THE TEST
1285 Words
The office was quieter than usual the next morning. Elena felt the difference the moment she stepped through the doors, clutching her coffee cup like a lifeline. People weren’t talking as freely. Conversations hushed when she walked past, replaced with the faint rustle of papers and the hollow tap of keyboards.
She told herself she was imagining it, that she hadn’t become the subject of her coworkers’ curiosity after Adrian Blackwell’s recent appearances. But the way their eyes trailed after her made it clear the whispers hadn’t stopped. If anything, they had grown louder in silence.
She slid into her chair, powering up her computer. The invoices she had stayed late to organize the night before were still waiting for her in a neat stack. She forced her focus there, willing herself not to think about the footsteps she might hear echoing through the hall later.
Except the footsteps came sooner than expected.
Her manager stiffened, adjusting his tie as the room shifted. Even without looking, Elena knew what that meant.
Adrian Blackwell had arrived.
Adrian’s POV
Adrian never liked routine, yet he found himself straying from his own rules these days. It was reckless, unnecessary, and perhaps beneath him, but there was something undeniably interesting about Elena Rivera.
She didn’t fawn. She didn’t simper. She didn’t look at him like a ticket to fortune the way so many others did. Instead, she carried herself with quiet diligence, her focus on the work rather than the man who stood behind the empire.
But diligence wasn’t enough. He needed to know if it was real or merely an act a temporary mask she wore until opportunity presented itself.
So today, he decided to test her.
He approached her manager’s desk, exchanging a few clipped words about quarterly numbers before his gaze slid naturally, deliberately to Elena.
“Miss Rivera,” he said evenly, drawing her name out just enough to claim the attention of the entire room. “I’d like you to prepare a comparative report.” Departmental expenditures, last six months versus projections. By the end of the day.
Her manager blinked. That was no small task, not for a temp.
Adrian noticed the subtle ripple move through the office, heads lifting ever so slightly, ears straining for her answer.
Elena’s POV
Elena’s heart pounded, but she kept her face steady. A comparative report? By the end of the day? That was the kind of assignment reserved for senior analysts, not temps who were still finding their footing.
Her manager’s eyes flicked at her, uncertain whether to intervene. He didn’t.
She swallowed. “Yes, sir,” she replied, her voice steady even though her stomach twisted.
The faintest curve touched Adrian’s lips, not a smile, but something close. He gave a curt nod before turning away, his long strides carrying him out of the room as swiftly as he had entered.
The whispers began instantly.
“He gave that to her?”
“Does she even know how to pull those records?”
“She’s going to crash and burn…”
Elena clenched her jaw, forcing herself to breathe. Fine. If this was a test, she would pass it. She had to. Failure wasn’t an option, not with her mother’s hospital bills depending on every paycheck.
She rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
Adrian’s POV
From his office upstairs, Adrian allowed himself the occasional glance at the glass wall overlooking the floor below. He could see her there, bent over her desk, eyes narrowing with determination instead of panic.
Interesting.
Most people faltered under pressure. They made excuses, deferred responsibility, or begged for more time. But Elena didn’t. She hadn’t even hesitated, though he knew she had to realize the scale of what he’d asked.
Hours slipped by, and she remained at it, fingers flying across the keyboard, occasionally scribbling notes, flipping through files, cross-checking numbers. There was an almost clumsy energy about her papers falling, a pen rolling off the desk, her chair bumping into the cubicle wall, yet she never stopped. The surrounding chaos was real, but so was her persistence.
It made him curious.
And curiosity, Adrian reminded himself, was dangerous.
Elena’s POV
By midafternoon, her desk was a storm of documents. She barely noticed the eyes that tracked her progress, the way coworkers leaned over to whisper behind cupped hands. Her focus tunneled on the screen, on the spreadsheets that blurred until she blinked hard enough to make sense of them again.
When her manager stopped by, she lowered her voice. “Do you need help?” That’s a lot for one person.
Elena shook her head quickly. “I’ve got it.” Thank you.
The truth was, she didn’t have it. She was stumbling her way through functions she hadn’t used since college, her nerves threatening to undo her. But she couldn’t let them win. Not the whispers. Not her doubts. Not Adrian Blackwell.
By the time the clock neared six, her eyes burned from staring at the monitor. Still, she pressed on, tightening the final details, double-checking figures.
She hit print, the whir of the machine sounding almost triumphant. Gathering the thick report in her arms, she walked it toward the executive floor with legs that trembled more than she wanted to admit.
Adrian’s POV
The knock on his door came precisely two minutes before the workday ended.
“Come in,” Adrian called.
The door opened, and there she was flushed from exertion, clutching a stack of papers nearly too heavy for her to carry. She crossed the room and set them on his desk, her breath hitching slightly as she straightened.
“Comparative report,” she said simply.
Adrian leaned back, rolling his pen in between his fingers as he studied her. Her blouse was wrinkled, her hair a little out of place, but her eyes, her eyes held steady. Tired, yes. But unflinching.
He flipped through the first few pages, scanning. The numbers aligned. The analysis was sharp, almost surprisingly so for someone outside the department.
“You’ve done well,” he said at last.
Her lips parted, just slightly. Shock flickered in her eyes because this was his second time beating the rumors that he never gave compliments, not to anyone.
“I.... thank you, sir,” she managed.
He watched her for a moment longer, then dismissed her with a nod.
As the door clicked shut behind her, Adrian found himself smirking faintly. She hadn’t cracked. Not yet.
And that intrigued him more than it should have.
Elena’s POV
Back downstairs, the reaction was immediate.
Her coworkers stared as she returned to her desk, whispers rising like a tide.
“Did he really call her up there?”
“She finished it?”
“He complimented her, again. I swear I heard it.
The last one made Elena freeze. Complimented? That wasn’t supposed to happen. Adrian Blackwell didn’t compliment anyone, not in meetings, not in memos, not even in passing.
Yet he had, twice....
Her manager’s brows knit as though trying to solve a puzzle, but after some time, a hint of smile appeared on her face. The assistants looked at her like she was holding onto a secret they desperately wanted to know.
Elena sank into her chair, heat rising to her cheeks. She wanted to disappear. To vanish onto the floor before the rumors spread any further. But she could already feel it happening, threads of speculation weaving through the office, faster than she could stop.
She buried her face in her hands.
Christine had warned her to be careful. And now Elena finally understood why.
Adrian Blackwell wasn’t just testing her. He was changing things.
And everyone had noticed.
- Writer
