CHAPTER 3

  "Are you sure you are ready?"

  I was holding my phone while strapping my sandals to my ankle. I was getting ready for work, and this would be my first day.

  "Yes, Geraldine. I was able to pass the interview, and now here I am, getting ready for work. I'll be close with Mr. Craige physically, and this secretarial position would give me plenty of time to gather the information I needed for my project."

  "Have you created the draft?" she asked.

  I nodded as if she could see me. "Yea, I saved it on my flash drive. Saving it on my laptop would be a wrong move, hackers could hack in it."

  "And don't you think hackers can hear our conversation at this moment?"

  I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Ge. Of course not. They don't have enough reason yet to tap in my devices."

  "Okay, okay. If that's what you think, that's what you want. Good luck with your work."

  "Yea, you too. I'm about to go now."

  I pulled the doorknob close and twisted the key to lock it, then I walked in my car's direction.

  "Ge, I need to go now. I'll update you tonight about my day, okay? Take care."

  I didn't wait for her response and ended the call, then I started my car's engine. One last time, I checked if I have everything I'll be needing with me. Yesterday, I bought a new set of pens and a notebook for notes and schedules. Also, a mini-audio recorder so I could use it without them knowing.

  When I think everything is fine, I maneuvered my car on the way to Craige Inc.

  A valet was waiting for me at the entrance of the parking lot and told me that Mr. Craige has reserved a spot for my car. The parking lot was an underground one, and when I reached the reserved space he was talking about, my mouth just dropped.

  The reserved space for me was beside a black candescent Ferrari. I suddenly felt small with my Toyota Corolla LE, a 2016 modeled car, a second-hand one.

  I blinked when I heard a knock at my side window. I moved my head to see who it was, the valet. I rolled down my window and asked him.

  "Ma'am, you've been here for a minute now. Is anything wrong? Do you know how to park? Mr. Craige has been calling me to ask if you are already here."

  I took a deep breath and looked at the Ferrari again, before pushing the car door open and going out. I gave him the key. I jog towards the elevator and punched on the top floor of this building where his office was.

  As usual, top floor office with double doors. I looked at my watch, I'm about to be late. One last time, I looked at myself to check before proceeding to the door, and it was a bad move to just enter without knocking.

  Mr. Craige instantly moved to pull away from the woman as soon as I opened the door when I get in. My mouth just hanged in shock when I found him panting a little and the first few buttons of his shirt were undone, while the woman zipped her dress up.

  And when the woman finally turned to face me, I was literally dumbfounded to see who it was. My eyes narrowed and it took me a while to finally address her, it's none other than,

  "Stephanie?" I blatted.

  "Hazel?"

  It was obvious in her face that she too was surprised to see me here, while Mr. Craige cleared his throat to call our attention. Even so, the two of us didn't mind him and remained to stare at each other. I was the one who was able to recover from the unexpected reunion.

  "Too early for a reunion," I mumbled.

  She scoffed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

  Ah, she was on her bitch mode again. Acting like a superior when she's not. I chuckled sarcastically.

  "Don't tell me you'll gonna act like you own this place? As if a spoiled dumb brat."

  Her eyes narrowed, "Did you just called me a dumb brat?"

  "Aren't you?"

  I looked at her with my challenging look, and it was enough to trigger her and let the boss know how bad-tempered and low class this woman could be. She was about to attack me but before she could do anything, Mr. Craige stopped her.

  "Whoa, whoa, hey, stop, over there. Not my secretary,"

  Stephanie's eyes widen when she heard how the CEO addressed me and looked as if I grew another head. I smirked in return and shrugged playfully to tease her temper. To my delight, Mr. Craige told her to go out since he's about to start his day in the company.

  Turned out that Stephanie does not have any schedule with him, and she was already here when Mr. Craige arrived. She doesn't have a choice but to go, otherwise, she'll show even more how unprofessional she could be. Before she went out, she looked at me with disgust in which I just shrugged in return.

  "Your time will come, Hazel." she snarled.

  "Okay, I'll wait for that time you are talking about."

  I watched as she dashed out from the office, only then I was able to take a proper breath and faced the man I am going to work with. Embarrassment was written on his face but he tried to hide it by faking a cough.

  "Sorry for that, I didn't mean you to see it."

  I nodded, "Yea, it's fine. Well, that's not surprising. Every business owner has their flings."

  "No," he shook his head. "She's not a fling. I just got, you know, I'm not—"

  I chuckled,  "Hey, relax. You don't need to explain, you don't owe even a single explanation. You're the boss. This is your office, you do want you want. And besides, it was my fault, I didn't knock."

  He stopped blabbering and took a deep breath before walking to his swivel chair and sat there. He reached for the water bottle on his table and I watched how he gulped the remains of it, I watched how his adam's apple moved up and down.

  Suddenly, I felt like I've been running out of breath and I needed to go to an open space, but he was already walking in my direction while his hands were in the pockets of his jeans.

  He stopped a few inches away from me and looked at me for a while before saying,

  "So, shall we start working together now?"

  "Oh gosh, Hazel. Sorry, I forgot to tell you about it. You weren't answering my calls when I remembered."

  Geraldine has more than ten missed calls for me when I turned my phone on at lunch break. She knew about Stephanie's agenda here and forgot to tell me about it when we were talking this morning. I was already out of reach when she remembered.

  Well, I wasn't out of reach at all. My phone was on but it was on silent mode, as it always was whenever I am working. As for how did she know, well, this woman has her ways of getting to know things that does not have to do anything with her.

  Perks of being a journalist.

  "No, it's fine. At least, she wasn't able to ruin my day. It turned the other way around."

