Hey, Mr. Secretary!

RUSS' POV A loud sound disturbed my sleep, it was my phone, and my boss was calling. I immediately got up from my bed, my head throbbing from getting only two hours of sleep. "Hello, sir? Good morning." "Good morning, Russ. I'm sorry to disturb your sleep, but I have to go to another country for a week because of something important. I figured it's important to tell you since I will not have you come with me, I'd come with my wife instead. I'll leave the office to you for a week, I'll pay you double for this week for your hard work." "Oh, sure sir. Don't worry, I won't let you down." "Oh, you never did. You're such a great man!" I chuckled at the comment, "Thank you, sir, have a safe flight!" I dropped my body to the bed as I dropped the call. This will be a long and tiring week, lucky enough since I'll earn double pay for the whole week and my boss is generous and kind. I got up from my bed, it was only four in the morning but I have got a bunch of things to read for the whole day. By leaving the office to me he means literally leaving it to me, even his errands and other work that I can do. Some papers that need to be signed will all be marked instead, I bet he trusts me more than the vice president of his company. I must say, even though this is not the job I originally wanted to have, it is a blessing. Even though I've always thought of becoming an architect, having the opportunity to work as the secretary of the CEO of the biggest architectural company in the world is still great. I looked at the clock, it was 4:05 in the morning. That's enough reflection and thinking for today. I've got things to do. I stood up and wore on my furry slippers, and walked lazily into my bathroom. I took a quick bath before going downstairs to get oatmeal for breakfast. While heating the water to make some coffee, I got all of my things ready, including the papers I needed to read. I decided to wear a suit today since I'll be facing and meeting some of the bosses for such matters as the chairman/CEO's representative. It's not like I haven't done this before. I made my usual coffee and decided to sit on the couch. I started reading all of the papers I needed. It was not as many as I expected, since it only took me about an hour and a half to finish all of them. At 5:43 in the morning, I finished reading, getting ready, and preparing everything. I took the bus on the way to the office since it's more convenient that way. I tapped my ID as I entered the building. When I was in the elevator, I heard someone screaming. "Wait!!" I immediately pushed the open button to stop the elevator from closing. "Thank you," the woman said, breathing heavily, holding two huge boxes. "Would you like me to help you? That seems too heavy, your uniform's getting wrinkled." "Oh, thank you so much." I got the larger box and held it for her. That's when I saw her ID lace. "Oh, an intern?" "Ah, yes, Sir Russ." "You know me?" I asked curiously. "Ah... yes..." she said with a hint of blush on her cheeks. How come a lot of people in this office know me without meeting me? The elevator opened on the seventh floor and she turned to me. "I can have the box, Sir Russ. Thank you for helping me," she said without making any eye contact. "No, let me take it to where you'll be putting it. This one's really heavy," I smiled and walked out of the elevator. I waited for her so she could lead the way. I was greeted by familiar and unfamiliar faces along the way. "Here, you can just leave it here. Thank you so much, Sir Russ." "You can call me Russ or Secretary Russ, it doesn't really matter. Great job, intern." I patted her head before making my way back to the elevator. She looks like my sister, so I felt comfortable with her. I wonder what my sister is doing right now. I was patiently waiting for the elevator, smiling, and trying to start my day positively, but it looked like fate hates me. The doors opened and revealed Leo Vincent Lim, my boss's son, the heir of Lim Corporation, and the guy I hate the most. And by that I mean, HATE. "Well, it looks like my bad morning was changed into a good one after seeing you, Mister Secretary." There he goes, his undying flirting. Does he have anything else good to do? Right, all he does is either tease me or flirt with me. He's lucky he's my boss's son, or else... "Oh, why do you look like a growling tiger? Didn't you miss me?" Hell no. "Staying silent again, are we?" What the f**k is wrong with this guy? "Hey--" He