Monday approached very quickly, whether it was the concern Kaitlyn had in her mind about the day or how many times she had practised in her head how to talk to her new boss.
It was already Monday and she was at the company 10 minutes before 7, her bag holding everything she thought she needed and more, and in her other hand were the signed contracts.
She made her way to her office, feeling her mood dampen just a bit as she sat in the plain boring office, only filled with greys, blacks, and whites. No plants.
That bothered her the most, not even a small cactus that barely needed water. There was no colour inside, she sighed. She got to work looking at his today's schedule for the umpteenth time and making sure everything was in order, she still had some things to double-check with him.
With the free time on her hands, she decided to print out some things the finance department had sent over for his immediate attention. After that, she walked into his office, placing the documents carefully on his desk; his desk was perfectly neat, too neat. She found herself taking a look at his desk, wondering if she just moved the pen holder an inch and if he would notice.
She hung her head to the side, looking for an angle that would make the overly tidied-up office a bit less depressing.
'Good morning, Ms. Davids." she heard a familiar voice say. She hadn't heard the door open, so she turned around to see him in a very well-tailored three-piece suit the colour of timber; he was hanging his coat on the hanger.
Just like the very first time she met him, he looked impeccable. But now, as he stood in his colourless office, he looked even more dashing. Like he were from a photo shoot, too good-looking to be real. She felt thankful for dressing to impress today, she had on a navy blue-pencilled dress that
stopped a bit over her knee and a two-inch all-black heel that paired nicely with the hip-hugging gown.
"Good morning sir." She greeted snapping out of her thoughts, hoping he hadn't noticed her staring.
"You're early." He pointed out as he walked to his desk and then took a seat. His voice didn't sound impressed or surprised, it sounded like he was pointing out a fact rather than complimenting her timekeeping skills.
"Yes, I thought I would get a head start." Kaitlyn started.
"Those are statements from the finance department, they said it needed your immediate attention." She said referring to the papers already on his desk. He glanced at them and nodded but then his attention turned away to his computer.
'Impeccable manners.' She thought to herself again as she watched him not acknowledge her presence. She cleared her throat loudly, demanding his attention. His eyes fell on her, his stare unreadable.
"You have a meeting with the Green Corps today by 3:30, about the solar-powered hotel. They also emailed me to tell you that Mr Smith won't be able to attend so he is sending someone on his behalf, Mr Riley. Your plans can be discussed with him. Also, the meeting with the board members by 2 won't be able to happen today, you'll have to set another time. It looked like your former assistant had overbooked you, but I figured the meeting with the Russian ambassador would be more important, you need his approval on the go-ahead with your importation from there anyway. You can't keep him waiting. You can reschedule the board meeting for either tomorrow by 3 pm or Friday by 10 am." She rambled on like she had a script.
The young CEO observed her closely, listening to every word. He found it hard to concentrate, but he was too impressed not to listen.
"Your lunch meeting will have to be rather short because they called to inform you that he can only make it by 1:40 to sign the papers. Also, the interior designer is coming in to have you make a choice..."
"Have her meet you for that, I trust you have already observed my taste." He interrupted her.
She nodded. "Would you like some coffee?" She offered with a tight-lipped smile.
"Yes." He answered. His eyes finally left her and then went back to his computer.
"How do you like it?" She asked.
"A little cream, no sugar." He replied shortly.
She cringed at his choice, leaving the office and heading to the coffee room. The coffee room, like most parts of the office, was also fairly dull, only that the walls were painted blue, giving the place a bit of a homely feel. She went over to the coffee machine and then got to work, grabbing two cups, one for her and one for her mannerless boss.
"Good morning." She heard someone say, his voice sounding amused. She turned around to an ivory-skinned man that stood a few inches taller than her, he wore a two-piece suit, his hair ginger brown with beautiful light honey eyes. He was good to look at, she thought. Very good to look at.
"I'm Einar." he said stretching out his hand.
"Kaitlyn." She said shaking his hand.
"You must be the new assistant." He said, realizing.
She nodded then turned back to the coffee, adding some cream and sugar to hers and only cream to Mr Lennox's. Then grabbing some bagels for herself. "Nice to meet you." She said before making her way out of the room.
His eyes followed her as far as they could go. She stopped at her office first, dropping her coffee before knocking on the door that connected both of their offices.
"Come in." She heard him say, then she let herself in.
"Your coffee sir." She said placing the coffee on a black coaster. He didn't acknowledge her, his eyes were still glued to his computer, scrolling down a page. "Do you need anything else?" She asked hiding her annoyance.
"Actually yes. Do you mind looking up at someone and getting as much information on him? I'll be pitching him an idea next week and it needs to go smoothly." He wrote down the name of
the person on a note, sliding it towards her on the glassy surface of his desk.
Kaitlyn grabbed the piece of paper and did not say a word, she went into her office and got to work immediately.
"Hey, girl." She heard Taylor say making her look up.
She was just as beautiful as the last time she saw her, today even more bubbly than last. She made it look like Mr. Lennox wasn't enslaving the entire company, Kaitlyn thought. The thought made her smile.
Kaitlyn was on her 4th errand of the day, fact-checking some of the statements on the documents she had put on his desk early in the morning, she had made a lot of phone calls and was just about to walk over to the finance department, something did not add up.
"Hey," Kaitlyn said with a smile.
"You look buried in work."Taylor pointed out taking a seat.
"Yeah. Just fact-checking." She explained, looking up from her computer and focusing on Taylor.
"Well, I just wanted to check on you. You know I'm rooting for you." She said.
"Thank you." Kaiser chuckled.
"I'll come to get you for lunch okay? I'll give you some necessary gist." She said with a wink before allowing herself out.
Just as she left, the intercom went on, and Kaitlyn rolled her eyes,s, knowing it was yet another thing. It almost felt like he was purposefully overworking her, or he was this busy,
"Kaitlyn." She heard him call, catching her off guard because all through today it was Ms Davids or just nothing at all and just a "please come in here." or "Could you?"
"Yes sir?" She said picking up the phone.
"Get Mr Owen on the phone please, from the data department," he said before cutting off before she could say something. 'Impeccable manners.' she thought to herself rolling her eyes.
She did just that, after finding the contact on the list she had on her computer.
"Mr Lennox?" She started talking into the intercom. She heard no reply, 'are you kidding me?' she thought, annoyed for the 100th time by his manners. "Mr Lenard." She called again this time louder, irritation very evident in her voice.
"Yes, Kaitlyn." She heard him answer in a low voice, he called her name softly. It almost made her forget just how much of a proper jerk he had been all day.
"Mr Owen is on line 1." She said, then went dead immediately.
She hadn't completely forgotten about their short night in her kitchen, and just then, as he said her name like that, the familiar goosebumps started to prick her skin. She took a deep breath, shoving her thoughts as far back as she could, then turned over to her computer, hyper-focusing on her task.
Before lunchtime she had nothing left to do, she had successfully done all the tasks assigned to her and even logged in a few more meetings and events on Lennox's calendar after checking
very briefly with him.
She had learned not to take his mannerisms to heart and even borrowed a page from his book by not looking over at him up until 2. She yawned, feeling hungry, and stood from her chair.
She decided to meet up with Taylor instead since she had nothing else to do.
"Kaitlyn." She heard him say from the intercom, making her stop in her tracks.
"Yes sir?" She said back.
"Grab your coat, we're going for lunch." He said, not leaving room for argument. It sounded more like an order than a request.