Chapter 3 : Just Another New Girl

**Callan

"But Mr. Arison really is a tough nut to crack," I overheard Rosie say casually. "He's so cold to all of us that most of us are afraid to meet his eyes. I bet half of the staff couldn't even tell you what he looks like because they're too afraid to look at him and piss him off."

I scoffed as I rounded the corner. This wasn't the first time I'd heard my subordinates gossiping about how mean I was—though I would disagree with the term 'mean.' 'Tough,' maybe.

Besides, looking someone in the eye was a display of trust just as much as it was a display of dominance. It just depended on your mindset.

"I guess I'll just have to decide for myself what kind of person he is whenever Mr. CEO finally shows me his face," an unfamiliar voice chimed in. The new girl.... She sounded nonchalant, uninspired by Rosie's words.

I stepped into the break room, and Jeffery, my personal assistant, halted just behind me.

I cleared my throat. "Perhaps you'd like to save the speculations, and get back to work, Ms. New Girl."

She swiveled quickly, almost gasping in surprise. Of course, it's embarrassing for anyone when you're caught talking about a person by the person you're talking about. However, the surprise on the new girl's face quickly shifted into something deeper.

Her eyes were a bright and riveting green, her hair sleek and chestnut brown. The square neckline of her top accentuated her collarbone, elongating her neck, and her high-waisted slacks emphasized the curve of her hips. She had good style, which was good, considering who she was working for.

Admittedly, I was surprised by her beauty, but many good-looking women had come through these doors only to be upset that making money actually meant putting in hard work. As far as I knew, she was just another new girl like them. She might not even last long enough for the nickname to wear off.

Suddenly, she ducked her head in a polite bow. "Oh, uh, Mr...." she glanced up at me quickly.

"Arison?" I prompted.

"Right," she said, coughing lightly and straightening back up. Her eyes lingered on me uncertainly, curiously. "Sorry."

Rosie's face was bright red, surely embarrassed from being caught gossiping once again, and Jonas was silent and straight as a board, refusing to look up at me.

'Why did I even come in here?' I asked myself.

"Jeffery, could you bring me a cup of coffee to my desk? You know how I like it," I said, turning to leave the awkwardly still room. "Well, get back to work." I waved a hand passively behind me and left.

A couple of days after the break room event, I passed the new girl in the hall once more. Her gaze was pointed and relentless. There was a fire in them unlike any that I'd seen before.

Either she'd sided with the rest of the employees that disliked me, or I'd already rubbed her the wrong way during our first encounter.

But even if she had passion, it didn't mean she would be good at this position. I would just have to challenge her and see what she was made of.

***

The new girl stared at me during the whole Wednesday meeting.

Her gaze was very… intense… and a bit distracting. But it wasn't the kind of intensity anyone wants to be stared at with. Her look was full of anger, maybe contempt even.

Really, what had I done to deserve such a look? And why was it bothering me so much?

"Jeffery, can you pull up the new girl's file? I have a couple of questions about her," I said as we made our way back to my office.

"I'll have to contact HR...." Jeffery said, giving me the signature side-eye that meant he didn't really want to do it.

I clapped him on the shoulder. "Say hello to Lisa for me then."

We parted ways. When I finally reached my office, I collapsed into my comfortable, worn-in leather chair and closed my eyes. Imagining the silent peace of stars, I finally found enough deep breaths to loosen the tightness in my shoulders.

SoulMode International, my grandmother's fashion consulting and managing firm baby, was both my reason for getting up in the morning and the reason I was too stressed to get the proper amount of sleep at night.

My father was entrusted with SoulMode some years ago. Grandmother had run it for a good chunk of her life until she started having memory problems due to her age. My father had been active COO as soon as he'd turned thirty and naturally moved to CEO and president when my grandma, Eleanor, decided to step down.

Everything had been going smoothly. The business had been booming, and my father had onboarded many new clients, even having to turn some away because he couldn't find the talent quickly enough to keep up with demand. I was finishing up my Master's Degree and preparing to take a position within the company.

Then everything went to shit.

Nearly two years ago, my mother died unexpectedly in a car accident on the way to pick up my father at the airport. My father was slung into a deep, deep depression, and the company quickly began to fall apart.

Though he was clinging on to his role in the company for the sake of his own mother for two years after my mother's death, he was quick to pass it off to me as soon as I turned thirty.

Now, for the last year, I've been scrounging up SoulMode's broken pieces, working me and my team double-time to reclaim our shining-star status.

But it was exhausting.

KNOCK KNOCK

I shot up in my seat.

"Dammit, Jeffery," I muttered, seeing him grinning evilly in my doorway.

"I got what you wanted, but, I gotta ask, you know, as your only friend—"

"I have friends," I shot back defensively. "I just went out with them last weekend, remember?"

Jeffery smirked and entered my office, dropping a thin file on my desk. I swiped it up and began to read.

"She seems pretty impressive," Jeffery sighed. "I hope you're not trying to find a reason to fire her already. She's just getting started."

I rolled my eyes. "Who's the boss here, buddy?"

Isa Loveless. Ivy League. Graduated Magna Cum Laude. Co-founded Coral Investments App with Thomas Inglid where she had been working for the past four years.

"She had a pretty good gig there. I wonder what made her come here?" I wondered aloud.

Jeffery sat himself in the armchair in the conversation area in the corner of my office. "I don't know, but I could probably find out."

"What are you, a P.I.? Don't do that. I'm not trying to stalk her. I'm just trying to figure her out," I remarked, closing the file and tossing it back on my desk. I wasn't even sure which one of my executives had hired her. I never handled that sort of thing myself anymore. I didn't have time.

"Why bother?"

I shrugged. I wasn't sure. There was something in her eyes that did bother me.

"Call her up here," I said, surprising myself.

Jeffery narrowed his eyes at me. "Sir, are you in love already?"

I gave him a blank stare. "Nevermind then," I grumbled. "Just… send her the budget spreadsheets from the last fiscal year so she can familiarize herself with our system. You know… just in case she makes it more than a month and a half. That's all I was going to say."

"Sure," Jeffery said with a grin. "You got it, boss."

***

I'd only ever had one recurring dream before.

When I was young, probably around ten, I dreamed about four-foot tall fire-breathing turtles coming onto the back porch of my family's country vacation home in Colorado. I followed them outside to a circus in a giant hollowed-out hole at the foot of the mountains. I watched the show from a bridge that went across the hole.

The only thing different about each of the three times I had the dream was who fulfilled the role of the ringmaster in the center, who always looked up at me over their shoulder and smiled. It was someone from my class, a teacher, and a cousin I'd only visited once a year for Christmas.

It was surprising to have another recurring dream, but what was weirder was that I didn't even remember the first dream until after I awoke from the second.

That and… the new girl was there.

We ran up a fire escape, laughing. She pointed up at the stars that swirled around us. I felt… relaxed standing next to her. We kissed…

I flipped over in my bed, burying my face into the cool side of my pillow.

'What an inappropriate dream to have about a colleague,' I silently scolded myself.

The dream was random, blurry. It didn't make a lot of sense. And why her?

But I had to admit, it sparked something in me. I couldn't remember the last time I let loose and had fun. I couldn't remember the last time I kissed someone or what it felt like to intertwine my fingers with someone else's.

I popped my eyes open before I allowed myself to dig a fantasy hole. I didn't have time for that.

Moments later, the twangy guitar of my alarm sounded, and I rolled out of bed for my morning jog, hoping I could outrun any more strange encounters with the new girl in my mind.