New Boss
1358 Words
Darren sat fuming at his desk. Damn the two brothers, if it wasn’t for them he wouldn’t be under so much stress. He owed their mother a debt of gratitude he could never repay so he submitted to all the ungodly workload during the day for the older and helped the younger with his unsavory vigilante work at night— albeit only occasionally. He only left the dinner party because he was called out to utilize their underworld connections and clear out the warehouse area yet Johnson thought he went out on a date. Who has time to date when he works for a demon slavedriver?! He couldn’t say anything and stood there aggrieved until he was sent out of the office for a pot of coffee.
He glared out into the secretarial area. The three useless bozos hadn’t come in yet. He didn’t want to go back in the room with the damn brothers. His eyes roamed over the four sacrifices left and he landed on the newbie.
“Connie!”
Connie jumped at her name. Lora pursed her lips and shot a sympathetic look her way, “Good luck~,” her eyes twinkling in childish mischief.
Connie rolled her eyes but still hurried over as if nothing was wrong, “Yes boss?”
“Go bring a pot of coffee to the CEO’s office. Make it super caffeinated, enough to wake a cow with just the smell alone.”
Connie didn’t drink coffee so she looked at him confused, “Huh?”
Darren looked up with a raised brow, “Grind the light roast beans, increase the ground-to-water ratio, and increase the brewing time. Do I need to do it for you?”
Connie shook her head furiously and retreated before she caught any more heat. Survival 101 part 2: don’t ask the boss to clarify, just ask your co-worker. She hurried out and made eye contact with Lora before making jerking head movements towards the break room.
Lora chuckled and walked over to help the nervous little chick. Ever since Connie came, life at the office had been more colorful.
***
Johnson leaned back into his chair, emotionally exhausted. His only younger brother, Jason, sat on the sofa quietly looking out the window. Jason looked the same as him: same handsome facial features but with shorter hair, same broad shoulders, same domineering height, but he hates to admit that Jason was more muscularly toned.
“Jason, you can’t keep living like this.”
Jason didn’t say anything, he didn’t talk much these days.
Johnson sighed, “I made a role for you here and kept the office next to mine for you all these years. Come back and help me.”
Jason opened his mouth but Johnson raised a hand. “Don’t be so quick to reject my offer. You need a cushy career for when you get married. Trust me. Women want stability…”
“Mom married a rich man. Was she happy?”
Johnson rubbed the bridge of his nose. This brother of his…
“Our parents' marriage isn’t normal. Don’t let their failure ruin your perspective of marriage. It could lead to happiness.”
Jason scoffed, “Then why aren’t you married?”
Johnson roared, “Because I am saddled with this damn company with no one to help me! I have spies everywhere looking for a way to destroy all the hard work our grandfather put into this company. So get off your ass and get to work! Try it for a month… no, a week! If you still hate it then I won’t pressure you anymore. You can stay in your room and work your stock trading magic. I just… I just want you to come out again, man. I miss you.” He sniffed and rubbed a rough hand under his nose.
Jason sat quietly, his head down and face unreadable. Johnson looked at his little brother, searching for the cute outgoing boy he used to be. After their parent’s divorce, he was forcibly separated from his mother and Jason, he was the eldest son of the Kensingtons after all. Still, he never lost contact with his maternal family and doted on his younger brother. Though they grew up apart, they were still closer than ever.
That was, until that incident and their mother’s death, that everything changed. Jason had a passion for medicine. After graduating from med school and a few years of residency, he decided to volunteer with Doctors Without Borders against his family's wishes. It was at that time his little clinic in a remote town of Asia was raided and he was whisked away under gunpoint. Their mother had become frantic when she heard the news and died in a car crash on her way to the embassy. As for Jason, when the police found him two days after his capture, he was half dead, covered in bruises and abnormal cuts. Johnson had flown halfway across the world to bring him home but he wasn’t sure what came home that day. Once Jason had recovered he quit being a doctor and studied business and stock trading.
Using his portion of his inheritance Jason made risky investments that miraculously paid off. He wouldn’t need to work for the rest of his life but he continued building a portfolio of high-risk plays that all became winners, earning him the moniker: Midas of the Exchange. Jason rarely left their mother’s villa and like a dragon, he sat on his growing assets, brooding and alone. Johnson worried that his brother would never walk out from the shadow of his past and had tried for years to pull him out of the rut to no avail.
As Johnson was about to continue convincing his brother a light knock at the door broke his train of thought.
“What is it!?” Johnson roared.
The door opened a little and he could see a small head squeeze through the crack.
“Mr. Pierce said to bring in a pot of coffee, Sir. Should I come back another time?”
Johnson huffed but waved her in. “Set it over there and pour us each a cup.”
Connie quickly did as she was bid, setting a cup down for Jason first before she served Johnson.
As he was being served, Jason got a whiff of a familiar floral scent. He looked up abruptly and locked eyes with Connie and his eyes widened slightly before he schooled his facial expressions.
Connie gave a polite nod and quickly went to give Johnson a cup.
Johnson took a sip and spluttered, glaring at Connie. “Ugh!! What is this?!”
Connie faltered, eyes wide in horror. “I am so sorry, sir! I’ll go make another pot right away!”
“Tastes fine to me.”
Johnson's eyes swiveled over landing on his brother in shock. Jason never liked coffee and this was the worst cup of joe he ever had. Unless Jason also lost his taste buds…
Jason nodded at Connie, “You can leave now.”
Connie bowed deeply towards Jason and escaped the room.
Johnson placed his cup down with a frown, “What use is there for a secretary who can’t even brew coffee?”
“Then give her to me.”
For the second time this morning, Johnson was surprised. “What?”
“You wanted me to work here right? I need a secretary.”
Johnson jumped out of his chair and rushed to his brother, lifting him, he squeezed him in a bear hug.
“This is great!!” A tear rolled down his cheek.
Jason stood rooted as his brother kissed him on the cheek. Something in him wanted to reciprocate but there was an unbreachable wall. A voice like a recording played in his head.
“Since you’re going to die here anyway, I may as well tell you. Your family paid us to kill you. So don’t hold it against us.”
His tormentors’ laughter and his own muffled screams rang in his ears like chronic tinnitus.
Jason had lost all hope that day.
- Writer
