CHAPTER 7: Surviving the First Day

The elevator doors slid open.

Patricia became tensed and muttered. "He's here."

Even though Patricia had warned Alura repeatedly, in the tone of someone describing a natural disaster, still warnings and reality were two completely different things, and nothing had prepared Alura for the moment Lucius actually stepped onto the fortieth floor.

The sight of him made her pulse do something embarrassing.

He was tall and dressed in a black suit that looked like it had been made specifically for his body. His expression was completely blank yet devastatingly handsome in a way that felt almost unfair for other men. In fact he looked exactly like an ice Angel in a suit.

The image of his beauty was already carved into her brain

She looked away fast before he could catch her staring, but it was already too late.

"Good morning, Mr. Hunt," Alura quickly greeted with a thin smile.

But Lucius didn't respond. Instead his eyes swept over her for half a second without any acknowledgment, as if she was part of the furniture, before he looked away and walked straight to his office without a word, and the door shut behind him with a firm click.

Patricia exhaled beside her. "See? Just like I said."

'So this is the man I'm supposed to survive working for. Such a snub.' Alura thought with awe.

Patricia grabbed her bag from the desk, shaking her head. "I'm going to HR to process my resignation. You're officially on your own. Try not to get fired before lunch."

"Wait." Alura spun around. "You're leaving right now? Right this second?"

"I gave two weeks notice two weeks ago. Soo today is my last day." Patricia smiled, with a tight apologetic kind of smile. "I only stayed this long out of pity for whoever came next....and that's you. So...." She pressed the elevator button. "Good luck Alura."

The doors slide closed.

Alura stood alone on the fortieth floor and stared at the elevator as if it had personally betrayed her.

She took one slow breath. Then she went and sat down at her desk, she lowered the chair to her height, and turned on the computer.

Before the computer screen fully loaded, the office phone suddenly rang out with a really loud tone.

She flinched and tried to grab it, but it slipped and almost flew off the desk, she luckily caught it with both hands, fumbling with the rope as her heart beat spiked.

"Shhh shhh shh." She whispered as she scrambled to pick up the call.

"CEO Hunt's office, how may I help you?" she finally answered, slightly breathless.

"This is Director Finn, From the Sales department." The voice was rude and impatient. "I need to schedule a meeting with Mr. Hunt. This Wednesday afternoon."

Alura pulled up the calendar. It was Color coded, just like Patricia described. But wednesday afternoon was packed solid, back to back from morning to evening.

"I'm sorry, Director, Wednesday afternoon is fully booked. Would Thursday work?" Alura asked politely.

"No."The man declined firmly like he had been anticipating her response, "It has to be Wednesday, why not move something." The man insisted.

Alura's brow creased, "Sir, I'm not sure I have the authority to---"

"You're his secretary, aren't you?" he snapped. "Managing his schedule is literally your job."

Click.

Alura pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it with wide eyes.

She huffed in awe.

'Move something?' He wants her to rearrange the CEO's schedule on her first day because he said so.

"No way." she muttered angrily.

On second thought, she bit her lips and looked at Wednesday's calendar again. Checking for which meeting was less important and can be moved, but how was she supposed to even know?

The phone rang again before she could set it down. She picked it up quickly this time, "CEO Hunt's office."

"This is the Shanghai office branch. We need Mr. Hunt on a conference call at 4 AM tomorrow. Please confirm."

Her brows creased in confusion, "4 AM?"

"Of course, the time zones here are different. It'll be 4 PM over there....Why am I even explaining, are you new or what?" he asked impatiently, why did they all sound soo impatient.

"Uhm....Yes sir I'm Mr Hunt's new secretary." She explained.

"So?, Can he do it or not?" He asked in a hurry.

Alura pulled up Tuesday's schedule. Luckily 4 PM was blank. "Sir, just give me a moment to confirm and call you back."

"Hmm, don't take too long. We need an answer quickly."

Click, he hung up.

Almost immediately the phone rang again for the third time.Then her email also started dinging on the computer. There was a long list of meeting requests, document approvals and some questions she had no idea how to answer. She grabbed her notebook, and started jotting as fast as she could.

By noon, her head was throbbing. She had managed to schedule six meetings, rescheduled three, and had also accidentally double booked one slot that she found out early enough and fixed it before anyone noticed. The requests had not stopped, what made it more annoying was the fact that they all spoke to her like she had worked there for years and should already know things nobody had told her.

And through all of it, inside his office, Lucius sat at his desk completely absorbed on his computer, totally ignoring her existence.

Then the intercom finally buzzed.

Lucius's voice came through indifferently, "Get me Coffee now. And if it's not fifty eight degrees, don't bother coming back from lunch."

Alura's heart dropped to her stomach.

Coffee. Right, the coffee.

She dreaded this part the most , just when she thought she could escape making him coffee, at least on her first day.

She sighed and grabbed the thermometer Patricia had left—thank God for that woman, and rushed to the small kitchen area where she found the coffee maker.

After making the coffee, she measured the temperature, the thermometer showed 95 degrees.

"It's still too hot." She muttered, after waiting for a while she checked again It was now 85, but it's Still too hot. She waited longer as it dropped gradually from 67, 55, then finally 58. She immediately pressed the plunger down carefully pouring the coffee into an expensive mug.

She decided to check the temperature again, just to be sure. But it had reduced to 57 degrees.

"No no no." She hissed in frustration, It cooled down too fast. She had to dump it in the sink and start over again. This time she didn't let it drop to exactly 58 degrees before she poured it out into the mug.

She put the mug on a tray with a small spoon and carried it to his office.

She knocked softly on his door.

"Come in."

Alura entered quietly. Lucius didn't look up from his desktop, he just held out his hand.

She set the tray on his desk.

He picked up the mug and took a sip.

After three seconds of silence, Lucius set down the mug with a soft clink.

"It's fifty six degrees." He finally looked directly at her with a blank expression, his voice was cold but not surprised, as if he was already expecting her to flop. "I said fifty eight, are you incapable of following simple instructions, or did you lie on your resume about basic competence?"

Heat flooded Alura's face, shame and anger mixed together. Why the hell does it matter, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll remake it."

"Yes remake it. And Miss Wayne? If you can't handle perfectionism, you'd better quit now. I don't have time to train incompetence." He waved his hand dismissively and looked back at his desktop.

The words hit her like slaps.

Alura's eyes twitched. She felt the sting of tears and tightness pressed against the back of her throat, but she swallowed them down hard.

She gave a thin smile, "Yes, sir. I'll remake it immediately."

She grabbed the tray and left. Her hands trembled so badly the mug rattled.

In the kitchen, she gripped the counter and exhaled to force the tears back. She really hated being scolded, especially when she had tried really hard to do something right.

She took a deep breath, "Don't give him the satisfaction, don't prove him right."she whispered to herself.

She dumped the coffee and made a new one. This time she watched the thermometer like her life depended on it.

Once it was sixty degrees exactly, she brought it back, but before entering his office she checked again, it had dropped to fifty nine.

So she waited right outside his door until it dropped to exactly fifty eight before she went in.

Lucius took a sip and paused.

He gave a small nod. "Better."

Better? Wait that's it? Just better, Alura stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, sir." She muttered, restraining the outburst that threatened to escape her lips.

She left and sat at her desk. Her hands were still shaking from anxiety. Imagine if she had lost her job right on the first day, after trying really hard and confidently to convince him. It would be a shame.

"Better."She scoffed. "Seems like he's very stingy with words."

Although, it was possibly the closest thing to a compliment, and she felt like she had won her first challenge, out of the many challenges she might face.