Chapter - 1 : Nightmares

"Jessie... Jessie! Wake up!" Rose's voice pierced my ears. I rolled over and pulled my blanket over my head to reduce the sound. "You have an important meeting today."

My eyes snapped open at the mention of the meeting. Oh, shit! I shouldn't have overslept. Or at least I should've woken up when Rose first came to me. She had been trying to wake me up for about fifteen minutes. 

Ditching my comfortable blanket, I quickly got down from my bed. The moment my feet touched the cold marble floor, my head spun and I fell back on the mattress.

"Jessica!" Rose gasped as she approached me. My eyes closed again and I shook my head before making them open wide. Rose's panicked face was hovering over my drowsy one. I gave her a thumbs up, gesturing that everything was okay. 

The frown on her face told me she didn't buy it. "How many sleeping pills did you take last night?" she questioned. There we go. She switched to mom mode.

I squinted my eyes as they adjusted to the daylight. "Three or four," I replied lazily. "I don't really remember."

"See?" She pointed a finger at me. "No wonder you can't even stand on your feet. If you're going to take those pills—which you know I'm against—at least only take one."

I ignored her as usual and rushed to the bathroom so that I could get ready.

"You're going to get addicted to them and you don't even realize it!" she shouted from the other side of the bathroom door.

I knew that Rose was worried about me. Because she was the only one who saw me in my darkest moments. She was the only friend who I could rely on in any situation. She even let me move into her apartment when I had left my house three years ago. 

However, no matter how much she was there for me, she didn't understand why I couldn't stop taking those pills. I was scared of the nightmares that had started to haunt me every night after that incident, and sleeping pills were the only things that could make me sleep at night. 

After a quick shower, I put on a black suit, a light-pink collared shirt beneath it. On normal days, I preferred a feminine blouse and a pencil skirt but today's meeting was big. Not for me but for my boss, Mr. Michael Thompson. I needed to look my best as his secretary. 

I was about to grab a sandwich from the dining table before leaving when a note under a tablespoon caught my attention.

"I'm late for work because of you, so I left first. Don't forget to eat breakfast before leaving. Have a nice day :)"

~Rose

My lips curved into a smile. Rose's mom mode included caring, too. I dug into my bacon and eggs like a hungry beast then left for work.

I took out the spare key from my shoulder bag and opened the main door of Mr. Thompson's house. Yes, house. I needed to start my day as a cook and end it like a secretary. 

As I entered, an expensive living room with sky-blue walls welcomed me like always. Everyone at least once in a lifetime would wish to live here. I couldn't imagine living here, though. I was happy with my small, two-bedroom apartment and the view from my balcony. Who would clean such a big house every weekend, anyway?

I walked into the kitchen and put my bag in a corner. My boss was busy getting ready upstairs while I prepared breakfast for him.

My boss's footsteps reached my ears, and I scurried my way towards the stairs. I glanced at him to pick a tie. Today's shirt color was grey and hugged his rugged body perfectly underneath his black suit. Opening the cabinet next to the stairs, I grabbed a black tie to match his suit. 

He stood in front of me like a statue in his six foot height. Thanks to my black pumps, I could reach his eye level and help him tie his tie. 

It became my daily routine since I started working as his secretary. Come early to the house, cook breakfast, then help him with his tie. These are the extra benefits you get if you don't have a college degree and get a job with only a recommendation. 

But I guess the main reason he told me that I had to come to his house every morning instead of the office was because of his tie. It was still incredulous to me that my hard-working boss didn't know how to tie a simple tie.

He walked past me towards the dining table once I finished tying his tie. I had already set his breakfast on the dining table, so he started eating with an iPhone in his other hand. He always checked his emails while having breakfast.

"Ms. Williams?" 

"Yes, Mr. Thompson?" I answered, standing next to him.

"When's today's meeting scheduled?"

I checked the schedule on my phone. "At ten-thirty A.M., sir."

He nodded, finished his breakfast, and stood up. Grabbing his plate, he headed towards the kitchen to place it in the sink. It was one of the many things I liked about him. He always puts back his used plates and coffee mugs by himself.

I grabbed my bag and his car keys before following him towards his car.

"So, we're heading to the client's office?" he asked, glancing back at me.

