“Simon!” he exclaimed, shouting loud, “I need another batch of the material in the office now! At least three kilograms!”
“Yes, sir,” Simon, the same young man with the huge goggles, replied, completely unperturbed by his superior’s loud speaking volume. Andrea nearly stared after him but ran after, hoping to catch up to him. When she did, he had spun around and nearly slammed into her.
“Oi, where are your shoes, missy?!” Roland exclaimed, seeing her bare feet with wide eyes. Andrea glanced down, nearly forgetting but not having time to feel bashful.
She was more surprised he had called her ‘missy.’ “Don’t you know we are working with very precarious substances? You’re a walking hazard!”
“Right, sorry,” Andrea had said, not wanting to match his volume but he was already storming away.
“Um, I need to get the Sigma Schematics?”
“You what?!” Roland shouted, whirling toward the door he had walked out of. Andrea nearly hit the wall in hurry to match his pace.
“The Sigma A schematics!!” Andrea shouted after him, hiding her embarrassed face from other scientists.
“It’s for… the Boss.” She didn’t know his name, so might as well use the title people referred to him as.
“They aren’t ready, missy.” Roland shouted back, pressing his palm to the pad. It let out a beep before the door unlatched and swung open.
“You’ll need to go back and tell him to wait until tomorrow.”
Andrea nearly melted to the ground, “I can’t. I told you, he needs them. Now.”
“And I told you,” Roland huffed, “They aren’t ready. I need to redistribute the trial information before I could get anything close to an algorithm. Sorry kid, but you just need to tell him that.”
Andrea wasn’t the one to be defeated, and frankly, she didn’t come all this way to be turned away.
“Can’t you just give me what you do have? He said you should be done with the Script Trials by now.”
Roland let out a bark of laughter, “We barely started them a month ago and he expects results now? The Scripts are nowhere near concluded, I still need to run tests.”
“Well, what results you do have, have you placed them in the…” Andrea paused to glance down at her notepad, “Hendrik folder? He needs the results of last month’s trials as well.”
“Look,” Roland sighed, pausing to adjust a pair of working goggles over his head.
“I’ll tell you what, tell him to wait until tonight at six and I’ll send what I do have, which is close to nothing. But I cannot waste time arguing with you while I’ve got trials to run. Alright? Now go put some shoes on, before you kill somebody.”
She had almost as much luck with Athena when she made her way up to level 5. Athena was a tall black woman with large spectacles and wiry white hair styled in impressive curls that made Andrea stare in awe. She didn’t have much time to stare though because the moment Andrea relayed the message the Boss gave her, Athena looked furious.
“He wants me to set up the meeting again?!” The woman snapped. Andrea nearly hid behind the massive desk that Athena was now storming passed.
“This is the fifth time this month! How many times does that man need me to cancel and reset that blasted meeting? I’ve had to call several times and deal with very frustrated executives for weeks!”
“Do you think you can have it done by tonight?” Andrea squeaked, withering when Athena gave her a violent stare.
The woman paused as if realizing she was directing her fury at the wrong person. Heaving a great sigh, Athena shook her head, white curls swinging gently by her high cheekbones.
“Tell him I’ll give him a report by this evening.” Then she threw a finger into Andrea’s face. “But that does not mean in any way that it’ll be set up by tonight. You make sure he gets that message.”
Andrea nodded furiously before beginning to walk off, but not before pausing when Athena raised a hand to stop her.
“Hold on… are you barefoot?”
Andrea sighed heavily, “I’m wearing stockings… and my shoes keep scuffing the floor.”
Athena pursed her lips, “well, we can’t have you barefoot either. I’m sure Roland nearly ripped you a new one when he saw you.” You’ve no idea.
Nodding, Athena motioned her closer, “Alright, come here. Lucky for you, I have a few packages of slippers that came in from Japan two months ago. Domitian ordered them in for the sake of the floors.”
“Domitian?” Andrea asked, approaching the tall woman curiously. Athena snorted softly, smiling softly.
“The Boss, that’s his name. Of course you’ll never want to call him that to his face, so just call him Dom, or Mr. Rhys, preferably the latter.”
Sure enough, Andrea managed to get much of her duties completed for the day, her feet clad in comfy new Japanese slippers that apparently were used within schools to avoid scuffing the floors.
By the time 5 o’clock rolled around, she was ready to hide in her apartment and do nothing but sleep, yet she knew she had to at least approach her boss with something.
She wandered back into the office, worn out and ready to go home, when she found him sitting by the desk, scribbling furiously into a few documents on the desk. When she approached him, he glanced up at her, before glaring.
“You’re late.” He grunted.
“I was expecting information hours ago.”
“Sorry, sir.” Andrea said, heading toward him and pressing a few documents and files on the desk.
He nearly yanked them from her hand before they even touched the wood and he was flipping through the sheets swiftly. He let out a grunt of annoyance but Andrea wasn’t sure whether or not it was directed at her.
Domitian Rhys—Dom…? Mr. Rhys?—she still wasn’t sure what to call him, stood up and headed towards the large screen that took up the majority of the wall.
