Supervisor from Hell
Sorry for the delay on the next chapter of Bubbly and the Surly!
I did mention that this story isn't my primary focus since I am focused on updating The Last Scion more than anything else but I realized I have made some of you guys wait for too long.
"Aghh…" Annette growled as she buried her face in her arms on the table she shared with her childhood friend and big sister figure, Mercedes von Martritz, who watched Annette with a concerned look upon her gentle azure eyes.
Mercedes was surprised that Annette managed to visit her at her workplace, Ordelia Pastries, during their lunch break. It was just luck that both managed to contact one another to tell the other one is available.
Ordelia Pastries, the family business of Annette's former roommate back in her time as a university student. Lysithea has always prided herself as the one to take over the business soon especially with her acute expertise on cake and other sweet delicacies. Its booming success led to many branches all over Fodlan with the main branch being in Derdriu, this one in Garreg Mach was the latest branch.
"Annie… you haven't touched your tea and order yet." Mercedes called out, glancing at the untouched cup of tea that has long cooled off its scalding temperature as well as the fragrant sweet aroma of the shortcake Annette ordered that Mercedes personally made. Still untouched.
Annette merely murmured something that Mercedes couldn't hear.
"This isn't like you Annie. Normally, you're so upbeat whenever you have the chance to visit but now..."
"It's the opposite?" Annette finished what Mercedes was thinking of saying, lifting her head up a little to reveal a stressed out and tired face, there were barely any trace of the sweet bubbly girl that Mercedes knows.
Mercedes nodded, her hand on the apron she wears in the kitchen, its white fabric is barely defiled by the grimy forces inherent in kitchens.
"It's my boss…" Annette sighed in exasperation.
"Mr. Fraldarius?"
"No. Not him."
"The other Mr. Fraldarius?"
"No!" Annette felt like having a headache, she now at least knows what Glenn feels when she calls him that way in the presence of Rodrigue, the original Mr. Fraldarius.
"Oh my, I must have gotten confused last time because you told me those two were your direct superiors." Mercedes pondered, a finger on her chin as she looked up at the ceiling of the cafe area of her workplace.
Annette sighed once again at the thought of Felix and these past few days.
"It's Mr. Fraldarius' other son: Felix. He's my supervisor now."
Mercedes raised her eyebrows. "I thought from what you told me, Mr. Fraldarius only had one son since you started working under them."
Annette nodded, "I thought so too until Felix came in a few days ago… apparently he was in a long vacation with his friends for quite some time in Hoshido."
Both friends have heard of that country since their childhood, Hoshido was said to be such a place for relaxation and rich with its culture and tradition, hell they even planned on going there in the future if saved up enough for a vacation.
But first, their work beckons and for Annette, she hasn't been this stressed out ever since she did her thesis with Lysithea's help during her college days.
"So… what about this Felix? Is he treating you badly?" Mercedes' motherly gaze hardened for a bit at the thought of her best friend being mistreated but Annette quickly dismissed such a thought by waving her hands forward.
The orange haired girl again shook her head.
"No… Mr. Fralda- I mean Felix hasn't been mistreating me but…" She blushed in embarrassment whenever she remembered that moment she shared with Felix at the elevator, how she called him such things only for her to realize in her absolute horror that she shouted at her supervisor at the heat of the moment.
Worse than shouting at him, she actually called him evil despite Felix' casual comment. There was no mockery in his tone when he did say her voice was good… was it?
Annette grumbled again as her thoughts clashed again, Mercedes looked on in concern.
Mercedes wished she could do something for her friend but she knew they both have to put such things aside when she looked at the clock to see their lunch break was nearing its end.
"Annie, I think we should go back now."
Annette looked up at Mercedes with tired eyes. Normally, Annette would panic at the time but she was too tired to even do so. Annette sighed before looking at her untouched cake.
"Don't worry, I can bring that over to you at your apartment later." Mercedes gave her a smile, assuring her that her order wouldn't go to waste.
The normally bubbly girl smiled for the first time in the day albeit a tired one.
"Thank you Mercie." She expressed her thanks to her best friend as she stood up and gulped down on her room temperature tea, Mercedes giggled at seeing some semblance of her friend back as she too stood up and took the plate of shortcake to take home later for Annette.
As she was about to leave, Annette remembered to ask Mercedes something.
"Have you seen Lysithea recently?" She inquired about her friend and former roommate that she owed so much to.
Mercedes shook her head. "She hasn't been visiting this branch lately, I heard she's making rounds around Fodlan, researching and checking out the branches. Based on her Fehbook and Nagagram, she's in Enbarr right now."
Annette chuckled. "That's her alright, always so hard at work." Annette said, not realizing she too is like that, two peas in a pod as the saying goes.
