9

   Something about the tweeting of the birds and the rise of the sun above the horizon set Ruby in high spirits. She had spent the weekend tanning on the beach with Esme. During her little getaway, she skillfully avoided all Esme’s questions concerning how her date went and who her new boss was. It felt wrong hiding it from her but she wasn’t ready to tell anyone yet, Nate was a pain in the butt for her; at the same time, she wanted to be around him.

Having to see him all week was annoying enough.

  She smiled as the elevator door opened, she was humming a song about the day going to be a good day.

  “Why are you late?” A harried looking Maggie asked as she walked into the office.

Ruby frowned, work started by nine and she arrived half past eight so technically, she was very much early and had a good thirty minutes to herself.

 “Nice morning to you too” Ruby replied sardonically 

  “Mr Jacobin has been in a bad mood all morning, he specifically asked that you make him a cup of coffee”

Ruby stopped in her tracks and she raised a confused brow. Nate hadn’t spoken to her in a while, why would he ask her to make him a cup of coffee all of a sudden?

Maggie had to be joking, she thought.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Mr Jacobin wants a cup of coffee made by you” Maggie repeated 

   “Of course I heard you the first time” Ruby snapped, irritated 

He wanted her to make his coffee because she worked for him? Ruby shook her head as she made her way to her office; this was pure torture for her. Why did her world have to revolve around this arrogant man? She was in a good mood and ready for work but as usual, Nate Jacobin had to ruin it.

  She groaned as she walked to the coffee maker.

 “How am I supposed to know how he likes his coffee?”

She poured the brewed coffee into a styrofoam cup and added some sugar and whipped cream.

She walked to his office feeling edgy.

 “Mr Jacobin, your coffee is here”she said, her voice a little shaky

It felt like she was sixteen again, she could feel her legs go jelly.

 Nate cleared his throat as he lifted his eyes from his computer.

He looked at her for a split second before deciding to speak.

 “Place it on the table and leave” he said coldly and returned his eyes to the screen of his computer.

  She let out a deep breath when she was out of his office, the tension between them could be cut by a blunt knife. She was expecting a ‘thank you’ from him as she was familiar with his rude behavior.

Once again, Nate Jacobin had successfully thrown her into a deep sea of thoughts. Questions like why did he want her to make his coffee all of a sudden, why was he so arrogant and handsome at the same time, was this the beginning of her torment? Nate felt like a mystery she needed to solve.

 Her stomach growled as she poured what was left of the brewed coffee into a cup. It was now nine o’clock and most of the workers were coming in.

“Morning” Ethan smiled as he walked in and grabbed a bottle of water.

Over the course of the weeks, she had gotten more familiar with Ethan and some of her other coworkers; Cassie in her usual style would go off, looking for gossip.

  “Hi Ethan” she replied, offering him a shy smile

  “You look flustered, is everything okay?” He asked, his voice laced with concern.

She offered him a lopsided smile, she wanted to tell him how much of a jerk Nate was and how confused she was about him, alongside other things. It was difficult because she didn’t want to bother Ethan with her problems. He was one of the few people that showed genuine concern when she was sad

 “I’m fine” she lied “I’m just having a slow day”

She was distracted by the shrill ringing of the telecom.

“Report to my office now” she heard the cold voice say at the end of the receiver.

She apologized to Ethan as she rushed to his office.

“What kind of coffee is this?”he bellowed, holding the styrofoam cup with disgust in his eyes

“Mr Jacobin, the coffee is just fine” she replied calmly 

Her little weekend getaway with Esme had helped soothe her nerves and relieve some of the stress she was facing because of Nate, she didn’t want to mess it all up by picking a fight with her boss.

  “I do not like the coffee” he glared at her

She found the look on his face amusing. It was the kind of look a spoiled child would give his mother when it was deprived of what he wanted.

“Respectfully, it’s not my job to make you coffee” she clapped back 

 “I pay you so much money, if I ask you to make me coffee then you should”

Ruby stared at him, he was unbelievable, arrogant and rude. His eyes were stone cold and looked like they could freeze up fire.

 “I can see you want to pick up a fight with me but today is not your lucky day” she frowned

“If you want coffee, you can order it or make it yourself”

  Nate’s mouth twisted into a grimace. She was right, making him coffee wasn’t a part of her job. All week, he had been looking for the best way to get back at her for being rude to him. He needed an excuse to get her attention.

   He dumped the coffee in the trash can to her annoyance.

  “Take these files and work on them” he said, handing over to her the tallest pile of files she’d ever worked on.

She gritted her teeth to keep the sardonic words she had in her head from leaving her mouth. Nate wanted a reaction from her and she wasn’t going to give him one.

Angrily, she took the files and left his office.