BILLIONAIRE CEO: BENEATH THE ARROGANCE

Chapter 3: The Challenging First Day

Annoyance and anger were the only emotions Kieran was feeling, the same was true for Jasmine… Hers was worse, she was sure he was intentionally making her work more than necessary. Her workload was triple what she expected, and Kieran kept adding to it.

After they had both sorted out her workload for the week, it was work that would last for an entire week, she got to organizing the files, some were for his office and his office alone, while some were for her to personally access and work on.

"No wonder you didn't have a secretary when I got here" Jasmine muttered as she filed some documents into the cabinets. The office was befitting of the Kyros building, with cutting-edge design, and precision engineering, the view of the suburbs was nothing short of breathtaking. His desk was one of the most eye-catching features, the finest oak, with intricate designs to embellish it. The desk was about 150cm long and about 75 cm wide, a very large desk, his laptop from the looks of it looked more expensive than Jasmine's car.

Kieran was sitting in his chair sipping his coffee, another cup of coffee, she counted three that day, and those were the ones she saw him taking. The chair was made of the same kind of material as the desk and it looked like it was made for him. The shelves and cabinets were also of the same materials. The office itself was almost as wide as Jasmine's apartment's living room, there was a bathroom, a well-equipped one, a minimalistic room, with only a bed and a bedside table. Everything about the office was nothing short of extraordinary.

She spent hours organizing the files, occasionally she would answer Kieran's demands like; getting files of some specific organization, and coffee orders, and sometimes he would call her to ask for the time… she got pissed. His attitude grew worse as hours ticked by, Jasmine didn't back and returned the same attitude to him.

"Sullivan, get me another coffee" He ordered, in response to this, Jasmine gave a very loud sigh, loud enough to make Kieran's eye twitch with rage.

"Of course…Sir" There was the pause again, the annoying pause before she would give him a shroud of respect. She slowly walked to the coffee machine and without a care in the world, took her time pouring his coffee. It took all the willpower in him to resist shouting at her and firing her that moment; but with her qualifications, that would be an unwise decision… Kieran wasn't someone who would willingly make bad decisions.

After what felt like ages, Jasmine finally brought his coffee to him, gave a very slight nod then resumed filing the documents. Silence filled the room as no other words were spoken, Kieran was on his laptop and Jasmine went about her business. At exactly 1:55 pm, an alarm rang, signaling Kieran of his 2 pm teleconference, Jasmine, was pleased by this as she excused herself and went to her office.

Unlike Kieran's office, hers was smaller and had a smaller fridge, desk, and TV, the office was very nice, compact, and neat, the previous owner must have loved it here, it had a superb view of the city below, just like in the CEO's office, the desk had an antique feel, same with the chairs, bookshelves, and cabinets. The air conditioning kept the room at just the right temperature, neither too cold nor too hot, it was just right; Jasmine had a strong feeling she would love it here.

She could hear him discussing with some other executives, they were talking about a contract for a 150,000-capacity stadium for Germany, to serve as their new national stadium, a lot of leading architectural firms were given proposals and offered huge sums of money to deliberate on the building design, Kyros Studios was one of such architectural firms.

His voice was different, it was calmer and more professional, he didn't speak unless he was spoken to and he didn't rush his words neither did he speak too slowly, it was the right speed. From what Jasmine could hear, Kieran was given enormous respect, similar to an elder in a family or a family head.

"I understand exactly what you mean, Mr. Harris," Kieran said before taking a brief pause "I know the layout of the bleachers is very important, we should also focus on the lavatories and dressing rooms too, not forgetting other rooms, for teleconferencing and more of that nature." He spoke in a matter-of-fact voice and he said each word like they held some sort of importance.

With a shrug, Jasmine finally decided to stop eavesdropping on the teleconference and mind her own business, the pile of documents she had to sort through as the CEO's secretary. She found it mysterious that Kieran managed to work for more than a week without a secretary, his work burden would have gone through the roof, but she was never going to say that to his face.

The first file she picked up was a proposed residential project from one of the Grade 1 architects, she went through the building plans, and the sections and then proceeded to read the remarks from the HOG 1 [Head Of Grade 1 architects]. Kyros Studios was known for their systematic arrangements of architects based on experience and dexterity, in the order of Grade 4 up to Grade 1; with this in mind, Jasmine didn't need to bother much about the project, she scanned through it before typing her remarks, Kieran would have the final say.

Minutes trickled by, and Jasmine was buried in a pile of documents, waiting patiently for her to sort out file, and record. She was about to give up when her phone rang, with an exasperated sigh she began scavenging for her phone, and when she eventually found it the caller ID read. 'Accomplice', she smiled the minute she saw it.

"Heyyyyy" She beamed, she had been expecting his call, she almost lost hope that he would call her.

"How are you, Jaz??" one of the few people in her life who called her Jaz, Logan Vickers, Jasmine's best friend of close to 16 years, they were friends from school, the popular duo that everyone knew as inseparable.

"I'm alright, Lo" Jasmine sighed, finally one good thing had happened to her today, she was going to pen today as the worst day of her life. "You were right about the secretary thing, the work is a lot, much more than I bargained for". Logan let out a hearty laugh, he knew that the CEO of Kyros Studios had a reputation and the company itself was a very big one, he wasn't surprised at how much she was complaining.

"I don't want to be that guy but… I told you so" It was clear he was smiling; his smile was one of the most attractive things about him. "How is he??"

"Who??" Jasmine inquired, slightly confused.

"You know who" Logan said, Jasmine could swear he raised his eyebrow before he said that, she wasn't wrong.

"I don't" Jasmine sighed; Logan always liked games she wasn't in the mood. "But if you're referring to my new boss, he is a complete ass" Logan let out another laugh, his laugh was infectious and purely guttural. "He doesn't have a shred of humanity" Jasmine whined. "on top of all these, he is annoying"

"Slow down, those were a lot of words you laid on me," Logan said, as he stood up from his bed, he had been lying there since he woke up "Take a chill pill, Jaz, what exactly happened?" It was at that moment that Kieran called for her from his office.

"I don't think I can explain it over the phone, Lo" She was sighing again "I'll call you when I get off work, I have work to do, I'll call you later" She rose from her swivel chair, and headed for Kieran's office.

"If that's what you want," Logan said and waited until she ended the call, he felt a bit guilty, after all, he was the one who got her the job interview. He headed for the kitchen to get his breakfast; this was one of the reasons he hated living alone, he had to think about his meals… he was going to order food, but he just didn't know which food.

"You certainly took your time, Sullivan" Kieran frowned "Since you have enough free time to flirt in your office, there are documents in the H-Cabinet that need your attention" He stared at her as he spoke, knowing quite well she was becoming frustrated.

Jasmine was seconds away from throwing herself at him and choking him to death or stabbing him with her ballpoint pen. In her defense, she would be doing the world a favor. Nevertheless, she said nothing and went about her business, picking the files from the H-cabinet before returning to her office.

Tears of joy formed behind Jasmine's eyes when her alarm for 6 pm rang, it signaled the end of her first day as Kieran's secretary. She arranged the files she had already sorted out, before moving to the files she hadn't attended to, she arranged most of them on her desk, they occupied 70% of her desk space. It took a while before she was done with arranging her office.

The moment she stepped out of her office; she saw Kieran sitting at his desk. He was immersed in the document he was reading; his brows were furrowed as he stared at the document, it was like something perplexed him. His face was unsmiling, his jaw was set, his legs were crossed and in that brief moment, Jasmine realized, her boss was extremely attractive.