The New Boss Meets the Employee

*Patricia’s POV*

I felt the tension that surrounded the entire kitchen of the bakeshop as the news about the new owner spread. Everybody’s wondering why the old owner of the bakeshop sold the rights of all the branches of this bakeshop since business was doing well and in fact, the name of the bakeshop has been a household name already. They say that it was sold to an old man, but since he got sick, his son came to take over and handle the business.

“Get yourselves ready,” our kitchen manager instructed, “and show him we can handle pressure and, therefore, work naturally even if he is around.”

“I heard our boss is a hunk,” Rea whispered, “and not only that,” she noted, “he is still a bachelor.”

“Behave, Rea! You are still too young to think about these things,” Ryan, the cousin of Rea, interrupted.

Rea rolled her eyes before going back to her station. She is assigned to the pastries station while I am in charge of all refrigerator cakes. All the cakes and pastries sold in the different branches came from here, that is why this branch was the busiest of all.

“Aren’t you going to join them and fix yourself?” Ryan asked as he noted how red the lips of the girls in the kitchen were. I sighed at the thought that these girls looked so desperate to catch the attention of our new boss. I couldn’t blame them. Work around here is exhausting. We have to work ten hours a day, five days a week and must forgo the thought of having a love life. So I guess getting a chance to be one of the lucky girls that our hot boss would date is what all this fuss is about.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked.

“Y-yeah,” I replied.

Ryan raised his brow as if telling me he did not believe me.

“He came back,” I sighed.

I’ve told Ryan some of my past, except for the part where I got married and then got divorced. I can never tell him about it but I can never say I was married to Stuart. Stuart never talked about the marriage. He never admitted it to anyone, and it is only our parents and our closest friends knew about it. I also have no reason for telling Ryan about the marriage. We’re done and there is nothing I can do about it. Besides, Stuart will never claim that I was once his wife.

“What do you plan to do?” Ryan inquired.

“I guess I just have to avoid him,” I shrugged.

“Whatever you plan to do, always remember that Rea and I will always be here for you,” he tapped my shoulder before heading to his station.

“The boss has just arrived,” I heard our supervisor announce, “he is currently checking the dining area and is heading to check our workplace.”

Everyone started getting busy when the kitchen door opened.

“This is our kitchen area,” the store manager explained, “this is where we bake all the cakes and pastries that we deliver to different branches in the country.”

I could not see them because my back was facing the kitchen door, but I could sense that the new boss and our store manager were heading my way. I guess this is one of the courtesy visits that a new boss is supposed to do, so I calmed myself.

“This is Ryan Gersava,” I heard our store manager introduce my friend, “he is in charge of making sure that our cookies and finger treats are well baked.”

“Good morning, Sir,” Ryan greeted.

“And this is Rea Acain,” the store manager continued, “she is the assistant of Ryan.”

“Hi,” she could not hide the excitement in her voice.

“Here is our head of the kitchen, Miss Marjorie Santilan,” they moved closer to my area.

“Good morning sir,” Miss Santilan cheerfully greeted, “we are happy to finally meet our new boss.”

“And here is the in-charge of the refrigerator cakes, Patricia Sandoval.”

I took a deep breath as I prepared my sweetest smile, which immediately died when I turned to meet our new boss – Stuart Cordoval, the one and only.

I could see how his smile wilted when he saw me, and I wish a sinkhole will open the ground and suck me alive. I knew this day would come, but I was not prepared for it. I gulped and tried to speak.

“G-good morning, sir,” I finally spoke and then immediately returned to what I was doing.

I closed my eyes when he simply moved to meet the next worker introduced by our store manager. I could not help but feel the pain of the coldness of his presence. I knew he would be this cold, but I never thought he’d act as if he never knew me, as if I had never been his wife.

“Attention, everyone,” the store manager called out, “our new boss would like to make some announcements.”

“Before anything else, I would like to formally introduce myself as the new owner of Blue Plate,” his eyes traveled our faces, but he showed no emotion when he saw me.

“I am Stuart Cordoval, owner and CEO of Cordoval Corporation. As the new owner of Blue Plate, I expect my employees to do their work well. I do not want my employees to slack and flirt. I want them to be professionals. I am a very private person and I do not intend to entertain anyone in my office unless they set an appointment or they have a matter of life-and-death news. I hope I made myself clear with that.”

He said all of those in a matter-of-factly – and with an icy voice. I do not know, but I have the feeling that he intended the last part of his message for me. Maybe he thought I’d stalk him again. Well, honestly, I wanted to because he is still as irresistible as before. He has become more handsome and I could not help but feel belittled. I was nothing but just his employee. The gap between us makes it impossible for him to look my way. Even if my love for him never changed, it still does not change the fact that I was just part of his past, which he wanted to forget.