Resisting Damien Adams

1

"Good morning Madison!" my colleague Lisa greeted me with a smile.

I waved at Lisa and stormed past her in the next second.

"We'll talk later!" I shouted at her stressed and ran in the direction of the elevator.

My Monday morning got off to a great start again.

Not only did I oversleep, I was stuck in traffic for 45 minutes.

Mr. Adams will freak out! I thought to myself and hurried to get the elevator.

I had been working on a file for Mr. Adams to finish last night.

The elevator doors were about to close when someone put their foot between them and held the doors open for me.

I quickly rushed into the elevator and the doors closed behind me.

I smiled and thanked my colleague and tried to regulate my breathing.

As I caught my eye in the mirror of the statement, I took stock of my appearance.

Out of sheer hurry, I had combined some kind of blouse with a black skirt that reached to my knees.

Luckily the combination didn't look bad.

Thank God I could at least put on my make-up in the car during the traffic jam.

My subtle make-up covered my dark circles and tiredness.

I had put my dark hair up in a loose bun and a few strands hung in my face.

I adjusted my glasses on my nose and exhaled softly.

As soon as the elevator reached the 11th floor, I rushed out.

I had to be careful not to twist my ankle because of my high heels. I was already well known in the company for my clumsiness.

On the way to Mr. Adam's office, I bumped into some colleagues and yelled apologies at them.

When I finally reached the door marked "Damien Adams," I stopped and took a deep breath.

You can do it! I told myself and put my hand on the doorknob.

I exhaled deeply one last time.

I turned the doorknob and walked into my new boss's office on trembling legs.

Breath in and out deeply!

I tried to say "good morning" but fell silent.

Mr. Adams was standing with his back to me, one hand holding his phone to his ear while the other was in his pocket.

I closed the door behind me and walked into his office.

My boss was standing on the other side of the office, looking out through the large window while calmly listening to the other person on the phone.

The window in his office was so big it could be compared to a wall.

You could see almost the whole city from here and the sight was breathtaking.

Mr. Adams gave scant answers, listening more than he spoke.

I looked at his large body clad in a black tailored suit.

By now my breathing had regulated and I suddenly felt so exhausted.

All the chaos since this morning had made me tired.

Suddenly my boss turned to me and fixed me with his iron gaze.

I clawed my fingers into my palms and swallowed hard.

His green eyes shone with irritation and he took a step in my direction.

I reflexively took a step back.

This man exuded so much power and dominance. His almost 1.90 m tall frame didn't make him appear any less authoritarian.

"G-good morning Mr. Adams! I have-"

He interrupted me by slightly raising his left hand, signaling me to be silent.

His eyebrows were drawn together slightly and he didn't look very pleased.

So as always actually!

I immediately fell silent and looked down at my bag.

While he was on the phone, I thought ten thousand times how to explain to him why I was so late.

Ever since Adams sat on the throne at this company, I've had a hard time.

Sure, thanks to him things were only going uphill in the company, but he clearly expected too much from his workers.

He cooperated with them on a distant level and there was little harmony.

No jokes were cracked in his presence either, and no one laughed either.

Our old boss had been a very likeable and funny man.

One could not claim that Adams was his nephew.

He was the complete opposite of his uncle.

His uncle valued me as an assistant and I always enjoyed working with him.

I couldn't say the same about Adams.

He constantly criticized me and was hardly satisfied with my achievements.

Not that it was bad enough, his demeanor made me very nervous and totally off-putting.

I'd never really heard him ever praise anyone.

He was stuffy and seemed very arrogant with his poker face that he put on every day.

I wanted to know how old he actually was. In fact, he acted like he was in his 40s, although I think he must have been in his mid-20s.

I think I'll have to look through his biography.

"Mis Smith!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts and winced slightly.

My eyes met my boss, who was now standing barely ten feet away from me, glaring at me with his usual stern face.

"G-good morning Mr. Adams! I was stuck in traffic and-"

"The files," he cut me off and looked down at me.

Very polite.

"Oh y-yeah," I stuttered, rummaging in my bag for the file I'd been editing on his new project.

It took me a while to pull the file out of my pocket as my hands were shaking with fear.

The fact that my boss was standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets and watching me didn't make me any less nervous.

"The file!" I exclaimed enthusiastically when I finally managed to pull the file out of my pocket.

I held them out to him.

Without a word, he took it from my hand and went to his desk.

He opened the file and flipped through it briefly.

Then he glanced at his expensive watch and looked back at me.

"Miss Smith, you are exactly 1 hour and 52 minutes late. Wouldn't you like to explain to me why you came to work so late?" Mr. Adams asked me calmly, leaning back in his leather chair.

This made him seem even more powerful than he already was and I swallowed.

"I have... I was stuck in traffic," I said, avoiding his stern gaze.

"If you wish to continue the job as my assistant, please try harder. I can't afford to keep teasing you and explaining your work to you. I don't have the time for that. I hope you're aware that there are quite a few applicants who would be more than happy to take on your job at any time," my boss said in a menacing tone.

He indirectly threatened me with dismissal?

I could already feel the big lump in my throat and tried to swallow it down several times.

That lousy asshole.

"Do you understand me Miss Smith?" My boss started one last time and I just nodded in a daze.

"Okay, you can go," he ended the call.

I quickly turned my back on him and left his office.

Two doors down from his office was my office, which I shared with another colleague who was my sister's assistant, who also worked here.

My sister Sophia didn't have as high a post as Adams, but her post was well above mine and she worked almost on an equal footing with Adams.

My mood was definitely screwed.

Mr Adams once again managed to spoil my mood within the first 5 minutes in this building.