SECRET CRUSH

And now presently 25 years old with no hope of finding love again.

Good news. I got a job at the Famous & Fabulous fashion company, New York City.

And I was able to make a friend who doesn't judge me by my looks.

_______

“Whad'ya think?”

My friend Jessie showed me a pic on her phone.

“Wow Jessie this is perfect, you're so perfect”.

I exclaimed, admiring everything in the picture, she's a runaway queen for sure.

“Oh please, it's just the editing,” Jessie chuckled, blushing.

“You are a natural, Jessie”.

I continued.

“Stop it already!”

She got all red and laughed.

“Let me see the second one” I requested, she swiped and showed me the pictures.

“Isn't this from our summer collection from last year?”

I asked curiously.

“Yup, I kept them and recycled them because they look so good on me”.

I shook my head, smiling.

Our company's indeed lucky to have her as their model.

 She was the first friend I made in the company, actually more like my only friend.

I smiled at her as she went through the pics, showing me each of her favorite pieces, asking about what I think of it.

After a while, she got busy with chats.

I faced my designs and at a point confused in making a choice.

I got her to help me out.

“Which do you think will be nice, Jessie, the purple or red?”

I showed Jessie my latest designs.

“I will go for the purple, it's elegant but red romantic and suits the theme”.

We got a call to meet with the CEO, last meeting, the CEO Mr. Hathaway announced his son Bruno as the m

CEO of his company.

“I'm sorry, father, but I don't deserve to be the CEO yet.

 I appreciate the offer as your child, but I will love to work my way to the top, please let Ferdinand be the manager. 

He got more experience than me, for the good of our company, when I am qualified for it, I can take your place”.

Bruno replied.

Talk about a terribly good-looking person, even the ladies are jealous of his good looks. 

He hardly communicates with anyone.

We all guessed he was a proud snub at first, but when I got to know him more from his body language, I realized he is just not a social person.

“Bruno, I think you are being silly”.

His father snapped.

“Silly?”

I muttered to myself, he made a lot of sense.

Bruno's the only child of but he is so humble and sometimes surprisingly very humble for a young billionaire, who is also very good-looking with a good body proportion. 

If I am that beautiful, half of my problems will be solved.

Mr. Hathaway doesn't seem to welcome the idea of Bruno not taking over the company today, but he had no choice but to dance to his tone.

I stole a quick gaze at Bruno, even his side profile could make every fluid in your body dry and leave you thirsty for him.

I gulped hard and looked away.

Sadly, it's been 3 years since I had a secret crush on Mr. Bruno.

Who wouldn't, what a joke!

He will never notice me, I am literally the ugliest in the company so to someone like him I am most likely invisible.

I don't even have that body that most girls have. 

I was known as the visual hole of the company. 

Sometimes customers write reports for me to be removed from the front desk as I am not pretty enough to represent a Beauty company as big as F&F.

Suddenly, my friend Jessie cuts into my mind.

“When are you going to tell him you've been crushing for 3 years! 

Girl, you can't keep giving him that dirty stare as if you would eat him alive.

He will never notice you that way, it's not your fault though, he is every lady's dream man. 

Rich, hot, sexy, humble, caring, and overall handsome. Gosh! He is so handsome for this world, I gave up a year ago, though ....”

“Jessie…we are in the conference room.”

I snapped in a whisper.

I tried not to make it obvious, but she wouldn't stop.

“I don't know if he's gay, he can't be seduced. I tried and failed, try your luck though”.

Jessie whispered into my ears again.

“Jessie!”

I snapped out loud, it attracted others’ attention and heads were turned towards us.

Mr. Hathaway paused and gave me a dead stare. I know what follows, I didn't mean to say Jessie's name out loud.

“I am sorry sir”.

I quickly apologized with my head bowed.

Mr. Hathaway is completely the opposite of his reserved introverted son.

“I allowed you into this company because of your talents and skills. 

We all know you don't belong here. I risked the image of this company keeping a fucking bag of beans like you here, so don't ever interrupt me when I am saying important things ever again”.

I felt that deep in my bones 

I knew this or something close to this was going to happen after all, so I endured it.

After that statement of his, I heard some silent chuckles, most from the ladies side.

“I'm sorry sir, it wasn't intentional”.

I apologized again.

My hands were shaking nervously, and I couldn't look up.

I felt a wet drop on my feet, it's from my eyes, I had to rub it off my eyes with a thumb.

“You should be sorry for your fat self”.

Mr. Hathaway bluntly replies then he turns around and continues, “As I was saying… .

Bruno interrupted.

“I think those words are harsh, very harsh actually”.

There was a moment of silence after that statement.

Everyone was shocked and I was beyond shocked. 

Bruno never questioned his father's choice of words or anything at all which doesn't relate to him, even if he disagrees with it, he never cared to say it out loud.

He only answers questions and that's only if it's directed to him.

“What did you just say?”

Mr. Hathaway's voice raged.

The room turned to a quiet graveyard.

“Bruno!” 

His voice came again louder.

My heart raced, my hands won't stop shaking nervously.

“All I am saying is…she apologized and doesn't deserve such treatment from you, she is one of our best designers, without those designs our company won't be at the top, she brought more to the company than the pretty faces you claim to represent”. 

“Leave us!” 

Mr. Hathaway announced.

Every one of us quickly rushed and grabbed our files, and left the conference except Bruno. 

Who was sitting calmly on his seat while his father was staring at him like a predator. 

I looked at him one more time before finally getting out of the conference room. 

Did he just call his father out about his rudeness towards me?

I hope he doesn't get in trouble because of that.

Why would he even do that?

How will I pay him back for standing up for me?

I got to my office and dropped on my seat, immediately I heard laughter from the opposite side.

I didn't need a prophet to tell me that I was the laughingstock.

“I'm so sorry, Beauty”.

Jessie came to me, her eyes were filled with empathy for me.

“It's okay I am used to this”. 

I replied and smiled at her with wet eyes. 

She wasn't convinced, she patted the back of my hand gently, I closed my eyes and exhaled deeply.

“I am fine Jessie please, don't create more scenes please”.

I said, holding back tears. 

She noticed immediately and sighed. 

“If you insist”.

She muttered and left my office.