Episode Two
"Good morning Hilary." I greeted with a smile as I passed by my colleague, Hilary.
"Good morning Gabriella." Hilary said in return, cheerfulness found in her tone. "Mr. Bolton is already in his office."
I nodded and headed for the coffee room. Suddenly I felt a little nervous having to face my boss for the first time. What if he doesn't like me? I had to make a good impression no matter what, he is my boss after all.
I decided to make him a cup of coffee before I went over to his office.
"He likes coffee right?" I asked suddenly feeling unsure about this matter.
"Who doesn't?" Hilary commented with a little smirk. "Go on."
I took in a deep breath before softly knocking on her boss his office door.
"Come in." I heard a deep low voice say.
I pushed the door open, wide enough for me to walk through. He was standing with his broad back turned towards me, his hand shoved in his pockets, casually staring at the view below him. His posture showed complete confidence. He looked powerful like he owned the world.
"Hello Mr. Bolton." I spoke. I licked my bottom lip before continuing. "I'm sorry to disturb you like this but I thought I should introduce myself properly since we haven't met."
"Right." Mr. Bolton swiftly turned around with his hands still in his pockets. I was met with a pair of intense blue eyes staring directly into my eyes.
"My new secretary." He affirmed.
I felt weak in the knees just by him staring at me.
"Yes." I barely made out. "Gabriella Montez is the name, sir."
I thought of shaking his hands but I saw no signs of him offering his hand as well so I decided not to.
"I see you made me coffee." He observed. His eyes traveled to the cup of coffee in my hands. I steadied my hold on it and nodded.
"Yes sir. I don't know how you take your coffee but I hope this will do." I answered.
He nodded in return. I went over to put the coffee on his desk. I felt his eyes following my every move which made me feel even more nervous if that's possible.
"I have a meeting in fifteen minutes. I want you to also attend and make notes." He enlightened me.
"But of course. That's the meeting with Mr. Anderson, am I right?"
His momentarily surprise shown on his face didn't went unnoticed.
"I looked through your schedule yesterday. Trying to get caught up as soon as possible." I explained to him.
"So far I can't complain Ms. Montez." I couldn't help but smile a little. He kind of complimented me, right?
He slowly walked towards me. I felt my heart beat a little faster. As he came closer I was able to smell his cologne. Not too much but enough for it to fill my nose with such a delighted scent.
He slowly grabbed his cup of coffee from his desk and took a brief sip.
"You also make good coffee. Never had a secretary that made good coffee." He pointed out before putting his coffee back down.
I breathed out in relief. "I'm glad it is to your liking, sir."
"You're dismissed, Ms. Montez. See you in a bit."
With that said he took place in his chair behind his desk. I excused myself and headed out of his office. I let out a relieved sigh as I closed the door behind me and sat back down behind my own desk.
"How did it go?" I heard Hilary ask. As I was about to respond to that we were greeted with a simple hello from Tristan Bolton.
Our heads turned in his direction.
"Good morning." Hilary and I greeted in unison.
"Tristan will do." He insisted. "How did your first day go Gabriella?"
"It went great actually." I replied with little enthusiasm.
"Glad to hear." He replied with a smile appearing on his lips.
"Is my brother in there?" He asked afterwards. I nodded.
"He is. He's having a meeting in 10 minutes or so."
"10 minutes is all I need. See you Gabriella."
He waved shortly before he disappeared into Mr. Bolton's office.
"Were you able to take notes of everything?" Mr. Bolton asked me.
I stretched out my fingers, trying to shake off the numbness. We just finished the meeting which lasted roughly 2 hours. My fingers were feeling numb from taking notes the whole time but to my relief I was able to follow the meeting effortlessly.
"Yes sir. I will immediately type it out on the computer." I replied. "Please do."
He let out an exasperated sigh. "It was kind of a long meeting, wasn't it?" I commented as we got into the elevator.
He rubbed his chin with his index finger. I noticed that's something he would do a lot. He nodded shortly. "It was. Mr. Anderson is a difficult man when it comes to business. Especially with me."
I frowned slightly. "Has this something to do with the fact that your father entrusted you with the company at such a young age?" I inquired.
"Perhaps."
"Does it bother you?" I questioned further as I rested my gaze on him. He forwarded me a quick glance before averting his eyes to what's in front of him.
"No."
