Hot Denial

Encounter

Roman flew in from France early that morning. It's been a year since he last came to the United States of America. He loved giving his employees a sneak attack, that’s why no one knew he was back.

He wanted to confirm what his managers have been reporting to him and confirm the notification he's been seeing on his clock-in computer.

He was told that a particular employee was always late for work most of the time at the spa and two people were always violating his rules at the club. ‘It ends today’. He thought to himself as he parked his black shiny Maserati in the parking lot in front of his spa.

He walked into the spa emanating a cold aura, he noticed the shocked expressions of his employees, some physically frozen in place. A short bald man of about fifty years ran up to him, it could be seen he was gathering all the courage he could get to speak to the domineering man.

"S-s-s- Sir...Welcome." The man stammered as he ran to meet the man moving with steady fast steps to the elevator.

‘How does he still look cool and intimidating while walking at such a fast pace?’ the man marveled.

"Mr. Humphrey; Everyone clocked in?" Roman paused in front of the elevator and turned to face the panting chubby man, which made the man more flustered as he was caught off guard thinking ridiculous thoughts.

"S-sir just one person...he's..."

"Fire him."

Sweat ran from Mr. Humphrey's bald head and trickled down into his collar.

" Sir, he'll be here in ten minutes...he's the best we have... Please give him a benefit..."

"I'll be waiting in the VIP spa." Roman turned and entered the elevator, leaving poor Mr. Humphrey sweaty and panting. Mr. Humphrey let out a deep breath, he'd been holding his breath ever since Roman walked in. He sighed again but one of relief as he understood that the boss was indeed giving the boy the benefit of the doubt. He took out his handkerchief and wiped off the sweat from his bald head. Everyone gave him a piteous look as he walked briskly into his office knowing fully well that they overheard the communication between him and the boss. He would like to put it that they witnessed him making a fool of himself...again.

Levon groggily woke up from the sound of the alarm. He stretched his hand and turned off the alarm without lifting his face off of the pillow. He snuggled into a more comfortable position, hugging his blanket. Five minutes later, message notifications started pouring into his ears with his phone directly under his pillow. How he wished his phone was human, he would have suffocated it with the pillow to shut it up.

"Just great."

He murmured irritably as he slid his hand under his pillow and lazily dragged out his phone. He slightly opened his eyes to peer at the screen not wanting to be fully awakened by the screen lightning and the rays of sun peeping through the window but he immediately jerked up and sprang from the bed when he saw the messages.

Mandy: "Come now, you got a VIP"

Humpty Humphrey: "The boss wants to see you, come now."

Jerry: “You in trouble man."

He stopped reading the series of texts as his heart was ready to jump out of his chest. What a damn way to wake up.

He checked the time; he was already five minutes late. He breezed around his room and was ready in another five minutes. He didn't bother with breakfast...who would?

Levon barely took notice of anything around him as he rushed out and hailed a cab. He's been working at The Owls for months now but never once has he seen the notorious boss everyone talked about, one thing he was sure of was that the boss wasn't good news, and he just made it worse for himself by creating such a first impression of himself to the boss. He should have let Joshua go pick him up that morning at least he would have gotten to work way earlier, Joshua was always an early bird.

He sighed and tried to ignore the sad thoughts and think of the good ones. Talking of good thoughts, he remembered Mandy's message, it read that he had a VIP waiting for him. He loved VIPs, they don't just stop at handing him tips they even booked a home service with him, though sometimes few of them wanted another kind of service, he was an adult so he knew how to decline them and still completed his initial work without offending them, that even made them want him more. Those kinds of situations make him remember old memories he wished to forget, but they kept rearing their ugly heads up.

"We're here lad."

The cab driver's voice brought him out of his reverie.

"Oh, thank you. Here."

He handed the driver his money and got out of the car clutching his bag to his shoulder and his mind running fifty-five miles a second with each step he took closer to the door. Before he scanned his card, he paused to collect his thoughts and get himself in order before walking through the door. Mandy was the first to run up to him, cheerful as always even in awful situations.

"You lucky whale, how did you land yourself a big shot first thing in the morning?"

He let her hold his arm as she chirped brightly, dragging him towards the elevator. Lucky?... He didn't think he was lucky that morning...a whale he might be but, definitely not a lucky one. He shook his head and pressed the elevator.

"I'll leave you here...Gotta get back to the reception. Good luck mate."

"Mm."

She patted his shoulder and winked before running off back to the reception.

He wondered why she had to wish him luck for attending to a client, although he or she was a VIP, that still didn't justify the worried and piteous looks his colleagues gave him down at the reception.

"Oh...the boss."

He leaned his back on the elevator and closed his eyes. He made a mental reminder to see the boss immediately after he finished with the client. Customers first...he's earning money for the stuck-up boss anyways. He quickly went into the changing room and put on his masseur attire which was a two-piece white scrub and a black low dunk.

The VIP room was adjacent to the changing room so he just had to turn and open the door but, he hesitated for a second and took a very deep breath before opening the door and walking in. Here goes nothing.

The man inside the room heard the door opening but didn't bother to turn around, he kept facing the opposite direction while swirling the sparkling content of the wine glass he held. Levon walked into the room and saw a man facing the very large Gollu rectangular mirror that was placed on the wall. He was dumbfounded, their eyes locked through the mirror, they were both drawn by an invisible force making each unable to look away.

"Ahem. You're late."

"I love your calves, I mean... I'm sorry I'm late." He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He didn't know why he felt the way he did...he couldn't put a finger on it. The black robe that the man in front of him wore made him look domineering with the elegant way his strong long fingers held onto the glass of sparkling wine and the face of a god...damn! He thought he was the finest of them all. He mentally promised himself to hit the gym more often and take his skincare seriously but he doubted it was just skin care, gene expression had a big role to play.

Roman turned to face the flustered man. So, this was the infamous best he heard about. His looks were not bad but beauty privilege doesn't work with him. He could win over his colleagues and clients with his looks but never him. He ignored the way the blue eyes of the person in front of him darted around the room because of embarrassment and the way he tried to stand straight not to look intimidated by him. He walked around him and sat on the massage bed, placing the glass of wine on the table drawer beside the bed.

"Why are you late?"

Levon was brought back to reality when he heard the question. He didn't know why this client was so particular about his lateness but decided to play it cool and do his job.

"I'm sorry once again for being late. Here." He handed him a tablet of lists which Roman took with furrowed brows. Levon saw the confusion on his face and said. "It's a list of the types of massage we offer sir. I noticed you didn't make a booking so I gave you the list to make a choice." Levon made himself busy by bringing out different kinds of massage oil and lotions from the side drawer and carefully placing them on top.

Roman noticed that this new employee of his pretended to have no idea who he was. He decided to play along with him, wanting to know how long he'll keep up his act.

"Whatever you choose is fine by me."