3. Cinnamon Flavored Love

I ran home. Okay, not literally. I hopped inside a cab and told him to drive faster. I can't believe I totally embarrassed myself in front of my boss.

"I'm back!" I yelled after arriving at the apartment.

No answer. Mark must've left already. I felt bad for him. Poor guy must be tired of my bullshit. I decided just to sit down and watch TV. I turn on the entertainment news channel, and there he was, Mr. Boss man, right there inside the TV screen looking dashing as always. Seriously? It's like I can't escape him. He is on TV too. But why was he on TV?

I tuned in to see what the deal was.

"We are standing here on the red carpet today with our newest rising star Ms. Katie Mckinzee!" Said the host. Miss Mckinzee, tell us about your newest beau. Where did you two meet?"

Oh...so Katie Mckinzee is an actress, and Ivan is dating her. That makes sense since they are both ridiculously gorgeous. But he always acts cold toward her, at least from what I've seen these past two years.

"Well, Ivan is a well-known CEO in New York, so he was invited to one of my movie Premiere. We talked, and what can I say? We made an instant connection!" Katie said and gave the host a dazzling smile.

"Wow, that's amazing! I must say, you two make a beautiful couple," the host gushed.

Handsome and rich CEO dating the Hollywood star. Typical. I switched the channel and tuned in for my favorite true crime show, which was much more interesting to watch. I have seen enough of him at work.

The next day at work, I was having a hard time looking at him in the eyes. I hope he doesn't comment about last night.

"Have you called Mr. Nolan to schedule a meeting?" he asked.

"Yes, you'll be meeting him tomorrow at 3 pm," I said.

"Very well, what's on the agenda for today?" he asked.

"You are to have a conference call with the CEO of Tom and Ford Co. at 2 pm. Also, your mother would like to visit you at the office this week. Shall I tell her what day?" I asked.

"My mother?" he looked thoughtful. "You should tell her I'm too busy this week."

"I tried, Sir, but she insisted it's important that she sees you," I said.

He sighed. "Fine, tell her she can come tomorrow before my meeting."

"Will do," I said. I started to leave but paused. "Oh, by the way, Mr. Adams, congratulations," I added.

"On what?" he raised his eyebrows.

"On your new relationship with Ms. Mckinzee," I said and smiled politely.

"Who told you about that?" he suddenly looked annoyed. Did I say something wrong?

"I saw you on TV," I replied quickly.

"Oh, that, I'm not in a relationship with her. You don't need to worry about that," he said.

Worried? Who was worried? And does Katie know about his sentiment toward their relationship?

I went downstairs to the employee lounge.

"Ariel! Come join us?" Mandy Lin shouted from across the room. She is one of the clerks of the accounting department. She was sitting at the table with Terrance Howard and Tonya Smith from the sales department.

"Sure!" I said.

"Did you see our boss on TV last night? Didn't he look gorgeous!?" Mandy swooned. She always had a crush on him and didn't try to hide the fact.

"Yeah! Katie Mckinzee looked beautiful too, and she was all over him. I bet they are going to get engaged," Tonya remarked.

"Pfft... Boss doesn't seem like the type to go marry someone, let alone a renowned skank," Mandy said.

"MANDY! That's not very nice," I scolded her.

"I'm just saying....he has class," Mandy shrugged.

"You ladies are such gossips. I don't know why I'm hanging out over here," Terrence commented.

"Me neither," Tonya said.

These are the people I am close to within the office. They kept me sane while I worked my ass off. This was my only downtime today.

"Miss Young, a word?"

I jumped up from my table when I heard his voice. My heart hammered against my chest. Shoot...I hope he doesn't think I'm wasting office hours gossiping about him.

"Yes sir, should we go to your office?" I asked nervously.

"yes, just follow me," he said and started to walk.

"You didn't have to come to get me yourself. Why didn't you just send Susan?" I asked when we reached the office.

"I wanted to walk around a bit. Why don't you have a seat?" he said and motioned to the chair in front of him.

I sat down.

"I need you to send Miss Mckinzee 4 dozen yellow roses," he said.

Wow, that is oddly specific and very romantic. Somehow, I didn't picture him as a romantic person.

"That's so nice of you! I'm sure she will love them," I gushed, but he didn't say anything and stared at me intently.

"I'm just curious, why yellow? Is it your's or her's favorite color?" I asked.

"I hate Yellow," he simply said.

"Okay....anything special you want to write on the card?" I asked.

He thought about it for a brief moment. "Write, 'I'm sorry things didn't turn out the way you wanted, but it'd be best if we go our separate ways. I hope you understand. Love Ivan.'

Whaaat! I didn't see that coming. "I see...but why send yellow roses? Don't they symbolize joy and cheerfulness?"

"They also symbolize farewell," he said.

Wow, this guy is something else. If a guy sent me breakup flowers, I'd be ultra pissed. I hesitated to leave.

"Go ahead and ask," he said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I said.

"You are clearly still standing here because you want to ask me something, so just spit it out," he looked annoyed.

"Well...um...just out of curiosity, why end things with her? She seemed to be the perfect woman," I asked.

He leaned in closer to me. "Miss Young, there's no such thing as the perfect woman. Miss Mckinzee is clingy, very superficial, and she smells like cinnamon."

"Errm...sorry, did you say cinnamon?" I was utterly confused.

"Yes," he said and sat back down. "I absolutely loathe cinnamon."

Hates cinnamon? What a monster!