Deep

6:♣♣♣♣♣♣

During lunch time, Lucy was there, like always. We had actually gotten pretty close during the last few days. Not like pretty close to know each other well, but pretty close to share the same table during lunch time and say hellos to each other when we meet in the corridors.

She was actually an intern at the enterprise and at the age of twenty, she has already established her own online boutique where she sold women wear all over the country.

"What then are you doing here?" I had asked her a few days ago.

She had popped a strawberry in her mouth,chewing ever so slowly and then answered me. "To get experience."

Experience.

I pretty much understood that. In this era we are living in,experience was a major factor when searching for a job vacancy. It was very hard for one to get employed with no prior experience in the field of employment.

Companies were only after the experienced ones. But you know what they say,that with God everything is possible? That's true, I had gotten employed at one of the leading enterprises in the country without any experience in the field whatsoever.

Since Lucy was not at all talkative, just like me, we spent the rest of our lunch time in silence. Both of us lost in our own thoughts.

Once my lunch was over, I stood up and bid a goodbye to Lucy. "Hope to see you tomorrow Lucy."

"Yeah." She looked up from her semi-full plate of food. She was not much of an eater. "See you."

Going back to the lonely floor I tried not to think of the CEO. Dean, like I called him in my mind, had not yet arrived at work even though it was almost 2:00Pm.

I had actually come early at work, fetched his coffee the way he liked it but once I got to his office I had found no one, which was not like him.  He usually came to work before me.

I had even gone as far as buying him another coffee when the clock stroke 10:00Am as I waited for him, just in case he came in a bad mood and found his coffee cold. But when 1:00Pm stroke, I had to go get my food since I was already hungry.

I had chosen to forget what happened the other day. I would keep it out of my mind but if it ever happened again, I would take my things and quit the job without turning back or thinking about how much I had to get paid at the end of the month.

My health was more important than anything. May it be physical, spiritual, mental or emotional.

Temptations had come my way during lunch time. I was tempted to ask Lucy if the CEO ever behaved in any strange behaviors but I decided against it. I was never one to engage myself in office gossip, I had seen it cause more damage for the cause of enjoyment. Besides, it was against the office ethics.

When the elevator finally opened, I released a sigh of relief. Today,the way up here felt kind of long and I looked forward to taking my seat and laying my head down for a few minutes.

But as I headed to my seat, I heard voices coming from the CEO's office. Hard and cold, which only meant one thing, he was here. He had come.

A shiver run down my spine but I pushed it away. All the tiredness I had felt before vanished, and as I took my seat, I hoped that he would not come outside.

I had been going through the same file in the last five minutes, reading and rereading but I could not understand a thing. My mind and body were all trying to listen in on what was going on in his office but all I could hear was him talking on the phone.

Though his voice sounded cold, he did not sound angry. I sighed. That could only mean he was in a good mood and I hoped that it would remain as such and that I would not have to see his face. But when the room fell silent and I heard the door opened, my heart started beating on a pace of it's own, nervous of what was going to happen.

I bent my head,trying to hide myself from him behind the thick layers of my hair, but I was unable to because I could feel his burning gaze at the sides of my head as soon as he stepped out of the office.

What does he want? I silently cried out.

"Follow me." That was all he said,in a hard, stone- like voice and reentered his office.

I stood up in shaky legs and followed him into his office. He had already taken the seat behind his desk. I closed the door and stood at the middle of the room, wiping my sweaty palms at the sides of my skirt.

He was looking at me with a grave look on his face. It was so impassive I could not tell a thing. My eyes darted around the clean room,trying to look at something else.

He leaned back on his seat. "Take a seat."

And I did so. I sat at the edge of the seat, ready to take off if he decided to pounce on me. I nibbled on my bottom lip and lowered my head when the silence became deafening.

"I'm sorry."

I looked up so fast my head hurt."W-what?" I stammered.

I heard wrong. I must have heard wrong. But as I looked at him turn his face heavenward, the only expression he was displaying, I knew I had heard  right.

He had apologised.

His jaw clenched. "Are you deaf or what? I'm not going to repeat myself!"

My brows pulled together in a frown. Had he not just apologised? Why was he being rude again? Was his apology even sincere?

All that glitters is not gold.

That is what I thought as I stared at Dean McConnell, the CEO to McConnell's enterprise. How I used to think that he was all good and kind hearted based on the pictures I saw in the magazines.

He broke the silence. "I'm not even going to wait to hear whether I'm forgiven or not. I already did my part."

My brows snapped together, I blinked, surprised. The guy was something else.

"You're forgiven." I said, even though I did not mean it. The route he was taking, I was afraid he would return to his hot tempered self again.

"You can leave." He dismissed me and I stood up, but soon as I reached the door, his voice stopped me. "What happened the other say should remain in these four walls." It was not a request but a command.

"Yes Sir." I replied and closed the door as I stepped out.

*****
When the wall clock stroke 5, I left without going in to tell him. It's not like I was supposed to,and also after what happened the other day and this afternoon, I knew my presence was not something he needed or wanted.

Someone bumped into me as I headed for the entrance door. Luckily, I did not end up falling since I was able to support myself on the wall next to where I was.

The person went on his way, without even  apologising.

****
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