𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖌𝖊

ᏒᎥᏋᏝ

"Congratulations," I read the first line of the email."We are happy to offer you the full-time position of assistant to the President of Harlow Atl. Labs," I cheer loudly, jumping up and down the elevator.

"You idiot," the man whose bags I just dropped to the floor screams.

"Sorry," I whisper, kneeling to help in tossing his personal effects back into the bag.

When the man slams the door in my face without a tip, I don't even curse at him. After all, the elevator did open to reveal what color underwear he wore to the entire guests on the floor, I couldn't blame him for not giving me a tip. Not to mention, I was too high on the news of getting the position that nothing would make me upset.

I quickly open the PDF that's attached to the email.

Starting immediately on the 21st of this week. I didn't expect such an abrupt to the job. I needed at least two or three weeks to find a place in the city.

I send an email to the hiring manager, accepting the job offer but asking to extend the start time. Unfortunately, I got an email back saying they could only hire someone who would start in their specific time frame.

I calmed myself down, so I could think up a plan of action because I wasn't losing the job before even starting it.

As if by design, I hear Oscar's horrid voice in my ear.

"You shouldn't be on your phone," he breathes on my neck. "But, I'll let slide since you're my favorite employee."

I am about to accidentally knee him in the groin but then I decide to use the dirty old man to my advantage.

I grab a hold of him and I pull in the direction of his wife's office.

"Finally, coming to your senses -"

"Shut up," I cut him before barging into the office."Your wish is granted," I tell Sandra."I am quitting and going very far away from your husband."

Oscar bares his teeth at me, "You can't just up and quit."

"Oh, I can . . ." I tell him."And you guys are going to give me severance."

"You don't get severance if you quit." Sandra scoffs.

"I know that, "I scowl at her, "but you are going to say that you fired me or risk me telling everyone how your husband likes making three-hour drives across state lines for Grindr hookups."

I might be putting on a convincing act but my knees were shaking.

"You wouldn't dare," Oscar yells but his wife signals for him to pipe down.

"Fine," Sandra agrees as she tears a page out of her checkbook and hands it to me."Here's your severance," she hands the check to me.

"Really?" I ask her as I glance at the check she wrote me for two thousand dollars.

"Yes," she sighs deeply."Now, just leave us be," she pleads.

"At least you can escape him," that's what I hear her whisper under her breath.

I don't say anything in return and just leave. Still, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. She loved Oscar. In a way, we're both victims of him. She's just the victim that's married to him.

As I catch the bank just before closing, I advise myself to be selfish for once and not feel the least bit remorseful after cashing the check.

I rush home and head straight for my room not bothering to greet the family that still ignoring me. I reach for the underside of my dresser and pull off the wad of cash I taped to the bottom.

I was saving up to replace the old fridge but seeing how little my family appreciates me, I am deciding to use it on myself.

I grab my old suitcase from the corner and pack the few decent clothes I own inside. I secure my passport in a compartment and close it.

"Where are you going?" my mother walks inside my room.

"I going to New York," I tell her."I got a job in the city."

She lets a bitter laugh."You're moving to a new state without even informing anyone in the family."

"Why not?" I ask."When everyone in this family berates me, why should I care to tell you all about anything that concerns my life?"

She tries to grasp at the suitcase but I pull it out of her reach.

"Go," she yells."But, don't come back here when you can't make it on your own."

I laugh in return at her words. It's a bitter realization that I have always been on my own. It was only when I dared to pursue my dreams that the profound loneliness inflicted on me by my own family was laid bare.

I grab the last of my things and haul the suitcase out of the room.

"Everyone," my mom calls, following me out of the room."Riel has decided that he's leaving our family."

"Sharon?" my dad sighs."What are the two you fighting about now?"

"It's nothing," she scowls, "other than this crazy son of ours thinking he has a chance making life for him mopping dirty floors in New York."

"I won't be mopping floors," I shout.

My father considers me."Then what job are you going to do in New York?" he asks me.

"Nothing that would matter to you," I tell him."Take care of yourselves," I say as the final words to my family before leaving the house.

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

"I'll take these," I plop the clothes on the cash counter.

My first day as a New Yorker started with me searching the second-hand racks at thrift stores for a decent office wardrobe.

"Sixty dollars," the cashier says.

Sure, I am going to look like am time-traveling from the 90s but I would be in my corporate boy era.

Other than clothes I need to find an apartment. I wouldn't survive another night in that motel nor will I be able to afford trying to live out it.

After making calls to a few different landlords, I managed to get myself invited to look at some apartments around the city.

Initially, I felt I was acing the whole moving-to-New York shebang. But soon enough the reality of living in this fast‐paced city dealt me a rude awakening.

Every time that I found an apartment renting for a cost I would be able to afford without having to give up food for the month someone would bid to pay more. And the landlord wanting to turn a profit would give them the lease.

It got so bad that I was forced to take a studio where I would be roommate to a family of mice.

I suppose they can stick around until the landlord finishes the background and credit checks and allows me to sign the lease. I would rather not evict a family from a home I don't even own.

I JUMP out of the cab and run. I was so tired from all the apartment hunting that I overslept and missed the train that would've gotten me across town in time to settle in.

"Riel Summers," I tell the receptionist, pausing to catch my breath."I am Mr. Harlow's new assistant."

"Okay," she notes."Here's a temporary access pass until you get your ID -"

"Thank you," I take the pass out of her hands and run for the elevator.

"Hold the door," I shout to the man that's inside.

"Use the other -" he points to his left where there's another elevator, but I am moving too fast to stop myself and veer into the elevator just before the door closes.

"New?" he asks me.