  I told her what happened, and she was laughing hilariously from the other line as I told her. She couldn't believe that Mr. Craige would choose me over her. I rolled my eyes 

  "Come on, don't say it like that. It's as if there's something going on between the three of us."

  The bitched just laughed it off. It took her a while to recover.

  "Well, how's your first day at work?"

  I shrugged. "It's going well so far."

  Sir Caleb Craige gave me a brief introduction to my job, although I was done reading secretarial ebooks as a guide. He also gave me the company rules which were the usual ones, and I signed an NDA contract.

  It was written there that as his secretary, I would have a privilege to get a glimpse of his personal life and personal well-being, but I cannot disclose anything about it and cannot ask anything regarding those things. And that I cannot stick my nose in his personal business.

  Aside from being his secretary in the company, I would also be his personal assistant, and with that, I needed to stay with him under one roof. I agreed with it and didn't say anything, it would make my task easy, the one I've been planning to do.

  "What? You would still do it despite signing an NDA? Are you nuts?"

  "Ge," I sighed, "I have ways. Dzuh, we're in Generation Z. Everything is possible, trust me. My plan will succeed, and I will succeed."

  From here, I could say that she was shaking her head.

  "Okay, if that's what you say. I need to go now, my lunch break is over."

  "Yea, me too. See you soon."

  "See ya,"

  The call ended and I put my phone on my back again and get back to work. My lunch break is not yet over, I still have about twenty minutes but I would like to work on it now and sort out his schedule for the week, so it would be easier for me to make adjustments if needed.

  One meeting with the board of directors for new investments from big personalities, a VIP meeting with the counselor, and a visitation of his business partner later at 5:30 pm.

  His schedule was not yet hectic, so he have plenty of time for himself. But he gave me a heads up that soon, schedules will flood like a dam, given that his company was still expanding.

  For the past seven years since it was established, the company was able to run, and expand in different fields, making it a group of companies. Craige Incorporation has a chain of hotels and condominium buildings which was the original field of company, malls, construction companies, and he was also planning to try shipping lines, and banks.

  By next year, he's planning to acquire companies that were about to be bankrupted. He laid all his plans and the company's information to me and said I'll be needing it. He also gave me a task to study the board of directors and the other personas inside the company so it would be easy for me to recognize them.

  As if I didn't research before I decided to do this.

  The job could be hectic, but I knew I'd be able to find a way to enjoy this. After all, this is part of the plan. I needed to do this to prove myself not just to my previous company but to everyone.

  When it was time to go home, I already lost all of the energy I have in my body. Even so, I had to pull myself up and greet the boss who's about to go home too. It was 9:30 pm and my duty on the contract said I'll be on duty only until 8 pm.

  "First day at work and you already have a one and a half-hour over time. Good job."

  I tried to paint a smile although I don't have the energy to. He chuckled and shook his head, which momentarily shocked me. He looked young when he laugh or even just a chuckle.

  I shook my head.

  Maybe I was just tired.

  "Ah, you're tired. Come on, let me help you."

  "Oh, no, I can handle it, sir."

  He was offering to take my bag but I refused. Again, he chuckled with my remark. I instantly knew he had a mannerism of putting his hands on the pockets of his jeans or pants within just a day of observing him, and that it's natural for him to smile from time to time.

  I was actually expecting that the smiles he was showing on cameras whenever he has an interview were fake and just for a show, but I figured I was wrong. The kind vibe he has to everyone was natural.

  "Come on, it's 9:30, you're not on duty anymore. I'm not your boss this time, so, you don't have to call me 'sir'."

  "But—"

  "You can call me Caleb."

  I wasn't able to do anything when he moved and get my bag from me. I jog behind him when he walked to the elevators and called for it.

  "Raynon told me you have a car," he said. He resumed when I arch my brows, "The valet. His name is Raynon. I told him to reserve a spot beside my car, so you will have a space if ever you have a car."

  "Well, I appreciated it but I'd rather you didn't do it, you know."

  His brows creased, which made me add up,

  "It's not that I didn't like it, it's just that, my Toyota Corolla looks so small with your Ferrari..."

  "LaFerrari." he ended it for me.

  I chuckled, "Yea. My Toyota Corolla LE looks so out of place with your LaFerrari."

  "Ah, that? Well, don't worry about it. I can lend you my other car."

  The elevator arrived, and we stepped in.

  "What do you mean?" I pry.

  He press the UPL which abbreviates Underground Parking Lot before he responded,

  "You'll be staying with me starting tomorrow, right? You can borrow my car, it's a LaFerrari Aperta. Or if you want, we can just exchange. I use the Aperta, you use the one on the parking lot. How's that?"

  I didn't know if it was just me or there was something with the I'm staying with him starting tomorrow. But I didn't dwell on it and instead, refused his offer again.

  "No, it's fine. You don't have to, I'm okay with my car. Letting me stay with you is too much," I said.

  He reacted, "It's a part of your job. As my personal assistant slash secretary, you need to be quick when I need you. You'll be handling my appointments, may it be about business, leisure, or personal one."

  "Ah, yea."

  It was like a slap for me, I overreacted a while ago.

  We reached the basement and I was the one to go out first. I headed to my car while he needed to catch up with me because he has my bag, I forgot about it. I forced a smile when he handed it to me.

  "You look tired. Rest well. Bring all your things tomorrow if you can, I'll tell my housekeeper to ready your room."

  I nodded, "Okay. Thank you and good night."

  "Good night, drive safe."

  He let me in first, and he stayed beside my car for a while looking at me from the window though it's a bit tinted before he went on his. I let him go first, and when his car went out of my sight, I let a sigh of relief and reclined on the chair.

  Was it just me, the exhaustion eating me up, or it was the fact that it was not good to stay on one roof with him?