Chapter 3

Alessio:

“Do you want to tell me WHY I need a secretary Aunt Nermine?” I asked my aunt raising an eyebrow, my brown eyes looking into her blue ones.

“Because, every business man needs one, she’ll organize your meetings, your schedules, you know, that kind of thing” Aunt Nermine answered smiling at me. I raised an eyebrow at her, trying to understand what she was going on about this time, especially since we hired a new girl two months ago. The thing about her was that she had her shares at the company, but her husband, my uncle, Uncle Xander, worked on them-ish, for her, who was I kidding, none of them worked for anything, my best friend and I did all the work, they technically got the outcome of it. Not that I minded though. But she’s lately been hiring the weirdest secretaries, always claiming that the other wasn’t good enough, one was too ‘old fashioned’ for her liking, one was not as thin as she needed to be, one’s hair was too short, like seriously? What the hell?

“I have a secretary Aunt Nermine, that’s why I’m confused at why I’d need a new one” I said raising an eyebrow at her, she sighed tapping her fingers on her knee, a habit she had when she was getting impatient. Clearly not liking the fact that she wasn’t getting her way in this, but that wasn’t the case. I was just trying to understand what was happening here and why she suddenly needed me to get a new secretary.

“I know that you have a secretary Alessio, but she isn’t qualified for the job…”

“You hired her”

“Well, now I’m firing her” she said sassily, I raised an eyebrow at her and crossed my arms.

“What is it this time? Her eyebrows? Or her hair color?” I asked raising an eyebrow, amusement filling my voice, Aunt Nermine’s eyes widened and a sudden look of disgust covered her features making me frown in confusion.

“Her eyebrows aren’t done, are they? I knew it! Stupid Nermine! I hired a monster to the company!” Aunt Nermine began her rant, tears filling her eyes, making my eyes widen, if she started this way, then we’d be staying here until after midnight.

“Alright, alright, I understand Aunt Nermine, I won’t fire the girl though, I’ll let her be Nick’s secretary, how about that?” I asked my aunt who smiled.

“Alright! Then now that that’s done, I’ll speak to the new secretary tomorrow, and she can start with you next week” Aunt Nermine smiled clapping her hand, her mood changing a hundred and eighty degrees in less than a minute.

“Hold on, you already have on in mind?” I asked frowning in confusion, Aunt Nermine smiled, her thirty-two teeth showing in front of me making me chuckle and nod. As long as she was happy and out of my head for a while, then I was okay with whatever she was saying.

“Alright, can I at least have a meeting with her? Interview?”

“Oh, no, she’ll start work immediately, don’t worry, I got that part covered and I’ll be giving her the duties of everything I want her doing”

“You want her doing? Wasn’t she supposed to be MY secretary?” I asked raising an eyebrow, Aunt Nermine nodded smiling.

“Yes, of course, she is yours, but she has to be perfect, I want no mistakes and I don’t want you complaining about anything” Aunt Nermine said looking at me.

“I haven’t complained about anything from the other ten secretaries you hired in the past six months” I said raising an eyebrow, Aunt Nermine shook her head at me and got up.

“You haven’t complained out loud, but I’m your aunt, I can feel your discomfort” Aunt Nermine said blowing me a kiss before I had a chance to reply, running toward the door escaping my probable questions.

“Alright, Aunt Nermine, stay safe” I said walking toward her to the door, I kissed her cheek and closed the door after seeing her get inside her car which was parked inside the garden beside my car, in my opinion, it was a lot safer than keeping any of the cars outside, anyone could easily scratch the car and I wasn’t in the mood for a fuss every single day to check for the cameras. Therefore, keeping them inside was a lot safer in my opinion.

I pulled out my phone from my pocket and dialed Nick’s number wanting to tell him about the new news Aunt Nermine decided to throw in our faces, again.

“Let me guess, your aunt hired a new secretary” Nick answered the second he picked up the phone making me laugh, he chuckled on the other line and I smiled.

“How on Earth did you find out?” I asked.

“You Uncle Xander called and told me something about Aunt Nermine trying to find an excuse to fire Jennifer this time and I figured that you’d be a victim to a new secretary again” Nick teased and I chuckled heading to the kitchen and taking out the salmon I brought to prepare for myself as well as the vegetables.

“Well, yeah, that’s somewhat the case, but Jennifer wasn’t fired, I suggested that she be your secretary” I said quickly, Nick was one to like working alone, but I knew that he had eyes for the brunette, at least that’s what her hair color was last week, she was hired as a blonde.

“You did what?” I heard a few things falling on the floor on Nick’s part and frowned in confusion.

“Nick, did you break your house?” I asked closing the water tap as I was washing green and red pepper.

“Never mind the house! Why would you hire Jennifer as my secretary?” Nick asked, desperation filling his voice.

“Because if I didn’t then she would have been fired and your dreams to becoming her future husband would be falling down the drain” I said sarcastically.

“I said future boyfriend, I never mentioned marriage”

“One thing leads to another, anyway, she’s officially your secretary, good luck, and please no shagging in the office, it’s still a work place” I said chuckling.

“You’re a prick”

“And yet, you’re my best friend” I teased, I could hear Nick chuckling before we said our goodbyes and I looked at the ingredients I took out to start cooking, a smile forming on my face as I imagined the dish I wanted to make. Perks of having had a mother who was a chef, she taught me everything she knew as I grew up. I would’ve learned more too had she not passed away a few years ago, anyway, not the time to dwell or sob over this, I had salmon to make.

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“Yes Aunt Nermine?” I asked my aunt who decided to suddenly call at around ten at night, I just took a shower and was now getting ready for bed, well not really bed, but to relax before bed as I had work tomorrow.

“I was just going to ask, is there no way for us to fire Jennifer? Does she have to be Nick’s secretary?” She asked in a sweet voice making me shake my head.

“No Auntie Nermine, we aren’t firing the girl, I already spoke to Nick and she is now his secretary”

“But…”

“Good night Nermine Sultan, I have work to do” I said chuckling, addressing her as a Sultana since she was half Turkish and they were proud of their Ottoman Sultan Empire. I couldn’t blame them really, it was one of the biggest and strongest of empires, being a history geek, I somehow liked reading about stuff like that.

Off topic, yes, I was going to read a few papers I had to get done with before bed, but then again it was already night and I knew that I could get to them in the morning, might as well just draw for a while.

Oh, who was I kidding? I wouldn’t be able to draw anything if I had my mind on those papers, blame it on me being a workaholic.

Yeah, looks like I was reading through the papers tonight…