The CEOs Possession

Simon raised an eyebrow at Veil, as she folded the paper and put it back in the package. She blinked at him, and an awkward silence followed. Now, Simon was thinking that he should have left the package downstairs and allowed the delivery agent to go through the whole hassle of getting it upstairs.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“How did the meeting go?” Simon asked. In truth, he wasn’t really concerned about the meeting because he had no clue what it was about. He just really needed to make small talk to break through the awkward silence.

“It was the absolute worst.” Veil sighed, resting her back. “I have all these papers to turn into a digital format and it is already stressing the hell out of me.”

“Do you need me to help? It’s not so different from what I do downstairs?”

“Can you do that?”

“Of course.” Simon wanted to add “anything for you”, but he figured that it only sounded really weird and was most likely to creep her out. So he settled for a huge smile that made Veil smile back.

Simon went to his office to get his laptop and by the time he returned, Veil had already cleared the table, putting the food away. The only items left were the papers and a very serious-looking Veil.

“Thank you for doing this,” she gushed, sharing the papers in two. Simon took one-half of the share as he turned on his laptop.

“It’s funny how we’ve been working together for some time and I barely know a thing about you,” he started, his fingers poised on the keys.

Veil wouldn’t put it that way. They hadn’t exactly been working together since they were both stationed on different floors and attended to distinct matters.

But Veil couldn’t say that. Instead, she shrugged without looking up from her screen. “I don’t talk that much,” she offered.

“That’s understandable, ” Simon said, nodding. “I’m not much of a talkative too, but…”

“But what?” Veil looked up when she realized Simon had stopped talking in the middle of a sentence.

“Never mind,” Simon said hurriedly, going back to the papers.

“My name is Veil Hart. I graduated top of my class from Harvard. I really hate pickles and my family is from here. What else do you want to know?”

Simon grinned sheepishly as his eyes met Veil. “Why did you decide to work here?”

“Are you kidding me?” Veil’s shoulders shook as she laughed. “Kingston Groups is the best in Mexico. It’s all anyone can talk about.”

“But the CEO’s secretary?”

“I didn’t apply for that,” Veil confided. “I wanted to work with accounts but I landed here instead. At the interview, they mentioned I was most qualified to work here, and the pay is so much better.”

“So it was the money then,” Simon muttered.

“Isn’t that what it’s always about?”

“Not exactly.”

Veil didn’t know what Simon meant by that, but she didn’t let that bother her. She was just pleased that he had offered to help her with the papers and that they would be done in no time.

Simon and Veil finished working in record time, and to show her appreciation, Veil decided to walk him back to his office.

Perhaps, it wasn’t the best decision she should have made, because at the oddest of times, something strange always seemed to happen. As if following a pattern, the huge doors suddenly opened, and Anders walked through them, his men flanking him on both sides.

The employees on the first floor all got on their feet and bowed their heads low as he walked past. But when Anders reached the middle of the floor, his eyes suddenly looked to the left, where Veil was standing with Simon, laughter still in their eyes from the joke Simon had just told.

Veil knew she was in so much trouble the moment their eyes met, but she had no clue what she had done. Was it the fact that he hadn’t met her in her office, or wasn’t she allowed to take breaks anymore?

Her legs almost dragged themselves to the centre of the floor to join Anders, but Veil forced herself to remain rooted to the spot.

Anders’ eyes left hers and slowly went to Simon. A wicked smirk spread on his lips as he shook his head so subtly that Veil would have missed it if she hadn’t been staring so hard.

Leaving them there, Anders resumed his journey, taking the elevators to the eighteenth floor.

The moment he was out of the first floor, eyes fell on Veil and she suddenly felt accosted. She was the center of attention- one she had no interest in keeping.

“You are sure in serious trouble, Ms. Hart!” The loud-mouthed receptionist said with glee. Everyone in the company knew how hard she had been trying to get Anders’ attention with her short skirts and impossibly high heels, so she was bitter each time he paid the slightest attention to someone else.

“He probably was waiting for a mail or something. Imagine what would have gone through his mind seeing you here talking your time away,” someone else added.

“I’m willing to bet my pay for the month that Veil Hart has come to the end of her working here. Who’s going to bet on me?” The receptionist looked around with an outstretched hand.

“Stop it, you all,” Simon warned, coming to her rescue. “Ms. Hart isn’t going to be fired or scolded.”

He turned to face her. “I’m sure he just had a terrible lunch and needed to take out his anger at someone. By the time you get to his office, it would have subsided.”

Veil was a hundred percent sure that Simon got it all wrong, but nothing was going to change if she stayed here. So instead, she took a deep breath and walked to the elevator, asking Simon to wish her good luck.

He mouthed something about her not needing luck since she was luck herself, but Veil was too worried to even listen to him.