With that, the two friends said their farewells. If anything, Annette felt slightly better on her short visit to Mercedes. Yet she forgot something as well…
"Good afternoon, Annette. Have you bought the cream puffs I asked for?"
Annette could hear herself screaming within as she finally remembered what she forgot, she was too busy drowning herself in whatever she was feeling earlier that she forgot the box of sweets that Glenn asked her to get.
Seeing the shocked expression in Annette's face answered Glenn's inquiry almost immediately.
"You forgot." He said deadpanned.
Annette meekly nodded, hanging her down low as Glenn sighed.
"Annette… I'm not going to scold you but I did notice you have been… out of it recently." Glenn began as his eyes took on a more concerned look, he was normally imposing to the other employees, stern to those who slack off and always exuding a cold and professional aura but on people who he is impressed or fond of, he was warm and always looks out for the well-being of his employees, Annette was no exception to such a thing.
The usually bubbly girl merely hung her head low, hugging the clipboard and documents on her chest as Glenn expressed his concerns. Annette has barely resumed her work in the afternoon, nearly being late and now she forgot a favor that her other boss asked of her.
"Are you alright? Is anything bothering you?" Glenn asked her, Annette couldn't answer straight to him, knowing that the reason for her listlessness recently was due to her anxiety of working under Glenn's younger brother.
An anxiety of her own doing to be exact.
Glenn waited patiently for Annette to give him an answer, he wasn't the only one who has expressed such a concern as Rodrigue also noticed her change the past few days, something that Glenn initially waived off as being tired due to the impending preparations for the Fodlan Tech Expo where Annette is expected to help make a presentation.
"Mr. Fraldarius… it's… I'm sorry…" Annette blurted out weakly, she decided to steel herself to honestly tell Glenn of what has been bothering her, maybe by telling him she would actually feel better or get some advice from him.
Just as Glenn was about to hear an answer…
"Miss Dominic."
Annette squeaked out in surprise at the mention of her family name when Felix called out for her, walking in on their conversation in the hallway leading to the offices.
"I have been looking for you, here I thought you forgot that lunch break is already over… again." Felix mentioned as Annette's expression faltered at the mention of her being late the other day when she took her break too long in the cafe she frequented in nearby probably due to her anxiety to deal with her new supervisor.
Felix frowned after seeing Glenn's questioning gaze towards him as if asking a silent question of what did he do to make one of the most active employees of the company become such an anxious mess.
"I'm sorry." Annette bowed apologetically to Glenn before walking past Felix to head to his office, leaving the two Fraldarius brothers alone.
"What?" Felix asked with a scowl after Annette was out of earshot from the questioning he is about to receive from Glenn.
Glenn matched him with his own frown but adapted a more gentler one akin to Rodrigue's.
"What did you do to her, Felix? She's been a mess ever since you became her supervisor." Glenn questioned his younger brother.
Felix merely scoffed at his older brother before taking his leave to go to his office much to Glenn's chagrin. Glenn knew his younger brother, he didn't inherit their father's gentle nature and in fact took a more cold personality even more so than Glenn shows to anyone he doesn't like, he is even ruder than he remembered and Glenn hoped Felix' overbearing personality wouldn't be the cause of Annette's recent change.
Sighing, Glenn had other matters to attend to… The Fodlan Tech Expo being the one of most importance.
Felix made his way to his office where Annette is probably nervous as always, he never really found a reason why she's so… anxious around him as if his very presence was poison to her.
Contrary to how Glenn, Rodrigue and other employees endorsed her as the bubbliest woman in the office, he hasn't seen a single shred of evidence on such a claim.
His office door on sight, Felix was about to reach for the handle when his phone rang within the pockets of his coat. Grumbling, he pulled the vibrating phone out and saw the identity of his caller.
The Boar is calling you...
Growling, Felix roughly pressed the touch screen to answer the call.
"What do you want?" He asked irritably.
"Sorry for calling you during work hours. I'm just calling to confirm if we're still going ahead for the usual routine on the weekend?"
Felix sighed in exasperation. "You should know by now that I always go. Ask that question to Sylvain if he isn't busy trying to flirt with another girl on a random club or bar that night."
The voice behind the line chuckled.
"You're right. Anyway, how is your work there? Doing fine working with your father and brother I hope?"
Felix took another sigh. "Look Dimitri, we'll talk about it when we meet. I don't have the time or patience to answer those on the phone." He sharply responded.
Instead of being taken aback by Felix' rather sharp-tongued answer, Dimitri merely chuckled from behind the line, a genuine chuckle.
"Of course… of course… Well then, see you soon."
Felix merely ended the call instead of returning the same courtesy of farewell with an odd smile.
