Hot Denial

Twice His Employee

‘f**k my life.’

Levon stood thunderstruck for as long as he could remember. He instantly understood the true and powerful meaning of Karma. He robotically walked toward the chair, hesitated, then sat down. He kept his hands on his lap...away from the man's view. He wanted to make himself as small as possible as the result of what happened earlier dawned on him. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him, but, he was the elephant in the room. He recalled how he kept cutting his friends off when they wanted to say something about the boss. They tried warning him that the man he had proudly told off, was his boss. It all became very clear now. The man he had given a deep tissue massage and had harshly banned from setting foot into their spa was the owner of the spa...his boss.

"You asked for me, boss?"

He decided to let by-gone be by-gone, hopefully, the boss would too. He should act professionally as a boss, after all, he wouldn't want to ruin his cool and collected image.

"You quit your act so easily. No perseverance."

Nope, he wasn't letting bygones be bygones.

"I'm sorry boss. I don't understand what you're saying."

He was lost. He thought he was going to bring up what had happened in the morning but what he said made him wonder if they had encountered before that morning, in an acting class maybe? Though he was sure he's never been to one.

"You acknowledge me as your boss now. I hate pretenders and people-pleasers."

Roman stood and walked around the big matt black table and sat on the black sofa at a corner of the office, staring at him like he could see through his facade

.

Levon wanted to dish out some reprimanding words, but he held back, he still had to find a way to redeem himself for the way he acted towards his boss earlier that day; even though his boss was still in the wrong; he had to keep his job, for the money. It not that hard to be polite, right?

“Trying to seduce your boss? Or trying to please me by your massage erotic? What’s your goal? A raise or climbing the social lather?” Roman changed into a more comfortable position and crossed his long legs. Levon now understood what was going on inside his boss’s head. He was indeed a narcissist. He thought he had pretended not to know he was the boss, then brazenly made a move on him so he could give him a raise and help him climb the social lather; pfft…it was quite laughable. He couldn’t even picture himself thinking romantically about a fellow guy, not to talk of making a lewd move on one, he can’t even fake it for money.

"Boss, sir, I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding from earlier, but, I give my clients the same treatments, attitude, and attention; VIP or not. I'm sorry if my method of working ticked you the wrong way. I sincerely apologize." After such an explanation and apology, a normal person would understand and concede, each will go about their day, but that was not the case, his boss was not normal, after all.

Roman sat quietly, observing him. He noticed the way he clenched and unclenched his fists, evidence of withheld anger. Good. Now he knew who was boss between them. He sure knew that all his employees were familiar with his face, they occasionally searched him up for the latest juicy g sip; the good, the bad, the truth, and the false that was written online about him; the whole states knew him and here, some one is claiming not have ever heard of him. Unbelievable. This boy right here, he thought just because he had a beautiful face, he could seduce him and have his picture added online as one of his flings.

"I forgive you. But let's get this straight; from now on, try your best to stay away from me, unless, when necessary, like in meetings or if you have a serious complaint to make about work, but if it is something minor, handle it and do not come running to me unnecessarily. And, this is your last chance, seize coming late for work or you'll have to accept a punishment next time. I don't care what you're going through personally, I pay you enough. Know your place." He had just said more words than he had ever said.

He stood and picked up a file from his table and walked towards the door. Levon saw him move toward the door and decided to follow suit; there was no need to keep sitting there, seems he just had to keep shut since nothing he was going to say was going to penetrate that thick gorilla score.

"f**k!"

Levon had slammed his nose into a muscular chest and in a state of surprise and pain, retreated too fast which led him to slip and fall, mid-falling; strong hands caught him by the waist, and he instinctively clutched his savior's sleeves.

"You sure are relentless."

Roman scowled down at the red-tipped-nosed annoying koala. He frowned at how he pretended to get hurt over a small collision.

"Pathetic."

Before Levon could understand what was going on as he still saw stars from the strong impact of the collision to his nose, he was brutally released and he found himself struggling, trying but failing to defy gravity. He could only hope for a safe landing. He heard a crack when he fell, his pointy finger was broken. He had unsteadily used his hands to shield the impact of the fall.

"Ouch." He quickly got up and looked the perpetrator directly in the eyes.

"That was unnecessary, but I get it now. I'll be going out first." He held his broken finger in the palm of his other hand and left the office. Roman stood there, perplexed. He heard the crack too. He probably broke his finger. He felt sorry for him but at the same time, he deserved it for trying to use a dirty trick to get close to him...again. He didn't do his employees or low lives, that was for sure, he only made mutual contracts with models or people from wealth. But why did he feel like he did something bad?

