Chapter 8

Lauren

Breathe Lauren.

It's just your first day.

Don't worry.

I was standing in front of the mirror in my closet, wearing a beige pencil skirt with a white shirt. I had a minimal amount of makeup on my face. I tied my waist-length brown hair into a ponytail.

I sighed satisfied with my look.

It is my first day of work. Although I didn't want to work with him, I'm excited about how my first day would turn out.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.

It is seven in the morning and I made my way out to meet Kate. She is working in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Kate." She turned towards me at my greeting.

"Good morning, Lauren. Are you okay with some eggs and bacon for breakfast?"

I nodded at her and she smiled at me.

"Kate, um do you know where Ethan is?" she placed the breakfast plate in front of me.

"He already left, dear. Didn't he tell you?" she frowned.

Of course. He would leave.

What did I expect?

"I must have forgotten." I plastered a smile.

She nodded at me and I quickly started to eat.

I didn't want to be late on my first day.

Moreover, it's Ethan, I don't want to give him any reason to point at me.

When I finished breakfast, I walked out, bidding her farewell.

I quickly hailed a cab and told him the office address.

***

The cab stopped in front of a large glass building and I got down after paying him. My lips parted with astonishment at the design of the glass building in front of me.

Kingston Industries is written in bold letters on the building.

Still, in astonishment, I made my way towards the entrance.

A lady was seated behind the desk typing something on her laptop. She had dark brown skin with beautiful dark brown almost black eyes. her extremely curly hair appreciated her facial features.

She must be the receptionist.

"Excuse me." I tried getting her attention.

"Yes?" she replied without looking up from her laptop.

Isn't that rude?

"I need to find Mr. Ethan Kingston?" I said ignoring her lack of care.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked still not looking up.

"No. I don't. but I'm appointed as his assistant." I replied to her.

"I'm sorry but I can't help if you don't have an appointment." She shrugged.

"Can you at least inform him that Lauren Kingston is waiting?" Her eyes shot up listening to my name.

Ha.

I knew it.

"Oh my god. Mrs. Kingston. I'm so sorry. I didn't realize it was you. I was busy doing some last-minute work." She quickly said in a breath.

"I'm so sorry. Please don't inform about this to Mr. Kingston. He will fire me." She pleaded.

Ha. Forget about the firing, he might even promote you for what you did.

He hates me that much.

I nodded my head at her.

"That's fine" I reassured her and she sighed in relief.

My name is Leah Claire." She said smiling at me.

"Hello, Leah. Can you now show me the way to Mr. Kingston's office?" I asked her again and she quickly nodded.

"Yes sure. Go straight and take a left and you'll find an elevator. His office is on the 65th floor. There you'll find Sarah and she will take you to Mr. Kingston's office." I nodded at her.

"Have a nice day." I said quickly and she returned the greeting.

I quickly walked into the elevator and saw my watch to see it is exactly eight. When the elevator dinged, I walked out and made my way to the reception desk.

When I stopped at her desk, she stood from her chair. She is pale-skinned with beautiful green emerald eyes.

"Lauren?" she asked and I nodded.

"Sir is expecting you. follow me." I gave her a nod and she started walking through the hallways.

She is slightly taller than me and her silky hair is flowing down her waist.

"I'm Sarah. Sarah Reed." She introduced giving me a small smile.

"I'm Lauren. Nice meeting you." I introduced myself even though she already knows my name.

She seemed kind.

"We're here." she said pointing to a door. when I nodded, she left.

I took a deep breath and muttered a quick prayer to protect me from the evil Ethan before knocking on the door.

"Come in." I heard his usual not-so-excited voice and entered.

He looked up from his laptop and leaned back in his seat with a smirk.

"You are three minutes late." I glanced at my watch and I am indeed late.

I looked up and I know he is ready to taunt me.

"I-" I tried giving him an excuse when he cut me off.

"Make me a cup of coffee." He dismissed me.

When I processed what he said, I quickly nodded at him before leaving out.

I might be very bad at cooking, but I can make a good coffee.

I walked back to the reception to ask Sarah about the office kitchen. She showed me the way and I thanked her.

After making the coffee, I walked back to his office and waited after knocking on his door.

I placed the cup on his desk and he took a sip before spitting it out.

"What the hell. Did you add sugar?"

Oh, he doesn't add sugar to his coffee?

How would I know that?

"Um yes," I answered him.

He pushed the cup towards me harshly.

"I don't drink my coffee with sugar. Make me another one."

