by A P Gore
Cup cakes. Her nostrils detected pancakes as soon as she entered the meeting room. A cute lady with a full round belly, wearing a dark brown dress and an adorable glow, waved at her. She held a cupcake in her left hand, and it looked yummy.
“You must be Alice! How are you?” She tried to stand, but Alice moved forward and signaled her to remain seated. There was no way she would make a pregnant lady stand up for her.
“You look adorable, Mrs. Williams” Alice bent down and kissed her cheek while inhaling the sweet aroma of the pancake in her hand. Mrs. Williams had a glow that made her look super cute and a pancake that Alice desired.
“Thanks, I’m already in my third trimester. And call me Athena.” She smiled in an even more adorable way.
“A girl or a boy?” Alice asked, instantly feeling embarrassed. She shouldn’t be asking personal questions, but something about Athena put her at ease.
Athena blushed. “A girl.”
“Bet she’ll be as cute as you.”
Both of them burst into good-hearted laughter. Sometimes Alice connected with a person instantly, and Athena was one of those people. Just after a few minutes of chatting, Alice felt like she’d known this cute oval-faced woman for years.
Alice’s adoration for Athena increased tenfold when she offered Alice a pancake. A pancake. Wow, Athena could become her best friend.
After fifteen minutes of chitter-chatter, Athena jumped to the main topic.
“Alice, may I tell you a secret?”
Alice’s ears twitched. “Go ahead.”
“I think Mr. Parker is gay.”
Alice almost dropped her pancake. “What?”
Though it seemed quite difficult for her, Athena managed to lean forward slightly. “I don’t know exactly, but he never lets any woman, even me, enter his huge penthouse. Not even his office. I can only access the reception area.”
He wasn’t gay. Alice surely know that.
“Then how do you work?” Alice asked. “I heard secretaries need to be on top of everything their boss needs. Even get his undergarments from the laundry.” Now this was an exaggeration. There was no mention of getting a boss’ undergarments to the laundry in any of the novels she read or movies she watched, and she had watched a plenty after Mark told her to come here. But she wanted to make it sound dirty so Athena would spit out everything. Even though Alice wasn’t going to work for him, a little scoop on him might help her get fired.
Athena plucked a fifth cup cake from the basket. Alice bit her lower lip. She’d only had one.
“I don’t have to work at all. He doesn’t like me doing anything for him. Well, other than transferring his calls to his office.”
Alice arched her brows. “No filing?” That was a big thing in the most recent show she’d watched. Bosses always made their secretaries do file work, like sending it to another department or organizing a bunch of files. It looked difficult in the movies.
“No file work. No coffee carrying, no doing tie. Though I’d have loved to put on his tie for him. He is so handsome, you know. And I wasn’t married when I was hired. It’s too bad he’s gay.”
“Stop saying that. He’s definitely not gay.” Alice snapped unintentionally.
Athena grabbed her chair and pushed herself back a little. “Don’t shout at me. You shouldn’t shout in front of a baby.”
Guilt twisted Alice’s stomach. “I’m sorry. You know—”
Athena raised her hand. “I know, it’s hard. Seeing a handsome man and finding out you can’t date him? It’s heart breaking. But get real, honey. You’re cute and all, but he’s not going to fall for you. You’d better find a different man. And I guess you’ll get plenty of time to find someone on app.”
Alice was taken aback by Athena’s opinion about her. Did she look desperate? “App?”
“Yes, those dating apps. Do you want an invitation? I still have one of those installed on my phone, but don’t tell anyone. Ross will kill me if he finds out I still have it.”
“Ross?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Ross, my husband, also works here. He’s the head of R & D. If you need any help, go to him and tell him you know me. He’ll help you for sure. But don’t hit on him. I know he’s a handsome man, and hard to pass on, but he’s got a girl now.” She patted her chest, laughing hard.
