Claimed by the CEO

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

By the time it was Monday, I felt pretty pleased with myself and my decision.

On getting to the office, nothing special happened, work went on as usual, Nicolas and I became the picture of professionalism as if nothing had happened over the weekend, or I could easily say he went back to ignoring my existence, except it was so important before he conversed with me.

The week is almost over, and I have yet to pick up the courage to approach my boss about the decision I came about. On Thursday, I decided not to shy away from this anymore.

I drafted out my letter, stood up, went to his door and knocked “Mr. Dimitri, I would like to see you,” “Bianca not now, I'm busy”, he replied, still looking at his system.

“It's urgent sir, and it won't take up much of your time”, I retorted.

“If you have anything to say, can you just say it? Why are you being ceremonious about it” he said increasing the pitch of his voice by a notch.

Walking into his office, I dropped the letter in front of him and said “I am officially resigning from my position sir” Immediately, Nicolas looked up and stared at me like I'd developed two heads. "Gosh, this man is fine, I thought to myself, I could feel myself itching to pull up the lock of hair that fell over his face amongst the mass of black hair on his head.

“What did you just say?” his question interrupted my reverie.

“I want to resign” I said again.

“Why?” He asked, looking so shocked.

“Nothing in particular”

“Then why are you trying to leave me? "Did Richard put you up to this, did you get an offer from him?” He asked, still shell-shocked.

“With all due respect, but what exactly do you take me for?” I asked him appalled he can draw such conclusion.

“I just feel it's high time I resigned and started up something else with my life and more importantly I didn't plan on being a secretary for this long”, I answered him.

“I'll stay till another secretary is hired, and then I'll train him or her for a duration of three months before I finally stop working here”, I told him, trying not to meet his piercing gaze.

Nicolas relaxed back in his seat and looked up at me. All of a sudden, he stood up, walked over to where I am standing, holding me by the chin, he made me meet his gaze. This is the closest we've been for a long time

“Bianca, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?” he asked, sounding frustrated.

“Nicolas, it's not because of you” I said as I pulled my face from his hand. I could still feel the tinge his hands left on my face.

“Over the years, I know I've done a lot that could have made you resign then, but not for once did you even hint it, now you're springing this up on me? "Well, I'm sorry Bianca, but I cannot accept your resignation letter” he said with an air of finality, walking back to his seat.

“Nicolas, I don't think it's up to you, I can quit at any time I deem fit, I brought the letter to you out of respect for you and the years we've worked together, so I suggest you accept this letter or I'll take it up with HR” I said breathlessly.

He raked his hands through his hair, an action he does whenever he is becoming frustrated, but my heart ached just a little, because if there's one thing I hate seeing, it is Nicolas being frustrated.

I looked at him for a while, turned and quietly left his office before I decided to change my mind, I took the elevator down to the second floor of Nicolas's office building. Over the years he has been able to get a fifteen storey building as the headquarters of Dim group of companies, although our main work is construction but there are other sector that the company handle.

When I got to the cafeteria at the second floor, I saw a lot of people having lunch there. When most of them saw me, they rushed up their food and some stood up prepared to go back to work, I mostly ignored them because I feel they assume that Nicolas is close by and he doesn't tolerate lazing about in the office.

I got a cup of coffee and a glazed sugar doughnut, this is one of my go to foods whenever I feel down.

Why am I feeling this way, is it because I saw Nicolas like that, one thing I know is that Nicolas don't always show his emotions, I can count the number of times he have done that over the years.

I finished my lunch and headed back to the office, on getting there, I discovered he went out.

Oh well, I kept on checking the time trying to figure out if he would return before the close of work, but he didn't, about thirty minutes after work hours, I dialed his line, it rang the first time, but the second time the phone was switched off

Not allowing that disturb me, I packed my things and left the office, I stopped by the HR office

“Alice Hello” I said conversationally to the manager.

“Oh Bianca, is Mr. Dimitri looking for me?” She asked

“Not exactly, I just want to inform you to put out a recruitment notice for the position of a secretary for the boss”

She looked at me utterly surprised “did something happen? Did Mr. Dimitri fire you?” She asked me.

I threw my head back and laughed, “at this point do you think he can fire me? Well he didn't fire me, but I intend on resigning” I told her.

“Oh… that's serious, is there something I can do to change your mind?”

“Not at all, the decision have been made a long time ago and I'm doing it for myself “ I told her, she gave me a look, trying to get more information from me, but I'm not mandated to tell her, after all we are not exactly friends,

“Good night Alice, see you tomorrow” I said as I walked out of her office, immediately I bumped into someone on my way to the elevator.

“I'm so sorry, pardon me please” I quickly said

“Oh that's fine” the voice replied.

Looking up, I was short of words when I saw who I bumped into.

“It's you…” I said trying to place the face then realization dawned on me

“At the party… what are you doing here?” I asked looking at the face of the first guy that approached me at Richard's party, before I was rudely interrupted by Nicolas.

“Hello gorgeous, what a surprising turn of event, I knew you were working here but I didn't really believe I would bump into you this soon, maybe it's because I know you're working in the CEO office”

“How do you know that? And you still haven't answered my question what are you doing here?” I asked again.

“Alright! Alright!! Let me introduce myself. I'm Julius Kazim, and I'm the newly hired CFO of this company. So your boss is also my boss” he said with a smile.

“Hold on, let me get this straight, you work here?” I asked. “Why am I not aware of this?” i asked.

“Well, considering you're not the HR manager, you can't know every single staff in this organisation”

“True, well I'm…

“Bianca Grimes, secretary to the CEO, has been in this organization for seven years, possibly the longest hired worker” he said, cutting me off.

“How do you know all these? "Stalker much?” I asked, smiling.

With a glint in his eyes he looked at me all over and said “when I'm really interested in someone, I tend to do my assignment”

“Wow, does that mean you're interested in me?” I asked bluntly

“Terribly so, gorgeous” was his response. “If given the chance I would love to take you on a date right about now”

“You must be joking” I retorted “even though I want to go out with you, I would still need to freshen up and prepare,” I told him.

“you look perfectly ok just the way you are, just give me a minute to grab my jacket from my office” he said

His office was right beside that of the HR, after a few minutes, he walked out and we entered the elevator taking us to the parking lot.

“Let me drive behind your car so that I can drive myself home,*

“That won't be necessary, baby girl, I will take you home after our date and I can pick you up for work in the morning.

“Who's going on a date?” The voice of Nicolas startled me.

I turned around and looked at him.