Chapter 2

Raya

I straightened my eavesdropping posture when another employee suddenly walked past, and I knocked on the door.

"It's Raya ma."

She kept silent, not saying anything and I walked in, closing the door behind me.

"Why are you just coming now?" She asked, picking up the box of coffee and pastries that I placed in front of her.

"I didn't know you were going to come so early."

She rolled her eyes, "what about the pop-up store?"

Her friend interrupted me before I could reply, "I'll take my leave then."

Mrs Carson nodded and she left.

"So, I'm listening."

She had the croissant in her hand already and was munching on it.

"It's going well, ma. Most of the decorations and arrangements have been set up and..."

"Well, gather all the information you have and transfer it to... Oh right, you might not have heard this, but you'll be getting transferred soon. So, to prepare for that, gather all the information you've mentioned and get ready."

I stood there for a while, unsure what to say.

"Well, that'll be all," she said, and I didn't fail to notice the smirk she sent my way right before I closed the door behind me.

So I was going to be transferred.

Martha came up to meet me. Immediately, I walked out into the worker's space, "everything alright?"

I shrugged, "I think I'm getting transferred"

"What?" She lowered her voice when she noticed that people had turned to look at her. She immediately dragged me to the lounge where I sat on a couch.

"Really?"

I nodded.

"How? Why?"

"I don't know either, but I think Mr Sterling needs a new secretary."

"Mr. Sterling? Which of them?"

"Mr. Micheal probably"

"But I didn't hear anything about him letting go of his former secretary. In fact, he still sent Carla on some errands this morning."

"Then who?"

We both sighed after thinking of an answer but not finding any rational one, and I went to the coffee machine there to make myself some coffee.

"I should get back to work," I said after finishing that.

"Sure," Martha said, and we both went back to our desks. I, to gather information on the pop-up store project that was going on alongside other projects and I went to Ms Carson's office when she called for me in the afternoon.

"Get me another coffee from the café"

I nodded and went out. As she preferred café coffees to handmade ones made by me in the office lounge, I always had to go out to get coffee for her most of the time alongside pastries and food and I was tired of it, but had to do it anyway.

I hurried across the street to the café I had gotten her pastries and drink from earlier this morning and I got her an iced Americano this time with some cake again.

On my way in, my phone dinged indicating that a new message had come in from someone probably important, and I took it out to see that it was the designer of the pop-up store, which made me huddle the coffee box and pastry that I had in both hands into my other hand.

I had to read the message and was doing just that when a tall muscled figure I hadn't seen earlier suddenly collided with me, or maybe it was I who did into him. Anyway, that was not the problem. The problem was the iced Americano that I had been carrying which was now seeping into his white shirt.

I had the remaining cup in my hand with its contents and the cake on the floor.

"Oh my God, oh my God, I'm so sorry, I..." I wasn't sure who it was, as the person was looking quite new but also quite familiar, and I glanced around frantically in an attempt to come up with what to do.

"What the f*ck?!" The guy said in response, looking very angry and pissed, and I cowered a bit, mostly because I was at fault.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Don't you see where you're going?"

"I..."

Before I could comprehend what was about to happen, I felt his hand brush against mine as he grabbed the remaining cup of coffee from my hand and poured it right on my chest.

I yelped, not only because of the audacity but also because of the coldness, "f*ck! What the f*ck?!"

Everyone's eyes that were in the lobby were on us now, and I was fuming quite badly.

"An eye for an eye. There. And... You might want to cover that sight up" He glanced at my shirt which had turned transparent due to the liquid and proceeded to walk away, but not before dumping the cup at my feet. I tried to restrain myself from going after him.

Even though I had poured the coffee on him, it had been a mistake. He had no right to pour the coffee intentionally at me. I immediately covered my chest and hurried to the office.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Martha asked the minute I walked into the office and I went straight into the restroom where I took my shirt off, she was right behind me as expected.

"Some a**hole downstairs dumped coffee on me just because I accidentally spilled the same coffee on him. Like, yes, I wasn't in the right but..."

"Oh my God, you're the one."

"What?"

"The news is going around that a lady bumped into Maxwell Sterling and spilled coffee on his shirt"

"Maxwell Sterling?"

"Yup. The youngest son of Mr. Sterling"

"What?!" I was beyond stunned but also validated now. That was why he looked quite familiar.

"But why is he here?"

"No one knows. Gosh, he's so hot and..."

She stopped when she saw my glare, "No matter how hot he is, he's also an a**hole."

And a big one at that.