The Minister’s Obsession

Chapter 3

Marissa

"Don't ever say I don't do anything for you." A familiar voice spoke, pulling her out of deep concentration.

She looked up. Yosef stood at the edge of her cubicle with a jacket slung across his shoulder. His hair was a dark mop of curls on his head.

Marissa took the cup and felt it with both palms. It was hot. "You're an angel," she said with a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"All in a day's work," he replied, giving her what was meant to be a flirty smile.

She took a sip and, in the same instant, felt a tingle go through her body. It was perfect. It had the right amount of milk and sugar. She hadn't told him how she liked it in years, but he still remembered.

He leaned against the partition with his elbow, resting his chin on a folded fist. Lowering his voice slightly, he spoke. "So, have you felt it yet?"

"Felt what?" Marissa was busy, lost in her perfect cup of coffee.

"The vibe," he said, gesturing with his eyes at the room. "People are weird today."

She looked past him. Ben was whispering to Sarah across the room. They stopped when they noticed her looking.

"People are always weird," Marissa shrugged. "It's a workplace."

"Fair. But today it's about him."

"Who?" Marissa asked, seeming annoyed to be distracted from her cup again.

"Please be joking," Yosef said in disbelief. But Marissa wasn't buying it. He continued anyway. "I'm talking about the CEO."

"Right," Marissa said, rolling her eyes internally. "You know he is just one man, right?"

"Yeah. Maybe. People are saying he's like a vampire."

"That's just unprofessional—"

"Not literally," Yosef added quickly, interrupting her. "Definitely not literally." He laughed. "Just that he seems pretty tough. I heard he fired an entire team with one email."

Marissa scoffed. "That's just a rumour."

"So you heard it too, then?"

"Not intentionally." She said, finally setting her cup down. "People shouldn't be spreading rumours like that."

"Hey, I didn't start it. I'm just a messenger." He said with a look on his face.

"Right."

"I forgot you're no fun," Yosef said, casually swiping a drop of coffee off her chin with his thumb. "You need to loosen up a little, partake in some office gossip," he said, then licked it off his thumb, giving her a wink.

"That is disgusting." Marissa laughed. "You're so disgusting, please go wash your hands." They both laughed.

"By the way, gossip is unprofessional," she said, picking up her cup again.

Yosef studied her for a second. "Okay, point taken."

"What we should really be doing is our jobs."

"Spoken by someone who actually does hers," he said, straightening up, then checking his watch. "I'll let you be. See you later, Mar."

"Thanks for the coffee," she said, calling out to him as he walked away. She watched him go, then returned her attention to her screen.

When she checked the time again, she was surprised at how quickly it passed. It was 12:51 pm.

Her coffee had gone cold, and she'd only had half of it.

She took a sip anyway, but it tasted wrong. She set it aside and closed the window she'd been working on. A short walk would help. A fresh cup of coffee, definitely, and maybe a treat. So she picked up her phone and purse and started to leave the office building for her usual cafe.

Luckily for her, it wasn't lunch hour yet, so the place wasn't packed. She bought a new cup and a treat to go with it.

On her way back, she was looking at her phone so she didn't realise until she walked into a wall. The collision knocked the breath out of her, and her coffee tipped over, spilling over her wrist and what turned out not to be a wall but the front of someone else's suit.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," She said automatically, stepping back.

The man didn't answer right away. He looked down at the stain spreading on his suit and the mess the accident had made. Her wrist was turning pink, but that didn't seem to concern him.

"You should pay more attention when you walk." He said.

His voice was deep. And his gaze was intense. Marissa tore her eyes away from his face. "Excuse me?" She was taken aback by his response. By his lack of empathy. It wasn't entirely her fault.

"I said you should pay more—"

"I know what you said." She continued, still trying to be polite. "You were standing in the way."

He seemed surprised, like someone who wasn't used to people talking back at him. "This is public space. You walked into me, and I'm to blame for your deficiencies?"

Heat flared in her chest. Why was he being so rude? He wasn't even concerned that she burned herself. He just looked past her like she was already gone. That was when she snapped...

"You were the one who decided to be an obstacle in the middle of a public sidewalk, mister. You should at least have the decency to apologise for that!" The words left her mouth before she had the chance to think them through, and before giving the stranger a chance to talk back, she stormed off.

Marissa usually didn't let her frustrations get the best of her, but there was something about him that got under her skin in the worst possible way. Her wrist was still stinging, and her chest still felt tight. But she was filled with a kind of rush. She didn't look back.

She told herself that he was nothing. Just another rude, albeit handsome, stranger in an expensive-looking suit. There were many of those in this part of the city. He was inconsequential. What she truly mourned was her cup of coffee.

She threw the now-empty cup into a bin by the sidewalk and kept going.

But still, as she pushed through the building's doors, she couldn't shake the strange feeling that had settled right at the centre of her chest.