Dylan
The sound of collective complaining and frantic typing can be heard from a mile away. Walking through the bullpen of this office is always a comedy routine. Most people haven’t even finished last week’s work, let alone today’s. Personally, it sounds like a severe lack of time management to me, considering I’ve already completely finished this entire week’s workload by 10:00 AM sharp.
Now, all I have to do is wait it out. I’ll talk to some people, scroll on Instagram, and maybe hop on a mobile game for a bit. Of course, since I’m technically a secretary, I still have to attend boring corporate meetings and manage Mr. Lau’s paperwork for him. But that isn’t hard for me. Frankly, nothing is. Life is a complete piece of cake when you’re an extremely hot, six-foot-tall guy who treats the entire world like a game of chess. Everyone in this building is wrapped around my little finger.
Well... almost everyone.
Especially Calissa.
Before her, no girl had ever managed to make me genuinely interested. But from the very second I saw her when we were fourteen—back when she nearly got crushed by a malfunctioning elevator at a school event—something inside my chest snapped. She was jaw-droppingly beautiful, possessing the most cheerful, genuinely bubbly personality I’d ever seen in my life. Even back then, I didn’t understand how someone could always be that happy. She was the first person to actually make me feel something real, breaking right through the icy walls I built around myself.
Mackensie, a young intern, knocked timidly on the glass door of my cubicle, instantly interrupting my flashback. She was trembling, holding a clipboard to her chest like a shield.
“H-hey, um... Dylan? I think I made a massive mistake,” she stammered, her voice shaking. “I’m pretty sure I completely messed up Mr. Lau’s schedule for the upcoming merger!”
I didn’t even blink. I just leaned back in my ergonomic chair, looking up at her through my lashes. “Hey, breathe. It’s a simple mistake, no need to get your pretty head wrapped up around it. I’ll fix it in two minutes.” I said slowly, letting a faint, knowing smirk tug at the corner of my lips.
“T-thanks, Dylan. You’re a lifesaver,” she squeaked, running out of the office with a bright red blush creeping up her neck.
Pathetic. They were all so incredibly easy to manipulate.
I stood up, smoothing down the front of my tailored, charcoal three-piece suit, and adjusted my glasses. It was 10:15 AM. Mr. Lau was officially retiring today, stepping down from the throne of his own company. Rumour had it his daughter was flying in from across the country to take over the firm. I wasn’t worried. I’d have the new boss wrapped around my finger by lunchtime.
Suddenly, the heavy glass doors of the executive suite swung open to show—
No.
It couldn’t be. My breath caught in my throat, the cool exterior I spent years perfecting completely vanishing in a single heartbeat. It had been years since I last saw her.
Calissa.
This had to be a dream, right? A cruel trick played by my own mind. Except she looked entirely different from how I remembered her. Her face was no longer glowing with that soft, bubbly smile. Instead, her features were set in stone, wearing a dark, icy expression that looked ready to kill. And her eyes locked right onto mine.
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