"Yes," I nod.

"I was trying to point you to the other elevator," he says."This is an executive

only elevator."

"Isn't segregation outdated?" I joke before quickly covering my mouth."I am so sorry." I apologize.

Stupid, I scold mentally myself.

He could very well be my boss or someone that could fire me.

He laughs to my surprise. "Unfortunately, the big boss is very strict and obsessed with maintaining authority." He whispers as if someone would hear.

"Why are we whispering?" I whisper.

"The boss has eyes and ears all over the office," he says.

"Seriously?" I ask him.

"Nah, I am joking but it will feel like he does at times," he says."Sebastian by the way," he extends his hand towards me.

"Riel," I take his hands.

"I figured," he says.

"How?" I ask him.

"Let's just say," he smiles, "that you made a good impression on some friends of mine."

The elevator finally comes to a halt.

"All the best," Sebastian wishes me as we step off to the penthouse floor and he disappears down a corridor.

I look around and catch sight of a sign pointing to the office of my new boss. I follow the sign until I am outside of a massive office with a direct view of the Chrysler building.

"Why are you here guarding the door to my office?" a gruff masculine voice asks me.

I turn to the man to whom the voice belonged and find myself breathless as I meet his gaze. He had eyes so piercing and light in their shade of blue that they reminded me of shards of ice.

I wait for him to look away from me but he doesn't. I felt a flutter in my chest at the unyielding stare he had on me.

"I wasn't guarding it," I mumble." I wasn't sure where to go. I am Riel, your new assistant."

I reach out my hand to shake his but he doesn't reciprocate the gesture.

"I left instructions with the girl," he mouths, shoving into the office.

At the turn of his back, the memory of the man whose arms I had fallen into the day of my interview returns to memory. I finally could match the face to the body.

I consider the rest of the floor until I see a smaller office at the edge.

"Hello?" I try to get the attention of the lady working inside.

"Riel," Rina jumps out of her seat to pull me into a hug." I am so happy that you're the other person who got the job."

I smile at her, "Why did they hire the two of us?" I ask.

"Mr.Harlow fired his other assistant," she whispers."So, I guess one of us got the position that opened up."

"Oh," I mumble.

"Never mind that," she cheers. " This is our desk," she motions to the large two-person desk in the middle of the room."That's your side," she points to the left side of the desk."There's a sticky note with the password to access your computer and here's a list of things Mr. Harlow wants you to get started on." She hands me a piece of paper.

I read over the list in my chair. It has everything from picking up his dry cleaning to making a market research presentation.

Fetching his dry cleaning was easy, I mean it was just walking a few blocks across town and back.

I haven't the slightest clue about what should even go into a market research presentation. And I can't ask Rina her thoughts on it since she was busy with work of her own. I watch ten different tutorials on YouTube and read every single article that I find about what made a good one.

It took me almost all day to complete but I think I finally have something to present.

I nervously knock on the door to the office.

"Come in," he instructs me, already sounding annoyed with me.

"Here's your dry cleaning," I set the garment bag down on the couch.

"And the presentation you wanted." I stretch the printed and stapled PowerPoint towards him.

He raises a brow at my shaking hands but doesn't let my jitters bother him as he tugs the papers from my hand.

I bite the tip of my fingers as he turns through the presentation. And then without even hesitating he tears it into two and dunks it into the trash bin before his desk.

"This isn't your fucking middle school show and tell," he barks."So don't give any rainbow-themed presentation. Go do it over," he waves to go out of the office.

Although he had just yelled in my face, I couldn't stop the smile that touched the corners of my lips.

He had only found a flaw in the look of the presentation and not the actual content.

"What with the stupid smile?" He asks me.

"Nothing," I mumble."Just that you didn't say anything bad about the actual research."

"Just get out," he says in response.

I nod with the smile still plastered on my face and head back to my desk to find a suitable template for the presentation.

It's almost two hours after the end of my shift but I stay focused until the presentation is switched over to a simpler template with less distracting colors.

"Sir?" I knock on the office door.

I could see him sighing but eventually, he called me inside.

"Here's the new PowerPoint," I tell him.

He looks it over before placing it into his briefcase.

"Fine, you can leave." He dismisses me.

Just as I move to exit, I hear the sound of my name leaving his lips.

"Mr.Summers," he says in an ominous tone."Don't let this one small victory get to your head. There's still plenty of time for you to mess up and when you do, I will fire you without giving it a second thought."

I lost my calm at the disdain in his voice and spun on my heels to meet his steely gaze.

"No," I tell him."You won't get to fire me, "I retort."And I will not be quitting this job either, "my tone is defiantly sharp."I don't care if you get off on holding someone's livelihood over their head, but I won't give you the satisfaction of taking this job from me." I square my shoulders, refusing to cower under his glare.

Mr.Harlow's jaw clenched, his nostrils flaring with barely contained anger. I wait for him to tell me that I am fired but he doesn't.

A hint of amusement flickered in his cold eyes, but his tone remained composed. "Is that a challenge ?" he asks, the corners of his lips quirking up in a sardonic smile.

I nod, my abrupt resolve is unwavering. "It's a promise. I'll never give you a reason to fire me, and I'll never walk away from this job willingly. You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not."

For a moment, silence hung heavy in the air. Then, I hear his soft chuckle.

"Very well," he concedes."Let's see if you can live up to your boldness." His voice tinges with begrudging respect.

"IDIOT," I yell at myself when I walk out of the office and finally regain my senses.

Why did I open my big yap? I hit my head against a pole hoping I could knock some sense into myself.

I look back straight up at the top floor of the building and swear I could feel him watching me so I hold my head high and walk away.