CHAPTER TWO

"Come in, please," came Mr Bright's cheerful voice. Grace often wondered why he was always in a good mood.

She walked in and took a seat in front of his desk. Mr Bright had always made her feel comfortable, so she had no worries of doing anything wrong when around him.

"How are you dear?" He smiled, revealing his perfect white teeth.

Mr Dwayne Bright was a handsome blonde man of thirty-three. Grace was often curious about his over friendliness with her.

After all she wasn't worthy to be compared with the beautiful ladies like Giselle in the company, so why was he always taking out time to discuss and smile at her?

When she had first started working at Howard Tech, she had been totally infatuated with Mr Bright, mistaking his friendly nature for a special liking to her.

When she realized that he treated everyone else in the same kind and gentle manner, she forced herself to let go of any foolish feelings for him.

Right now, when he smiled up at her like that, it was a struggle to shut those feelings out.

"I am good, Sir. I hope there's no problem, you have never asked me to meet you in your office before," Grace said in a low voice, adjusting her glasses, well aware that her cheeks were red due to how flustered he was making her feel.

"There is absolutely no problem, but I have good news for you," Mr Bright said still smiling, showing off his cute dimples.

The problem with letting go of her crush on Mr Bright was that he had always been the one rescuing her from awkward situations. She was such a klutz and everyone in the company knew that very well.

Grace often wondered if her fingers were structured wrongly. She was always dropping things, tripping over objects and making tiny errors.

The one that stood out the most for her was when she had been dragged out to a company dinner. Having suffered from dyslexia her entire life, she had been unable to read the instructions for the game being played and had been bullied into drinking a lot. Her coworkers had made fun of her continuous mispronouncing of words, but Mr Bright had defended her.

He had taken care of her and driven her home safely. She was a lousy drunk, but he hadn't teased her about all the embarrassing things she had said and done while drunk. If he had discovered about her inability to read properly, he had hidden it very well.

He was such a gentleman and she wondered why his wife had divorced him.

Mr Bright had been married for three years until he and his wife got divorced two years ago. He didn't seem like the type who would be a terrible husband, so she wondered why exactly they got divorced.

"What good news, Sir?" She smiled.

"I'm going to tell you this because I know you won't tell anyone else. We are getting a new CEO, I'm sure you know that Mr Howard has been struggling with meeting up with all the requirements for running this company since the past year."

"A new CEO?" So Giselle was right after all? She thought.

"Yes, now this is where you come in. Our new CEO is someone who requires very patient and loyal people around him. He will be needing a new personal assistant and I think you are the best person for the job," Mr Bright smiled.

"Me? I'm a receptionist. How could I possibly become a PA to the CEO?"

"Don't worry about anything, dear. You will be fine, I wouldn't assign you for this if I didn't think you were capable. Yes, he might be a very difficult person to work for, but I'm sure that no one else in this establishment has the ability to manage situations the way you can. You are very patient with people, I'm sure you will do very well."

"Does this mean I would get a salary increase?" She asked, twisting her fingers, nervously.

She would consider this change of position as a blessing if it helped her make more money. She really needed that right now. This month had been the toughest for her so far.

"Of course, dear. I'm not saying you have the job already, the new CEO would have to interview you himself in due time, but my recommendation would go a long way in convincing him to accept you as his PA," he said.

"Thank you so much, Sir. This means a lot to me," she smiled at him.

"You don't have to thank me, it's my job as the head of the Human Resources Department to get the right people for every job. Do you have plans for this evening? I would like to buy you dinner," he said standing to his full 6ft 1 inch height.

Grace always had plans for the night, it was just the way things were for her, but she couldn't possibly tell anyone what exactly those plans entailed.

"I actually do, Sir."

"Okay, let me buy you lunch instead, you haven't eaten, have you?" He asked, putting on his suit jacket.

"No, Sir."

"Okay, what would you like to eat?"

"Italian," she replied without a pause.

"Italian it is then. Let's go," Mr Bright smiled.

They went down to her floor and just as she picked her purse from behind her desk to leave with Mr Bright, she heard him greet someone from behind her.

"Good afternoon, Mr Black," he said.

"Good afternoon Mr Bright," the voice replied.

Grace turned slowly, having the feeling that she had heard that voice somewhere before. When she collided with those same hazel green eyes from the elevator earlier, she let out a gasp.

The man trailed his eyes lazily over her body, the look of contempt on his face, unmistakable. Grace knew at that exact moment that regardless of his good looks, she hated him.

He was looking down on her, but why did it offend her so much? She had been looked down on her entire life.

"Ms Grace Jones, we meet again. Mr Bright, I met this young lady in the elevator earlier and she told me she worked down here as a receptionist. Isn't it surprising how she didn't attend to me when I came into the building this morning?" Enrique queried.

Grace was tensed, she wasn't even breathing. She had no idea who this man was, but from the way Mr Bright was acting, he was really important.

"Is that true, Grace? Why didn't you receive him?"

"I— I was—" she stuttered, feeling her hands becoming clammy.

"Don't worry Ms Jones, I will answer for you. She was late to work, I got here earlier than her. Now, let me address her terrible dress sense and conversation skills, it is unacceptable and I'm serious when I say that I wouldn't want such people working here," Enrique said eyeing Grace who kept twisting her fingers nervously.

She looked like she was going to cry any minute from now. Her India ink blue eyes betrayed how scared she was.

"Ms Jones is the most punctual and hardworking employee here at Howard Tech. I'm sure something must have come up that led to her not being able to make it in time to her desk. You were received by Ms Morgan instead, weren't you?" Mr Bright asked.

Enrique was silent for several seconds. He didn't understand why the head of Human Resources Department was defending such a lowly employee.

They looked like they had been about to go out for lunch before Mr Bright saw him. What was her relationship with him?

"I am going to let go of this matter, but I do hope it doesn't happen again. I would never entertain such tardiness," Enrique said before walking out of the building with his secretary and some other minions rushing after him.

"Who is he?" Grace asked Mr Bright.

"I don't want to scare you, forget about him. Let's go for lunch, you must be starving," Mr Bright smiled.

Enrique instructed his chauffeur to hold on so that he could see what exactly was going on between those two.

He watched the unappealing, Grace Jones laugh at something Mr Bright said as he opened the car door for her to enter. Enrique frowned, Mr Bright definitely had terrible taste in women, he thought.