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“A-alright?”
“Alright,” he said. “You thought I was going to reject you? You have a lot of unused and accrued days, don't you?”
“Yes, I do,” I replied and then nodded.
“You deserve the break. You’ve been through a lot this week, yet you remained available to me, and I don't take that lightly. I truly appreciate it. So take the rest of the week, and if you're able to arrange it with Larry, you can take as much time as you need to recover.”
I was dumbfounded, relieved, and sad all at once. And so yet again all I could do was watch him. With every moment sharedbetween us, the more I knew of his personality, the more my affection for him grew. The way he spoke and acted… the way hefucked. I couldn’t get enough of him and I wondered if he felt even an iota of this regarding me in return.
Unfortunately, and as usual, he seemed unfazed as he picked up his sandwich and began eating. The rest of lunch wasn't awkward, per se, but it wasn’t exactly filled with complete ease. I avoided his gaze, and he seemed to no longer be aware of my existence, which made me truly wonder what had gone wrong, or maybe this was how the employer-employee relationship between him and Sophie had always been. I didn't know what to compare it to because I had always had somewhat great relationships with my bosses since I picked companies with fun heads and business. Not, for instance, Lucien and his multimillion-dollar investments.
In the end, I wanted to fix this somehow, but I had to accept that I had been talking too much and doing way too much, and there was no need for that. And so, I remained silent and turned my attention toward wondering how I was going to break this news to Sophie. I hope she will understand. I knew she was trying to work things out with Jerald, but since, regardless of my presence or not, she still had the rest of the week off, or even more, like Lucien had proposed, then I didn't feel guilty at all.
Chapter 44
Lucien
Nothing was going according to plan. I wasn't nervous or anxious or panicked for that matter, I realized as I ate my lunch. I was just disappointed. For years I had given little thought to her presence in my life, but now that she was actively leaving, and even for long, suddenly I felt a little bit empty inside.
However, there was no way I was going to voice this, but I did want to ensure that the major issues were clarified before she left. And so, I'd start with the most important one.
“I know that Gregory Walters is harassing you,” I replied.
At this, her brows shot up, her eyes slightly going wide as she stared at me, probably wondering how I got the information about this. I didn’t need to tell her because she was quite familiar with Felix, and I didn't need to tell her either that I had paid substantial attention to this and retrieved the surveillance footage from Per Se. This was how I worked, and these were the things I did, and she was no stranger to arranging them for me.
She lowered her gaze then and tried to continue eating in silence, however, she seemed unable to do this, so she set her sandwich down and leaned back against the chair.
“This is normal,” she replied. “Some employers will always think that women are fair game. He's one of those, but I know how to handle him and put him in his place.”
“You do?” I asked, and she nodded. I was curious about this, even though for some reason I didn't expect her to tell me the truth.
“How exactly are you currently handling it?” I asked, and the ghost of a smile appeared at the corners of her lips. That smile, I realized, was something special. The room was relatively cool, but the moment she smiled, it was as though everything had warmed up in an instant.
“Well, now that I'm going on leave for a few days, it's not going to be incredibly difficult for me to handle him,” she said. “All I need to do is keep my head low, and perhaps by next week, he will have forgotten about me.”
Scarlett
“What exactly did he tell you?” he asked, as though he couldn’t care less about anything I had just said.
“Well, he asked for my number when I went to the restroom, and I tried my best to get out of it.”
“Did it work?” he asked, and I nodded, wondering where the light, one-hour brunch we had started had gone. It made me wonder now if he actually came out for brunch, or if he just wanted to interrogate me in a more private setting. This, as well, made me unhappy, but he was a caring and responsible employer, which he truly didn't have to be, and so I had absolutely nothing to complain about.
“No,” I finally responded. “I mean, yes, I gave him my number, but to my surprise, he’s used it. I mean, he has used it.”
At my words, his hands suddenly stopped moving, and then he looked up at me.
“He contacted you?”
“Last night,” I replied but then stopped because once again, I wasn’t listening to my advice. I had said that I wouldn’t say a word until all of this was over so as not to alarm anyone or hurt Lucien’s business. “It wasn’t anything scary or uncomfortable,” I said, and smiled, trying to play off my alarm. “He just wanted to invite me to dinner on some yacht. I declined, and that was it.”
He watched me for a few more seconds, and then he continued eating.
“You're not concerned or worried by him?” he asked, and I shook my head.
“I’m not. I think he's harmless, and of course, if things became complicated and he became worrisome, then…” I stopped.
“Then what?” he asked. “I’ll figure it out when that time comes.”
