03

“Boss, this is the report on the start-up that visited you last time. Should I update you about their progress on their new business in Korea?”

“You’re gonna visit the country?” Johannes asked, his eyes still focused on the screen of his computer. Nathalie looked at her schedule and nodded as a reply.

“I got some free time next Friday,”

“You’re going to New Zealand with me next Friday,” Johannes looked at her. Nathalie wrinkled her nose. “Why?”

“What why?”

“What’s the occasion, boss?” she asked. Johannes stared at her as if she were asking him a ridiculous question. 

“Do you need a reason to attend to your boss?” He lifted a side of his mouth and stood up, his hands inside his pocket; waiting for Nathalie to reply.

“Well—” Nathalie stopped trying to start an argument when she saw Johannes staring at her still. “Yes, boss.” He smiled at her and went back to his swivel chair. Johannes stayed cooped up in his desk until midnight. He did not even notice the time until he called Nathalie and the woman did not reply; which was unusual.

Johannes stood up from his seat and went to her desk. He saw Nathalie sleeping on her table with one arm. Her position looked uncomfortable and she looks slightly shivering from the cold of the air-conditioned room.

“She could have asked me,” Johannes murmured. He glanced at his watch, “I’m sure she did not eat dinner as well.” He took off his coat and placed it on Nathalie’s back before heading outside his office.

He drove to the nearest fast food that was still open by that time. “Two orders of spicy chicken. One hot coffee and a large vanilla iced coffee.” He simply told the woman who was staring at him the moment he entered the place.

“To-go,” he added as he took his card from his wallet and gave it to the cashier. 

“He looks familiar,”

“You’re right,”

“I think I saw him on television,”

“He looks like a model,”

“Wow, and he eats McD*nald’s? Cool!”

“I want to take a photo with him!”

“Do you think he has a girlfriend already?”

“With that looks? I bet he had plenty!”

Johannes did not bother looking at those people whispering around him. He was so used to it that he did not mind at all. “Here’s your order, thank you, sir! Come again!” The woman joyfully told him as her cheeks flushed in red. Johannes took the order and went to his car.

Nathalie woke up on the couch in Johannes’s office. She glanced at her wristwatch, ‘Two in the morning?’ She rubbed her temple and looked around the office. Johannes is not there but his coat is on her lap.

“Did he eat something bad?” She chuckled. Nathalie noticed some meds on the table and concluded that her boss had indigestion.

“I ate the food you liked best and it gave me indigestion.” Nathalie’s eyes widened and turned to where she heard the voice. She thought she was alone! Nathalie fixed her hair and sat up straight. 

“B-Boss,” 

“Eat.”

“Huh?”

“I said eat. Did working overtime turn you deaf?” He asked, annoyed since he really had an upset stomach. He had never eaten that meal before, it was his first time and he deeply regretted it.

Johannes sat on the couch across Nathalie’s. He massaged the bridge of his tall nose as he sighed. “Do you need medicine? Should I buy—”

“I said eat.” His voice brought shivers down Nathalie’s spine. She immediately took the utensils and started eating the now cold chicken. It tasted good in her mouth as she was starving since six in the evening. She finished the meal in less than fifteen minutes. 

Nathalie did not even notice that Johannes had been watching her eat. He hid a smirk behind the hand that covered his mouth. ‘Damn it.’ He cursed under his breath when he realized he was grinning. Johannes was confused.

He took off his coat when he noticed her feeling cold. Johannes moved her to the couch so she could sleep comfortably and he even bought her a meal from her favorite fast food.

Johannes loosened his tie and stood up.

“Go home now.”

“Yes?”

“Have you really gone deaf?”

Nathalie stood up, and took Johannes's coat, “I’ll have it dry clean and give it to you tomorrow,” she said, Nathalie was surprised when she saw the coat on her but she dared not ask him why was it there. Why did he buy her food? And why… did she wake up in a different place like a kid who accidentally slept on a sofa while watching television?

Nathalie kept her mouth shut until she came to her unit. She stared at the coat in her hand, “I wish I am wrong. No… I’m sure this is just my nonsense presumption,” she sighed. Nathalie put the coat on the table and went to her bed. 

She then took her laptop and worked for another hour before closing it to rest her eyes. She reached for her phone when a notification popped. 

Nathalie dropped her phone when she panicked as she reached for her keys. 

“Nathalie did not come to work?” Johannes asked the clerk when the man informed him of Nathalie’s absence. Johannes looked at his phone as he entered the office.

He tried calling the woman but she did not answer. His brows furrowed. Where is Nathalie? He made sure the woman came to her unit safely last night; Johannes followed her before going straight to his mansion. He drove away when Nathalie entered the building.

“Where are you?” He stared at his phone. It was the first time in five years that Nathalie disappeared without telling him. She was occasionally asking him for a leave though Johannes never asked where she wet on those days. 

The man immediately sighed when he realized he was worrying again. “Just why the hell am I feeling like this?” He asked himself but did not get an answer. 

He took his spare phone from the drawer and scanned through the numbers in the contacts. He called it and a woman answered.

[Hey pretty boy. You called,] her flirtatious voice annoyed Johannes but he was more irritated by the resurging feelings inside his chest. 

“Meet me.” The woman in the other line chuckled and agreed. In less than an hour, a woman in a black, fitted, spaghetti, strapped dress entered his office. She was beautiful.

When she saw Johannes, she immediately devoured his lips. The man kissed her back as he placed her on his lap. They kissed and kissed until Johannes’s phone rang.

“Ugh,” the woman moaned when Johannes pushed her gently.

Johannes reached for his phone and answered it when he saw a familiar number, [Boss,]

“What?” He coldly asked as if he was not looking for her the entire morning. The woman on his lap was rubbing her breast against his chest but he could not care less. Johannes was preoccupied with Nathalie right now.

[I’m sorry but I think I’d be gone for a whole week.]

“Do you want to get fired? I need you in the office!” He shouted, slightly angered by Nathalie’s absence and her leave-taking. A week? A whole week? Nathalie had never asked him to be on leave for that long! 

Johannes had been too used to her presence and assistance that he would not function the like usual with her absence. [Boss—]

“No.” Johannes heard her sigh. Her breathing was deep and heavy but he did not compromise. Nathalie did not tell him why she would be absent and he bet he can’t accept her reasoning whatever it is.

[Alright. I’d be there tomorrow. I really can’t go back right now, boss.] She argued patiently. Johannes pushed the woman from his lap and stood up. He massaged the bridge of his nose.

“Where are you? I’m coming.”