Chapter 2

“Please come in,”

Alex raised his head as he heard footsteps. His eyes narrowed as he saw Dennis, his assistant flanked by a couple of women he didn't recognize making their way into his home.

The sight of them made his skin crawl even though he had been the one who invited them.

He hated having strangers in his home but since his father had fired him and banned him from showing up at the company, this was the only place he could use.

“Sir, these are the women who applied for the job,” Dennis explained as he stepped to the side.

Alex nodded reluctantly and motioned to the long sofa in front of him. “I'll see them one after the other.”

Dennis selected one of the women to go first and then led the rest away.

As he stood to the side, his mind drifted off to his mother who was lying in the hospital bed.

He had barely slept all through the night mainly because he had wanted to be alert in case she woke up and needed something.

Being here with Alex and the women was the last thing he wanted to do but he didn't have a choice.

He was aware of the conflict between Alex and his father Lyon.

While he disagreed with Lyon's approach to things, he felt it was necessary because of Alex's plundering ways.

Alex was the biggest playboy Dennis knew but his reputation in public was squeaky clean mainly because of the strong PR team that he had at his disposal.

Dennis remembered the many women who he had been forced to break their hearts.

Perhaps such a drastic move from his father was the best approach since Alex had refused to change through the years.

Despite his plundering, Alex had been a reasonable boss to work for.

His mind drifted back to his mother again. The doctor was demanding for a lot of money for her surgery.

Money he didn't have and wouldn't be able to come up with in such a short amount of time.

According to them, she had breast cancer that had progressed rather aggressively and needed to be rooted out if she was ever going to live a normal life.

Dennis clenched his fists as he thought of how weak his mother looked.

She was dying and he couldn't do anything about it.

He felt so useless.

“Dennis!” Alex's loud voice crashed into his thoughts and he jumped in surprise. “Where's your mind at? I've been calling you,” he hissed, glaring at Dennis.

Dennis looked up to find that all the women had left. He flushed and looked at his feet. “I'm sorry sir, I didn't…”

“See the women out. The interview is finished,” Alex waved a hand dismissvely and Dennis walked away.

Half an hour later, he returned and bowed his head.

“I apologise for zoning out earlier sir.” He pleaded, feeling embarrassed that he had made such a mistake.

This was the worst time to get on Alex's bad side since he needed money badly.

He couldn't save his mother if he was unemployed.

“This is unacceptable.” Alex snapped. “You have to be present when you're at work,” He added, his tone unimpressed.

Dennis shrunk at Alex's tone but welcomed the criticism.

Alex had a point. He had gotten carried away at work which wasn't right.

“It won't happen again,” he insisted and Alex grunted.

“What is going on with you? I have noticed you've been a bit slow lately.” Alex asked and Dennis shook his head.

“It's nothing sir.” He was ashamed and he also didn't want to burden Alex with his problems when he was already dealing with a lot.

“Come on, who knows? I might be able to help you.” Alex nugged him unwilling to let the matter rest.

Dennis was many things one of them being incredibly shy and timid.

But Dennis wasn't a slacker so Alex knew something was wrong and Dennis's reaction had just confirmed his suspicions.

“Actually it's…” Dennis trailed off as his emotions got the best of him. “My mother is sick and needs surgery.” He summarized not wanting to go into detail.

Alex's eyes widened and he searched within him for the right thing to say however he couldn't come up with anything.

Dennis wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. He knew telling Alex would be a bad idea but this was much worse than he had imagined.

He turned to leave.

“I'm sorry about your mother Dennis and if there's anything I can do, let me know,” Alex said finally and Dennis nodded but he didn't turn back to look at him.

Instead, he continued walking until he had reached the door and let himself out.

****

“Good morning Mr Alex,” Dennis greeted him respectfully.

Alex noticed his assistant refused to meet his eye and sighed.

He was probably embarrassed because of his mother’s condition so he decided to change the topic and turn the spotlight on himself.

“I think I have a solution to my current problem,”

Dennis nodded thinking that Alex had selected one of the women who had auditioned the previous day.

However, Alex’s next words shocked him.

“Let’s get married,”

Dennis blinked, wondering if he had heard it wrong. But when he finally met Alex’s eyes, he realized he was waiting for him to say something.

He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out.

He was stunned. How could Alex even suggest a thing like that? He was a man just like him and he didn’t have interest in men either……

“Just this about it.” Alex said and Dennis felt his heart rate pick up. “I just need a temporary fix to my problem and once I get my parents off my back then…”

That made sense. Actually it made a lot of sense but Dennis felt lightheaded.

“Sir, could I take a moment to think about it?” It was a lot to take in.

Alex stared at him for a moment and then nodded. “Of course. I know it's a lot but just think about it.”

Dennis nodded and suddenly he felt as if the room was closing in on him.

“You can take the rest of the day off since we don't have anything to do today,” Alex told him and Dennis heaved a sigh of relief.

Dennis couldn't get out of there fast enough and the minute the cold air hit his face, his body relaxed.

“What the hell?” He whispered as he began walking towards the gate.

His boss wanted to marry him?? How crazy was that

***