was cut off by the sound of the elevator as the doors opened for me. I walked out of the elevator and was greeted by some employees. "Good morning, Secretary Russ." "Good morning!" I greeted him back with a smile. "Oh, good morning mister Leo." "Morning," I heard him reply from my back. He followed me until I sat on my desk outside the chairman's office. He even got his own chair beside my table just to annoy me. "Hey, good morning." I did not reply. "Hey! I said good morning!" "Good morning, sir Leo," I replied to make him shut up, but he didn't. "Ugh, remove that 'sir'!" I opened my computer to check some emails, trying my best not to mind his presence. "What did you have for breakfast this morning?" A great cup of coffee and some oatmeal set me in a good mood until you ruined it, asshole. He sighed, which made me look at his reflection in the mirror which was a part of the interior outside the chairman's office. He's pouting?! The hell? "Hey... mister secretary." "What," I said, not even in a questioning tone. "Finally, you answered!" Silence. "The f**k is up with you, really. I don't get why you're so annoyed with me." Maybe because that's all you do to me? Annoying me all the time. "See, you won't even talk to me. You know, I can be someone fun to be with." "I'm not here to have fun, sir. I'm here to do my job as your father's secretary. Since he's not here, I've got a lot of things to do, so will you please give me the space and silence I need to focus on my work? Thank you," I uttered as I stood up to get some papers from the architect assigned to a special project. "Good morning, sir. Can I have all the papers?" "Oh, secretary Russ. Here, you can have all of it. Kindly send it back if there are some changes, but most of those are already confirmed by me, I just need the chairman's approval." "That's great, I'll call him to finalize this." "The chairman's not here?" "Oh, he's in another country for something important." "Ah, I see... looks like you'll be bothered by his son the whole day." "Unfortunately," we both laughed at my reply. He really is a problem for me. I can't focus whenever he's around, he's too noisy and childish. "Russ!" "Oh, Ivan! How's your day?" "Doing well so far, I won't ask you because I saw mister Leo following you around again." "Oh God, I hate this." He chuckled at my remark, "I doubt you do." "Oh come on, Ivan." "Why? You look good together." "Shush! How is that possible? He's the chairman's son, I'm just an employee." He then started laughing, which made me annoyed and confused at the same time. "What's so funny, Ivan?" "Nothing, I just find it funny that you took my comment negatively because you two are completely different in social status, rather than saying it's because you hate him. I guess you do really hate Mister Leo, huh?" He said teasingly and walked out laughing. The hell? That doesn't even make sense, dude. Just then, after walking back to my table, I saw Mister Leo reading some of the documents and highlighting something. I immediately looked behind his back, which he seemed to haven't noticed since he was too focused on the papers. He was highlighting the most important parts of the document, the ones I need to focus on for the meeting later. I faked a cough, "What are you doing?" He was so surprised by my presence that he almost threw the highlighter at my face. "Nothing, I was thinking of reading those in case you made some mistakes. I don't want my future company to be at risk, you know?" "But your dad made those. He gave them to me three days ago if he couldn't attend today's meeting. At risk, huh?" I sat on my chair with a teasing smile on my face. "So what, Dad sometimes makes me look into things so I can give my honest opinion." "And your highlighting important parts of the paper, you really like to meddle with my work, don't you?" I thought he would shut up, but he is Leo Vincent Lim, the guy who always have something to say. "I was just trying to help you, babe." He said with a satisfied smirk. LEVI'S POV I was waiting for the right time to get inside the meeting room. Everyone needed for the project's meeting was already inside, including Russ who’s representing my dad. I couldn’t help but smile whenever I remember his reaction from earlier. My flirting skills never failed me, it always caught people off-guard. But I’m surprised Russ doesn’t fight back, I find it more enjoyable and challenging because of him. