Mr. CEO is a Psychopath

Fourteenth

The scent of the café was all that Clay needs, she felt all of her relax and invigorated at the whiff of coffees. This café has a particular smell to it that Clay Cassidy likes, it smells like fresh brewed coffee and pastries, and it goes around the room like no other.

She often comes here every morning, as she passes by her morning runs, and sometimes when she’d like, she would stay all day just reading and studying. Everything of this place makes her productive, it’s the eye of the storm that is New York, it’s serenity in the midst of the fast-paced buzz. From the beige decorated walls, wooden carved chairs, to the casual green that you see around the room; vines and plants, and of course, a charging socket right beneath the tables.

And the best of all- they make the best ice coffees, and they don’t even price as much as Starbucks.

After making their orders, they settled down to the table in the corner, right beside the big glass that overlooks the streets outside.

Clay starts the conversation once they were settled, she asks, “how are you doing?”

“Fine,” she answers, and even though, they weren’t close outside of work, not even inside of work, Clay knows it wasn’t true. This is the longest conversation they have, and hopefully not the last one, Clay thinks. The old woman says honestly, after a few moments, “actually not fine.”

The blonde just lets her talk, offering an ear, which she presumes it is what Janet only needs.

“My baby is,” she almost starts to cry, tears welling up in the old woman’s eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall, instead tries to dry them up, adding something difficult to say, “she’s sick.”

“How old is she?” Clay asks.

“Six,” the supervisor states, “she’s been diagnosed with Leukemia 5 months ago.”

“oh,” Clay couldn’t help herself, she could feel her own heart breaking just by hearing it. She could not imagine how much more the old woman was feeling. So young, she could feel something prick her heart- hearing a situation so familiar to her.

“She is a very bright girl and she loves art as well. She would draw us together in stick figures, and everything was filled with colors- she loves colors. And she doesn’t deserve what is happening to her,” the supervisor sobs, as she continued, “her father left us and we’re so far away from home, it’s just me that she has- sometimes she’d asked, but she never let me feel like I wasn’t enough a parent. At such a young age, she is so- sensitive.”

“If only I could take that illness from her,” a single tear trails downs the woman’s wrinkled eyes, bags under her eyes indicating restlessness, “I would, with not a second of hesitation.”

Clay hadn’t noticed such state her supervisor was in, the bags under her eyes, everything was hidden under make up and her strong, tough personality. Janet was probably working twice as her and her shifts.

The blonde had found a new kind of respect for the mother in front of her. Taking all of that by herself- the woman could not comprehend how much that takes, how tough one must be in that situation.

She knows now why that was the supervisor’s reaction to her the other night, she was desperate. Janet do not have any time to waste, nor fired at any job. It makes her blood boil again as she remembered the CEO, taking advantage over that kind of desperation. It was inhuman.

“I have a little brother,” Clay shares, tries to let the other woman knows that she understands, even just a bit of what she’s experiencing, “he’s young and sick, as well.”

“He’s a bright kid too, a loving one,” the azure eyed woman continues, “my parents work day and night to pay for his treatments and medicine, and I came here to help them with a scholarship from an art school.”

“It’s already hard for me as it is and I have them… I can’t imagine how much are you going through,” she is being as honest as she can be, “you are a very strong woman, and I believe she is a strong child like her mother, and whatever happens, you go through it together.”

“I’m sorry for how I acted that night, I know you were only trying to protect me,” the old woman adds, “you shouldn’t have been caught up in my own frustrations in life.”

“It’s okay, I understand a little better now… Thank you for telling me when you did not need to, ma’am.”

“Call me Janet,” she states, “why were you there by the way.”

“Uhm,” she starts, don’t know if she should request this now, after all they talked about, “I was supposed to be requesting a day off… for my birthday next week.” Clay never tried to bring it up again, when she thought she f****d up.

“Ohh, it’s no problem,” the supervisor shrugs, “tell me the day, and I’ll process it, reschedule with other workers, after all, this is your first day off request this year.”

“Thank you so much,” Clay says sincerely, “you’ve done so much for me this day… even carried my things to my apartment.”

Janet laughs at that, “you did work me a lot today.”

“Anyways, thank you for your time, Clay,” she starts to stand up from the chair, “I have to go now. There are still errands I need to run.”

“Maybe you should go paint again,” Clay tells her, “I think you need that, and you show it to her.”

“I bet she’ll love that,” Clay adds.

“Okay, I’ll take that,” Janet smiles, “thank you.”

---

The days were significantly better for Clay. After everything last weekend, her relationships with the people at work have improved, especially with Mrs. Lewis. Cassidy doesn't dread coming to the workplace anymore, and instead, she now has a better perspective on things. Though she has a better relationship with the supervisor, she doesn't take advantage of it. She does her work better than before, if anything else.

"Hey Vee, I bought you something." Clay fishes out something from her bag. She bought two of them online, one for her and for the redhead in front of her, who is currently busy jotting down new appointments and plans for next week as required by her work.

"Hm?" she looked up to Clay, her gaze deviating from her work.

"Catch."

"What's this?" A small spray, that's tight on the cap, with a key chain holder, landed on the redhead's palm.

"A pepper spray. It's for defense, don't spray it on yourself, it's not perfume," Clay closes her bag, a peak of it revealing another pepper spray in a black container, in contrast to Vee's which is in a red container.

"I know what a pepper spray is, Clay. That's all you had to say," a statement which gained a rolled eye from the blonde. The redhead adds, "thank you for this! I know you love me."

"There are girls disappearing now too. I don't know what's happening around here, but it's better to be safe," Clay explains, eyes serious. The news is alarming. Not only old men are being killed, but women are disappearing too. They can never be too safe in this city, now that a serial killer is on the loose.

"Yes, mom." Vee waves her bye, as she was about to go into the elevator. A yellow bracelet around her wrist, something Vee bought from their shopping the last time.

Clay just rolls her eyes.