Silence broke out. I wanted to say that I was sorry for his father's condition. Just something. It felt rude knowing his father being not well and not say anything about it.
But as I gazed yet again at my boss, I noticed this wasn't the right time. Well, when would it actually be?
Trying to change the subject I spoke again.
"Right now would be perfect for you to take a break sir. You're pretty much occupied the whole day. Not much room for a break."
"I'll skip it. It seems my work has been piled up." He said gruffly.
We arrived at the 35th floor and I properly followed him to his office. I waited for him to get settled behind his desk before asking.. "I will type the notes out on the computer and sent them to you by mail. Is there anything else I could do for you?"
Troy shook his head. "You do just that. Afterwards you can go on a break."
I nodded before heading out until Mr. Bolton called out to me.
"I would like something after all. Coffee." He requested.
"Coming right up, sir."
Few minutes later I returned to his office with his coffee. "Here you go sir." I said, placing it on his desk.
He didn't answer back though as he was too consumed in his work. I decided to leave him to it and left his office without another word.
It didn't take me long to copy the notes. It might have taken me 15 minutes or so. I cached the notes in a file and put it in one of my drawers. I decided to conserve it just to be certain. Just in case I would lose the file on my computer.
Afterwards I mailed the notes to Mr. Bolton, like I said I would.
"Hilary, do you want to go for lunch?" I asked.
"Yes please. I'm starving!"
"Their food is amazing." Hilary cried out, satisfied.
"I know right? I'm so glad I found this place." I exclaimed.
"How did you find it?" Hilary asked interested.
"When I moved here I decided to take a little tour around the city and I just happened to find this place as I wandered around."
"This is seriously my new favorite restaurant." Hilary stated as she took another bite of her food.
"You should try a restaurant my friend works at. They are also amazing." I mentioned. "I'll take you sometime."
"You better. I love trying new things out. Anything, really." Hilary mentioned.
"Something we have in common." I pointed out.
"So tell me something about yourself Gabs. Perhaps there might be a man in your life right now?"
"No boyfriend if that is what you're asking." I answered with a grin. "You?"
Hilary shook her head, her lips curling in a frown. "Hard time committing myself to someone. I just can't settle for one guy. I'm horrible, right?"
"You're young. There's a whole lot of time left to commit yourself to someone, right?"
"I think so too! My mom says otherwise. She says I'm going to end up alone with 5 cats if I keep this up." Hilary said as her eyes lit up and a laugh erupted from her lips.
Her laugh was somewhat contagious because I found myself erupting in laughter as well.
"She reminds me of my mother. God, how I wished she would stop nagging me about it." I mentioned.
"My mother has set me up with some blind dates in the past. They were horrible. One time, she set me up with a guy still living with his mother at the age of 34. He was unemployed, a game freak and made me pay for the dinner!"
I tilted my head back as I laughed again. I'm so glad my mother didn't do this to me. I would have seriously considered killing her.
"She's still trying to set me up though. Then she has the nerve to ask me why I never visit her. This is why."
Hilary shook her head, a soft giggle escaping from her mouth as she seems to think of the memory of her mother.
I found myself coming to like Hilary more and more. We just get along so well. I'm glad I made a friend at work.
"So do you live alone?" Hilary asked as she sobered from her laughter.
"No, I am currently living with that friend that works at a restaurant. His name is Zeke. We know each other for a long time now. How about you?"
"I live completely by myself. Gets lonely sometimes but I also enjoy the privacy, you know?"
I nodded, understanding what she meant.
"So tell me about your friend."
"He's a year older than me. 25 years old. As I said, he works in a restaurant. He cooks like the best, I assure you." I explained proudly. "We been friends for over 3 years now. I met him in college. That sums it up I guess?"
"A roommate who can cook. Good choice." Hilary said with a wink. "It really is." A grin appeared on my face.
Hilary took one last bite of her lunch before she leaned back in her seat. "I'm so full now. My belly is satisfied."
I took a sip from my drink and sighed in satisfaction. "Me too."
"Break is almost over." Hilary pointed out. I nodded.
I knocked. No answer as I expected.
I decided to just walk in. Bold move, yes I know. I figured he was probably even too busy to respond.
And.. I was right as I noticed him still working behind his desk. He surely hasn't eaten and seems like he didn't even bother to take a coffee break.
