The Minister’s Obsession

Chapter 4

Marissa

Who does he think he is? Marissa thought to herself as she took the elevator ride to her floor. The question she didn't dare address, which was also floating in her mind, was why she was so affected by him.

He was handsome, yes. Attractive. But there was something else. And Marissa couldn't understand it. She never did well with things she couldn't understand.

If only she'd been paying attention, not looking at her phone, she would still have her cup of coffee.

He wouldn't have looked at her the way he did or spoken to her the way he did.

Once the elevator stopped, she didn't go back to her desk immediately. Instead, she turned down the hallway and headed for the bathrooms.

She turned on the tap and ran her wrist under the cool stream of water. In the rush of the moment, she hadn't even registered how much it actually hurt. But the cold water made it better. It would heal on its own.

She lathered her hands with soap, careful around the burn parts and scrubbed her palms together. And once she was sure all the dried coffee residue was gone, she rinsed and dried them with a paper towel.

The mirror was foggy, but she could still see her reflection. Her cheeks were flushed and red, probably from all the anger and the burn. If she had just stayed at her desk, none of this would have happened.

Why was she still thinking about him anyway? She sighed, shaking her head. People bumped into each other all the time. There was nothing to gain from this. She couldn't change what had already happened.

At least she had given him a piece of her mind before storming off. She was glad about that.

She left the bathroom and returned to her desk. As she sat down, she straightened out the items on it and turned on her computer. While waiting, she brought out the croissant she'd bought along with her coffee and took a bite. At least she still had that.

For the first few minutes, it was difficult for Marissa to get back into work mode, but eventually she found her rhythm.

She'd worked for a little over an hour when a shadow fell across her desk.

"I see you've already had lunch."

It was Yosef again.

"Something like that," she said without looking away from her screen. She didn't want to be distracted, but Yosef either didn't get it or didn't care. He remained standing with his hands in his pockets.

"What are you working on?" He asked, trying to grab her attention again.

Marissa paused and looked at him. "Why are you everywhere but at your own desk?"

He smiled. "I had a feeling you'd be overworking and starving yourself again. I was going to drag you out to lunch."

"And now?"

"And now I see you're in a mood."

Marissa scoffed. "How can you tell?" She asked dryly, turning her attention back to the screen.

"Doesn't matter. Though I'm always right," he said, leaning forward. "What's the matter?"

Marissa didn't want to make a big deal of it, but she knew Yosef, and she knew he was going to insist, so she gave in. "Some arrogant jerk on the sidewalk made me spill my coffee and couldn't even apologise."

"But I bought you coffee." His brows furrowed in thought.

"It got cold after a while," she said. "I couldn't stomach it."

Something flickered across his face, an emotion that passed too quickly to name, but he nodded like it was nothing. Marissa noticed it, but she didn't point it out.

"I even burnt my wrist," she continued.

"Really? Must be some jerk. Did you argue?"

"Nah. Arguing would mean I stayed to find out what he was going to say next."

Yosef laughed. "I can't imagine you arguing with anyone. Let alone a stranger on a sidewalk."

"Oh, he deserved it." Marissa countered. "But that was hours ago, I'm fine now. Totally unbothered."

Yosef tilted his head, still looking at her. "You say that, but it seems like you are."

They were looking right at each other's faces, and Marissa started to have a creeping, uneasy feeling, not in her gut but between them. She turned back to her screen. He always saw right through her with those warm brown eyes. She found it unsettling sometimes.

"There are jerks in every corner of the city. Don't let this one get to you." He said, still watching her.

"Yeah, I know."

He lingered a moment longer, then straightened. "I'm going to grab lunch. You sure you don't want to come?"

"I'm fine, thanks for offering," Marissa said, trying to give her most reassuring smile.

"Okay," he said. "Later then."

As he walked away, Sarah appeared beside him, grabbing his arm and pulling him into conversation. Marissa watched them walk away together. She'd always thought Sarah had a thing for Yosef, but he never noticed.

It wasn't her thing to tell anyway. Maybe he did notice and wasn't interested. Sarah wouldn't take that well.

Marissa finished the last bite of her croissant and returned to her screen.

Her job as an analyst was to make sense of things that ordinarily wouldn't make sense on their own. She would take raw data, organise it, and make it presentable. She loved it. Order made sense to her. Order was what she built her life around. Naturally, it made sense that she would build a career out of it.

On the screen, something popped up, drawing her attention. It was a notification. An official email. The kind she had gotten used to seeing when information needed to be passed around in the office.

Without much thought, she dragged the cursor across her screen and clicked it open.

MANDATORY DEPARTMENT MEETING

CONFERENCE ROOM-- 3:00 PM

INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW CEO

Everyone had been speculating about him. Even Yosef. Now they were finally going to meet him, at least the rumours would be put to rest.

She searched her drawer for a sticky note, wrote the details down, then pressed it onto the partition on the space right beside her screen, directly in her view. Then she turned back to work.

When it was 2:50 pm, she stopped working. It was almost time for the meeting. She looked around, and no one was really working anymore.

Across the aisle, Karen, her boss, stepped out of her glass office with a folder tucked under her arm. That was a subtle cue.

Marissa took a notebook and a pen from her desk, then joined the small stream of her coworkers that were already heading to the conference room.

As she passed, she saw Sarah touching up her makeup at her desk. Marissa wondered if she thought Yosef was going to be there, then laughed at the idea.

Once inside the conference room, Marissa chose a seat that was closer to the front. People continued filing in, and soon all the seats were filled. The others coming in had to stand. Karen entered last.

"Good afternoon." She said, addressing the room from the podium. "Thank you all for being punctual."

"As you all know per the memo sent out, our reason for being here. I'd like to introduce our new CEO," She paused, gesturing towards the doors to her right. "Adam Minister."

The room was entirely still, then the doors sprang open. Some suit escorts stepped in first, then finally the man of the hour.

He didn't look like someone who needed protection. He looked like he could handle his own. He was tall, and frankly speaking, he looked lethal.

When he stepped into the light, her breath caught suddenly.

The face was familiar... Slowly, his image settled into the memory of where she had seen him before.

It came in fragments. A sidewalk. Heat on her wrist. A blank, cold stare.

And when her gaze finally settled on his eyes, those eyes...

Marissa froze.

She had seen those eyes before.