|2| The power of coffee

A single rose can

Be my Garden...

A single friend,

My world.

~ Leo Buscaglia

____________

waking up the next morning, pain shoots up my back up to my neck, my headaches begging for more sleep and coffee, But my insomnia is even worse at work and I would be lucky if I managed a couple of hours of sleep,

My eyes slide over to the clock to see the time, 6:15 am

'Great' I mumble to myself

I slowly get up from the couch feeling drained from working on the papers all night, along with the project I was doing for wren

I slowly make my way down to the cafe that's just down the street and get a coffee for Mr.Huxley along with myself,

As I'm walking back I see a homeless man on the sidewalk shivering, I immediately feel a pang in my chest, we're in New York and it's freezing right now, the man barely has a jacket on making me shiver just by looking at him,

I take a look at my phone to see it's 6:25 am...I have 10 minutes till I need to be at Mr.Huxley's door

I can make it...but even if I do the coffee will be cold

I think over for just a moment and realize getting a blanket for this man is more important than my boss's hot coffee, he can survive on drinking it lukewarm just this morning

I quickly make my way to a convenience store down the street and buy a blanket, some water, snacks, and a gift card to a sandwich place

I walk back down and walk up to the man handing him the bag with everything in it

"Have a good day sir I hope this helps" I smile down at him

His face immediately breaks down into a grin, which swells my heart and breaks it all at the same time

"Thank you so much sweetheart, you have no idea how much this means to me," the tears welling in his eyes and voice breaking make me want to hug him,

"It's no problem really...keep yourself warm" I manage a small smile as my heart breaks, it's crazy how much we take for granted the little things in life...

Like a blanket and some food, this man is beaming in excitement over it, and yet we just go on about our day not realizing how lucky we are,

I look down at my coffee and feel that it's still quite hot

"Hey, do you like coffee?" I ask

"Of course" his laugh comes out hoarse with a little cough

"Here you go, hope you're not allergic to sugar, cream, and caramel goodness" I manage a little laugh as I shrug

"Well aren't you the sweetest, how can I repay you?" He says taking a sip of the coffee and I watch as a tear makes its way down his cheek

"By staying warm, it's no big deal I hope you have a great day sir" I shake my head refusing to take anything from this man except maybe a smile,

I look at my phone to see I have 3 minutes to get to the office

Shit...

"It's Henry" he smiles taking slow sips of the coffee and holding it in between his hands like a hand warmer

"I'm Vanessa, nice to meet you Henry...maybe I'll see you again sometime " I smile hopeful I'll see him again so I can help him, but also wishing he had a shelter to stay at

I would have him stay at my place but I barely know him and I don't have a spare bedroom...

"Hopefully " he smiles as tears flow down his cheeks

"Would you like a hug?" I ask him, feeling like he could use a hug and a friend at this moment

sometimes all I need in my day is a hug, and sometimes that's all you can do.

He immediately gets up on wobbly legs and captures me in a hug

I feel hot tears stroll down my face, I lose the battle withholding them in as I see this man get happy over a hug,

Man I feel so bad for the homeless...granted some of them put themselves in that position but most of them don't have a choice, they get kicked out or can't pay enough for rent and many other things, and New York can be insanely pricy to live in,

"Please stay warm and safe Henry" I smile breaking the hug

"May you live a wonderful life child, you have no idea what kind of happiness you gave me with just your hug" he says while unwrapping the blanket

"Well I'm late to work so it was nice meeting you Henry, I hope the blanket and everything helps for at least a little bit" I smile waving

"You have no idea just how much" he smiles nodding

____________

I knock twice on Mr.Huxley's door just to see I'm about 7 minutes late

Well, shit the man strives on being on time, I sigh knowing a lecture will come.

"Come in" I hear his voice laced with irritation and impatience

I enter and take a deep breath and put a smile on my face

"Good morning Mr.Huxley sorry I'm late I was dealing with an emergency" I smile sheepishly

He hums taking the coffee "and what kind of emergency would that include Vanessa, the one where my coffee is cold?" He raises a brow

"I was buying stuff for a homeless man I saw down the block from the coffee shop" I pull a smile on my face hoping this gets me out of a lecture

He shakes his head while mumbling an "only you"

"What? He was shivering, it's freezing out there" I look at him sadly

"Vanessa you may do as you please I don't care just don't be late to work" he looks at me with no expression on his face

"I'm sorry sir it won't happen again," I say nodding

"It better not, now I need you to schedule a meeting with the client I sent over via email to you just now," he says sipping his coffee

I nod my head "will that be all?" I ask

"For now, you may go," he says

As I reach for the door he suddenly says

"Vanessa...?"

