Title: The Wrong Emotion
Disclaimer: I do not own the tv series 'Merlin'. That belongs to BBC. Although, if it were mine, well… I wouldn't be here writing this, would I? And Mergana would've been a major pair in the series. But I just own this sad fic.
Author's Note: Hello, you lovely you! Thank you so much to the readers and the people who reviewed the first chapter of this fic. I really appreciate it. Anyway, I hope you all like this chapter. It's a whole lot longer than the first chapter, but I hope it'll be good. Please leave a review. Also, Arthur is kind of a bad guy in this chapter. Can't really say if he'll be the antagonist for the whole story. But let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcomed here as well. But go easy on me, will ya? I'm still new to the Mergana community.
-McDiggin'It
…
Chapter Two:
When Morgana shows up on the doorstep of her boss's luxurious private home, she finds herself staring up at the place nervously. It's really too early for this anyway.
She rings the doorbell and smooths down her dark skirt before stopping herself. It's just my boss, and I hate him! She tries to tell herself, but the nerves wouldn't go away.
Typically it takes him nearly 10 minutes to answer the door, and... Ok let's pause right here for a second. Let me elaborate on the fact that I did NOT ogle his half naked body... Ok, maybe a little, but I'm bloody human!
She blinks several times at him, standing before her in all his half naked glory with a towel wrapped low around his hips. His pale skin glistens with water, his hair still wet from his shower, and his chest and abs lightly sprinkled with a line of dark hair, which her traitorous eyes follows until they disappears into his towel. She swallows hard, her emerald eyes flickering up to meet his sapphire ones.
He's smirking at her in amusement, "Like what you see?" Merlin makes a show of flexing his arms, and stretching them up and over his head so every muscle in his upper body is forced to contract.
Morgana could not stop her blush even if her life depended on it. So she scoffs, momentarily stuttering as she tries to find her words. When she realizes she was not going to find said words anytime soon, she settles for thrusting the hanger'd suit in her hand towards him. "Your suit." She manages to say, feeling extremely proud of herself for keeping her voice steady.
He gives her a crooked grin that wasn't supposed to make her mouth dry but did. He takes a step back and swings the door wider. "If you could put it in the living room, I'll just be a minute." He doesn't wait for her to protest as he turns and heads back inside his home.
She stands there for a few long moments, watching his wet naked back disappear past the door frame, before taking a tentative step inside as if she feared he may have set booby traps for her. She wouldn't put it past him to do something like that, seeing as how he already makes her life painful just by existing.
She looks around quickly, trying to find the living room, and when she does, she's thoroughly surprised at the modesty of his home. She had expected billion dollar paintings on his walls, maybe a few gold statues of himself, and a large painting of his head in the center of his living room, but... the whole area looks normal. Light green window curtains, pulled back to let the sunlight in, light green walls, a light blue couch, a green arm chair, a coffee table made from mahogany, an off white love seat, and a fireplace.
The only thing hanging from the wall above the fireplace was a huge photo of a man with dark hair and a bandholz styled beard, a woman with dark brown hair and kind light brown eyes, and an adorable little dark-haired boy with striking blue eyes standing between the couple.
She knows immediately that the little boy was Merlin. He looked about 5 or 6 years old in the picture, and Morgana assumes the couple are his parents when they were around their late 20's or early 30's.
She studies the face of the young Merlin, who did not smile or look even a little bit interested in anything at the moment. She recognizes that look on the present Merlin as his usual look of disinterest. And she wonders how he could already be feeling so disinterested about things at such a young age.
She pulls her eyes away, not wanting to wonder about anything else of Merlin's, and continues looking around the place.
She hates to admit it to herself, but the place is bloody cozy. The scent of lavender hangs in the air, which she adores because of course, she has lavender scented everything in her own home.
She continues to inspect the area as she sets down the freshly dry cleaned suit on top of the arm chair in the corner of the room. She momentarily wonders if he likes the scent of lavender, or if there were a girl here earlier. Or maybe the girl is still upstairs. Her eyes zoom into the corner of the couch where she sees a light blue hairbrush laying.
She didn't mean to inspect it, but she finds long blonde strands of hair in the bristles of the hairbrush. Clearly this belonged to a girl. She ignores the unfamiliar feeling rising in her chest at the thought and looks away, choosing to take a seat in the loveseat beside the coffee table and wait patiently for Merlin to return. She makes a mental note to stop looking around, which she finds a moment later she didn't have to do at all because Merlin comes back, this time entering the room in a dark blue bathrobe. He takes the suit and inspects it for a moment before grinning in satisfaction at its condition.
"Come come, Morgana." He doesn't look at her, but he waves a hand, motioning for her to follow him. It takes her a moment to realize that he's left the living room, and she shoots up out of the love seat to follow him. He walks down the hallway to the right and into a room to the left, leaving the door open.