Jeez. Calm down, man.

I took the cup from the desk before walking back.

I made another cup this time without sugar. And placed it on his desk.

He took a sip and made a disgusted expression.

"The coffee is cold." He pushed back the coffee and gave me a slight smirk.

Okay. Now I'm pretty sure he is doing it on purpose.

Such silly reasons.

"Stop being childish Mr. Kingston." I tried giving him an earful but he stopped me.

"What did I do?" He feigned innocence.

Ladies and gentlemen here is our Oscar-winning actor.

"Nothing Mr. Kingston. I'll bring you another." I gave him a fake smile.

On the third attempt, he finally accepted the coffee.

"As my assistant, you have to schedule my business meetings, handle my emails, attend my business calls and meetings." He said sipping his coffee.

I nodded my head at him.

They are not that hard to do.

"Use your words." He said in a sharp tone.

What does he want me to say?

Yes dadd-

Shut up, Lauren.

"For now, you have some files on your desk, you need to prepare a report on them. And I need the report in an hour. You can leave now." He said turning his eyes to his laptop.

What?

An hour?

Can I complete a report within an hour?

But, I have to do this.

"Sure." I said before walking out.

Sarah showed me the way to my desk and I looked at the files that are on my desk.

Wow.

I'm definitely going to fail this task.

I took a deep breath and sat in the chair.

It has been quite some time but felt like hours and I was finally finished with the report.

I took a glance at the watch to see I have still five minutes to an hour.

I looked proud of my work.

I knocked on his office and entered after hearing a come-in.

"Mr. Kingston, here is your report." I smiled triumphantly and I handed him the report.

He glanced at it before throwing it in front of me on the desk. Literally.

This bitch.

"It has a lot of errors and mistakes in it. Do it again." He ordered.

"Sure Mr. Kingston"

I have to be professional.

Or else he will mock me for not knowing anything about work and professionalism.

I definitely can't let that happen.

"I have a business meeting in five minutes. Come with me." he said standing from his desk.

Business meeting?

I have to be updated on all his meetings.

What do assistants do in business meetings?

Yes, noting important points from the meeting. Isn't it?

I nodded at him and followed him to the meeting hall.

The walk was silent as he was reading some papers from a file.

Such a workaholic. He is reading even in his walk.

I rolled my eyes inwardly at him.

When we finally reached, he opened the door. and the people who sat around the big conference table stood up.

As everyone's eyes fell on me, whispers started among the people.

Isn't that his wife?

Is she Mrs. Kingston?

She isn't that beautiful why did sir marry her?

"Let's start the meeting" Ethan ordered shutting all the whispers.

Everybody sat in their respective chairs and soon a man started presenting something to us.

I looked around and saw someone are staring at the presentation, a few are staring at me, and some women were ogling Ethan.

My eyes turned towards Ethan and he was listening intently to the presentation.

I brought my eyes back to the person who was doing the presentation and I tried to listen to what he is saying.

Why am I feeling like I'm sitting in a boring maths class?

Business meetings are boring.

I don't understand how these people could sit here for hours discussing the same topic.

"Lauren." my head jerked towards Ethan as soon as I heard my name.

"Yes?" I asked quietly.

'I said can you lead us the way through the product analysis?" he said widening my eyes.

my heartbeat quickened.

What?

Me?

What product analysis.?

I should have paid more attention before.

I inwardly facepalmed and tried controlling my breath.

No. no. I'm going to embarrass myself on my first day in front of everyone. Aren't I?

I turned towards Ethan to see him smirking at me.

My heart increased its pace looking at all the faces around the meeting.

They all are waiting for me to start.

What should I do now?

I'm going to cry.

Omg, I'm fainting.

I cleared my throat and tried getting up from the chair.

"Wait a minute. Mr. Cho why is marketing cost is more than the profit from the products. What is the analysis on it?" Ethan asked the person who was presenting before.

Thank god.

That man visibly paled not having an answer.

"The meeting ends here. Try coming up with the analysis I asked for." Ethan ordered and everyone left quickly as if their tails are on fire.

I sighed in relief placing my hand lightly on my heart and stomped toward Ethan

"Why would you embarrass like me that?" I gritted my teeth at him.

He just stood from his seat and bent slightly towards me.

"This is just the beginning, Lauren. I'm sure you are going to face a lot of shocks and heart attacks in the coming days." He said crossing his arms to his chest with an evil smirk dancing on his lips.

Of course. It's just the beginning. I thought.

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