Chapter 3: Compensation

Kathleen tried to remember last night party event again. The only man that approached her last night was Rodney Shaw, her ex-boyfriend. She found him cheating on her three months ago and so she broke up with him immediately. She had gotten over that man, yet he kept pestering her. Last night, the Shaw Corporation was one of the invited guests. Rodney's father, Roland Shaw was the chairman of the company. Rodney must have come together with his father to the event.

"Rodney Shaw?" She mentioned the name.

"Rodney Shaw? Shaw? Like from Shaw Corporation?" Aaron knitted his eyebrows. The woman just nodded, concurring his words.

"I only know Roland Shaw from Shaw Corporation. He's the chairman."

"That's his father," Kathleen explained.

"I see..."

They both went silent. Aaron was thinking why Rodney spiked Kathleen's drink last night. Meanwhile, Kathleen was thinking why Aaron asked her about Rodney so suddenly.

"What about him?" She asked after a while.

"What's your relationship with him?" He asked as well.

"He's my ex-boyfriend. He cheated on me so I dumped him three months ago," Kathleen told him the truth brazenly.

Aaron chuckled at her frankness. He found it funny.

"You dumped Chairman Roland's son?" He laughed more.

'Is this my boss? He never laughs like this inside the office. What exactly happened last night? Did we turn friendly?' Kathleen looked at Aaron with suspicious eyes. The man sitting in front of her right now seemed like been possed by a happy spirit.

"I was wondering why he spiked your drink last night when you left for the restroom. I saw it from afar, though no one else saw it probably. Long story short, you got dizzy and tried to leave the party, I grabbed you first before he was able to take action," Aaron finally explained to her about last night's incident.

"I was drugged?" Kathleen was in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"I thought I was just drunk..."

"How can you be drunk when you only drank two glasses of wine. Do you really have that low tolerance for alcohol?"

"Of course, not. I found it strange as well that I felt dizzy so suddenly."

"You were drugged by Rodney. He's probably holding a grudge at you," Aaron stated the obvious.

Then he chuckled again as his mind remembered that Kathleen dumped Rodney. He couldn't believe that his secretary once dated someone from a higher status family inside the country. Rodney might not be the chairman of Shaw Corporation, but he must have a position as well inside the company and probably owned some shares. Besides, he was Chairman Roland's son, thus it could be said that Rodney was the future successor of the Shaw Corporation.

'She really had a high standard,' Aaron mumbled inwardly while glancing at Kathleen. He scanned her from top to bottom. The memory of last night came rolling back into his mind. He wondered if this woman had done it before with Rodney. 'Did I get a leftover?' His pride hurt by the thought.

"Did you and Rodney... I mean what happened between us last night. Did you and Rodney..." He half-heartedly wanted to ask her.

"No," Kathleen replied immediately. She was able to grasp what he meant even though he didn't finish his sentences.

Somehow, Aaron felt relief internally, but he didn't show it to her. His gaze remained reserved.

"It's my first time..." she murmured.

"What?" Aaron was taken aback.

Truthfully, it was his first time as well. Although he used to be inside a relationship five years ago, he never really did something intimate like that with his ex. Frankly speaking, they both lost their purities to each other.

However, he felt like he was going to hurt his pride if he told her that it was his first time as well since he was now already thirty-two. What kind of men never had sex when they were already in their thirties. It was humiliating as if he was incompetent dealing with women.

"It's not your first time, wasn't it?" Kathleen asked slowly.

"Nope," Aaron answered immediately. He observed her reaction.

Kathleen felt a bit downhearted by it, her expression showed her emotion a little. But she tried to suppress it as hard as she could. How could she lose her purity to a man like him? She was the type of woman that held the principle of having sex only after marriage. But her boss had ruined it. Even worse, she was just one of the women he slept with. She suddenly felt disgusted that he had got the taste of her body.

"Why? Are you disappointed that you're not my first?" Aaron could read her expression.

"No. It's not it. What happened last night was just a mistake. I'm sorry, Mr Castell. I won't tell anyone about it."

"A mistake? It's not a mistake for me though. I could walk away and just leave you there on the bed alone. But... someone was begging me to do it," there was a hint of teasing inside his voice again.

Kathleen could see him smirking at her.

"The line that you said last night sounded a bit like this... Stop resisting it. Just give in," he pretended to imitate the way she spoke to him last night.

Kathleen's lips twitched and she slowly turned her head down, feeling extremely embarrassed. She could feel her cheeks turn hot. 'Did I really say something like that last night?' Her heart was exasperated.

"And then you also asked me if I'm even a man. So it kind of hurt my pride a little," the man added, still taking a fancy to tease her.

Seeing her sitting still, looking down without uttering any word, Aaron called out her name again.

"Kathleen..." The woman instantly met his gaze.

"You also did this..." Aaron imitated some action of a woman pulling down her dress and showing off her chest. "In front of me," he continued his words.

Kathleen gasped in disbelief. If only she could dig the floor, she would already bury herself by then. Having nowhere else to hide, she covered her face using both her hands instead. Aaron chuckled at her reaction.

"I was truly traumatized by what I saw last night. So, how do you intend to compensate me?" He ended his teasing with mockery.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Mr Castell. What... what kind of thing I can do for you... to compensate you?" She stuttered in nervousness.

He stared at her while rubbing his chin with two fingers, thinking how she could be useful to him. She was useful enough as his secretary, so he didn't want to fire her. In fact, she was the most competent one among all the secretaries he ever had. He didn't want to lose a talent like her. Yet, he still needed to think of some way for her to compensate him.

"How about you help me by pretending to be my girlfriend?"