Chapter 10

I woke up to the loud ringing of my phone. My head rang as I searched for it on my nightstand, wanting to get rid of the loudness. I finally found it and picked up.

 

“What?” I snapped in annoyance, my eyes still closed as I rubbed my temples with my free hand.

 

“What a nice way to talk to your boss, Ms. Maslow,” Mr. Railway’s deep voice exploded in my head making me jolt into a sitting position. I lost my balance and fell off the bed with a loud thud.

 

“Ouch!” I cried in pain when I hit my forehead on my nightstand. Another cry left me as the pain shot through my head making me groan loudly.

 

My eyes snapped open as I remembered I was still on a call with Mr. Railway. Embarrassment filled me and I was tempted to hang up. I covered my face in shame, not saying anything as I tried to hide myself in the silence.

 

“Veronica?”

 

My ears perked up and my fingers parted to let my eyes peek through. Did he just call my name? Like my name?

 

“Sir?” my voice sounded so awful that it made me cringe. Oh come one, Vera! He cleared his throat.

 

“Are you okay?” his voice held both amusement and concern. I’m sure he was actually enjoying my predicament—people tend to do that a lot around me.

 

“I’m perfectly fine, sir!” I lied as I got to my feet and immediately stumbled, losing my balance. I quickly climbed back onto my bed and sat up before grabbing my phone.

 

“Right…,” he drew out, letting me know he didn’t believe me at all. “I need you to prepare for a two day trip in France. We leave tomorrow,” he said and my eyes widened.

 

“S-sir?” I stuttered as my eye fell on the alarm clock on my table. It was just 2am. Why was he calling me so late? Or so early? Of course, he’s calling at 2am. Do rich people actually sleep? Or maybe it’s part of their billionaire training?

 

“I don’t need to repeat myself, do I?” he tested and I blinked.

 

“No, no, sir. I heard you perfectly fine,” I quickly mumbled. “But, do you need me to tag along with you on your trip? Isn’t it a family gathering?” I asked, trying not to overstep.

 

“If I was going to attending just a family gathering, I wouldn’t have asked you to accompany me, would I?” I could tell he was getting irritated.

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Railway. I will see you at the office in the morning,” this conversation needed to end as quickly as possible.

 

“Goodnight,” he said and hung up. I let out a breath of relief and touched my forehead. I winced when felt a pain and I instantly removed my fingers. Not wanting to check how it looked like, I dropped my phone on the nightstand and laid back down on the bed.

 

I only had two days to pack up for the trip to France and I didn’t know what to wear. I made a mental note to call Yvonne when I get to work and then fell asleep.

 

The next morning, I had a serious headache and a small lump formed right above my forehead. It wouldn’t have been very noticeable if I didn’t have a purple bruise on it. I tried my best to conceal it with makeup, but it wasn’t very successful. So I just sucked it up and went to work.

 

“Good morn—what happened?” Katie cringed when she saw me approach her. I let out a sigh, wondering if my lump looked that bad.

 

“Is it that bad? I fell from my bed and hit my forehead,” I mumbled. She shook her head and then nodded again. I sighed and wondered what I could do to fix it. If Mr. Railway sees this, I’ll want to die of embarrassment.

 

“It’s not like it’s, bad. It’s just unusual and looks painful,” she said as she kept looking at my forehead. I raised my finger to touch the area and winced at the pain. I sighed again.

 

There will be a lot of sighing today. “I’ll figure something out. I need to get going now,” I told her with a smile and she nodded with a brighter one.

 

“Try not to fall of anything else today,” she teased and I glared at her playfully. “Noted. I’ll bubble-wrap myself once I get in,” I muttered sarcastically making her snicker and I flipped her the finger before making my way to my office. When I got in, I pulled out my mirror and checked the lump on my forehead.

 

“Oh come on!” I whined when I saw it was still glaring red and it was protruding. Then I remembered I had a few band aids in my drawer. I quickly pulled it out and grinned when I saw them. I grabbed one and quickly placed it on the lump gently.

 

A few minutes later, I was standing outside Mr. Railway’s office, holding his coffee and his schedule for the day. Thankfully, we weren’t going outside of the company today.

 

“Good morning, sir,” I greeted as I walked in. He was at his desk with his arms crossed, as if he was waiting for me. I felt my cheeks heat up when I saw the direction of his eyes. He was looking at my forehead.

Embarrassment filled me as I approached him and placed the coffee and folder on his desk. “Here is your schedule for the day. There is no meeting outside the company today,” I told him, referring to the folder.

 

He nodded and picked it up, “Have you gone to the doctor?” I blinked in surprise at his question.

 

“Sir?”

 

He looked at me, “Your forehead. You should get a balm for it.” I cleared my throat and nodded, internally praying for the world to end now.

 

“Yes, sir. I will,” I told him and he nodded, his eyes trailing over me, making me hold in my breath.

 

“You’re dismissed,” he said and I nodded before turning to leave. “Ms. Maslow,” he called smoothly, halting my steps.  I turned around with wide eyes.

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“Pack a dinner dress with you,” he said. A dinner dress? I was going to accompany him to a dinner? My wardrobe was full of work clothes and jeans. The only dress I had was the engagement dress Yvonne designed for me. Would I even find something suitable for a fancy dinner in less than two days?

 

“Okay, sir,” I mumbled and quickly walked out.