Chapter seven.

Lennox froze as he stepped out of his office, his gaze slipping to his assistant, who seemed to brighten the spot that she occupied. 

She was smiling to herself. What was she happy about? Even after I had scolded her earlier. 

Lennox looked over at the other workers who were all busy at their desks, except Sophia. She had earbuds on, probably listening to music. 

Sensing his presence, she looked up, meeting his gaze. Her eyes widened comically, then she took out the earbuds in a rush, grabbing her schedule pad. 

He shook his head, heading towards the elevator, not wanting to hear her say anything that he already knew about. Lennox got in before she could get a word out of her mouth.

The elevator pinged close, giving him some moment of reprieve. She rubbed him in all the wrong ways, and he couldn't pinpoint the reason.

He spent half of the meeting thinking about her, until things got heated with the investors.

They were trying to change some of the terms that they'd agreed on before and Lennox was having none of it. They kept going back and forth, but he stuck it out with them, and at the end of the meeting, they came to an agreement and signed the contract.

Lennox returned to his office, ignoring his assistant, but once he got in, he knew something was off.

Lennox's heart almost ceased as he saw the glass of smoothie on his desk. Memories he wanted to bury forever crashed around his head, darkening his vision.

"Sophia" he yelled her name, his hands trembling as he rounded his desk, his gaze trained on the offending item.

The door opened, and she came in with her big, bright smile. It was as if she were glad that he had called for her. It twisted at something deep within him that he refused to acknowledge.

"What is this" he pointed to the drink, his jaw clenched, trying his hardest to suppress the rage that clouded his vision like a fog of smoke. 

Sophia looked at the glass, her brows furrowing. "It's a mixture of fruit smoothie. Your rule said no coffee, so I decided to get you this instead" she answered like it was common knowledge. Like she'd done nothing wrong.

"I told you not to serve me anything!" he snapped, his teeth gritting. "You'll obey all my rules, Sophia. If you can't, then you get out of my fucking company. Don't try to think, because nothing you ever think to do for me will make me feel better, definitely not your stupid smoothie" he got out, emotions threatening to choke him as he grabbed the glass in fury. 

He didn't realize throwing the content at her until it trailed down her dress. She jerked, gasping in surprise. 

Those eyes are on me, accusing, blaming me for everything. His hands trembled. 

"Get out. Get out of my office" he bellowed. 

She looked like she was going to cry. She rushed out of the office.

It was difficult to breathe. I hadn't meant... Hadn't meant to... To get so mad. 

The door slamming open sliced through his thoughts. His eyes snapped towards the intruder. It was Sophia. 

She looked furious as she approached him, then she stopped at the front of his desk, the only barrier between them.

"Do you think I'll quit if you treat me like this? No Mr. Lennox, I am going to serve you with my very last strength, and when my six months is up, I'll walk out that door, and never look back, so do your fucking worst!" she grabbed the glass cup, walked out of the office, and banged the door so hard, it shook on its hinges, then quietness enveloped his office, seeping through his bones, eerie In their sudden intensity.

She had such determination that it silenced him, telling him to take notice. Goosebumps trailed his skin. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with me? Why did I get so mad whenever I saw her, or if she did the littlest of things? Was it because she was disrupting my life like someone I once knew, someone I tried to change for, someone I let my selfishness kill? 

He clenched his fist, drowning the thought before it could fester and choke him. The hurt never left. It only got stronger, but Lennox would never admit it to anyone, instead, he would let everyone feel and wish they were dead. The thought was comforting, no matter how brief, or was it just wishful thinking?

******

"He's such an asshole!" Andria shot out of her seat like a raging bull about to charge at its prey. "What's he going to do next, hit you across the face for checking his mail!" She slammed into the desk, making the rest jump in their seats. 

Bianca touched her hand gently, her eyes darting around. Andria followed her gaze, sitting down after she took in the suddenly interested crowd whose eyes were glued to their tables, desperate for gossip.

"Look, if he doesn't want you to do anything, then why don't you just sit tight and wait it out". Bianca suggested, her eyes moving towards Sana for support, but she remained quiet.

"I can't do that. You all know how crazy I get when I have nothing to do, and my guts tell me that this is some sort of test I need to pass, plus I can always sue him for assault if he lays hands on me, but I don't think he's that violent."

Andria crossed her arm, her face squeezed like she'd taken a sour lemon. "You can't sue when you're dead" she murmured under her breath.

"I'm sure it won't get to that, Andria, don't be so negative," Bianca said, rolling her eyes and sighing tiredly. "But like, why are we stuck with such awful bosses? Mine works me like a slave. I wish I worked for Mr. Lennox, God knows I won't even bother with doing anything".

Sana grimaced. "That's so true tho. My boss is just a party freak who wants his hands on everything he fancies. The only thing he hasn't asked me to do is play stripper for his business associates. What if I were married? How would my husband feel?" Sana's shoulders slumped in defeat. 

The atmosphere felt stuffed with oppression.

"That's true," Bianca agreed, picking at her salad. "But at least they pay us on time and it's good money" she pointed out, earning their nods.

"And some of us get a double paycheck," Sana said, eyes cutting at Sophia.

"I saw that look, Sana. And the double paycheck doesn't cover his rude attitude"

"Our food is getting cold, and all this depressing atmosphere is not helping me," Andria muttered, stabbing at her steak before bringing it to her lips. She chewed happily, her eyes lightening up. "Hey, you need to taste this," she squealed, nudging Sana's shoulders eagerly. 

Sana shrugged her off, but conceded, and took a bite of the steak. Her lips curved into a smile.

"She's right. This is really good".

"I ain't missing out on delicious food," Bianca got out, taking a huge bite. She moaned in satisfaction, making Sophia roll her eyes, not joining in.

"What are you going to do about Mr. Lennox," Andria asked, after moments of them just savoring the meal, plunging the atmosphere back into despondency.

"I don't know girls. I've tried to be all nice, but it's not working. It's like he's a closed-off island, nothing gets through to him," Sophia wailed, clutching at her hair.

Andria waved her fork around. "One piece of advice, don't do the smoothie thing again. You can't be changing clothes every afternoon."

"You're right about that. Maybe I'll just go early to work, finish my duties, and get the hell out of his way"

"Does he leave the door open?" Bianca queried, snatching Sophia's fries.

Sophia mulled it over. His door was always closed during work hours, so what were the odds he left them open? "I think so, but he's so strung up, loves his freaking privacy, and silence thingy, that I have no clue about him."

"Just make sure you don't get caught snooping around. He might strangle you to death, and throw your body in the toilet, just saying" Andria sing-sang.

The alarm rang before Sophia could respond, signaling the end of their free hour. 

They quickly rushed to put their stuff away, getting up to leave.

Bianca turned to face her. "You should listen to Andria and be careful okay. I don't think he'll kill you but your boss might low-key be a psychopath, waiting to strike." 

"Now y'all are just exaggerating everything, and making me scared".

Sana slung her bag over her shoulders. "I gotta jet, my boss might not be Mr. Lennox, but he's in his own evil category. See y'all later, okay?" She hurried out of the cafeteria before they could say goodbye.

They all took off until Sophia stood in the middle of the emptying cafe. "Ugh. Why me?". She wailed, trudging toward the elevator. She got in, punching in the number to the top floor, her new suffocating cage.

Sophia sighed miserably. Everything felt almost too hard. I just have to hang in there for six months, make him depend on me to the point that he'd beg me not to leave, she reminded herself. 

"You can do this Sophia. You must!" She would achieve her goal, she promised herself. No matter what it took.