"Yeah?" I ask turning my head to the side to see a curious expression on his face which pulls me to turn fully around

"Exactly why are you in the same clothing as yesterday...do I not pay you enough or...?" He asks amusement and confusion all laced in his pinched eyebrows and the tilt of his head

I suddenly remember that I look exactly as I looked yesterday...well shit

"Ummm I may have slept over here" I cringe as I speak

"And exactly why did you do that?" He raises a brow

"I gave you the paperwork to do and that's all...you should've finished around the time to go home maybe 30 minutes later at most," he asks looking confused

Do I lie to him? No, what's the point,

"Well wren came by and said she had an important lunch meeting and that she didn't have time to finish that project for Friday and asked if I could finish it for her" I sigh slumping slightly against the door

"And why in the living hell would you do her job?" He asks amusement and irritation written on his face

"Well cus she had an important meeting" I shrug

He laughs...like actually laughs

Why's he laughing?

He looks cute laughing

"Vanessa..." he says sighing after controlling the laughter

"Yeah?" I say confused and in a daze with hearing him laugh

"I didn't have any sort of meeting planned for her yesterday...she played you into you doing her project for her" he shakes his head

"I-" I stop before even finishing my sentence

Did she lie to me?

I guess that explains nothing being marked on the calendar...Gosh, why am I such an idiot?

"Well, maybe it was a different meeting for another company?" I say more convincing myself at this point

He chuckles "sweetheart I've had wren work for me for 3 years...and I know that she isn't working for another company, that I can tell you for sure"

Sweetheart? Crap he can't call me that I can't like my boss

I cant like my boss I repeat to myself, I cant ogle him, do not look at his perfect hands...

Well now I'm looking at his hands, the veins going up his arm puts me in a daze like state

I clear my throat pulling myself together "well maybe she was just exhausted and needed someone's help?" I ask in a questioning manner that makes it obvious I don't even believe myself,

He sighs "Vanessa you need to hold your ground, you're not wrens assistant..." He says while standing up and walking over to me

I'm standing awkwardly hand still on the doorknob

He walks a little too close to me and starts talking again

"You're mine...my assistant, not hers, I pay you to work for me, not for her, which means that you don't need to do her work..."

I begin to start talking again but the man puts his finger on my lips to stop me

He shakes his head and continues "now don't start with that bullshit about 'her needing help' I don't need you overworking yourself from doing someone else's work"

"I'm quite pissed that I pay wren to do work and she throws it on someone else" his eyes hold anger as he speaks

"Mr.Huxley please don't tell her I said anything I don't want her thinking bad of me or getting angry that I told you" I whisper

He lifts my chin with his pointer finger "no one can think bad of you trust me sunshine" he shakes his head

Gosh, his eyes are piercing blue from this close-up,

"Now go and schedule those meetings, and no more doing other coworker's jobs," he says sternly his eyes not wavering as he looks at me

I'm still in a daze from the slight touch and sweet nicknames so I just nod and head out

But quickly turn around "you're not going to say I said anything to wren right? I don't want her getting in trouble or anything" I sigh

He takes a deep breath "how much of the project did you do?" He raises a brow waking closer

"Well not much she had most of it done already" I smile, trying to not make my lie obvious

"Vanessa...how do I feel about lying?" He raises a brow

how in the all that's good in life does he know I'm lying?

As if reading my thoughts he says

"It's easy to tell when you're lying so don't even try it again," he says amusement lacing his words and a slight smile tipping at the corners of his mouth on one side,

I think it might be a national holiday or something special because I just got the smallest smile from Mr. Huxley

Or maybe I'm having a stroke? Am I high or hallucinating?

But Wow was I right when I thought about him smiling, though this isn't a real smile it's close enough

What's with him and suddenly showing emotion around me?

It's like slowly and slowly he's been showing that he's human to me...which I don't mind it's just weird seeing him look slightly happy?

"Oh...well fine she had like the heading written and that's all" I sigh crossing my hands over my chest, I see his eyes briefly flicker to my movements

"And I don't know what you're talking about you definitely can't tell when I'm lying," I say trying to sound stern but failing

I'm just not a very stern person like Mr.Huxley

"You don't make eye contact and you're eyebrows do this little crease thing when your lying," he raises a brow in a 'see I know when you lie' type look

"Do not" I say noticing I'm not looking at him

Well shit

He notices that I realized I wasn't looking at him and smirks,

"Well whatever...so what, just please don't tell her I don't want her getting in trouble" I sigh giving up on the lying subject

"Get back to work Vanessa," he says keeping the smirk on his face

"But..." I say with a slight pout

He shakes his head "she's not getting away with taking advantage of someone's kindness...now go" he says sternly

"But that's-" but before I can further discuss anything more he stalks over to me in a few strides and gently pushes me out of his office

The man is my boss so I shouldn't fight with him, but I greatly want to give him a little smack up against his head for not listening to me,

I guess I should be glad that he's trying to help in a way, but I still feel horrible that I'm in a situation where someone can get in trouble.

-----notes------

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! (I kind of hate it) not gonna lie I hate the first handful of chapters but I feel like the beginning of a story is always difficult for me to write in a way (hard to explain)

Please tell me some things you want to happen in the story! If I like them I can add them >

Vote and comment ♡︎

Word count: 2271