CHAPTER 5

“Gabriela…” a hysterical voice called out from the center of the office.

Heads turned around in Gabriela’s direction and a subtle giggle erupted in the room as her name had become a frequent anthem in the mouth of Mrs Jocelyn, the head of operations.

“Yes…”  Gabriela replied, tired of the woman’s uncultured behavior.

“You know, you don’t have to scream my name that way to get my attention, right?”

Gabriela responded in an exhausted and calm tone, feeling it was unnecessary to hear her name being yelled out like that.

“Oh really?? Who do you think you are talking to?”

Mrs Jocelyn's piercing eyes looked furiously at Gabriela, who stood right before her.

“ So, what’s the issue?”

Mrs Jocelyn stretched her arm and handed her a couple of files.

“This needs editing, I need them on my desk first thing tomorrow morning”

Gabriela glimpsed at the voluminous files and in disbelief looked at Mrs Jocelyn

“How is this part of my job?”

Gabriela asked, confused, and stunned by what Mrs Jocelyn was asking her of.

“I have no business reviewing files, much more editing, except they are directly about Simon…I mean Mr Ramsey”

She quickly corrected herself.

Mrs Jocelyn smirked, and let out an evil grin.

“Mr. Ramsey has ordered that you’ll be in charge of reviewing all the files, so get to work”

Gabriela let out a sigh, she put her hands on her forehead and shook her head.

“When exactly would you quit making my life miserable”

She screamed in annoyance, clenching her fist.

Gabriela had enough, Mrs Jocelyn purposely made her work hard and it was frustrating.

“If you can't handle it, sweetheart….”

Mrs Jocelyn looked at her with a superior expression.

“Quit” she yelled back, and walked away.

It was obvious that Simon was using the Head of Operations to deliberately give Gabriela tasks that would stress the hell out of her.

It has been a couple of weeks into the job and it was as if Gabriela was put in charge of unnecessary work that didn't relate to her position.

She took a deep breath and returned to her workstation, her eyes were strained and weary. Gabriela was fuming like a stove, she was pissed and angry.

With no other choice, Gabriela began to review the documents handed to her by Mrs Jocelyn.

She was fatigued but determined to complete and submit the work by the deadline given.

Time flew so fast, and unknowingly she realized she was the only person left in the office.

“Time to go home” she mentioned, placing her laptop in her bag and arranging her stuff.

Everyone had left the office building, the silence that engulfed the place was quite suffocating. 

Gabriela pressed the elevator button, shivering at the cold breeze coming from the window.

When the elevator opened, she got in and before she could press the button to the down floor,  she noticed a shadow mirrored on the floor and when she lifted her eyes, it was Simon:

“Good gracious dude, do you want to give me a heart attack?”

Gabriela said, with a shocked tone.

“Does my presence scare you?” Simon responded, amused at her reaction, entering the elevator and pressing the ground floor button.

“Scared? You wish”

Simon looked at her shook his head, and without saying a word, scrolled through his phone.

They both didn't want to be in the same space, suddenly the elevator abruptly came to a stop and the light started flickering.

Gabriela held the railing of the mirror 

“What is happening?” she asked, confused and scared.

“It must be a minor malfunction” Simon responded calmly, pressing the emergency button to contact security.

“Wonderful, not only I had a stressful day but now I can't get home to catch some rest” 

Gabriela muttered in disbelief, pacing across the small space, and biting her fingers.

“Chill, it’s not a big deal, they'll get it fixed soon”

Simon raised his eyes above, thinking Gabriela was just being paranoid about the situation, and went back to scrolling on his phone.

After 30 seconds in silence, the reality of being stuck sat in, and Gabriela began to breathe unevenly and bite her fingers nervously.

“What’s your problem?” Simon asked, irritated by her behavior.

“Nothing Sir” Gabriela snubbed him off.

“Seriously what’s going on? You're tense”

Simon insisted, noticing how nervous and unsettled Gabriela looked.

“I just don't like enclosed spaces, it freaks me out”

Gabriela finally stated, still pacing around.

“You don't like elevators?” Simon said, looking at her baffled.

“And you're supposed to be the smart one, it’s called claustrophobia genius, small places make me anxious”

Gabriela responded, trying to remain calm and composed.

“Hey,” Simon called out in a more subtle tone, almost sweet Gabriela thought.

“It's just a mechanical issue, they are working on it, try to breathe in and out, it will help”

Simon said maintaining eye contact.

“Oh wow, Ramsey, I didn't know you were a therapist in your past life”

Gabriela grinned at his instructions sarcastically.

“Just do what I say for once Gabriela”

He had never called her by name that way. As much as Gabriela wanted to deny it, she felt this sudden safety around him and after a couple of breathing exercises, she truly felt better.

“You should get this checked Sir, we don't want this kind of thing happening again, right”

Gabriela stated, still annoyed at the fact that she was stuck in an elevator with him.

“I know how to run my company, Ramirez, don't tell me what to do”

His tone was harsh and serious.

The doors opened and they both went their separate ways, as if nothing had happened, just the two of them knew what they had experienced and as much as they wanted to erase it from their mind, they couldn't.

The rain came down heavily, with no sign of stopping, Gabriela sighed at the sight of the rainy scenery, her face was marked by exhaustion and the thought of waiting behind for the rain to stop didn't give her joy.

Gabriela turned around and walked back to the entrance when an authoritative voice called out from the blue.

“Ramirez, we’ll ride together, Jimmy is bringing the car”

Simon mentioned while standing at the entrance waiting for his driver.

“What makes you think I will even consider riding with you Sir, Never”

Simon grabbed Gabriela’s hand from behind as she tried to walk away from him.

“Don’t be stubborn, this is an order”

Gabriela stared at him without saying a word, her eyes went from his face to his hands over hers.

Simon cleared his voice and let loose of her hand.

“It’s late”

At that moment, Jimmy drove in and ran to the entrance to pick up his Boss with an umbrella.

“Let’s go, Ramirez”

Gabriela kept observing Simon.

The ride was quiet, they avoided eye contact. They both sat in awkward silence in the back seat facing opposite directions.

After a couple of minutes, Simon decided to speak up:

“Ramirez, what is my schedule like tomorrow morning?”

Simon inquired in a demanding and cold tone.

But no reply was received, Simon lifted his eyes from his phone and before he could angrily call Gabriela again, he noticed a girl tilting her head with her eyes closed.

Gabriela was sleeping, the busy work schedule had knocked her out.

Simon looked at her for a moment and shook his head in disappointment.

“She could sleep wherever, what a mess”

Simon came closer to Gabriela and rested her head on his shoulder.

Jimmy looked surprised from the top mirror and when Simon’s eyes met his, he quickly looked away.

“I’m just doing this so that she won’t use the excuse of having bad neck pain to avoid work tomorrow”

Simon explained.

“Of course Sir”

Jimmy’s response sounded a bit sarcastic.

Simon kept looking at Gabriela, something about her kept him lost in thoughts.