The conference room started to swirl around Alice. Athena was cuter when she kept her mouth shut. In less than thirty minutes, she made Alice out to be a lovesick fool with a desperate need to find a man.
Thank God it was a quick handoff, or Athena would have set her up on a blind date with some unknown man.
“Miss Myer.” Jade’s deep voice echoed in the conference room, startling Alice. She had to squeeze the arms of her chair to remain seated. “If your handoff is finished, report back to my office immediately.”
“What the...” Alice darted her eyes around the room. Why did he have access to this conference room’s speakers? “Did he just announce my name to the whole building?”
Athena munched on the last cup cake, and Alice could only lick her lips from inside while wearing a smile outside. It hurt. “Don’t worry, he has access to individual conference rooms. He uses them regularly to have meetings with the teams.”
“Was he...”
“Nope, I switched off the mic when I walked in. He doesn’t need to know everything we’re talking about. But—" She gawked Alice for a moment. “Did he just call you to his office? He never called me to his office. Not even once.” Her lips curled down.
Alice pushed back a strand of hair from her face. “Do you want to see his office?” Her eyes shone with a bright light. An evil light. She didn’t think she would get a chance to execute her plan so early in the day, but opportunity had knocked. Perfect!
Athena’s whole body shook as she nodded. She seemed desperate to view the CEO’s dull office.
“Then let’s go.” Alice jumped up and extended her hand for Athena.
Jade had a serious case of Mysophobia, a disease in which a patient is afraid of germs and bacteria. In the worst cases, the person can’t touch another human being else he would get a panic attack. Jade was at that stage six years ago and seemed to be today as well. Athena thought he was gay because he didn’t let any women into his office, but Alice knew the actual reason behind his behavior. He feared the germs on their body, the bacteria they would bring into his office. The closest he could get to a person was five feet’s distance. Any closer than that and he would freak out, and if a person touched him accidently, he would get a panic attack.
And that could get scary fast.
A chill ran down her spine as she remembered one of his attacks.
Was she a bad person? Using a man’s disease for her own benefit?
But she wasn’t going to let Athena touch him. Well, he wouldn’t let Athena touch him regardless. She was just going to take Athena inside his office to piss him off. That should do the trick.
Soon, her termination later would come flying. That was the plan.
Athena stopped at the reception desk. “I think I shouldn’t go inside. He might not like it.” Her eyes jumped to the CEO’s office door; yarning lingered in them.
“Come on, he won’t say a thing. He should give a proper farewell to his secretary, shouldn’t he?” Alice put her hand on Athena’s shoulder, pushing her toward the office door.
With some hesitation, Athena entered the office with her. The room smelled like disinfectant, which seemed to make Athena a little more hesitant.
But Alice was behind her, pushing her forward, so she moved inside anyway.
“Don’t worry,” Alice whispered in Athena’s ear.
Jade sat in his chair, facing the glass wall behind his desk, watching the traffic rushing over the road.
Alice cleared her throat, and his chair turned one hundred eighty degrees.
Anticipation ran through her. The moment when the CEO would freak out and fire her was just around the corner.
; Jade smiled at Athena. “Mrs. Williams. It was a pleasure having you as my secretary. Please reconsider my offer. You’re welcome to rejoin us in a few months.”
Athena moved forward and extended her hand to Jade.
A tremor ran through Alice’s legs. She quickly moved forward, trying to stop Athena from moving any inch further. She couldn’t let her go near Jade; it would hurt him.
Jade surprised her when he walked around the desk and grabbed Athena’s hand with his gloved hand.
Alice almost fell down in shock.
“Thanks for everything. It was nice working with you all these years.” Jade smiled, sending a visible shock through Athena’s body.
Athena blabbered something and hurried out of the office, leaving Alice behind.
Jade sat on the huge desk, his left leg bent in his knee. “Miss Myer, do you think you’re the only one that I can touch?”