“Did you speak to Darnell?” He spoke without warning.
“Ah, yes.” Andrea said, “He said the error should be fixed up now.”
“Should be or it is?”
Andrea glanced at her feet, confused.
“Should be?”
He let out a long sigh before shaking his head.
“Fine, whatever.”
Another long pause of silence followed and Andrea wasn’t sure whether or not to leave, so she just stood there.
After a period he turned around before he faced her, looking mildly surprised to see her standing there.
“Oh,” he muttered.
“Go home.”
Andrea blinked before nodding slowly. She turned and walked away, unsure whether or not it meant anything important that she had been able to complete her duties.
She was walking out the main doors of the building when her phone let out a loud chirp. Pulling it out, she gawked at the message on the screen.
Return tomorrow. 7 am sharp. – D.R
She found herself staring at the message on her way home from the metro, feeling blank and lost by the time she got home. Her phone chirped with another message. Stephanie.
How was work with the hot guy?
Andrea had half a mind to begin ranting about all the things she found weird with her new boss, but the exhaustion in her bones made her decide against it. I’ll do it later…
Typing out a quick reply, Andrea wrote, It was alright.
So you got the job? :)
Andrea hesitated, glancing back at the message she received from her boss before responding.
I guess so.
Chapter 3
The following day was a little less exhausting, because she at least came dressed in something more comfortable. She had noticed that most of the people who worked in the building were dressed in jeans and such, but managed to look classy enough to walk around in the establishment.
It was probably because Mr. Rhys wore broad turtleneck sweaters and black slacks that it didn’t seem to be much of a big deal. He didn’t exactly wear Armani, but he stil
l looked insanely good.
Regardless, Andrea was happier to be wearing clothes that at least made her feel more in her element. Jeans, a long sleeve wool windbreaker that reached her thighs and a shirt that was almost a dress and flats, and Andrea felt like she was ready for battle.
She had woken up at 5 in the morning to prepare herself, brushing and fixing her hair into a messy bun that looked better than it did yesterday and a light amount of makeup that still settled her as a professional. She walked out feeling nervous but slightly hopeful as she made her way toward the metro.
Stopping for a yogurt parfait, Andrea managed to enjoy a small breakfast by the time her stop came up. When she walked through the doors, the pointy nose receptionist didn’t bother glancing at her, which could be a good thing, depending.
When she met with her boss at 7 sharp, he was already glaring at her and pointing at a stack of papers.
“Get these signed.” He said before ushering out of the office and pointing at the desk where she would be working as well.
“Call Darnell and have him set you up with your online account. Do not bother me unless extremely urgent.” And with that he slammed the door closed.
Andrea sighed, and set off to do her duties. Around lunchtime, she was able to hunt down Darnell and while he worked on prepping her with a computer—a PC, much to his dismay and her rolling eyes—Andrea found herself time to get a quick sandwich from the nearest shop.
The rest of the day, Andrea hurried around getting as many of the documents signed. Her phone chirped every once in a while with a message from her boss.
Coffee. Black, three sugars. – D.R
Or
Reschedule the meeting with Roland for today at three. Athena should meet with me for lunch to speak to the executives in Branch A. – D.R
For the most part, texting was her method of contact with her boss and while it seemed cold at first, she came to prefer it.
By the time she returned home on her second day, she felt a little more at ease, even though her exhaustion was still pretty choking. She hardly had any energy to play with Linus when she got home and the cat voiced his displeasure at her lack of enthusiasm at making him chase the light from her phone.
Nevertheless, Andrea couldn’t help but find some comfort in knowing that she wasn’t getting fired… yet.
The third day came and went, and then the fourth…the fifth…
Two weeks passed and Andrea found herself befriending some of the scientists from the second level. Simon, the man with the goggles had shown her around with a little more enthusiasm after Roland gave her an earful for not wearing closed toed shoes.
The woman with the ginger hair and chubby cheeks was named Sally, and she was super friendly when it came to food. Simon had even told Andrea that Sally was more prone to giving information whenever she was offered food. The woman had smacked the man on the head before stomping off muttering.
Overall, the work was tiring but not unpleasant and Andrea found that she could even enjoy her job. That was, until she received a message from Mr. Rhys to stay until nine one Friday evening.
Unable to find a reason to say ‘no’ aside from wanting to go home, Andrea had agreed.
He was waiting for her in his office, managing several devices at once while he plugged in several schematics into the formulas on the screen. None of it made any lick of sense to Andrea but she found she didn’t really need to understand much of it.
“Good,” Mr. Rhys said, motioning her with his chin.
“I need you to assist me in putting in some information here.”
“Where would you like me?” Andrea asked, and when he pointed, she moved toward one of the many gadgets and found a keyboard and mouse by one of the whirring machines.
“I’ll dictate,” her boss said. Sure enough they began to work, and as he spoke, Andrea typed in as quickly as he spoke, pausing when she couldn’t spell a certain word.
He would then spell it out, and proceed and they would continue pouring numbers in a calculating algorithm that brought out results that he would then type into another device and watch a graph shape and contort in lines of colors and displays of x and y axis that shifted and relayed information into other graphs. After a couple of hours of working on that, he handed her another tablet.
