CANVAS GIRL

New status

Waking up to the annoying sound of her alarm, she quickly shut it down before going back to sleep. The next time she woke up was when she heard her phone ringing, picking it up, she placed it to her ear without checking the caller. “ How is the interview coming?” the person on the other end asked making her wonder what interview then she gasped, her roommate. Removing the phone from her screen, she checked the time. She was supposed to have arrived there thirty minutes ago. “ I’ll call you back,” she yelled while heading to the bathroom and threw her phone on her bed. s

Is this not what he had always wanted, to brake her to the point that she decided to resign on her own? Why was he furious then and why was he driving towards her apartment? The first and only time he had been to there crossed his mind, the look she had had when she regained consciousness made him smile and to imagine she had called him mother Teresa. Getting off his car, he slowly knocked on her door and immediately knew there was no turning back from this.

Opening the door, Husuella slowly backed away after noticing who was at the door. She did not have the energy to even think of closing it since this was the last person she wanted to face. Her mouth opened and closed several times, she wanted to yell at him but her voice failed her. She hated that she had failed once more, that she could not keep another job despite how much she had gave her all was another thorn on her flesh reminding her that she was not good enough for anyone and her former boss at her door did not do anything to ease the situation.

Noticing her action, Randy was taken back, surely that was not how he had planned this but no problem, he would rather get this over with. He slowly walked into the apartment and smiled at her “ if I were you pretty face, I would be in the bathroom right now.” He said and smiled as he walked past her and sat on the couch directly behind her. She turned around and looked at him as if wanting him to explain making him chuckle. “well, if am to be honest, you don’t look that bad but after an afterthought, you don’t look that good for work so I would rather you clean up and change, I have things to do and am not going to wait here the whole day you know.” All this while, Husuella just stared at him blankly.

Raising his eyes, Randy stared at her for the first time and he was taken back. She looked really messed up with her short hair all over the place and dry chapped lips. For a little week moment there he thought of holding her in his arms and assuring her everything was going to be alright but that would not be him. The more he kept looking at her the more he felt the pool to comfort her and maybe do a little more than comfort her grew. Without realizing what he was doing, he was up on his feet and stalking towards her. It was the look she gave him that stopped him a few centimeters from her and his face quickly became emotionless.

“You signed a contract mam, if you think that my company is planning on changing employees every month then you are pretty wrong, that is why the contact reads five years.” By now she was looking at him like he had lost his mind. “well, you have an option though,” he said and for the first time since he came here, he saw a flicker of hope cross her eyes. “ You can pay for the advertising space as compensation, otherwise you better be on your I only have thirty minutes to spare. Before he could sit back on the couch, she was already closing her bedroom door and had tripped once along the way making him chuckle. He had always known she was a clumsy one but not to that extent.

Walking out of her apartment, Husuella closed the door and headed out in an attempt to catch up with her boss if he was still around. To say that she felt embarrassed was an understatement, reaching to the front exit, she found her bosses car already pulled out to the front and waiting for her. Between the front get and the car, she had already tripped three times and almost fell in her flat shoes to say the least. Panting like she just finished the marathon of the ear in record time for her petite figure and 49 kilogram weight was an addition to her embarrassment being she had only went down 6 fleets of stairs.

Boarding the same elevator with her boss wasn’t in the best of her interest but staying behind to wait for the next elevator after firing herself and missing work wasn’t either. Reaching her work station, she had not settled down before her boss started reigning work on her, and the pile of work for the days she missed work wasn’t helping either.

Raising her eyes from the work she was frantically trying to get done on her computer, she raised a brow at her coworker Anisha, obviously she was not here to see the boss. “well I heard you needed help to get some work done, he called himself,” she said pointing at the door to the employers office. Suddenly she felt her anger flare, what was he thinking now, that she was not good enough for her job? “ well go tell him your help is not needed,” she angrily replied making Anisha raise her hands in surrender and walk away.

Staying late at work wasn’t something Husuella would have wanted but she knew if she had to prove her boss wrong and finish every little piece of work she had then she had to stay and work late, besides she was the one who turned down the help she was offered. “I think you should leave, its already late besides you can finish the remaining work tomorrow.” She raised her eyes and stared at her boss, “yeah thanks, ill just finish it anyway,” she replied and went back to what she was doing. When she checked her watch by the time she was done, she gasped, it was already midnight and she started to panic when it hit her she was all alone in a whole fifteen storied building.

Various scenes of horror movies started to cross her mind and she froze when she noticed someone staring at her. In her state of panic she did not notice it was her boss and by the time he moved closer, she was already screaming her life out. She only noticed it was him when he covered her mouth and told her to relax. She could have mistaken him for someone else if not for his signature watch because the voice that was always yelling at her and trying to put her down wasn’t the same one.

Once she was relaxed, she tried to move out of his hold and when she finally did, she looked back to notice her boss trying so hard to not laugh at her but when he finally did, he burst into a fist of laughter. “ you should have seen your face, it was so funny,” he said between laughs. Standing up, he sat in her chair and stared at her with so much intensity that Husuella felt like he was staring straight through her soul.