Chapter 5
Jade hid the slight tremor in his hands from Alice. It hadn’t been a direct touch, he assured himself, trying to avoid a freak-out. Not when she stood there, mere feet away, her hazel eyes focused on him, full lips waiting to say something.
He had finally shaken hands with Mrs. Williams for the first time in the three long years since she started working for him. Though technically he wore a glove, the sentiment was important for Mrs. Williams. Maybe, he should have done it sooner. It wasn’t good of him to treat her like an outsider. She was his secretary, after all.
But that wasn’t important.
The important thing was Alice’s motivation. She’d brought Mrs. Williams into his office with ill intentions, and he’d beaten her at her own game. No, he’d scored a home run, or a touchdown, whatever. If he had to describe the exact joyous feeling, then it would be a scientist’s feeling after combining two molecules perfectly to produce a new element.
“But how...” Alice stepped back, her eyes still fixed on his hand. She didn’t even blink.
She looked kind of cute in her shocked state.
No, what was he thinking? She wasn’t cute. She was the devil here. A woman who left him when he needed her the most. A woman who came here with ill intentions. A woman he would take revenge on.
Her lips curled downward. A knot formed in his stomach to see her growing sad.
What the heck? Why did he suddenly feel sorry for her?
“Miss Myer, why don’t you take that file on my desk and arrange a hotel for next week’s meeting with Adlabs pharmaceuticals? Make sure you check with my event manager first and then do the bookings. When you’re finished, prepare a double shot espresso for me. The kitchen is through there.” He motioned at the second door in the office, the one that led to his private kitchen.
She still stood there, sweating. Was something wrong with her? Why was she sweating in an air-conditioned room? “Are you—”
Turning back, she beelined toward the exit, her long fingers patting the space below her ears. She used to do that when she was nervous.
He sighed. “Miss Myer, the file is on my desk.” He relaxed his shoulders. She was fine, just nervous.
She changed direction, moving toward his desk, her legs wobbling awkwardly. Was it because of nerves or her high heels?
“Which one?” Her long, slender fingers rested against the corner of the files. The urge to touch those fingers shot through him, to see if it still worked. If he still could.
It had been six years, but he remembered their first encounter like it happened yesterday.
THE CORRIDOR WAS EMPTY on his drone’s camera, so Jade quickly moved through it. His chest constricted as he spotted specs of dust on the white walls. Seeing that, he had the urge to turn back and get out of there, but he couldn’t. Pushing his anxiety down, he pushed forward. His eyes looked ahead to the room at the end of the corridor. At least it looked clean. It should; he had sent his attendant that morning to vacuum and disinfect it twice.
The classroom was empty except for a desk and a webcam placed on the table a few feet away from the desk. It was a special arrangement for him, thanks to his mother’s connections with the mayor.
When everything looked clean, he removed his white dust preventive mask and took a deep breath. If it wasn’t for university restrictions, he would’ve preferred wearing the mask while taking the exam.
The air smelled damp, so he pulled out his portable dust checker, and it blinked light green. Quite breathable.
Ten minutes later, an examiner came and placed the exam paper on the only table present in the classroom. Without saying anything, he walked back out. They were all instructed by his mother in advance, and they had performed well for the last four papers.
Jade collected the paper after a minute and began taking his exam. It was the last one, and he knew teachers would be monitoring him from the CCTV room. Not that he needed to cheat. It was chemistry paper; why would he need to cheat? He could create arbitrary reactions in his mind when he was ten. For the last four years, he hadn’t even touched a chemistry textbook. Not even once.
The test went smoothly. As he expected, he managed to answer all the questions and even put some out of syllabus theory about the questions asked. Quite satisfying. This was the last exam, and soon he would graduate. It would be the end of exams, papers, and his anxiety for days.
When he completed his exam, he left it on the table. He was about to walk out when a crazy girl walked in.
A tall girl entered the classroom and charged him. Before he could ask her to get out, her fingers were on his face like a stamp on paper.
