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So, for the first time in my life, I decided to prioritize myself.
I walked past my office and over to Human Resources. Hunter Wilde, the manager, always left his door open, and as usual, it was just him in the office. Hilda had already gutted his department as well.
I knocked on the open door and smiled at Hunter, who stood up when he saw it was me.He was tall and most would consider him to be handsome. He had a chiseled jawline as sharp as a knife. His eyes were narrow, his brows thick. He had dark hair which he kept short and expertly styled. I couldn’t recall ever seeing a hair out of place or him dressed in anything other than tailored suits.
He smiled back at me, but something in that smile always sent a shudder down my spine. Many women would surely fall over themselves to catch his eye, but something in the way he looked at me had me keeping my distance most of the time.
“Hey, Mr. Wilde—”
“Hunter, please,” he interrupted, motioning for me to sit down.
I took a seat across from him as he sat back down, steepling his fingers in front of his face as his predatory eyes bore through me.
“Hunter, yes, thank you. I was hoping to talk to you about some vacation time I’ve been saving up.”
He cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, so I continued.
“I should have about a month’s vacation.”
“Three weeks and four days,” Hunter said, without even looking at the computer. “But typically, we do not allow people to take all of it at once, a week at a time, max.”
“I know, but as you and I are both aware our time here is likely coming to an end—”
He cut me off. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you leaving the company, Bianca?”
“Please, call me Snow,” I replied, gritting my teeth because I had reminded him countless times. He just chose to ignore my request, much like my stepmother did. “And no, I don’t intend on leaving, I’m just concerned for the future of the company. You’ve seen the layoffs happening throughout departments, including your own.”
I motioned to the empty cubicles outside of his door. He was handling everything by himself when he used to manage a team of six and had his own assistant.
“We’re going through a rough time, sure,” Hunter leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face. “But isn’t that everyone right now? Many companies haven’t fully recovered from Covid, but unlike those places, we are still operating.”He was lying to himself. Or maybe he was lying to me, I couldn’t tell.Not that it mattered.
I sighed. “Fine, I hope we do pull through, but at the same time, I’m burnt out from running my department more or less on my own. I need some time off.”
Hunter nodded. “I understand, Snow. And I’m happy to grant it, even though I know Hilda won’t be thrilled. I can give you a week.”
“How about two?” I countered.
Hunter leaned closer, his fingers still steeped in front of him, his eyes still narrowed in on me. He seemed to ponder my request carefully.
“Fine. For you, I can do that. Just for you though, so please don’t tell others I’ve granted your request,” he said.
“Thank you, Hunter,” I replied. “I’ll let you know the dates soon.”I stood up, eager to get out of his office.
“Where are you going?” he asked me.
“I’m not sure yet. I may just stay home, but I’m looking into a few options to get away too,” I answered.
He nodded. “Well, I hope you come back relaxed and revitalized. Please send over the dates once you have them, and I will approve them for you.”
I thanked him again before slipping from his office and hurrying back to mine. When I stepped inside, I found Rosie sitting at my computer, tapping away.
“Hey, I know we’ve cut back a lot, but I’m pretty sure you have your own computer,” I said with a laugh.She stuck her tongue out at me.
“I was waiting for you, I wanted to see how things went with Hilda.”I collapsed in the seat across from her, the one she had been sitting in earlier.
“Terrible, as usual. But I agree with you. I do need a vacation, and I requested two weeks off from Hunter. He’s already approved it.”
“It helps when the HR manager has the hots for you,” Rosie said with a chuckle.
