Chapter 3

Rafaela couldn't believe what she was seeing. The man with whom she'd had a wonderful night was none other than her new boss, Ethan Smith.

"What are you saying, Rafa?" Kate asked, not understanding anything. But Rafaela couldn't respond, as her eyes were fixed on Ethan, who was on stage at that moment, picking up the microphone to begin speaking.

"Thank you all for taking the time to welcome me. I count on your help and cooperation to continue making this real estate agency the best in the country."

After delivering his thank-you speech, the department manager approached with a bouquet of flowers to present to the new director as a welcome gesture. Ethan was momentarily taken aback, and suddenly, his eyes searched for Rafaela in the auditorium. When he spotted her, he gave her an enigmatic look.

"He's allergic to flowers," she whispered.

"What?" Kate asked.

Without answering, Rafaela immediately stood up and ran to the stage to take the flowers from the manager's hands. Her action caught the attention of everyone present, but no one said a word; only a few whispers were heard.

"I'll take care of this; I'll put them in a vase," she said, trying to explain her actions.

Leaving with the bouquet in her hands, she looked for a place to put the flowers.

"This can't be happening…" she muttered while placing the flowers in the vase on her desk. "This can't be happening to me. Out of all the men in the world, it had to be him?" Her conscience weighed on her, as she had really enjoyed the previous night.

"What are you complaining about?" Ethan's deep voice almost made her soul leave her body. He had appeared without her noticing.

How could she face him after what had happened? And to make matters worse, even though she had been drunk, she remembered bad-mouthing her job and her boss to him.

"Nothing, sir," she replied without looking at him.

"Did you organize the files I asked for?" he inquired.

"Yes, they're all in alphabetical order, as you requested," she answered.

"Bring me my coffee," he ordered, then went into his office.

She didn't understand what was happening, but she couldn't reconcile that the handsome, caring man from the previous night could be the same cold, serious man standing before her now.

Taking the elevator down to the lobby, she ran into Kate, who worked in the HR department.

"There you are! What happened earlier?" Kate asked, confused.

"You have no idea how screwed I am," Rafaela said, holding her friend's hand. "The guy I spent the night with is Mr. Ethan," she whispered.

"What?" Kate's voice echoed through the lobby, making everyone look at the two women.

"Keep your voice down, for God's sake," Rafaela begged. "I'm going to get his coffee; come with me."

The two left the company, heading to the coffee shop next door. Since Ethan hadn't made a specific order, Rafaela assumed he would drink any kind of coffee, as long as it didn't have sugar, of course.

"Are you telling me you slept with your boss?" Kate insisted.

"I didn't know it was him," Rafaela frowned.

"What do you mean? Are you saying you slept with someone and didn't even bother to ask his name?" Rafaela remained silent. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Friend, I was drunk, and he was so handsome," she said as if that justified such irresponsibility. "That I thought he'd tell me his name later," she explained.

"But then you couldn't control yourself and started kissing him right away," Kate said, laughing.

"Don't laugh; it's serious," Rafaela pleaded.

"Alright. But what did he say to you today when you woke up together?"

"When I woke up, he was already gone; he just left the hotel bill paid. And when I got to the company, he didn't say anything… To be honest, he seemed like he didn't even remember what happened."

"Then do the same as him," Kate concluded. "You're not going to quit over this, are you?"

"Of course not," Rafaela replied.

"Pretend nothing happened and stay strong," Kate advised. "Speaking of which, now that you'll be working in another department, your contract will change, and you'll need to do new heath tests in two weeks."

"Seriously, I need new tests?"

"It's protocol," Kate answered.

Returning to the company, Rafaela knocked on her boss's office door and waited for him to authorize her entry.

"Here's your coffee, sir," she served him.

"Why were you late?" he asked.

"The line was a bit long," she lied. She couldn't say she was gossiping with her friend.

"I'm not talking about now. Why did you miss the time this morning?"

That question made no sense. Sure, she was wrong to go out during the week and drink more than she should, but he had left the room without even waking her up.

"I overslept," she replied, embarrassed.

"You shouldn't go out during the week if you have commitments the next day," Ethan said without showing any emotion.

"You're right," was all she could say. "It won't happen again. If you don't need anything else, I'll return to my desk," she turned to leave.

"Wait," he said, stopping her. "Indeed, it won't happen again," he continued. "Don't go around saying your boss is the devil or has strange behaviors; that could get you fired for just cause."

She widened her eyes, not believing what she had just heard.

"Did you know I was your secretary?" she asked.

"Of course, I just wanted to teach you a lesson," he replied with a cynical smile on his face. "I'll pretend nothing happened so we can work in harmony. What do you think?"

Rafaela was fuming inside. How could that man have dared to do all this deliberately? She took a deep breath before responding; after all, she needed to pay for the apartment she had bought with Kate, and that job was very important. Also, if she resigned, that man would think he had affected her in some way.

"Of course. If you hadn't brought it up, I wouldn't even remember such an insignificant night," she replied and walked out, leaving Ethan with a confused expression.