He fell on his butt, stunned, but he wasn’t angry with her. Instead, he was analyzing his reaction, his heart rate, his mental state. There was nothing. No reaction, beyond general startlement. It was a miracle. A person had touched him, and he didn’t get a panic attack.
To confirm it, he grabbed her hand and pulled her in his arms. His heart remained steady. She was the first person he had touched since he was ten. She was, quite possibly, the only person in the world who wouldn’t send him to the ICU with a touch.
Her name was Alice Myer, a name he would never forget. And yet here they were, shooting fire at each other.
“I’m happy for you Jade, I’m happy that you overcame your Mysophobia.”
Those words pulled him back to the present, and God, those words felt like a wave of cold over his burning heart. Why was she telling him that? Didn’t she bring Mrs. Williams to make trouble for him? How could she say those words after five years? How could she be happy for him?
ALICE STOOD THERE, dumbfounded, waiting for Jade’s reply. But he just stared at her with those blue eyes, and man, those eyes once again took her breath away. Staring into his eyes was like sinking into a sea of unending depth. Why? Why was it like this? She ended it long ago. Why this effect?
What the heck she was doing? Drowning in his eyes, saying she was happy for him? But she was. If he was cured, that was great. For the first time since seeing him that morning, joy filled her mind.
For that one year they knew each other.
For just this once, she could be happy for him today. Yes, she could be.
But saying something like that? That was a stupid idea. Man, she needed a strong drink. Maybe on the rocks. Jade was killing her with his piercing gaze.
She sighed when she couldn’t take it anymore. “Mr. Hyde.” She wasn’t going to call him Parker. She was going to remind him how brutally she’d ended their relationship. A sure-shot way to make him fire her.
His gaze changed from breathtaking to hurt.
Was it hard for him too?
It had to be. His eyes told her that he was in pain after seeing her. Then why did he recruit her? By his reaction, he surely expected her. Why now? Five years back they broke up, and then last three years had been a professional torment for her, and she wanted peace. Why did he enter her life again, and why now?
His hand rose to his cheek, rubbing it lightly.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. Was he thinking about their firs
t meeting? Man, that was embarrassing. No, embarrassing was putting it mildly. Who slaps a person on their first encounter?
Well, she had. She’d slapped him so hard that her hand print had remained on his face for hours.
Guilt spread through her gut as she recalled that painful memory. She was crazy back then, and in debt. Owing five hundred to her roommate. The way out? Find someone named Jade Hyde in an empty class room and slap him on the face. Why? His butler destroyed the small garden her roommate had built in the extra classroom.
For her it was five hundred bucks, but for him it could have ended his life.
Later, when he told her about his condition, and then when she saw it with her own eyes, she cried for a whole night. She was inches away from putting him on his death bed.
She’d regretted it to this day. If it wasn’t for that stupid money, she wouldn’t have met this jerk and ended up being here as his secretary.
“Mr. Hyde, which file?” She asked again, pretending she hadn’t said those stupid words.
He turned away. “The one on top.” His voice was soft. “Do it tomorrow. You can leave if you’re not feeling well today.”
Did he just say that? Was he being considerate toward her?
“Jade—”
He turned back, his eyes hard once more. “Miss Myer, I would prefer you call me Mr. Parker. We’re in a boss-employee relationship, and I don’t like getting on personal terms with my employees. If you’re done, please excuse yourself.”
Anger rose to her throat. She pushed down the urge to throw a file at his stern face.
Instead, she stomped her feet and walked out of his disgusting, smelly office. Soon, she would earn her termination later. He’d asked for it, and she was going to mess things up for him, big time.
Chapter 6
Jade woke the next morning with a pounding headache. The sun was above the horizon, and he was late for his workout. He quickly rolled out of his king-sized bed but doing so made his head hurt more. Grabbing the cold edge of the worktable next to the bed, he steadied himself. In a moment, that coldness entered his spine and provided him strength to stand straight. No matter what, his workout must be done.