Annette was trying her best to focus on her work, she has been looking into the materials she was given in order to plan the huge presentation in the coming expo in the next few months. Having most of it delegated to her due to her excellent performance as a presenter ever since being employed into the company, Rodrigue and Glenn were counting on her, having complete faith.
Faith isn't enough to push her right now as Felix entered the office and went straight to his table, clicking on the wireless of his computer and checking on some mails from people in other departments or from outside the company.
Annette inwardly frowned, wondering why her superior mentioned he had been looking for her earlier, she would rather work in her office space she shared with many others, her own cubicle and her slice of personal haven away from the man who makes her anxious.
"Is there something you want to say to me, Miss Dominic?" Felix suddenly asked with his eyes glued to his computer monitor, Annette didn't notice she has been staring at him and Felix noticed her gaze by what is probably from the corners of his eyes.
There's that way of him calling her. There's something in the way that Felix calls her… Miss Dominic that bothers her so greatly as if he was masking something within his voice as he calls her that. It bothers her especially when she thinks that Glenn and Rodrigue calls her by her first name.
Miss Dominic… its true she should be called in such a way in a professional world but coming from someone like Felix who she had a history with in the elevator no matter how short it was and the subsequent reveal that the man she just shouted at and called evil was none other than her bosses' son and brother was all too-
"Well?"
Annette snapped out of her own thoughts and looked back at Felix who was giving her an impatient frown.
Gulping the nonexistent lump in her throat, Annette tried to compose herself before sharing rare direct words to her supervisor. Normally, Felix would only curtly order her around and give instructions the past few days.
"I don't want to sound rude but… umm… is there a reason why you called me into your office?" Annette asked with uncertainty on how her boss would take it.
Felix raised an eyebrow at the question before resuming his frown.
"Are you getting tired of my presence, Miss Dominic?" He asked her before closing the window of the Emblemail website in his computer.
There's that accursed way of him calling her Miss Dominic again. Not knowing its just her general anxiety that makes her feel as such.
"N-No! I don't mean it like that!" Annette found herself raising her voice again before she promptly covered her mouth upon realizing what she just did.
Felix deeply sighed, looking down on his finely varnished table as if contemplating on something. In that brief moment, Annette could see his eyebrows furrow and his expression contort to something that reminds her of hesitance.
With a final sigh done after making a hard decision, Felix stood up from his comfortable office chair and approached Annette who by now has stood up to meet her supervisor's towering height and gaze at her.
"Answer me." Felix began as he took another stride towards Annette, getting too close to her for comfort, Annette found herself retreating from him yet he followed her.
"M-Mister Fraldarius?" She stuttered out as she tried to process what the heck her boss is trying to do with her.
Annette realized she found no place to retreat as she hit the cold hard walls of Felix' office, Felix then placed his hands on the wall near both sides of her head, cornering her.
"Are you seeing someone?" He asked with her a cold stare.
Annette found herself blushing at the sudden personal question, "H-Huh?!" Annette exclaimed out in shock and with beet red cheeks.
So many things were racing across her mind by now but most prevalent of all was… fear.
She's seen this sort of thing in so many movies and read about it in books, she didn't know such a thing could be possible for her to experience yet…
Those cold copper eyes of his kept staring at her blue ones with a hint of something…
"Come with me for dinner tonight." He coarsely invited her as Annette's breathing became more and more laboured as her anxiety around Felix grew.
He was harassing her, she knew this to be the case and while she initially hesitated to respond in order to not aggravate the situation further, Felix said something that truly set her off.
"Come with me or else..." Felix told her imperatively
Felix was about to say something else to assuage Annette after he looked like he made a mistake on what he just said after seeing Annette's blue eyes widen and moisten with tears before her eyebrows furrowed into an angry frown.
"I-"
Felix didn't get to finish when Annette slapped him with so much force that his head shifted to the side and her palm made a red mark on the side of his face.
Annette was breathing heavily, realizing what she just did out of instinct yet regretting none of it.
In between her breaths she shouted at her boss.
"YOU ARE THE WORST!" She yelled at him with so much emotion that Felix was taken aback both from her words and from her push as she ran away from his office, leaving a trail of hot fresh tears.
She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Felix alone in his cold office.
Realizing the full extent of the damage he had caused, Felix growled angrily at himself and how he handled the situation. He didn't get angry at how Annette reacted and the pain on his face but more on to himself and a certain somebody that he shouldn't have listened to in the first place.
"Goddess damn it, Sylvain!" He cursed out in frustration and at the man responsible for giving him advice in the first place.
Again, I apologize for the delay and shortness of this chapter. I never really intended to make long chapters for each updates on this story anyway but I felt like its length wasn't enough to satisfy the long wait for it.
Now, back to Last Scion!