Roman spent his remaining time in the office reading Levon’s file, and he found out his name was Levon Musk. The was familiar but he doubted he'd met such an uncultured person before, he dismissed it. He majored in Anatomy and graduated from medical school. He was quite impressive, no wonder he knew how to massage. Muscles were his specialty, if only he didn't have an ulterior motive, he would have considered giving him a raise. The rest of the information in the file was just basic and nothing personal, he was curious. Hours later he received a call from a customer who happened to be his friend. He complained that his massage therapist did not deliver a smooth massage which he had expected and asked for better service next time.

Roman smiled coldly. ‘Better if you can't seduce customers again. Just don't make me lose money.’ He thought to himself.

Levon avoided answering the multiple questions his colleagues asked him. They all curious to know how his meeting with the boss went. He was glad it was time to get off work. He hastily bid them goodbye and left.

He was drowned in thoughts, inattentive to the sound of blasting music around him. He didn't notice when Joshua came and sat in front of the counter watching him wipe the glasses absent-mindedly. All of a sudden, the glass slipped off his hand but before he could react, a hand reached over and caught the glass, carefully placing it on the countertop.

"Thank...Josh?" He was surprised to see his friend suddenly in front of him. "Let me see your hand." Joshua took Levon's right hand in his, inspecting his fingers, when he saw a very swollen pointing finger, he furrowed his brows in worry. "A glass has never slipped out of your hands...what happened to your finger.?" He gently rubbed his thumb along the swollen finger. Levon slowly slipped his hand out of Joshua's hands.

"Accident at the Spa gym. It’s nothing. I'll get back to work."

He smiled reassuringly at his friend and asked him what he would like to drink.

At the entrance of the bar, someone stood there watching the whole interaction between the two friends, at first, he was shocked to see the guy that had just caused him trouble earlier that day, but he suddenly thought that this could be the reason why he was normally late and it also made sense that he should be among the two people reported to keep switching shifts with each other. He snickered coldly when he saw the person holding his bartender's hand was Mr. Joshua Light, whom he was going to be meeting with tonight for a business. He wanted to go straight and tell Mr. Joshua that he was probably being tricked into the bartender’s piteous play by using his broken finger as an excuse to get close to him, on a second thought, he decided against it. It wasn't his business, as long as he stayed away from him. He coldly walked up to his office. He could be manhore all he wanted as long as he steered completely clear from him.

Joshua had sighted the owner of the bar walk up to his office where they'll be meeting. He quickly downed the glass of mimosa and stood up.

"Hey Lev." He called Levon over from where he was mixing drinks for a group of friends, "I'll be going up for a meeting with your boss. I'll see you later okay.?"

"My boss...here?" Levon hasn’t heard anything about their boss coming in tonight. He had his work cut out for him, he had to be extra careful in both of his workplaces, and his two bosses decided to show up the same day. He just hoped this one would be rational...Not like someone he just met and already disliked.

"You good?" Joshua asked him when he noticed him spacing out.

"Yeah...okay, I’ll see you later."

Up in the office, the music was barely heard because of the soundproof walls. The people in the room could see the club downstairs through the transparent thick glass but people downstairs would not be able to see through the glass. It was a nice place to hold a private meeting.

In the office, Roman was discussing with Joshua, and after they were done talking business, Joshua made a move to leave but Roman was curious to know what was going on between him and his bartender.

"Mr. Joshua, let me treat you to a drink. To our partnership." He wanted to ask directly but he decided to be the judge himself. Joshua sat down back, not wanting to appear rude but deep down, he wanted to go check up on his friend down there.

"Sure," Joshua replied as he made himself appear comfortable, schooling his impatience.

"Ask Levon to bring up a bottle." He spoke to the bodyguard standing by the door. He noticed the surprise in the bodyguard's eyes, he was probably wondering how he knew the new employee's name. Joshua on the other hand looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"You seem to have met with your new employees, thought tonight was your first time seeing them." Joshua leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Just one," Roman smirked and leaned back comfortably on the sofa.

"Huh?"

"I've met just one. Levon. He works in my spa."

"I see."

Joshua was skeptical about Roman's reply but he kept mute.

Down at the bar, Levon was asked to bring a bottle of wine to the boss's office. He told Jasper to manage his spot while he was gone.

He reached the office and the door was opened by a bodyguard, he entered and saw two serious-looking men sitting comfortably on the sofa. One saw him and smiled while the other saw him and wore a cold face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing in front of him. What was Mr. Roman doing here? How could fate let him encounter an asshole twice in a day? Wait…He dreaded the thought that just popped into his mind, God no!

“Mr. Roman is a billionaire, he has a lot of companies around this area and on the outskirts. He even has more businesses outside the country!” Levon thought back to how Mandy squeaked in her fan mode as she told him about their boss and that’s how he learnt his name. Could this be one his b…No way! He couldn’t afford to finish his thoughts, dreading it becoming a reality. It would be too cruel a fate to be his employee twice.