Reiner - My New Boss

“Thank you for making it on time. Ready for the first day of real work? Follow me this way, I’ll drop you girls off at your managers’ office one by one. First, let us drop Nicole off first since her manager’s office is the closest to here,” the woman from yesterday said.

Everyone was clearly excited and perhaps a little anxious about meeting their new bosses for the first time. The codename and the mystery surrounding the identity of the managers only added to the tension. As luck or the locations of the managers’ office were to have it, I ended up being the last girl left after we had sent off the other three girls.

“Only you left now. Are you excited, Natalia?” the woman asked with a pleasant smile.

“A little…” I replied.

“Sorry that you had to be the last one, but your manager’s office is furthest away. This way please,” the woman said before leading the way.

She was right, the office we were heading to was a slightly long walk away after an elevator ride that transcended many floors. Finally, the woman came to stop at a very large pair of doors.

“This is Knight’s personal office. Beyond this door you will find one desk and that is yours. There is another pair of doors inside just like this one that will lead you to Knight’s personal office where he works,” the woman explained.

I nodded in understanding. So now what? Do I just go in there alone?

That seemed to be the case because the woman did not take a step forward or act like she was going to open the door at all.

“Good luck. I hope you enjoy working for our company. Of course, if you have any issues or concerns, you can reach me at the secretarial department,” she said and then left.

I stood in front of the door before I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. This is it. I can do this! I can do this!

Compose yourself, Natalia!

While praying that my new boss wouldn’t be an overly strict or nagging person with an unbearable personality, I pushed opened the door. The room beyond had a worktable, some paintings of flowers on the wall as decoration and a set of sofas which were probably meant to be used by people waiting to see the boss in the next room.

Slowly, I tiptoed across the room to the other pair of double doors that would lead me to the boss’s private office. I breathed in a deep breath and held it before lifting my first up and knocking softly on the door.

“Come in,” a muffled voice said from the other side of the door.

My boss new boss is a man. That’s all that I could make out from the voice. Well, I had expected that anyways, so this new piece of information wasn’t exactly new.

Here I go!

Firmly, I pushed open the doors and walked with my backstraight into the room. The room was large and decorated in tones of grey. There was a large black leather sofa set and various decorations such as a flower vase, paintings on the walls and at the end of the room, there was a large wooden table.

That was the boss’s desk. The large leather chair at the desk was turned the other way. Since I couldn’t see the boss anywhere in the room, I guessed that he must be sitting in the large leather chair that was turned with its back to me.

The view beyond the large glass wall behind the desk caught my eye. You could see the view of the business district from here. The sky was a perfect blue, and everything looked like it sparkled in the sunlight. The boss was also looking at this impressive view. I wondered if he got bored of seeing it every day from his office like this.

“Excuse me, I’m your new secretary…” I began saying as I tried to sound humble and polite.

There was a slight pause and then the leather chair started rotating around as the boss began turning to face me. For some reason, I felt so anxious and couldn’t refrain from biting my lower lip. It must have been just a second for the chair to completely turn around to face me, but it felt like forever. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The only thing that was racing fast was my own heartbeat.

It was like the air in the room stopped moving. My body froze in place and my face felt numb. All sounds escaped my ears except the loud thud of my own rapidly beating heart. Then everything escaped my vision, and the world became dark, all except for the man that now had his body and face turned towards me as he sat on the large leather chair behind the table.

It felt like time stopped along with the beating of my heart.

“Why are you here?” I asked in pure shock.

“What are you doing here?” he asked as his eyes narrowed at me.

We asked our questions exactly at the same time and then an uncomfortable silence followed.

“That’s impossible…You’re Knight?” I asked in disbelief as my body froze in place.

But…Queen…she said that she didn’t know…

This can’t be happening. This is all just a big and bad mistake. I kept telling me these things but no matter how many times I blinked my eyes in disbelief, the man just wouldn’t disappear. It seemed like he was as shocked at this unexpected situation as I was. We continued to stare into each other’s eyes like we both didn’t know what to do or what else to say. A sinking feeling filled my stomach and my chest tightened.

“Yes, I’m Knight,” the man replied a little coldly after a short while of silence.

My lips and throat felt dry. I wasn’t sure if I could speak anymore so I decided not to say anything as my mind raced to find some kind of solution. Is it possible to request for a change of partners at this point?

Can I ask one of the new girls to switch places with me?

--To be continued…