Mr. Bolton stopped in the midst of working as he noticed me approaching. He raised an eyebrow in question.
"What can I do for you?" He questioned. I don't know for sure but I imagined a slight annoyance in his tone.
I shrugged it off and I held up the bag with takeout food. "I brought you some lunch while I was on my break. It's Italian food. I know how busy you are but you're still got to eat something."
He sighed. "Thank you but I have to get this done as soon as possible. I won't have time to eat it."
I nodded in understatement. "I know. Here's a solution. How about you go and eat while I finish it for you."
I saw a little hesitance in his demeanor to say yes but he reluctantly agreed to my proposition. He explained to me what exactly needs to be done.
He went to sit down on his sofa and started eating his lunch as I sat behind his desk continuing his work.
We were surrounded with silence. It wasn't something uncomfortable but I couldn't relax just yet.
"I recognized a couple documents with some faults. Several numbers on the report just don't add up. Should I put them aside?" I questioning, glancing at Mr. Bolton.
"Yes. I will look at them later." He replied without offering a glance back.
"How's the food?" I boldly asked him. He looked at me and then focused back on his food.
"It tastes good. Where did you get it?" He asked.
"Downtown. If you liked, I could take you there sometime." I opted to him.
He would probably say no or something like that.
"Tomorrow."
My gaze followed back to him in surprise. A little smile appeared on my lips. He wasn't looking at me back though.
"Yeah sure." I hastily responded.
"You know I wouldn't mind doing this too. If it's something I can do, I will do it. It is my job to do so." I informed him.
"Didn't think of it." He simply said. "Then don't mind if I do."
Time flew by so fast yet again and it was already almost 6 o'clock. I stared at the closed office door of Mr. Bolton. He still hasn't come out, I thought to myself.
Pretty much everyone has left besides them. Gabriella was off an hour ago but she decided to stay until Mr. Bolton was done. She couldn't possibly go home while her boss is still working even after working hours.
She heard the door open and looked up to see Mr. Bolton standing there, with a surprised look on his face.
"I thought you went home." He stated.
"I would have said something if I did. I was waiting for you to finish. Are you going home now?" I asked. He nodded shortly.
I turned off the computer and grabbed my things. I scurried behind him, following him into the elevator. Within second we arrived in the lobby.
Besides the security guards and the concierge, everyone else was pretty much gone. I noticed my boss nodding at them as a way of saying his goodbye.
"Drive safe." The security guard said as we passed by, exiting the building. I offered the guard a small warm smile.
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Bolton." I said smiling and turned around to walk away. Heading for the subway.
"Miss Montez."
I turned around on a spin. "Yes?"
"You're walking?" He questioned.
"Ah, yes. To the subway." I answered him.
His car just pulled up in front of him. Right after his driver stepped out of the car and went to open the backseat door for him.
"Get in." Mr. Bolton said. It felt like he was more demanding it. "Sorry what?"
"I'm giving you a ride." He explained. "Get in."
I did what I was told and got in. I scoot over and right after he sat next to me. The driver closed the door and got in himself.
"Where do you live?" Mr. Bolton asked.
"5th avenue." I answered.
"5th avenue George." Mr. Bolton exclaimed.
The driver nodded and drove us off.
I didn't know what to say so I just stared out of the window. Mr. Bolton's presence felt so intense and I never met someone who could intimidate people just by their presence alone.
Besides that, he was seated so close. I felt his arm now and then rub against mine and his knee touching my leg. He wasn't doing anything really and I felt already so anxious.
We drove in silence for the next 20 minutes.
It was somewhat awkward, not saying anything the whole ride. He didn't bother to start up a conversation and just stared blankly ahead.
Suddenly I felt the car come to a stop and I noticed his driver stepping out of the car. Not much later he was opening the door for me.
I look at Mr. Bolton and he nodded shortly.
"See you tomorrow Mr. Bolton. Thank you for the ride." I said yet again and stepped out of the car.
"See you at work Gabriella." I heard him say. I turned around to see him nod again before his driver closed the door.
"Thank you for dropping me off." I said to the driver. He nodded.
"No problem miss." He got back into the car and I watch them drive away until they turned at the end of the road to the right.
He called me by my name, I said to myself. Surprised? I sure was. He doesn't seem like the person to call his employees by their first name. If I remember correctly, he didn't even call Hilary by her first name.
To be continued.
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