Chapter3
1126 Words
I don’t even make it ten minutes before I realize something.
I have no idea what I’m doing.
Not in a dramatic way. No alarms going off, no one yelling at me—just a quiet, creeping realization as I sit at my desk staring at a screen full of emails that all look important and none of them look like something I should touch.
“…okay,” I whispered under my breath.
Think.
You’re not completely useless.
Probably.
The desk they gave me sits just outside Adrian’s office, which feels very intentional. Like there’s no space to mess up privately. If I mess up, it’ll be… right there.
Great.
Love that.
I open one of the emails, read it once, then again, and somehow understand it less the second time.
“Good start,” I mutter.
“Hey.”
I look up.
Zara.
She wasn’t hard to spot yesterday, but now that she’s standing in front of me properly, I notice more. Confident, put-together, the kind of person who looks like she actually belongs here.
Unlike me, who is currently fighting an email.
“You look like you’re about to cry over that screen,” she says, leaning slightly against my desk.
“I’m considering it,” I admit.
She smiles, not unkindly. “First day?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“You’ve opened the same email three times.”
I glance down.
…she’s not wrong.
“Okay, that’s embarrassing.”
“It’s normal,” she says easily. “Everyone looks like that at first. Some people just hide it better.”
I let out a small breath. “That makes me feel slightly better.”
“Good. That was the goal.”
She pulls a chair closer and sits, glancing at my screen.
“Let me guess—you don’t know what to reply with.”
“I don’t even know if I’m supposed to reply,” I admit.
“Fair.” She scans it quickly. “Okay, this one? Forward it to finance and cc him.”
“Him,” I repeat.
She gives me a look. “You know… the one whose office you just came out of.”
“Right. Him.”
I do exactly what she says, double-checking everything twice before hitting send.
Then I sit there.
Waiting.
Like something is going to explode.
Nothing does.
Zara watches me for a second before laughing softly. “You’re fine.”
“I feel like I just did something irreversible.”
“You sent an email, not signed a contract.”
“…give me time.”
She grins at that, then leans back slightly. “So. First impression?”
“Of the job or your boss?”
“Both.”
I hesitate, then shake my head. “The job feels like it’s waiting for me to slip.”
“That’s because it is,” she says lightly.
“…comforting.”
“And him?”
I glance at his door without meaning to.
“It’s complicated,” I say.
Zara hums. “That’s usually not a good sign.”
Before I can respond, my screen lights up.
New email.
From him.
My stomach drops a little.
“That’s fast,” I mumble.
Zara leans in slightly. “Open it.”
I do.
It’s short.
Too short.
Come in.
That’s it.
No greeting. No explanation.
Just… come in.
Zara watches my face. “You’re being summoned.”
“I don’t like that word.”
“You don’t have to. It still applies.”
I let out a breath, standing up slowly.
“Okay… I’m going in.”
“You’ll survive,” she says.
“I feel like that’s not guaranteed.”
“It is. Probably.”
“Zara.”
She smiles. “Go.”
I walk to his door, trying not to think too much about it, but that tight feeling is back in my chest again. Not panic. Just… awareness.
I knock.
“Come in.”
I step inside.
He doesn’t look up immediately this time. Just finishes typing something before his gaze shifts to me.
“You sent the email.”
Not a question.
“Yes,” I say carefully.
“Why?”
Oh.
Okay.
Straight to it.
“I… wasn’t sure what to do, so I asked—”
“You asked Zara.”
It’s not sharp.
Just… accurate.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Then he nods once. “Good.”
I blink.
“Good?”
“You didn’t guess.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “I almost did.”
“That would’ve been a mistake.”
“Noted.”
He leans back slightly, studying me again in that quiet way of his.
“How much do you understand so far?”
“…honestly?”
“Yes.”
“About fifty percent.”
He doesn’t react immediately, and for a second I wonder if I said the wrong thing.
Then—
“That’s higher than most.”
I stare at him.
“…that’s not reassuring.”
“It’s not meant to be.”
I almost smile.
“There’s a meeting in thirty minutes,” he continues. “You’ll sit in.”
My stomach drops again. “Sit in?”
“Yes.”
“As in… silently exist in the room?”
“If possible.”
“Wow.”
He ignores that.
“You’ll take notes.”
“Oh. That sounds worse.”
“It’s not.”
“It feels like it is.”
Another pause.
Then—
“If you don’t understand something, write it down. Ask later.”
I nod slowly. “Okay… I can do that.”
“Good.”
I turn to leave, then hesitate.
“Um… one question.”
He looks at me.
“Was the email okay?”
A small pause.
Then—
“Yes.”
Simple.
But for some reason, it lands.
I nod. “Okay. Thanks.”
When I step out, Zara looks up immediately.
“Well?”
“I think I survived,” I say, sitting down again.
“See? Told ya.”
“He’s sending me into a meeting.”
Her brows lift slightly. “Already?”
“Apparently I’m advancing in life.”
She laughs softly. “Or being tested.”
“…that sounds more accurate.”
I glance at the time.
Thirty minutes.
Not enough to calm down.
I open a blank document, my fingers hovering over the keyboard.
This is happening.
I’m actually doing this.
And for the first time since I walked into this building—
it feels real.
Not just a job.
Not just a paycheck.
Something else.
Something I don’t fully understand yet.
And somehow…
I have a feeling this is where things start to get harder.
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