Chapter 5: My Rules
1064 Words
I stood there like a log of wood—stiff, frightened and my breath uneven. No other person can make me feel this way other than Mr Marcus Voss. My boss.
This was the second day as his secretary. Yesterday was the coffee humiliation, what would be next? And I feared even the slightest movement of the hair on my head would give away my presence.
Marcus leaned back in his chair, fingers beneath his chin and he kept watching me in silence.
“ Is he always like this to all employees? He's just there gazing at me like I'm some reality show or something. I would literally pay anyone to escape from his piercing eyes.” Lost in thought but his voice cut in.
“At what time did you arrive at the office Miss Wellington?” He asked.
“Em.. sir, actually the traff–.”
“Stop beating around the bush, Miss Wellington. I asked a direct question and I need a straightforward answer!” His voice grew louder and more aggressive.
“7:20 a.m., sir!” I shouted in fear. But he didn't reply, he pressed back into his chair, swivelled and turned his face to the glass wall.
I remained on my feet clutching the folder tightly, although nothing was inside. Silence pressed like a weight, but I could still see my reflection on the glass, and his eyes stared at me. I gulped heavily.
“Let me list down my rules.” He finally spoke as he swivelled back the chair facing me.
Rules? I asked myself.
“You will arrive at work by 6 a.m. sharp every morning, and you can't be a minute late.” He said with an authoritative tone. “Immediately you arrive, you will head straight to my office and clean it. Spotless. Every surface, every corner. If I see a smudge on the glass or a speck of dust on my desk, you are gone!”
I barely make it to 7 a.m., and even that has been chaos, and now he wants me to resume work by 6? Am I a cleaner or a secretary? I tightened my grip on the folder.
But Marcus wasn't finished.
“Memorise my calendar: every meeting, every name, every event, every detail. None must be left. If I am to remind you of anything I just said now then you are fired..Miss Wellington, I hate imperfections and I despise mistakes. I'm not known for giving chances.”
Every word kept me in shock, but I stayed composed on the outside.
“You will answer my calls before the second ring. You won't speak unless I ask you to. If someone calls asking to see me you stop them. Nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to me without passing through you unless I allow it. When I come in the morning, the first thing you must hand to me is coffee; black, strong and plain and don't pour it on my laptop this time. After coffee, you bring in the folders and paperwork.”
I tried to breathe but my lungs held shut. I nodded.
“Speak!”
“Yes sir.” I found my breath and screamed in reply. My whole body kept fidgeting
“Very good.” He stayed focused on me for a beat longer, his expression unreadable, then lowered his gaze back to his laptop on his desk. “ You're dismissed.”
Without thinking twice I turned my back and found my way to the door. But his voice stopped me once again.
“Miss Wellington! I'm watching you.”He glared at me before returning to his laptop.
I ran out slamming the door behind me.
“Could he be the one sending me those Unknown texts?” My heart started racing faster with every passing second.
My heels clicked faintly on the floor. The world kept rotating, people kept doing their jobs, but inside me were unsolved mysteries, impossible rules, a cold-hearted boss, and now unknown messages. My body collapsed into my chair as if the weight of his words had a physical effect on me.
My hands quivered as I set the folder on my desk.
6 a.m., clean, memorise, coffee, obey, perfection.
These rules kept replaying like chants in my mind.
“Phew.” I sighed heavily.
I can't give up! Back home in Boston, I've left my pain-filled life. Twenty-three years of suffering, I've abandoned that life to make a living for myself and I will make it here at Starklak. But how can I be when my boss has the same anger as my dad?
“What kind of boss is this? Why is he so cold-hearted? It's just my second day, how will I survive?” I thought to myself as I stared around, looking at everyone, wondering if this was a normal ritual for all the newly employed.
FUCK!
I screamed out in confusion.
All eyes were on me.
Everyone stared at me like I was a psychopath. “I'm sorry., I said, letting out a smile to distract them back to work. I forgot that I wasn't on Emilia's balcony, where I could scream my lungs out.
Everyone went back to work but I lay my head on my desk just then–
Ding!
My phone buzzed with a new message.
I raised my head to steal a glance at who it could be, but my heart skipped a beat instead. The message was from an unknown number.
“Be careful at Starklak. I'm watching you!”
My breath cut into my throat as I grasped. The weight of the message was heavier than before because it was the same words that Marcus told me before I left his office.
The office that feels like a cage is now mysterious and dangerous. “But why would Marcus be texting me with an unknown number? Could he be the one?”
As I stared at the message the door of Marcus's office creaked open, and immediately, our eyes locked. Tension filled the air.
“He is the one!” I whispered to myself.
He gazed at me without looking away for a second. Our eyes stayed locked together as he walked down the hall.
I froze, the message still in my hand, my eyes locked on Marcus until he was out of sight.
- Writer
