The CEO And His Assistant

PEARL I lay there, ensconced in his warm embrace, his temperature had fallen a little bit. My eyes widened, it was as though I was frozen in time. I could lay there for the rest of time, without thinking about the problems of life, far away from toxicity just safe in his soothing embrace. But that wasn’t reality. The reality was the fact that he was an engaged man and that compromising position with him could be misunderstood for something else so I got up abruptly. He must have thought I was Cora since he had spent his entire week in bed with her. “Don’t leave... I feel so cold and lonely..” He muttered. “It’s Pearl, not Cora,” I replied, which felt rather disappointing. “Pearl?” “Yes, don’t worry, I’m here to make sure you recover quickly.” I beamed at him. “Right.” He sighed and turned to the other side of the bed. He must have thought I was Cora. I swallowed the spit in my mouth. He was disappointed that I was the one and not Cora. I stood there, unsure of what to do next, was I supposed to leave or stay? “How are you feeling now?” I asked with a low tone. “You should leave.” He said, with his back still facing me. My eyes fluttered and I gulped the spit in my mouth which formed a lump in my throat. “Are you sure sir?” “Yes, I am. This is not part of your job.” He said with a slurred speech. “You took care of me when I drowned. You made sure I was fine. It wouldn’t be bad if I repaid the favor would it?” “You are very stubborn. Why did I hire you again?” “To be your hands, legs, eyes, and sometimes brain when they are compromised. Also to be with you at all times, attending to all your needs. Looks like you pretty much need me. Now can you face me so that I can do the job I’m being paid for?” He faced me without saying a word. His eyes gazed at mine as if he was scrutinizing my face. I couldn’t help but blush. He focused on me for the first time. I was embarrassed at the same time nervous that he would notice something unattractive about my face. “You have an interesting face.” He said. I raised my brows with my cheeks flushed. What had he noticed now? “What? My face?” I touched it trying to imagine what was interesting about it. “Yeah, it’s pretty.” He said abruptly and at that moment I could not contain my joy. He thought I was pretty. Omg, I looked pretty to him! I gave a suppressed smile and I dipped the towel in the water, squeezed it, and placed it on his forehead without paying attention as It felt awkward to look at his face again. “Ouch!” He flinched and yelled. I turned to him and I realized that I had dipped the edge of the towel in his eyes. “My eyes! What did you just put in it!” He yelled and he bolted up trying to find his way to the bathroom. “Hold on, let me lead the way,” I said as his eyes were tightly shut and he was uneasy. I held his hand and as he tried to move further he tripped and fell but he didn’t just fall, he fell on me. I landed on the bed and he landed on me. His lips brushed mine vigorously which was unpleasant. It was so fast and before I knew it he was laying on me and our lips were each other’s lips. I widened my eyes but his eye was still shut. “Ouch!” He screamed and abruptly moved from me. Our lips were bleeding. ******************* A few moments after the minor accident, I sat on his couch with ice cubes in a sack close to my lips. I didn’t feel the pain as much as I was supposed to because I was busily reminiscing about the incident. It was painful that he landed on me with full force but I somewhat didn’t hate it. I didn’t enjoy it either. We sat close to each other with ice cubes on our lips without saying anything. Finally, he broke the silence. “If only you had listened to me when I told you to leave. Now look at what you have caused.” “You tripped on me. What do you mean by what I caused? I told you to stand still and let me lead the way but you were uneasy.” “After you dipped a towel in my eye. Do you have an agenda or what? Tell me.” “I was only trying to be helpful,” I said with a lump in my throat. “I only wanted to take a nap. Look, I think holding you close to me and telling you to stay must have given off the wrong vibe...” He said but I cut it. “I know, you thought I was Cora. Right. I should have left when you told me to. I’m sorry for being so stubborn, it's my fault you have sustained a wound on your lip.” I said and I stood up from the couch and walked out quietly. ******************** The next morning I showed up in his home and he was already dressed. We didn’t talk much as we headed straight to work. I was determined to be obedient and focused. I did everything he told me to without complaining or giving any suggestions like I used to. After work, I opened the door of his car for him to enter and he refused. “Is there a problem sir?” I looked at him quizzically wondering why he didn’t enter the car. “After you.” He said. “I don’t understand. This is beyond my work hours, sir. I thought we were done for the day?” “You are my assistant and only I can tell you when you are done for the day. Now go on in.” He said with his brows raised, his look was rather stern. I was confused but I entered the car. “Where are we going, sir?” “When we get there, you will see for yourself.” So many thoughts lingered in my mind. Was it a business meeting? I would have known since I designed his schedule. This was totally off work hours and I was interested in where we were going. Finally, the driver pulled up in front of a clinic and I ignorantly followed him inside. We sat at the reception and some medical personnel came to take a sample of our blood. “What is this for?” I asked with a frown “Can you just chill for a second ?” “No, I won't. You bring me here without my consent and now they have taken a sample of my blood and you wouldn’t tell me why?” “You are being paranoid over nothing.” He said. “Really?” I said and bolted up without waiting for his reply. I walked toward the nurse at the reception and asked her why they collected our blood samples and the lady replied. “To perform some serological tests. You don’t know why you came here?” She asked. “Of course I do, I just wanted to be sure.” I smiled sheepishly at her and walked back to Mr Clyborne. “You are unbelievable!” I said coldly before dashing out. He ran after me. “Pearl, wait!” He yelled. I stopped and faced him. “What the hell was that Lucien?” I widened my eyes. “Why are you always so quick to disrespect me each time you are annoyed? Do you forget I am your boss? Do you still love your job Miss Dallarosa?” “You want to fire me? Do it. This isn’t your first time anyway!” I snapped at him. “You think I can't?” “I know you can so do it sir!” “You are getting angry over nothing.” “Not only that you look down on me, you stereotypically profiled me because I came from a struggling background as someone with a disease?” “Pearl I had to be sure, we exchanged body fluids, blood. Look at your lips, look at mine too! What is the big deal?” “yes, you are right. No big deal. Can I leave now?” His attention was drawn to the beeping sound of his phone. It was a text that contained the result of the test they had performed on us. “Are you satisfied now? Can I leave?” I asked with my face etched with complete annoyance. “No, you can't. Let's dress your lips. I couldn’t get my eyes off from it today. I caused the bruise.” “No thank you, sir. I have to go.” I started to walk away and he pulled me back. “Pearl come on. What is your problem? You are being too hard-hearted and it’s unnecessary. If it were someone else I would have done the same thing. It's not about your background or anything. Stop being childish, we kissed.” “I’m being childish? We kissed by accident and you had to perform a test on me, what happened to you asking me? This is pure stereotypical profiling. I disgust you. It wasn’t a kiss don’t even say that. You……” Before I could finish my sentence, his lips landed on mine, this time, it was gentle and soothing. His soft lips brushed mine delicately and I was thrown into a state of stupefaction.