"Yes, sir." I planned the schedule so that we could be on time for the meeting. I knew how important it was to him that everything was perfect. He fired an employee last month because he was an hour late to a meeting trying to finish a report. Everyone in the office gave their all because no one knew when our boss would find something to be a slip-up and fire us.

A few hours later, we were waiting for Mr. Daniel Nelson in his office. The meeting had gone smoothly and we just needed to get the contract signed. 

I watched as Mr. Thompson drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair impatiently. I glanced back for any signs of Mr. Nelson but there were none. Where the hell was he? He may have been the CEO of Nelson Inc., an American fashion house, but I wasn't ready to face my boss's temper again because of him.

The office door swung open and Mr. Nelson walked towards us as he said, "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, Mr. Thompson." 

Finally! I sighed internally. Mr. Nelson had aged more from the last time I saw him at an official party. The wrinkles on his face had increased and his black hair had almost turned into a grey.

My boss stood from his chair. "It's okay. I understand how busy your schedule is."

He was right. Nelson Inc. was a popular brand known for its fashionable clothes. Mr. Nelson was quite a busy person, just like my boss. 

Well, my boss was definitely busier than Mr. Nelson.

The Thompson & Smith Group had been just a start-up advertising company when I'd joined two years ago. But Mr. Thompson and his partner John Smith's hard work helped to build and grow the company into the success it was now.

The two men shook hands before taking their seats.

"I'm throwing a party tonight to celebrate our collaboration." Mr. Nelson was known for throwing a party whenever he got the chance to. "I hope you don't have any plans because I have a surprise announcement that I'm sharing tonight," he continued. "And besides, it would feel wrong to celebrate our partnership without you being there."

"I'll check my calendar to see if I'm free." Mr. Thompson glanced at me. I quickly unlocked my phone and checked his schedule before nodding at him. He looked back at Mr. Nelson and smiled. "I'll be there."

"You can bring a plus one if you'd like." Mr. Nelson winked.

"Well, I can't promise you that."

The mysterious thing about my boss was that he didn't have a girlfriend. The girls in our office would ogle at him every morning when we entered the office, but he hardly noticed them. 

I still remember my interview day. It was the first time I had seen him and I had to admit that he was the most handsome man that I had ever seen—excluding celebrities. I had hardly been able to introduce myself when my eyes had locked with his hazel ones. It wasn't because I had been scared of the interview but because of his looks and his intent gaze.

"You're young and successful yet you don't have a girlfriend? Surely there's a line of girls waiting outside your office every day."

Mr. Thompson shifted in his chair. I sensed his discomfort in regard to Mr. Nelson's questions, so I decided to change the topic.

"Well, I'm really sorry, Mr. Nelson. Mr. Thompson has another meeting scheduled in an hour, so if you wouldn't mind..."

"Sure." Mr. Nelson gave me a warm smile. They discussed the details of the project for a while before Mr. Nelson signed the contract.

The moment we stepped out of the client's office, Mr. Thompson said, "I don't remember any meeting that was scheduled in an hour." 

Damn! I wished he wouldn't have brought it up. "I wanted to change the subject," I muttered, dodging eye contact.

"I don't need you to speak for me, Ms. Williams," he snapped, making me flinch at his sudden outburst.

"I was just trying to help," I mumbled.

He didn't say anything else and walked towards his car. I followed him.

"Wait!" he said when I was about to get into the driver's seat. "Take a cab and go home." My brows furrowed. "Go and get ready for the party," he added, staring at me. He must've noticed the confusion on my face, which I failed to mask. 

One of the most important tips for work: you have to learn to hide your emotions in front of your boss. I still suck at it, though.

I always accompanied him for official parties as his secretary but this was an unofficial one.

"You want me to accompany you to the party?" I asked, pointing my index finger at my chest.

"Yes," he replied in a lazy tone. Oh no! Lazy doesn't fit in his dictionary. Slow. He had replied slowly.

"But—"

"As my friend."

Friend? My eyebrows shot up. I couldn't recall when we became friends.

"Go home," he ordered.

"Yes, sir." I held back a sigh and turned on my heels to leave.

"It's Mike." His words halted me in my tracks.

I turned around to face him. 

"My friends call me Mike," he said with an awkward smile.

So now he wants me to call him by his first name. Not even a first name, but a nickname. Wait! Did he smile, too? Was I seeing things? Was he feeling sick? Because he was being strange today. What's going on in his mind?