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen…” I heard from outside the meeting room. That’s when I barged in with a proud and silly smile on my face. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Leo Vincent Lim, the heir and the son of Ricky Lim, the chairman and CEO of Lim Corporation. I have decided to join this meeting to see how much effort…” I looked at Russ who’s not even surprised I’m making a scene in this important meeting. “...MY employees are putting into such an important project. I would also like to help if I can, and listen to your lovely voices,” I said without taking my eyes off him. He only glared at me before getting the folder in front of him and smiling at everyone. “Alright, let’s see how this project will go. As we all know, this is a special project and a very important one. I am hoping that we will encounter good ideas and plans from all of the departments. We also have Mister Lopez here, he’s Mister Lim’s great friend, he wanted to see how everything would go throughout this project.” I faked a cough and sarcastically cleared my throat before he could even start another set of words to tell them. “Of course, we have Mister Leo Vincent Lim, the son of Mister Ricky Lim.” He smiled at me sarcastically. “To tell you all a few things we’ll need to discuss for this meeting, we’ll have the planning department, the designs department, and the architectural department.” “How about the engineers?” I asked, faking my curiosity. But to my surprise, he took my question seriously. “We will get in touch with our engineers after this, Sir. Besides, our master is in the field of architecture that’s why we are going to focus on these. Mister Lopez on the other hand is here since our engineers that will be working hand-in-hand with our architects will come from his firm.” I nodded, I had no idea what to say next. “We have the head of the planning team, the head of the architectural team, from the interior and exterior designs team, and of course, from the budget department. We’ll be discussing further the other matters as soon as we settle the three teams. For now, we’ll preside over this meeting effectively. I am Mister Seige Russel Smith, the Secretary of Chairman Ricky Lim, and I will be presiding today's meeting on his behalf.” Damn, he’s so serious about this. He’s hot, not gonna lie. How is he so serious about this? I mean, I get it. This is a special project, this is something that can either put our company at a higher level, or at risk. But how is he so serious about work? I’ve never seen anyone this serious and professional, not even my dad. He would laugh around in meetings, but Russ doesn’t even smile at all when he starts becoming serious about explaining everything. “Excuse me, don’t you think that wouldn’t be so safe for the kids?” My mind was taken back to reality when he spoke, he was sitting in front of me. “Kids?” “I see you did not do your proper research before planning everything. Everyone, let us remember that our main goal isn’t just about the architectural structure or design, but also the safety and function. Why don’t you even know that the President’s grandchildren will be staying over for the first few weeks in this house we will be building?” That makes sense. I see why Dad trusts him more than the Vice President, or even more than the Vice-Chairman. I don’t care if he trusts Russ more than me, he’s always been like that. But seeing how he works on behalf of Dad, he knows how Dad will react and does the job so cleanly. “Sorry, Russ–” “Why don’t you call him, Sir Russ?” I asked, curious. “S-Sorry?” Russ gave me a glare, “First, she’s older than me. Second, she’s in a higher position. So please, do not interrupt the meeting with nonsense, mister Leo.” “She’s the one not making sense here, and you. Yes, she’s older than you, she’s older than me too but she calls me ‘Sir’. Yes, she’s got a higher position than you, but your work’s harder.” “I don’t think it’s right to judge your employees that way, Sir. It’s clear that you don’t get to see how much work each of us in this table has to do.” “You’ve got a point, now you’re making sense. But what you said earlier still doesn’t make sense, because shouldn’t it be seen on your performance? If you’re working hard enough, you should be able to know and do the basics of your job properly. Which she clearly failed to do that you still had to address,” I smirked when I saw his annoyed face. “I am doing this on behalf of your dad, Sir. But you, I’m not quite sure why you’re such a big