Chapter 5

~ IMOGEN MARK ~

I had woken up this morning as early as I could. I couldn't bear to get into trouble with that asshole of a boss. 

I had worn a knee-length grey pencil skirt with a black shirt tucked into it and a grey blazer, with a pair of matching white stiletto heels and a white handbag which had fake diamond designs around it. My shoulder-length blonde hair had been dyed into black last night with hair extension to make it fall all the way down to just above my butt. My thin lips were covered in thick wine lipstick, making my electric blue eyes seem like they were shining brighter than ever. 

I didn't bother to depend on Nikita for a ride to work but hired a taxi driver to pick me up every morning.

With a grin on, I patted myself on the back for achieving my goal of arriving early to work today.

I strutted into the company. "Good morning, Sarah." I winked at her. 

She widened her eyes,obviously shocked to see me at this early hour of the morning. "Imogen?" She rubbed her eyes. "It truly is you." 

I smiled smugly and got into the elevator. It took me to the 68th floor. After the doors reopened, I strutted out of it and opened the lock of our office door. 

With a proud smile still o , I got in. My smile dropped when I realized that Hames was already in his seat. My eyebrows furrowed at that. "Wh–what?!" I exclaimed. My jaw dropped. 

"Miss Mark?" He looked equally surprised to see me. 

"How are you earlier than me?" 

"I'm a very busy man and wouldn't waste my time sleeping away. I see you tried your best to come early this time. Good job." Was that really a compliment from him I just heard? 

I regained my composure. "Good morning, sir." I greeted politely. Jeez, when did I ever become this polite? 

He only hummed a response and opened his laptop, hitting its keys really fast. 

I hurried to my office and hung my bag on my bag holder, taking out all the necessary files from it and my office tablet. 

I received a call from Hames through the intercom. "Bring me coffee." He said and immediately ended it before I could reply. 

I strolled out of my office, casting a glance at him before I left, making sure to leave the door open, then hurried to the kitchen.

I prepared coffee and poured it into two mugs. One for myself, obviously. 

I returned to the office and placed the tray on his table. 

He peered at both mugs for a while then cast a glance at me, picked one up then dismissed me with a wave of his hand. If I had expected a 'thank you' then I was probably dumb and hopeless. 

I retrieved the second mug from the tray, strided to the door to lock it then returned to my office. I plopped myself on the chair then spent the next few minutes soothing myself with the magnificent taste of coffee. Its hotness burnt my tongue just the way I loved it. 

I set the mug aside and took my office laptop out to start working on it. I ensured that I had cancelled all his appointments or meetings for today. I heaved a sigh when I confirmed that I had indeed cancelled them all. I couldn't bear the torture of accidentally not cancelling at least one of them. 

I finalized his schedule for next week, fixing some of today's appointments to next week. I sent the schedule to his email address then printed it out. A silent groan escaped me when I realized that I had to see his damn frigid face again. 

Nevertheless, I rose to my feet, left my office and walked up to him. He was on the phone with whoever was on the other end of the line. 

Noticing my presence, he signalled for me to take my seat. I sat on the chair opposite to his. 

"Amanda, it'll be lovely to see you but—" I guessed he was trying to sound nice but it didn't last as a frown formed on his face.

Silence. 

"I can't—" 

Silence.

"Okay, okay, fine." He groaned. "I'll fix a date when I'm less busy." 

I think I heard squealing noises from the person on the other side of the phone but he only rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you soon too." He scoffed, ending the call and slapped his phone to the table. "What do you want?" He asked, still grouchy from the phone call he had. 

This is your schedule for next week. I shifted it to his side of the table. He glanced at it then picked it up. 

Just when I was about to stand, he stopped me. "Wait, Miss Mark." 

I sat back in my seat, casting a questioning look at him.

"I—uh…" he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck. 

"Do you need something, sir?" I asked.

He stopped scratching the back of his neck and his cold look returned. "Obviously, yes." He hissed. How rude?

I pursed my lips with a nod, waiting for what he had to say.

"I'll need you to re-fix my schedule." He shifted the schedule back to me then passed me a blank paper and a pen.

A little perplexed, I took the paper and pen.

"Write. Remind me to visit my Mom next week Wednesday, to send a present to my cousin's daughter for her birthday party, to call the interior designer to redecorate some rooms in my house." Awkward. "I also have to change the equipments in my gym." It was evident that he used the gym well enough. I was writing it as he spoke, trying to write faster to keep up with his talking speed. "Also, you'll have to help me get new exclusive cloth designs from my fashion designer on Monday. Lastly for now, fix a free hour next week for me to go on a date with Amanda Hart." He cleared his throat. 

I traced the head of the pen on the things I had written down. I never really did personal-related things for Kade so this was quite new to me. 

"I forget these things so it's better you include them in my schedule." He explained and I nodded in understanding. 

"Is that all?" I asked. "For now?" I added. 

"No. You're following me to the date with Amanda Hart." 

"Why?" I didn't mean to sound rude but it came out faster than I could control it. 

A line appeared between his brows. "Because you're my Security-slash-Personal assistant so I have the right to ask you to do these things. You're not going to disagree, are you, Miss Mark?" The deep tone he said my name with possessed this threat which warned you that you had no other option but to agree to what he wanted. 

"I won't." I agreed, holding back my frown.

"Good. Arrange those into my schedule for next week and get back to work." 

***