CHAPTER TWO
1163 Words
The next morning, Elena stood outside Adrian’s office door, her fingers lightly gripping the file in her hand.
She took a slow breath in.
Then out.
This was ridiculous.
Why was she nervous?
It wasn’t like she had done anything wrong.
Still… her mind kept replaying last night.
The way he looked. The way he broke.
She exhaled again and lifted her hand to knock.
Before she could, she caught Carla’s reflection in the glass panel beside the door. Carla raised a brow, then silently mouthed, good luck, a smirk playing on her lips.
Elena shot her a look but didn’t respond.
Instead, she knocked.
“Come in.”
His voice was calm. Controlled. Like nothing had ever happened.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Adrian was seated behind his desk, flipping through a report. His posture was straight, composed, every inch the man she had come to know in the office.
Not a trace of last night.
He briefly lifted his gaze to her, then returned to the document in his hand.
“Have a seat, Miss Elena.”
His tone was neutral. Distant.
That somehow made her more anxious.
She sat.
Silence followed.
The kind that stretched just long enough to become uncomfortable.
Elena sat still, her hands resting on her lap, trying not to overthink it. But her eyes kept drifting to him, searching for something—anything—that hinted at the man she had seen the night before.
There was nothing.
After a few minutes, he finally closed the file in front of him and placed it neatly on the desk.
Then he looked at her.
Fully this time.
“I would like to propose an offer to you.”
Her brows furrowed slightly.
An offer?
He reached into a drawer and pulled out a document, sliding it across the desk toward her.
Elena hesitated for a second before taking it.
As she began to read, her expression slowly shifted.
Confusion.
Then disbelief.
Then a slight frown as her eyes moved over each line carefully, like she was trying to make sure she wasn’t misunderstanding anything.
After a moment, she looked up at him.
“I… don’t understand this.”
Adrian leaned back slightly in his chair, studying her reaction.
“Are you familiar with the concept of b**m?”
The question caught her off guard.
“…Yes?” she answered cautiously, unsure where this was going.
He nodded once.
“It is exactly what you see in that document.”
A brief pause.
“Except in this arrangement, you would take the dominant role… and I would be the submissive.”
For a moment, Elena just stared at him.
Her brain tried to process the words, but they didn’t quite settle.
“…What?”
He remained calm, like he had expected this reaction.
She opened her mouth to respond, but nothing came out.
Of all the things she thought this meeting would be about… this was not one of them.
Seeing her struggle, Adrian stood up.
He slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked around the desk, stopping a short distance from her.
“You don’t have to give me an answer immediately,” he said. “You are free to accept or reject the proposal.”
That snapped her out of it.
She looked up at him quickly. “If I reject it…, will I lose my job?”
The question came out faster than she intended.
Adrian’s expression didn’t change.
“No. This has nothing to do with your position in the company.”
A small pause.
“If you decline, this conversation never happened.”
Elena felt some of the tension in her chest ease.
At least there was that.
“But,” he continued, “if you accept, you will be compensated accordingly. Everything is clearly outlined in the document.”
Her grip on the paper tightened slightly.
Money.
Of course.
She hesitated, then asked the question that had been sitting heavily in her mind.
“Have you… done this before?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “But not with anyone who works for me.”
That made her swallow.
This was real.
This wasn’t some strange joke.
She took a breath before asking the next question, her voice quieter this time.
“You’re really the submissive?”
There was no judgment in her tone—just disbelief.
Adrian didn’t look offended.
If anything, he seemed prepared for it.
“For most of my life,” he said slowly, “I am in control.”
His gaze shifted slightly, like he was choosing his words carefully.
“It becomes… overwhelming.”
There was a brief pause before he continued.
“I require a space where I am not responsible for anything. Where control is taken from me.”
A beat.
“It is… necessary.”
Elena watched him closely.
This version of him—calmly admitting something like that—felt almost as unfamiliar as the man from last night.
“And me?” she asked. “Why me?”
His eyes returned to hers.
“You handle pressure well,” he said simply. “You take control of situations without hesitation.”
Her mind flashed briefly to last night.
The way she had told him to sit.
The way he had listened.
“It comes naturally to you,” he added.
Elena leaned back slightly in her chair, her thoughts beginning to spiral.
Was she really considering this?
She had never done anything like this before.
Yes, she had relationships in the past—but this?
This was different.
This was her boss.
Adrian Vale.
She glanced down at the document again.
The numbers mentioned there didn’t help.
Not at all.
Her mother’s condition.
The hospital bills.
The uncertainty of everything.
It all came rushing back.
She closed the file.
“I… need time to think about this.”
Adrian nodded once.
“Take it with you.”
She stood up slowly, still trying to process everything.
“When you’ve made your decision, come to me.”
She gave a small nod. “Alright, sir.”
As she walked out of the office, the door closing softly behind her, the weight of what had just happened finally settled in.
Her mind was a mess.
What was she even doing?
Why was she even considering it?
She shook her head slightly as she walked back to her desk.
Carla immediately looked up, narrowing her eyes.
“Girl… you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Elena forced a small smile.
“It’s nothing.”
Carla didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t push.
Elena sat down, placing the document carefully on her desk.
But her eyes lingered on it.
Because deep down…
She knew one thing for certain.
This decision?
Was not going to be easy.
And for the first time since she started working there—
She wasn’t sure what the right answer was.
- Writer