deal out of this, you are wasting the team’s time. Now, will you please shut up or leave.” The employees were surprised by what he said, especially Mister Lopez whom I call Tito Mark. “Alright, go on. Sorry to interrupt, babe.” Everyone looked at us surprised, but when I looked at Tito Mark, he was giggling. “Enough distractions, we’ll continue with this meeting. Please proceed,” Russ smiled at the presenter. I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the presenter or the topic, I was rather focused on one person the whole meeting, from the beginning until the end. “Russ,” I called for his name but he didn’t turn around. “Hey, Mister Secretary!” Everyone’s already looking at us, some employees stopped walking because of curiosity. But I don’t care, I want his attention. “Babe!” That’s when he finally turned around. Shocked faces were around us. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” There he goes, his cute annoyed face. “Finally, let’s grab some lunch.” I was about to pull him when an employee approached him. “Hey there,” the man greeted, putting his arm around his neck. “Ivan! What’s for lunch?” He smiled, completely forgetting my existence. “Well, ther–” I cleared my throat, which caught their attention. The guy smiled at me while Russ just gave me a bored look. “Sir Leo, nice to meet you. I’m Ivan Mckinley, the senior manager of the architecture department.” “Leo Vincent Lim, the chairman’s son.” I did not accept his hand waiting for a hand shake. He awkwardly moved his hand back. “I’m sorry Sir Leo, but it’s currently our break time. If you have anything you would like me to do, you can leave a note on my table, or ask someone else to do it. Thank you,” he made a plastic smile at me and turned to Ivan. “Let’s go? It’s your treat, right?” “Have a great day, Sir.” Ivan bid me goodbye. “Oh, come on. You never treat me, Russ.” They go straight to the elevator, leaving me dumbfounded. I tried to keep my cool and not show the other employees my embarrassment. I got my phone and glared at them. Tweet: @Levi_Lim “Why do shits love ruining my day?” 36 retweets 145 likes I decided to order some food and sat inside my dad’s office. Who said I needed his attention? I can enjoy everything on my own. To: Russ Eatwell. …unsent. (6:00 PM, Lim Corporation Office) “Sir Leo…” I heard a soft voice which I didn’t mind because I wanted to get some more sleep. A sigh I heard. “Levi… I know you’re not asleep.” I immediately opened my eyes when I knew who it was. “R-Russ… I mean, Secretary Russ.” “It’s already six in the evening, Sir. You might wanna go home now since everyone’s home already.” “You go home at six? I thought at Ten?” “Whenever the chairman is not around, we finish our tasks at six in the evening.” “You’re done with your work?” “Well, I am. But even if I don’t, it is strictly said by your father to follow our right schedule no matter what. Besides, we can always finish our work in our homes before we sleep.” “Ah, I see. Thanks for waking me up.” I stood up to fix my black hoodie and jeans. Russ on the other hand has gone out of the office already. I made sure to fix dad’s couch before leaving his office and catching up with Russ. “So, aren’t you going out for a dinner?” “No.” “Why? I thought you finished all your work?” “Yeah, but your Dad’s gonna be gone for a week.” “Which means you will be working on behalf of him this whole week…” I added. “Right, which is hard because I’m not as smart as your Dad.” “I beg to disagree, young man. You are a man of passion and intelligence, you do well at work.” “How are you sure about that? Have you seen me work?” “Yeah, you’re always dead serious at work.” “No, I’m not.” He rolled his eyes. I chuckled. “What’s so funny? Levi?” “Oh, I’m Levi now? Not Sir Leo?” “Fine, what’s so funny Sir Leo?” “I was just kidding!” “What’s so funny, Mister Leo?” “Nothing, you’re cute when you’re annoyed.” “There he goes with his annoying and flirting task again.” I was just telling the truth… “Actually, would you mind joining me for a dinner?” “Yes, because it would cost my time.” “Aren’t you hungry?” “Well, I can ease hungriness by sleeping instead.” He joked. “You sure you don’t want some stake? My treat?” He suddenly stopped walking. His briefcase swung as he turned around to me. “I know a great place for some steak and beer, your treat!” He exclaimed and started running. I couldn’t help but be amused by his sudden change of mood. His wide smile is contagious. “Wait for me, babe!”