a small game he and Alex played whenever they got bored or tired of work.

Drake observed her dressing. All she had on was a normal suit and a nicely fitting office trouser, he took a guess and pictured a sleeveless white top beneath.

But what did he know? She could have decided to come to work with only a suit covering her upper body.

A small knock on the window of the door opposite his got him back into his own world but Drake wasn’t keen on forgetting the potential new face. Hurriedly, he got down and asked Alex from where he was, “Hey dude, that woman staring at the building, does she work here?”

Alex looked towards the direction and at that instant, the woman briefly looked back. Just briefly and Drake already had the picture of her pressed lips in his head. “Oh, that should be the new employee who is to resume today. Why do you ask?”

“Which department?”

“She has not been assigned a post as far as I know.”

“Oh,” Drake simply said and gave a small nod which led his head to look in that direction again. But she was gone.

“Is there a problem?” Alex asked concernedly and Drake shook his head.

“Not at all. I just think I might have found a solution to my problem.” Alex’s querying brows did not pass by the tall man who wore a small smile on his thin lips. “Shall we go in then?”

“Sure.”

As it were their routine, the two men made for the back of the building and soon, after a long elevator ride, they were on the ninetieth floor. As they both got out, his secretary welcomed them with a smile and soon, her hands were directing them towards the small lounge which was the only thing that occupied the floor.

Tearing his eyes off the arraign of cookies that he expected to be accompanied by coffee, Drake said to his secretary, “Ring up the recruiting team and have them send Anna Hendrick up here.”

Alex had fished out her name from the database on his iPad on their way up.

“Sir?” Amelia’s hands which were eager to be as welcoming as possible dropped to her sides and with pressed lips she looked into Drake’s eyes with some kind of strange plea beneath them.

Drake then wondered if that was how her light blue eyes always looked or if, for some reason, hopefully not psychic, she was able to determine what was going to happen after the arrival of Anna Hendrick.

“You heard me. You should know better than questioning my command Amelia.” As it was his first time using her name, he noticed she was affected greatly by it. She suddenly lost a bit of balance and with heated cheeks, she agreed to do as he said. “After…”

His voice called her back and almost shyly, she looked up at him.

“After, go bring a part of those papers which we are yet to record.”

Thankfully, she did not question his strange request. But Alex did.

“Don’t tell me you want to have fun with her Drake.”

Drake waved off his statement with after a majestic stance was obtained. “You know I don’t have fun with my staff. That’s a core principle of mine.”

“Well…” Alex made his way to one of the black leather couches. “You should consider yourself lucky that your female staff do not try to seduce you.”

“I have standards Alex and more than ninety percent of my female staff don’t meet it.

A scoff came from his friend who turned his head swiftly to the side as Drake met his eyes with a faint glare. Drake, whose suit was already taken off and hanging over his arm, made for the seat beside Alex but the gentle purr of the elevator on the other side of the room interrupted his steps.

Drake already knew it wasn’t Amelia, her steps would have been more urgent had she been the one. So, that left him with the other option- Anna Hendrick.

The mystery she successfully attached to her entrance did a good job of rousing his curiosity and he was about to walk a few steps forward to meet her.

“Hello, I am Anna Hendrick.”

Her voice softness wasn’t deniable. It might have been strange to say it out loud, but it felt like he was tasting candy when she spoke and that prompted him to finally take a full look at her face.

“Hello Anna. I am Drake,” he said sternly from afar and continued his review. Her round face had two sides to it. The cute one and the stubborn one… that discovery interested him.

Her bold, dark eyes didn’t show any sign of being mesmerized by anything. Instead it held a firm look. Or better put, an angry look.

Drake liked that. He could read fiestiness and he loved that already.

“Uh…” Alex got up from where he was with a small querying frown directed at Drake whose smirked widened. “Please, have a seat Miss Hendrick.”

“Thank you.” Anna Hendrick was already taking silent steps towards the arranged seats when Amelia dashed into the room, document upon document stacked close to her chest.

“Oh good, Amelia is here.” Drake’s beaming eyes briefly connected with Anna’s before he said, voice all deep and without emotion, “Amelia, you are fired.”

“What?” The woman shrieked and the papers in her hands fell carelessly.

Ignoring the woman succesfully, he turned regally to face Anna Hendrick whose nicely shaped brows were now arched. “Miss Hendrick… you…”

He walked towards her and when he could feel her presence immensely, he stopped and looked down into her eyes which were still looking fiesty.

“You are my new secretary Miss Hendrick.” Drake smiled grandly as he finally got a different emotion from her glaring eyes.

“And your first task for the day is to pick up my date from her house.”