Chapter 7 Getting to know him indirectly

Chapter Seven

"Not even on weekends?" Anna asked with dilated eyes, surprise evident in her voice as held the document. Her boss had to be kidding her. She thought to herself. She hadn't even started yet, he was already making her go crazy. She'd thought that she would have the weekends to herself, but the opposite was the case.

"As my personal assistant, you are responsible for taking care of me. Weekends, particularly Saturdays are still my workdays. As long as I work during the weekends, you'd also be working." Xander said matter-of-factly with both hands in his pocket, his face devoid of emotions.

"You haven't signed the contract yet. This means that you can always walk out of my office if this is going to be a problem-"

"No! I gave you my word. I'm not the type to back down that easily." She said, cutting him short.

"Good. That settles it. Do you have any other questions you'd like to ask before you sign the contract? Once you sign the contract, it becomes binding on you to fulfil all your duties and responsibilities." Xander said in a more serious tone.

Anna went mute for what seemed like a minute before she finally spoke.

"That's about it." She said before picking up the pen to append her signature on the document.

"Now that we are done with the formalities, I'll fill you in on my likes and dislikes. Just as there are certain things you'll do while you're working as my assistant, some things are also forbidden."

First, you must report for work at least, twenty minutes before my arrival. Anything outside this will attract punishment."

Anna blinked in surprise. Was she some elementary school or high school student? He said the word "punishment" as though he would spank her if she defied him.

"Punishment? What kind of punishment?" Anna asked, raising her brows.

Xander moved closer to her, raising her chin with his left hand.

"Do you intend to act in defiance? Why are you so curious?" He asked, with a smirk plastered on his face. The smirk disappeared just as it appeared and he became serious yet again.

"Miss Houston, I have a thousand and one ways I punish defiant people. Go against my rules and you'll see them."

Anna simply pressed her lips tightly together in anger as she stared at him. One minute he's mischievous, in the next minute he's dead serious. She was finding it difficult to understand this man. He was like a dictionary filled with difficult vocabulary.

"As you know, I'm now your boss. This means that you'll take orders from no one else but me. Do you understand?"

"Clearly. I perfectly understand."

"Good." He said nodding in satisfaction.

"I hate anything disrupting my routine. From work time to even lunchtime, I like to keep to time. You must not do anything that will cause any kind of hindrance to my fixed routine. I hate incompetent and lazy people." He said, fixing his gaze on her.

"Lastly, don't pry into my personal affairs." His eyes darkened as he spoke.

"If you strictly abide by these rules, we'll have no issues. I'll have Mr Hart show you around the company now." He dialled his number and ordered him into his office. Mr Hart came in almost immediately.

"Mr Hart, this is Miss Houston, my new assistant," Xander said, pointing to Anna who bowed slightly to the man. "Miss Houston, meet Mr Hart, my personal assistant. He'll fill you in on other important things you should know." He added.

"Nice meeting you Miss Houston. I'll be happy to help you with everything I can to make your experience here memorable." He said with a toothy smile while letting out his hand for a handshake.

She immediately took his hands, giving him a wide grin.

"Nice meeting you Mr Hart. I'd be glad."

"Report back to the office after three hours," Xander said, looking at Anna.

She wanted to yell at him but she simply said "Definitely sir."

If only her boss was less rigid...She thought. It would take him nothing to try to be at least nicer than he was. That's if he could even be called "nice" in the first place. She was sure that she would like Mr Hart. He seemed very likeable. She just wished that Mr Williams would be more like Mr Hart.

"He's always been like that." She heard Mr Hart say as they left Xander's office, disrupting her train of thought.

"You'll get used to him. Trust me, you would." He said, smiling as he spoke. "You just need to be patient with him. He's very easy to work with if you understand him. I'll advise that you try as much as possible to be more understanding when it comes to him."

"Honestly, I would say that he confuses me a lot. I think I've been trying to understand him. He's making it so hard for me to." She said cocking her head, raising her brows and heaving a deep sigh.

They walked past a couple of employees who kept staring at her. Anna had to touch her face, wondering if she had a piece of gum or something on it.

"You don't have to pay them any attention. To be honest, I was shocked when Xander told me that he'd gotten an assistant. He's quite conventional, especially with matters such as this.

You are really lucky to have landed this job." He added, looking at her this time.

She simply smiled, not knowing how to answer him. She didn't want to tell him all about how she got here in the first place. She wondered what was going through his mind. She hoped that he didn't think that she probably had sex with him to land the job.

As if sensing her worry, he added, "You don't seem to me like someone who would jump into a man's sheets to get something. By the way, Xander is a merit-based kind of man. He only employs those who deserve a job. I know there is more story to this, but I trust you." He nodded.

"Here is the kitchen." He said.

The kitchen had about twenty staff who were working. The place was decorated with very beautiful flowers which were skillfully planted on the roof of the kitchen. Chairs were also beautifully arranged in the kitchen with a very long table which was decorated with fruits in different baskets. There were modern cupboards on the wall of the kitchen which had dual handles. The place was illuminated with big white lights which looked like balloons. The chefs who were all busy cooking acknowledged their presence as they came in.

"Xander is not the type that sticks to a particular kind of taste. For example, he used to take coffee with sugar, but he'd stopped taking his coffee with sugar. This happened after his mother disappeared." Mr Hart added hesitantly.

"What? Disappeared?" Anna questioned, with widened eyes.