Kayden stared at Husuella, he suddenly started to notice how messed up she looked and the funniest part is that he did not think it was gross, he suddenly realized that he had been staring too long at her eyes. He needed to control himself but what was happening to him did not look good. Maybe she was better not working for him but a selfish part of him refused to let her work for anyone else. Besides he was not damn enough to let his wild crush on his secretary take him down. He knew a first hand experience of that and the result was his seven year old step sister.

The fact that he had to put down everything and play the role of the big brother in her life did not make it easier having grown up as an only child. Sometimes he felt that if her mother had not passed out during child birth, maybe he wouldn’t love her the same way, or maybe the fact that he had to be her mum, rush her tinny self to the hospital when his dad wasn’t home may have increased his love for the little girl. I mean what were the odds that his dad would leave him a little girl with a letter claiming she was his sister and asking him to take care of her then leaving the whole company in his hands before disappearing into thin air and only seeing them once every year. Naturally it felt like she was his daughter contrary to being his sister.

“How are you getting home,” he asked when he came out of his wonder world. “ I don’t know,” Husuella answered looking away shyly. “okay, ill drop you off, its already late and its not safe,” Kayden said standing up. Reaching her apartment, she was about to walk out of his bosses car before she was pulled back in and the door closed before the car took off. “Wait, where are you taking me,” she yelled and was about to lung at the steering wheel when the chilling sound of a gunfire rang through the air making her freeze. “ you should have told me this place wasn’t safe at night.” He said in panic as he made a sharp bend.

All this while, Husuella stayed frozen in her seat. “That was a first,” she said before picking up her phone to call her roommate. She started to freak out when she did not answer and prayed she was safe. One hour later when her roommate called, she rushed to her phone and asked where she was and if she was okay. She felt relieved when she said she was in on the night shift and she was just about to head home. She told her to wait for her to pick her up and explained the situation to her.

Soon the two girls were huddled at the back of Kaydens car hugging each other like their life depended on it. “You are not going back there,” Kayden said and froze, he had sounded so demanding and was relieved when he slowed down and the security personnel opened the gate for him. Once all of them were out of the car, something landed on his left chick making him look to where it came from. “That was for frustrating my best friend and you are just lucky I was busy I didn’t get the chance to storm into your office.” For once he agreed that he somehow deserved that. “ and for not going back to our place you just have to give us the spare key to your house, besides this place looks really big for one person.” She said before moving past him towards the door.

When the two who were still staring at each other amused got back to the house, they found Jojita caressing the little girl who was wide awake and staring at her in wonder. “ Daddy,” she said tiredly and yawned making everyone look at Kayden. “ she is my little sister,” he explained and wondered since when he had started explaining himself to people. “ What are you doing up this late?” he asked her making her smile, “ I was waiting for you and I fell asleep o9n the couch, I couldn’t sleep well in my room. Can I sleep in your room tonight?” she asked looking at him expectantly.

Kayden was about to say yes when a strong no came from behind them, “ daddy is staying in his room with her leaving me and you to your room you little adorable thing.” Jojita said leaving the two gaping at her before picking the little girl and winking at her making her giggle. Soon they were gone with the little girl leading the way. Husuella stood in the middle of the room staring at her boss and when the sound of something falling startled her, she found herself in the arms of her boss. Coming back to her senses, she moved away and looked down.

Taking in the house for the first time since she had arrived, she noticed how dull it looked. It seems he had an obsession for the brown colour as everything in the house seemed to be either dark brown or a lighter shade of brown. She wouldn’t have noticed the floor was white if she didn’t look past the brown floor cover when it slid slightly below her feet as she started climbing up the staircase. As she moved up, she noticed the dominance of the brown colour including the bedroom she was led into then noticed the gray couch and bed.

As she jumped onto the bed and slid under the covers, she watched her boss go into the walk in closet and come back in pajamas before moving towards the bed and throwing something at her. “ You can use my those, they are still in good shape,” when she came out of the closet she looked so tiny in the pajamas and kayden couldn’t stop trying to suppress his laugh. She moved to the bed and slid back into the covers. When Kayden slid in besides her, she moved in an attempt to get away and was about to fall off if it wasn’t for the strong arm around her waist. “well where exactly do you think you are going, its just a bed we are sharing its not like anything can happen between us really,” he said and pulled her back into the covers. Truthfully a part of him wanted to laugh at her but the sinking feeling at the bottom of his stomach when he saw the look on her face wouldn’t let him.

Having nothing to talk about, he bid her goodnight and turned to sleep. There were still plenty of rooms in the mansion but he seemed to not be willing to let her in any by herself, maybe the strong need to stay close when she got frightened was what was driving him to stay in the same room but he couldn’t deny that a part of him was surely enjoying her discomfort a little too much and he liked it.

“Am I that undesirable?” he was startled out of his thoughts. “What?” he asked turning around only to notice her sniffing. He had done it again and he wanted to slap himself in the face. He wanted to walk out of the room but instead he found himself pulling her closer and holding her too close for comfort but the fact that he did not seem to mind was certainly a red flag which he ignored. “Am so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You are definitely desirable, more that you can imagine it is just that you are my secretary…” he swallowed hard, maybe it was better if he just shut up or he was going to ramble and worsen the situation. He pulled her into his chest and tried soothing her and they both fell asleep that way.