Chapter Five
1187 Words
“Good morning sir” Leila greeted Mr Elvis as he walked past her desk straight out of the elevator
He nodded in response without looking up from his phone and walked into his office, shutting the door behind him
About five minutes later, she knocks on the door to his office and opens it without waiting for a response from him
“I brought your morning coffee…sir” she said, hesitating a little, unsure of his reaction
He finally looks up at her as if just realizing that she had walked in
He stares at her for a bit and gestures with his hand for her to drop the cup on the table
When she sets it on the table, an arm’s length away from him, he stares at it intently for a minute, she couldn’t tell if he was admiring the design she had made on the top or the design of the mug or he simply detested it. This made her feel uneasy and she starts to hope she hadn’t gotten ahead of herself. Her thought is interrupted by his next action.
He picks up the cup and takes a sip, he stares into space as if trying to figure it out.
“Where did you learn to make coffee like this” He asked, finally breaking the silence
“From home, I was a barista back home sir” she said while trying to avoid eye contact
He nodded his head in approval
“Just the way I like it” he said, taking another sip
She finally breathed out a sigh of relief and excused herself from the office, she was obviously glad he liked it.
She came back in with a piece of paper and asked
“I have your schedule for the day, mind if I read it?”
“Sure, go ahead” he replied, sipping his coffee slowly
She started reading out what she had written on the paper and Elvis couldn’t stop thinking about why she didn’t use the tablet provided for her and preferred to write it down.
She had written every thing down to the tiniest detail so that she doesn’t miss anything, he nodded his head in approval
“That would be all, sir” Leila said the moment she read the last sentence off the paper
“I’ll prepare the slides for your meeting at 10” she finished off
“Impressive for your first day” Elvis said to her
“Thank you” she said in response
“Continue like this and you just might be here for more than three months” He said, finishing off his coffee like he didn’t just put her on the edge.
“You may leave now” he said when she didn’t move or respond
“Yes…yes” she stuttered as she brought herself back to reality
She picked up the cup on the table and dashed outside, thinking about what he said
“His secretaries don’t last three months?” She said to herself as she made her way to the sink to rinse the cup
“Well, I’m the exception, I’ll be here till I want to leave” she said like she was talking to someone as she smiled ever so slightly as she thought of the compliment he gave her for her first day.
She got the slides ready for the presentation he had with the representatives from Dotty Initiative.
When Elvis came out of his office for the meeting, she followed him but he just asked that she stayed back and handed the tablet over to him.
About an hour later, the meeting was over and he made his way back to his office.
“How did the meeting go, sir?” She asked as he walked past her desk to his office
He stopped walking, a bit shocked that his secretary would follow up on how the meeting went
“It went well, Leila” he said
“Good one on the pitch” he finished off as he resumed walking to his office
She couldn’t help but smile
“What is the fuss about Mr Elvis outside about then?” She asked herself as she sat down
“He’s not the worse person on earth, actually he’s not bad at all” she continued in a low tone to herself
“But isn’t it too soon to judge?” She asked as she made a face
“It’s fine regardless, today started off very well”
She patted herself on the shoulder
“You’ve got this Leila” she said as she continued her work
The day went by in a blur after that, she worked and worked and only realized she hadn’t had lunch at 6:30pm when her stomach started to grumble.
“Uhh” she said in a low tone as she slouched into her chair, relaxing her back to ease the tension in her shoulders from sitting up all day
“How on earth did I forget to eat?” She said out loud, talking to herself
She stood up and made her way to Mr Elvis’ office
“I’m so hungry” she said to herself approaching the office door
She opened it without knocking and bumps into Elvis putting on his jacket, as he was just about to turn the knob and leave the office.
He immediately put one arm against her back to stop her from falling both of them to the ground and she was pressed against his chest, she looked up at him as if signaling him to let her go but he was just staring at her.
She wiggled away from his grip and stepped back, staring so intently at the ground
“I’m so…..so…sorry, Mr Elvis” she stuttered as her cheeks became flushed
“I had no idea you were behind the door, that’s why I didn’t knock” she continued
She looked up at him from the corner of her eye when he didn’t respond, he was just staring at her.
“It’s fine Leila” he finally said, breaking the awkward silence.
“Uhm, okay….uhm, I wanted to let you know that I’m off to get lunch” she said quickly, still stuttering, playing with her hands and looking interestingly at her shoes
“Lunch?” Elvis asked, brows raised
“Yes…lunch, I lost track of time and I forgot to eat”
“Hmm, workaholic much” Elvis responded
“Instead of getting lunch at 7pm, you can go home” He said and she looked up confused
“I’m not dismissing you, at least not yet, I’m done for the day and I’m going home, you can clock out too” He cleared the air as he started to walked out the door, forcing her to walk backwards for a bit to make way for him to pass
“Thank you Mr Elvis and goodnight” She said, finally sounding composed
He made his way to the elevator and she did to her desk to pack up her stuff to go home.
- Writer