Hesitantly, she follows, turning into the doorway, and nearly has a heart attack as she comes face to face with Merlin, leaning against the doorframe of what looks like a giant walk-in closet full of work suits. She momentarily wonders why the bloody hell she had to pick up one suit when he obviously has a billion more in his closet.
He grins at her and holds out the suit to her. "Come inside."
She stares at him, tensing up at the way he's looking at her. "Errr..." she glances at the suit. "What are you doing, sir?"
He chuckles, rolling his eyes at her uncomfortable look. "Relax, Morgana.. I'm not going to do anything to you."
"That's reassuring." Morgana mutters sarcastically to which Merlin laughs and raises his hands in mock surrender.
"Just come inside, Morgana. It's a walk-in closet."
She blinks at him with a quizzical look. "And what exactly am I supposed to do in your closet?"
He gives her a look as if it were painfully obvious. "Help me put on my suit, of course."
She glares at him, "I'm your assistant, Merlin. Not your girlfriend, your housewife, or your babysitter."
He laughs, turning to hang up his suit on a nearby hook beside a whole row of similar looking suits, before turning back and raising his right hand like he's about to pledge allegiance to her. "I, Merlin Emrys, CEO of Camelot Stocks Company, promise not to touch thine body with a ten foot pole..." He trails off, smirking at her and then shrugging his shoulders mockingly. "Unless you want me to."
Morgana's nostrils flare in anger as she turns away, ready to leave, but he grabs her hand, pulling her back. She turns to glare at him and he's looking at her with a confused look on his face. "Most girls would kill for a chance just to be near me. They follow me around like lost puppies. They flock around me wherever I go..." He shakes his head. "You're the only girl I allow inside my office, my home, my life, and yet... The look on your face tells me you hate me." His eyebrows scrunch up in confusion as he looks down at their touching hands. "Why?"
The question is so soft, she almost doesn't catch it.
He lets her wrench her hand out of his large one, and she ignores the way her fingers had tingled at his touch. "I'm not 'most girls'." She snaps harshly. She doesn't bother to answer his question. How does he not know why she hates him? He makes her life so much harder than it already is.
She doesn't dare to look back into his eyes, knowing that the look he's giving her right then would give her a load of guilt she can't handle at this moment. "I'll see you at the office, Mr. Emrys." She turns and practically flees from his house, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
...
When she goes to work, she immediately notices that he's not in his office. Mainly because he always props his door open when he's in there. Right then, it's closed. She frowns as she sets down her bag on her work desk and looks around for him. He may be an arse, but he was really good at what he does, and in the 11 months she's been working for him, he's been late... never.
She should enjoy this time away from him, but she's almost fearful that he may have taken their 'disagreement' a little too harshly.
Twenty minutes later, the elevators open up, and Morgana almost sighs in relief as Merlin comes walking in, wearing one of his usual dark work suits, not the one she picked up that morning. He doesn't look at her as he passes her on his way into his office.
Today, he doesn't prop his door open. He leaves it closed for the whole day, and not once did he call her for anything. She finds that she's thoroughly bored doing nothing. More than once, she had almost gone into his office to ask if he needed anything done, but she stops herself.
Maybe this is a good thing.
At the end of the day, Morgana is forced to enter his office so she can ask to be relieved. He doesn't look up from his Mac, merely nodding when she notifies him that she's leaving.
...
She finds out from Gwen, her friend from work, that Merlin had successfully done a business merger with Pendragon stocks, and there would be a celebratory gathering next Saturday which all staff of the Camelot Stock Company were required to attend.
She groans at the thought of attending a 'party' which she had no desire to attend. Mainly because it was full of people she didn't know or like, save for Gwen.
Days go by really slow for Morgana, and Merlin was still ignoring her, which she tells herself she's grateful for. Gwen tells her to be careful about making him mad, reminding the green-eyes beauty of Merlin's temper when he's really angry.
She doesn't have to be careful though, because Merlin acts like she didn't even exist. Which she's fine with. Though honestly, she wonders why he hasn't fired her yet.
Before she knows it, Saturday rolls around, and for the first time since their little quarrel at his home, Merlin speaks to her... Or rather, orders her. "There's a company party tonight, held at the Barbican Centre." He doesn't even look at her, only staring at his phone screen. "All members of the company will attend." With that, he walks back into his office.
Morgana stares after him, wondering just how much he hates her now. Lucky for her, she had gone shopping last weekend and found a beautiful, and slightly revealing red dress for the party, so she didn't have to do any last minute shopping tonight.
...
