CHAPTER NINE

Aurora's pov

“You are five minutes late, Miss Light.”

When I first got the job as the Secretary to one of the biggest Ceos in the country, it often crossed my mind why anyone would dip out and quit in the first place.

The pay was great and it even included insurance, off-days, paid vacations and such.

Most importantly I could pay for my Grandma's mountain high hospital bills without breaking a sweat.

Why would anyone with two functioning brain cells even dream of leaving such a job?

Well on my second day on the job, exactly 5 minutes in I understood.

“Didn't you hear me, Mrs Light? You're late,” He repeated himself, crossing his legs as he swung from side to side on his cushion swivel chair looking down at me like a king on his throne looking at a mere peasant.

“There was traffic,” I said, hoping that that would wager enough of an explanation but he looked far from satisfied.

I don't know why he was so upset when he was the one that had lodged me in a hotel on the other side of the city away from the company grounds. He said it was to avoid being so special and dove no deeper into giving me a proper explanation.

“You seem ready and armed with excuses so what's the one for your dressing?”

I gave my outfit once over and then looked back at him, “What's wrong with the way I dress?”

“Wrong question, Miss Light. What you should be asking me is what is not wrong with the way you dress…” he got up and stalked over to me.

“If I saw you on the street I would find it easier to swallow that you were heading over for your morning shift as a waitress and not my secretary,” he stated bluntly without hesitation.

I looked at my outfit again, this time incredibly self-conscious it was as if I was saying it for the first time.

The fabric that had grown pale after several laundry days, a couple of loose threads poking out and just the general dreary look both my v-neck and skirt carried.

“My wife is so generous and kind,” I remember how Zayne would say before he affectionately peppered my face with kisses every time I showered him with expensive clothes, shoes and accessories while most of my wardrobe consisted of the same clothes I wore in college.

“I don't want this to be a reoccurring discussion, Miss Light, so please make sure you do better,” Mr Quin said, jolting me back to reality again.

“Mr Quin…” the words I want to say hung in my throat, but I encouraged myself to force them out.

“... these are my best clothes, really don't have anything else more impressive in my wardrobe,”

The look he gave me made me wish that the earth would just open up and swallow me.

“Do you mean you're comfortable being dressed like this?” He said every syllable coated in thick displeasure. “You do know that we will eventually be going out in public together right, are you trying to embarrass me?”

“No,” I admitted, “... I've always been a little tight on the money, so I couldn't splurge on things like clothes when I needed to buy groceries,”

I half expected him to laugh in my face, but he just wore an unreadable expression and sighed.

“Don't worry, we'll deal with that later,” he said dismissively, sweeping under the rug.

“Now back to the issue of your tardiness, a reasonable amount of your salary will be deducted every time you come late,”

My jaw fell.

“What?” I blurted out.

“I'm sure you heard me perfectly well, Miss Light, I'm your boss and it's not a good look if I arrive at the office before you, my secretary, does as well,”

“But today wasn't my fault, the traffic–”

“Then wake up earlier then you did today to beat the traffic, it's a simple as that,”

“Good, and one more thing I only drink coffee from one shop in the entire city called Five Clover, I'll excuse you for today but from tomorrow I'll expect you to arrive with my usual in hand,”

“Which is?”I asked, he seemed to have spoken out of habit and retraced his words quickly.

“Black coffee with lots of sugar and cream,” he said.

“I'm surprised that I have to explain this to you, haven't you already spoken with Simone?”

“He was mostly explaining important things to me; like the company policies and–”

“So you're saying that my early morning dose of coffee isn't important?”

I couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious, either way I still gave him an answer.

“I don't think it was as important as knowing how to do my job,” I said feeling a little offended.

“That is part of your job, you know what's never mind we could dwell on this forever. What's on my schedule today?”

I pulled out my notepad from my bag and immediately got a disapproving stare, but he didn't say anything so I just carried on.

He had a sort of disinterested look on his face as I ran through his schedule. That was until I mentioned his 12:00 meeting that had been requested by the next of kin of one of the major shareholders who recently passed away.

He introduced herself as the shareholder's son and said that he was eager to meet with Mr Quin to discuss pertaining to the shares that had been granted to him in his mother's Will.

“I can't believe you arranged a meeting for me with that man,”

He said with such unveiled disgust that I wondered what Mr Gregor–the man in question–had done to deserve his spite.

“If you don't want to go, then I can just simply cancel the meeting…”

“It's already too late, if I cancel it now it will come off as unprofessional,” He moaned.

“My intention was to avoid any encounter with him for as long as possible, but thanks to you that option is out the window,”He sighed.

I gulped wondering, just what kind of man was Mr Gregor to get this kind of reaction from him?