Day 7: Free Choice - Modern AU

"I walk in on you correcting misspelt bathroom graffiti"

Aleksander was living through one of the worst days of his entire career. First, there had been the confusion with his driver, a missed meeting, a failed deal, then, to top it all off, he had had to fire his assistant who, as revenge, spilt his coffee all over his jacket. As if that hadn't been enough, he was barred from entering the men's room to clean off the mess because of a water leak. Today really couldn't get any worse and at this point, he doubted that there was anything that might make it better.

Angry, frustrated and in the worst mood of his life, he stormed into the ladies' bathroom, eager to dry off his jacket before the coffee soaked through to his shirt. He might have expected a woman inside to protest against his presence, but the sight he found was so surprising and unreal that he came to an abrupt halt.

The woman he had interrupted jumped to her feet just as the door behind him slammed shut. Aleksander didn't realise he had let go of the door handle until the sound startled him. Still, his eyes were set on the dark-haired woman in front of him who was holding a pen and looked as if she had been caught stealing. The two of them exchanged glances for the longest time and still, Aleksander didn't quite understand just what he had walked in on until he noticed the graffiti on the wall behind her. The worst day of his career was almost forgotten as the heat crept into his cheeks.

"Were you-"

"Please don't tell anyone about this!" she blurted out immediately and slid the pen back into her pocket.

Aleksander frowned at the writing, still torn between embarrassment and confusion. He had never seen this woman before, which was why he somehow doubted that she was the author of the graffiti. As he stepped closer, however, he noticed a small, red mark that had been placed between the black. She had corrected the misspelt graffiti to: Aleksander's packing ;)

At last, he could no longer hide the fact that he was blushing and he tried his best to cover up his embarrassment. "It's not exactly what I'd call a work of art."

The woman's mouth fell open. "I didn't write this!" she argued instantly. "I would never write anything like that! I just, um-"

"You corrected the spelling," Aleksander finished her sentence. He already had a pretty good idea who could be the author of the original graffiti and his thoughts trailed back to his assistant. This seemed like something Zoya would do.

Now it was the woman's turn to blush as she lowered her gaze to her feet. "I'm really sorry about the vandalism. That's not the impression I wanted to leave on my first day, but the mistake has been bugging me all day. I couldn't walk past it one more time."

Aleksander considered her for a moment and weighed his options. He definitely wouldn't get her in trouble, that was entirely out of the question, but this woman seemed to have a keen eye for details and he currently was one assistant short. Depending on how fond she was of her current job, she might be interested in a promotion.

"Please don't tell anyone about this," the woman pleaded. "I'll clean it up. And the next time I see misspelt graffiti, I'll just ignore it, I promise."

At last, Aleksander smiled. He had thought that nothing could possibly save this day, but this woman had somehow just made it better. There was something unusual and refreshing about her that Aleksander liked. Yes, it might be worth keeping her around.

"How about a promotion instead?" he suggested casually.

The woman's eyes widened. "A what?"

Aleksander chuckled. "A promotion. I don't know what your current job here is, but how would you like to become an assistant to the branch manager, namely me?" he offered.

There was a long, awkward pause in which the woman merely gawked at him.

"Or I could fire you on the spot over vandalising the bathroom on your first day," he added, "but really, I'd rather have an observant, dedicated employee who isn't afraid to point out mistakes as my assistant."

"Um," the woman uttered, still speechless. "Yes? I guess?"

Aleksander smiled at her. "Great, I'd like you to start immediately. Of course, you'll be given a raise and your first task. What's your name, by the way?" he asked as he shrugged off his coffee-soaked jacket.

"Alina," the woman replied. "Alina Starkov."

"Great, Alina," he said and handed her his jacket, "your predecessor accidentally spilt some coffee on this as she left. Could you take care of this?"

Alina took the jacket out of his hands and something seemed to click inside her head while she received her first task. At last, the truth had sunk in and with accepting his jacket, she also accepted the incredible luck that had just come her way. It wasn't Aleksander's style to choose his employees like this, but he had a good feeling about her. Something told him they would be very happy with each other.

"What should I call you?" she asked while her hands started to dry off his jacket with a paper towel.

"Most people call me Mr Morozova," he said and grinned at her. "But you can call me Aleksander."

Alina opened her mouth to respond when it suddenly began to dawn on her. For a brief second, her eyes trailed back towards the graffiti, then to him and she shut her mouth again. But even as she continued her first task of cleaning his jacket, Aleksander could see the hint of a smile on her face. Tomorrow, he would definitely have the graffiti removed.