When she arrives at the party, everything was already in full swing. Partygoers all had drinks in their hands and were standing around chatting with each other as soft classical music plays in the background. The place was utterly breathtaking with the antiquity feel of it. She notes how she's never been to one of these luxurious, formal events before, and she feels completely out of place.
She scans the room for any familiar faces, but then she realizes she didn't really know anyone, save for Gwen and Merlin. When she catches sight of Merlin, he's sitting in the far end of the room, nursing a glass of some dark liquid, and completely ignoring all the girls giggling and making fools of themselves, trying to catch his attention.
For the umpteenth time, Morgana wishes he were ugly. It'd be so much easier to hate him. Not that she's having a hard time hating him. He's just... too gorgeous in his not-so-stupid dark suit, and bow tie. She thinks he looks like James bloody Bond... She can't help her next thought.
He looks better than James Bond though.
With a hopeless sigh, she heads over to the bar, determined to get a drink that would hopefully render all the partygoers ugly in her eyes.
...
Merlin was not happy. He can't tell why, because he doesn't even know the reason. He should be having a great time, talking to people, intermingling, chatting up the ladies who so obviously want his attention, and perhaps even looking for Uther Pendragon and his son, Arthur who the whole event is in honor of welcoming. But he just didn't want to do anything.
A flash of red catches his eye, and Merlin's jaw practically hits the floor as his blue eyes drink in the sight of a certain assistant of his. He's always known she was pretty, beautiful even. But tonight, she's outdone herself.
"Whoa. Who's the sexy broad in red?"
Merlin's eyebrows scrunch together at the unfamiliar voice, turning to find a blonde, life-sized Ken doll grinning, his dark eyes fixated on Morgana. "Who the hell are you?" He queries suspiciously.
The blonde gives him an equally suspicious look, his grin slowly disappearing. "I should ask you the same thing."
The dark-haired man holds out his hand, though both men knew it was not a polite hand shake. "The name is Merlin. Merlin Emrys."
There's a flicker of recognition in the blonde mans eyes as he shows his teeth in an obviously forced smile. "So you're the CEO of Camelot Stocks."
"That I am... And you are?"
The blonde feigns an apologetic look. "Oh, where are my manners?" He dusts his hand quickly against his jacket and extends it, shaking Merlin's hand. "I'm Arthur. Uther Pendragon's son."
Merlin is not sure why, but he had figured as much. Blonde pretty boy, dazzling white smile, expensive Armani suit. He should've known that he was Uther's son and probably heir to the company. "Of course you are." Merlin smirks, ignoring the brief offended look on Arthur's face.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Merlin merely shrugs, "Exactly what I said."
Arthur glares, and Merlin is unfazed. "My father sent me in his stead. He has an important meeting in Paris that he cannot miss." The blonde man gestures with his hand. "He sends his sincere apologies."
Merlin nods his head, a soft sigh of relief leaving his lips at not having to spend the whole night talking to some old guy. "I'm sure he does. Send him my regards."
Arthur grins, "I will." Widening his eyes animatedly, he casually throws an arm over Merlin's shoulder as though they were best friends and not just mere business associates who know next to nothing about each other. "Now, on to more important matters." The blonde grins and nods in the direction of the bar. "Who, is that lovely little minx over there?"
Merlin glances in the direction the blonde man is indicating and immediately catches sight of Morgana. He grits his teeth and shrugs away from Arthur. "That would be my assistant."
Arthur quirks an eyebrow at him. "And what exactly does she assist you with?" Without waiting for an answer, he leans forward and whispers as if they were sharing some big secret. "I bet she assists you with your..." He trails off and gives Merlin the once-over. "Deepest desires." He wriggles his eyebrows and laughs.
Merlin rolls his eyes at that. "She is merely my assistant. She answers calls, sets up meetings, checks my schedule. A mere coworker." He waves a hand dismissively. "Nothing more, nothing less."
Arthur's grin only widens, "Ah! That's perfect. So she's free?"
Merlin honestly wanted to kick himself. He should've seen this coming. "Free?" He questions blankly.
"Single, I mean. I've heard one too many stories of bosses sleeping with their assistants."
Merlin glares, his nostrils flaring, and his hands balling up into fists. How dare this plastic blonde doll ask me if Morgana is free and whether I'm sleeping with her?! He almost punches the blonde man in the face, but stops himself at the last millisecond. That would practically tear our new company alliance apart.
Gritting his teeth, Merlin forces out, "I don't know if she's single. She's my assistant. Not the other way around." He doesn't stick around to find out whether Arthur goes over to Morgana, instead Merlin leaves the room in search of some fresh air.
...
Authors Note: So, I know I just kind of cut the chapter off, but it'll pick up where it left off on the next chapter. I hope you all liked this chapter. Thank you for reading and please review!
-McDiggin'It