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Khan
“Who is the new assistant?” I nearly barked into my phone, safely out of earshot in my sound proof office. Estie, my HR head of department, sighed down the line.
“Why? Did she quit already? Damn it, Khan,” Estie complained. Estie had been with me from the start, and because of that, she had earned privileges that few others held. For one, I didn’t fire her every day, as I was usually tempted to.
“Not yet, but I want to know who she is, where she’s worked before… everything,” I said, turning my attention to the glass wall that separated us. Miss Davis was looking through emails, clicking efficiently on each, and either marking them as important, or deleting them. She was already getting more work done than Luke.
“And why is that?” Elaine wondered.
“I don’t need a reason,” I reminded her. She sighed dramatically again and hung up. Insolent brat. I put down the phone and opened my laptop. The urge to look out the glass at the assistant station was nearly overwhelming. I should fog it, remove the temptation. Despite knowing that, I didn’t. No one had prepared me for coming to work this morning, same as usual, and being assailed with a woman like that first thing in the morning. She was lovely. Simply lovely. I was no stranger to beautiful things. I surrounded myself with them in the office and at home. After years of ugliness, growing up in the poorest, most grey and desperate places, I had longed for a way to remind myself every day that I was no longer that desperate street kid who had looked through the windows of department stores and wondered if there was really anyone who lived liked those displays. Art fed the mind and soul, and I wanted my employees to feel that electricity and creativity. I needed it.
Eden Davis looked like she belonged in one of those window displays. I watched her as she stood up, wobbling slightly on her ridiculously high heels. She smoothed down the plain jane black dress she was wearing, shook her long, dark hair back, and turned toward my office.
She knocked. It wasn’t hesitant or shy. It was surprisingly forceful. That was unexpected, and I liked it.
“Come,” I called, and sat back in my chair to watch her. She entered on those overly high heels.
“Mr Aslan, I just wanted to run through your schedule today. You have a nine o'clock with marketing.”
“That was cancelled yesterday,” I told her. A frown of irritation flurried across her face. No doubt Luke, my former lackluster assistant, hadn’t bothered to cross it off. She drew a line through it on her pad of paper and forged on.
“Ok, then there’s an HR meeting at eleven to talk about the new benefits package,” she continued. I nodded. She ran through my overloaded schedule and while her eyes were busy, I took my time looking at her. My entire body reacted to the sight of this woman. She would be a terrible distraction. She looked young. Too young for me, without a doubt, and yet, I couldn’t look away.
She was fidgeting on her feet, shifting her weight subtly from one foot to the other, her long, slim legs flexing as she did.
“Ok, if that’s all for now, I’ll leave you to get on,” she said, and turned, nearly twisting her ankle in the process. I fought the sudden, insane urge to lunge across the office and catch her.
“That’s all, and make sure you wear proper footwear tomorrow,” I bit out at her. “Waiting to see if you’re going to snap your ankle in half is a distraction I don’t need.” I turned to look at my phone.
“With all due respect, Mr Aslan, don’t look. I can take care of my own ankle and shoe choices,” she said quietly. My eyes snapped to hers. She was staring at me defiantly. So defiantly, I set down my phone and leaned forward on the desk, bracing my elbows on the smooth antique wood. I was transfixed by that look. No one spoke to me that way. No one.
“As long as you work for me, you represent me and my company. If your shoe choices are inappropriate, then I will look and tell you so. This is a company, Miss Davis, not a nightclub,” I told her firmly. Her nostrils flared and her fists clenched into balls at her side before releasing. I watched her with rapt attention. I felt a flare of excitement ignite low in my gut. What was this little firecracker going to do? I couldn’t wait to find out. Then, just when I thought she’d blow her top, and predictably move in a zig motion, she zagged. A smile with the sunniness of a supernova coated her lips, and she beamed at me.
“Of course, Mr Aslan. You’re the boss, after all,” she said sweetly, and turned on her precarious heel, and strode out the room, leaving me in my place, watching her go.
