05

Johannes smirked, “You looked like you’ve lost all the blood in your body. Move, you’re starting to hurt my manhood,” Nathalie flushed red as she stood up immediately. It was damn embarrassing! She did not even notice she was on top of that!

She faked a cough, “You have a family dinner at Vienna Hotel at seven, boss,” she discussed other agendas Johannes had.

Nathalie was too stunned, but she could not really have herself overwhelmed by the playfulness of her boss. She knew… Nathalie knew very well how much of a womanizer this man was.

And Johannes had never looked at her with that much interest before! Or… that’s what she wanted to believe. The man had always respected her private space, something that was rare. 

Nathalie shrugged off the thought from her mind and went on with her daily tasks. A week had passed just like that, and she’s currently reviewing some reports regarding the proposal the board submitted to Johannes. He doesn’t read anything unless Nathalie was the one passing it to him, and it was after the revisions she made.

“Eat,” Nathalie looked up when a McD*nald’s was put on her table. It was Johannes. He had occasionally been doing these since last week.

"Why are you doing this, boss?"

"Doing what?" He asked without any emotion in his voice.

"You're making me feel like there's something you want from me," she said frankly. Johannes stared at her, a long pause before he opened his mouth.

"What if there is something that I want?" He said. Nathalie stared at him. What could it be? Johannes had never done this before. He never invaded her life or stepped out of the line; he had never shown her this much interest.

What has gotten to this Casanova who only knows how to play with a woman's heart? The very man she observed for five years, the man who has looked at her with nothing but cold eyes.

Why is he suddenly crossing his principles?

"Thank you for the food, boss. Here's the report. I reviewed it well. You can just reread the summary and proceed with the signing when you find the idea interesting,"

"I find you interesting,"

"Boss,"

"Yes, Nathalie."

"I agree with what you told me in the interview five years ago," Johannes took the files from her and scanned them with his eyes. He took the pen from her hand and signed it. 

"Any other agenda for today?" Johannes asked. Nathalie stared at him for a while.

'He avoided it,' she thought.

"None that I know of, boss,"

"Great. Don't come to the office for a while. Sam is coming,"

"Sam? The model we hired last month?" Nathalie asked. All the ideas in her head crashed when she realized why the woman was coming to his office. She smiled and nodded, "Then, can I have the rest of the day?"

"Why?" Johannes asked. Nathalie raised her brows. Her boss usually just agrees to this matter. 

"Why are you so pissed?" Samantha asked Johannes when he ignored the wine she had brought. She had known the man since they were kids that; she had already memorized everything he liked. And he's obsessed with wine.

"Come on! I rarely visit you, and you act like this?" She smacked his head with the purse she had brought. "This is why I like to hang out with Brian more. Tsk, you suck at socializing, my dear cousin," she sat on the couch and drank her wine.

Johannes did not reply and instead looked at his phone again. He was looking at Nathalie's contact.

"How are you coping, Johan," Samantha asked suddenly. Johannes felt his hand cold, it was an unexpected question, but he managed to redeem himself immediately.

"Cope with what?" His cousin stared at him as if reading his expression, but Johannes did not show anything. He just stared at her with his usual cold amber-colored eyes.

"It had been five years, Sam. Do you think I'd be attached to that woman for that long?" 

"Says the man who suddenly changed into a womanizer," he smirked at what Samantha pointed out. And he chuckled when he remembered Nathalie's face when he mentioned that Samantha was going to his office.

"You really find it fun? Playing with women?" Samantha snorted. She really hated that fact with Brian, and now, even the 'saint' Johannes had been acting that way.

"You're really brothers,"

"Nathalie," Johannes called her, but she did not respond. She was too preoccupied with what she was doing on the computer. Johannes called her again, "Nathalie,"

His secretary did not even look away from the computer screen. Even her hands were busy typing. She looked away from time to time to glance at the pile of papers in front of her but not at Johannes.

He started getting confused. It was the first time Nathalie did not respond to him. Is she avoiding him? Or was she just too into the work that she was doing?

Johannes stood up from his swivel chair and walked casually to the woman's desk. Even his presence was left unnoticed. 

Johannes knocked at her table. Finally, Nathalie looked at him. "Yes, boss?" She glanced at his desk, sure that he was just there. Indeed, she was too indulged with her work.

"I have been calling you for an hour," he exaggerated.

"Hour?" Her eyes widened. Johannes smirked at her.

"Kidding, I've called you twice. What are you doing that you did not even hear me?" He glanced at her work; it was the report he had given her the other day.

"You're already doing that?" He placed his hand on the desk and scanned the screen with his other hand on the mouse. Nathalie slightly froze. He was too close.

"Yes,"

"You're working diligently, huh?"

"I need to work my pay, don't I?"

"Hmm," he let out a chortle and stood straight. He shifted his weight and glanced at his watch. 

"It's lunchtime. Wanna grab something?"

Nathalie did not respond immediately. It was uncommon for the man to ask her out for lunch. She was still contemplating his words the last time she tripped. Johannes had been unpredictable since then.

He was an easy boss to work with for Nathalie. Johannes sets a clear line between work and personal life, though women are often in his office to entertain him.

It was a norm for Nathalie, but she occasionally questioned it in her mind, especially when she was hearing other employees' opinions about the matter. They are talking as if Johannes is never a man that would do such a thing.

From what she heard; he was a man who never let a woman inside his office. Even his former secretaries were all men. Nathalie was the first that she hired to assist him.

"Boss,"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a weird question?"

"How weird are things in your vocabulary Ms. Taylor?" His voice was playful. But Nathalie ignored it.

She stared at his amber-colored eyes. The eyes that show a different look right now.

Instead of coldness, she's feeling curiosity and hunger from those pair of eyes.

"Do you like me?" Nathalie bravely asked. "As a woman, that is," she added.

Johannes washed off the smirk on his face. He stared at her as if reading the state of the weather in the clear blue sky.

He then placed his hand over his mouth and chuckled.

"I didn't know that asking my secretary to eat with me during lunch equals to liking her as a woman," he said. Nathalie looked at his eyes and saw nothing but pure honesty.

It confused her.

"I enjoy flirting but Ms. Nathalie Taylor..." he leaned to her, placing his hands on both sides of her swivel chair; locking Nathalie on her seat.

He leaned toward her ears, and whispered, "Eating luncheon is not included in my list of flirting,"