Her Ceo’s Obsession

CHAPTER 2: MR. COLD AND ARROGANT

Zacharia Knight adjusted his tie before glancing at the mirror one last time. After being satisfied with his choices of a well-tailored Armani suit, smooth sleek pants, and a tuxedo, he sprayed his cologne and exited the overly humongous walk-in closet.

He skipped breakfast and went into his ride that was waiting for him in his driveway. When he settled into the car, his chauffeur drove off.

Zacharia Knight is a multi-billionaire fashion professional. His award-winning fashion label, TrendyMe.co, has always been the Disneyland of many fashion enthusiasts. The company is hard to bag a job at, and when you do, it's considered a once-in-a-lifetime chance in which you aren't expected to mess up.

Zach is a handsome man endowed with a well-toned body, strict ash eye color, a trimmed jaw, and fair skin. He has an infamous cold personality and reportedly a good reputation in bed, from a few anonymous sources.

Zach's index finger grazed the screen of his tablet softly, scrolling through his files. They were caught up in traffic which isn't that serious but enough to frustrate office workers going by any mode of transportation as big or even bigger than a car. Soon enough, he got to work but he was preoccupied and didn't get down from his car yet. A little thud brought him out of what he was doing, and he saw a palm placed on his car's window. He frowned slightly, wondering who could be so disrespectful. He rolled down the window, and the person almost fell into the car.

The lady let out a scream in surprise but quickly stood straight up when she realized she had offended the owner of the car. Elena was trying to adjust her shoes, and she found a car parked by the side of the road in the driveway of TrendyMe.co. Then, she decided to use it as a support. The striking ash eyes of Zach met with her brown ones, and the familiarity immediately struck her. She knew him; she was certain about it. The silence and eye contact was prolonged, and Elena realized that he was probably expecting an apology. She quickly issued an apology and adjusted her shirt.

Zach said nothing and he rolled up the window, violently pushing open the car's door. The door pushed Elena to the side, making her wince slightly from the effect. He got down from the car, and without paying Elena any other attention, he strolled into the cooperation. The guards ran to him to usher him in, and Elena looked on in surprise and curiosity. When she realized she was also going to be late on her first day, she snapped out of her encounter and used her hands to adjust her hair. She proceeded into TrendyMe.co.

She met with Kayla, the secretary, who ignored her presence and continued her phone conversation with a friend. Elena sighed and looked around in search of anything or whoever could help her. The secretary was of no use.

"Mr. Knight has arrived. Everyone to the boardroom now," an Asian man in his mid-forties announced while walking into the room. The secretary, who acted like nothing else mattered than her phone call, quickly placed the phone down and scrambled to get to the boardroom. Elena walked up to the man.

"Didn't you just hear what I said?" He asked Elena, who has been getting negative vibes all morning.

"I'm the new recruit. The new designer that is to resume today," she said, stretching out the paper to the man, but he only looked at it and nodded. "Boardroom, now," he said, before picking up a call Elena didn't even hear ringing. She followed other staff and went into a large room with them, guessing it's the boardroom.

She found a seat and settled into it. Then the owner of the car she had an encounter with came into the room, and all buzzing stopped instantly. He addressed them in a tone that carried authority and huge warnings. All the time, Elena kept staring at him. She could still remember him chasing her down the meadow. She would run and run, but he would still catch her because of the advantages he had over her. His legs were longer and stronger compared to her little and weak ones. His laughter rang in her head, and she relived the memories in her head.

The sudden movement of staff getting up from their chairs brought her back to reality, and she decided to approach her old-time friend. Reaching him wasn't easy, but she was determined and she got to him.

"Zach, hey. It's me," she called out, waving. However, the CEO was preoccupied with another member of the board. She decided to increase her volume and this time, touch him; it would be an added bonus.

"Hey, Zach. It's me. Remember me?" she said as she touched his arm, finally getting his attention.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice filled with such coldness that it sent chills up Elena's spine. She hadn't expected this sudden turn of events, and the denial hit her hard, with shame wrapping around her like a garment of thistles.

His eyes scanned her from the cheap shoes she probably bought from a street vendor to her tacky clothing, which showed the amount of effort she had put in just to fit in the huge corporation, before finally stopping at her piercing brown eyes. He locked his gaze with hers for a moment before peeling it off as fast as he had locked eye contact.

"Never speak to me again without a prior reason," his tone carried an unmistakable authority that made it clear no one could question it. All eyes in the boardroom were on Elena, who played with her fingers in utter shame and gulped down painful balls that formed in her throat. Her brown eyes were laced with hot tears, and she regretted ever opening her mouth to call his name. Clearly, he wasn't the person she used to know anymore.

He looked at the manager and said, "I already told you to train these girls before throwing them into a job in my company. A little mistake can also cost you your job. You just had to offend me one more time, Chang."

Chang quickly bowed, and apologized repeatedly until he vanished into the elevator. Everyone in the room resumed breathing again. Chang shot a hard glare towards Elena, who quickly wiped away a tear she couldn't hold back. "If you are here to render me jobless, I would be doing the firing first. You heard the boss, one last mistake," he said with annoyance, and stomped away, entering another room, leaving Elena to wallow in her shame right in the middle of the room.

The secretary she had seen earlier and two other female staff members approached Elena and laughed in her face. "The baby bird that is just trying to grow her wings thought she stood a chance," Kayla said, and the other two laughed.

"You've got to be more than that, moron. Besides, settle for your type. I'm sure your kind of guys that won't mind a quickie in a run-down building are still out there. You just gotta keep looking," Kayla said, high-fiving her companions.

"What's that I hear? Isn't that your type of guys too? Your last boyfriend enjoys s*x at the back of the dumpster, Kayla. Don't act like you're any different," a female worker said, approaching the scene to bail Elena out.

"I wasn't talking to you, Martha. So much for minding your business this new session," Kayla huffed before walking away with her minions trailing closely behind her.

"Don't listen to her. She can be a handful sometimes. I'm Martha, an editor in the editing department," she addressed Elena, who was happy someone finally acted nicely towards her. She wasn't used to the cold shoulder treatments from where she came from; all of these were new to her.

"I'm Elena, the new designer," she said as she quickly shook Martha's hand. Martha laughed heartily. "Come on, I'll take you to your department."

Her first day wasn't so rosy, but the CEO's coldness and his secretary's lackadaisical attitude just got her thinking if her new job was what she had always dreamt it would be.