Playing Cupid With My Boss #Wattys2022#Featured

Chapter-1 |If Vampires were real|

"About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn't know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him."

- Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

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Do you want to know a secret? I have a huge crush on Tyler James, the lead vocalist of the punk, rock band Kraze. Well, it was a secret until I met him at the backstage after a concert and in my excitement blurted it out. Not my brightest moment. And do you know what his reaction was, he laughed like it wasn't that big deal. It was so embarrassing afterwards.

There is another secret that I keep close to my heart. Do you want to know what it is? I am a huge fan of Twilight and have read it a million times but have never gotten tired of it. I wish someone would look at me like the way Edward looks at Bella. Like she is his world. Ugh! I need to stop thinking such ridiculous thoughts and be more realistic. It reminds me of a saying my stepmother used to say a lot and I quote," love is for fools and reality is bitter."

But I have a secret nobody knows and I am going to share it with you. I only ask you to promise me that you will take it to your grave. I guess you are wondering what life altering, mind-blowing, cosmic secret I am hiding. It all started last week when my father called me to his library.

I know I am ranting a lot and you are probably wondering what conversation happened that is super secret but you have to wait. You see today is my first day at work. And it has been the worst day in my history of worst days.

First, the alarm that I set last night didn't ring so I woke up late. Second, my shower ran out of water. Third, I wore mismatched clothes because I was getting late. Fourth, the lift is out of order so I had to take the stairs and bumped my head on the staircase door. Lastly, on the way to the office I was chased by a German shepherd dog, who looked like the reincarnation of Voldemort.

The dog chased me all the way to my office building. I sighed with relief once I entered the building. I asked direction from the receptionist at the front desk. Her name tag said her name is Connie. Well, I didn't have time to think since I was already thirty minutes late, I dashed to the elevator and entered the code which luckily was mailed to me along with other informations.

To pass the time I decided to review all the important things I needed to remember. I opened the downloaded version of the list. And ironically it's called "The List."

The absolute jerk of a boss even added a winking emojie. Is he for real? But I didn't have much time to think before the lift arrived at thirty-sixth floor. I stepped out of the lift and observed my surroundings. The floor is devoid of any colour, it is eerily quiet, spotlessly clean and it smells like anaesthesia used in hospitals. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the boss didn't notice me arriving late first day. But bad luck has a way of finding me.

"You are late by half an hour. Do you know that time is money? You bloody wasted my fifty dollars. Are you going to stand there all day dreaming Miss Zoya or get some work done?", he yelled at me and pointed at his rollex watch.

I watched with utter fascination or utter disdain and imagined smoke coming out of his ears as he scolded me. Then he gave me one last glare and retreated to his office and slammed the door.

Well, what a day and it just got started.

I didn't waist anytime and got settled in the only other room, which had a desk, chair, apple desktop, iPad, shelf and mini-fridge. After checking everything , I settled on the chair and two minutes later my email pinged. And guess what, the devil who happens to be my boss mailed me that he needed his caffeine fix. It does sound like an addiction because I had to run thrice in one day to get him coffee and he didn't even thank me. How rude? By the time, I was done and sat down to answer emails, my feet were hurting badly and I just wanted to slap his smug face.

The rest of the day continued at a slow pace, he mailed me if he needed anything. By 4:00 pm, I was tired and beat, I didn't get to have lunch because I had so much work to do. I was too busy reading an email from one of the client's when I noticed, the devil walking towards a door. Suddenly, the door opened and a women in her mid-fiftees walked with a tray in her hand. This tray had a teapot, two cups, one slice of lemon, sugar cubes in a bowl and a glass which suspiciously looked like milk.

Darren Cross aka devil boss had a boyish smile on his face and he was literally skipping. The woman, who I later learned is called Mrs. Porter smiled at me. I also got to know that she is the resident office lady, likes to bake and adores the boss. Her hair is white and tied in a bun and she wears black knee length, full sleeve dress.

Mrs. Porter poured me tea and I added milk and sugar cubes. The boss poured his own tea and squeezed lemon juice in it. I also got to know that the tea was Earl Grey, the British favourite.

After tea, the devil disappeared into his lair and I got back to work. Nothing eventful happened. By the time seven o' clock rolled around I called it quits and got up to leave. At the same time, my boss opened his door and surprised me and to some extent himself when....