“I’ll need you to hold on to a few pieces of information, like so,” he then demonstrated by holding his fingertips to the screen over some numbers and she watched as they became highlighted and even popped out.
They returned to normal when he released. “Got that?”
Andrea nodded and began to follow his instructions as he walked toward another machine and began to put in information. They worked like this in some silence, interrupted only when he gave her orders and when she replied.
It was 8:30 by the time Andrea was feeling groggy and tired, and her phone chirped with a final alarm, alerting her of the time the last train to her home would depart.
“Alright, I’m putting in some information,” Mr. Rhys said, “I want you to read to me what you get when I send it to you.”
Andrea nodded, too tired to speak and stifling a yawn. The tablet in her hand let out a soft ding when it received the file and she opened it. She frowned when she got it.
“Uh, is it supposed to look like this?”
“Like what?”
Andrea motioned at it, “Like this…”
Mr. Rhys took a few steps forward and Andrea expected him to take the tablet from her hands. Instead, he paused behind her back to look over her shoulder.
She froze at the proximity between them, feeling his warmth at her back. She caught a strange fragrance that was unusual but also pleasant, like a musk that warmed and soothed her as she breathed.
“Hm…” he hummed and she felt his breath on her neck. She could feel the hairs on her neck stand on end, a shiver working down her spine. She turned to face him, ready to ask a question about the results he saw, but she felt the words dry up when he met her gaze.
The room was only lit by the white glow of the screen above them and the appliances around them, yet when she met his gaze, she could see the violet flecks within his irises and she felt her mouth feel strange when she realized how close he was.
He didn’t seem to look at her any differently than he usually did, but under this light, his glare didn’t look irritated—rather, he seemed to be staring at her with intent and focus.
Andrea nearly felt her stomach leap to her chest when she saw his gaze jump from hers to her mouth. He glanced back up before nodding.
“It’s not,” he said.
“Wh-what?” Andrea breathed, feeling lightheaded.
“Supposed to look like that.” he clarified before pulling away as though nothing had happened.
They continued working, and suddenly it was as though her body had become hyper aware of his every move, and when he breathed, it was as though she was becoming intoxicated with the air that escaped him. It was bizarre and so random that right when they finished and he led her to the main floor, she wondered if she was getting sick.
“I’ll need you again tomorrow,” Mr. Rhys said as they approached the main door, the reception desk empty.
Andrea blinked rapidly at his choice of words, trying to seem nonchalant despite how her heart began to race.
“Uh…sure.” Andrea said, “I mean… I thought I had the weekends off.”
“You do,” he replied.
“But tomorrow is important. Come in at eight. No later.”
And with that, he was closing the door after her and retreating back into the building. Andrea stood there, struck. It wasn’t until she received another alarm from her phone that she finally took off running in the direction of the metro.
She didn’t notice how Mr. Rhys hadn’t fully disappeared within the building, how he watched after her for a moment, eyes crinkling curiously before he spun around and headed into the shadows.
Chapter 4
Andrea had found hers
elf staring at her boss more and more with every passing day. She watched him more, noticed how he stood over his desk, wondered how he could look so athletic despite staying in the office all the time.
He probably doesn’t sleep. Andrea had wondered to herself, snorting, but found her curiosity continue to skyrocket.
She reached the one-month mark of working for him, and when she did, some of the scientists in Level 2 had thrown her a small party. She had no idea why, but they couldn’t help but laugh at her befuddled expression and the cake sitting on the lounge table.
“You’ve lasted way longer than any other assistant of his,” Terrence, one of Simon’s colleagues and friends.
“That deserves a party.”
“Right…” Andrea said finally, giving them a smile to humor them.
“Thanks, but, where’s Roland? I have a spreadsheet he needs to look over before I get it sent back.”
“Eat some cake, Champ!” Sally exclaimed, pressing a paper plate of vanilla cake into her hands.
“We’ll get Roland in a bit. Tell us, is he as bad as we know he is?”
Andrea shrugged, holding the cake in her hands awkwardly.
“I guess. He’s not so bad once you get to know him, I suppose.”
“Uh oh, she’s falling in love with him,” Simon groaned, shaking his head dramatically. Andrea flushed a bright pink.
“No, I’m not!” She exclaimed, embarrassed. The group laughed.
“Don’t worry, newbie,” Sally giggled, “Simon’s an idiot. Also, none of us can blame you. The Boss may not be Satan himself but he’s sure hot as hell.”
Pouting, Andrea stuffed a slice of cake into her mouth, rolling her eyes and finally allowing herself to chuckle when everyone laughed. Yet the thought didn’t really hit her until she was waiting for Athena to print out some forms for her to send to Mr. Rhys, her feet swinging from a high chair as the black woman worked from the side of an immense and sleek copier.
“What’s eating you?” Athena asked after some time of silence. Andrea glanced up, surprised.
The woman was smiling. “You’re awfully quiet.”
Alien Romance: Rusneon Mates Boxed Set: A Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) Page 7
