Chapter 5 C-5

LUCIANA'S POV

Another three hours later, I hear a quiet knock on the door of my office. I look up from my computer, granting the person knocking entry. MacCarthy walks in, one arm placed lazily in his pocket. But, although he adapts this laid-back posture, his navy blue suit tie and glasses are still perfectly sitting in place, with no single wrinkle marring his appearance.

"Come with me to the meeting with the CEO. You'll be the one doing the quarterly financial sales report. The person supposed to do it is not available today." he says, staring at me for a moment, before turning on in heels and walking out of the office. I quickly gather myself after a few moments and follow him, trying to keep up with his longer legs and faster steps.

We take the lift to the twenty-fifth floor which is the topmost floor. While in the lift, my mind whirls through a thousand possibilities on what could go wrong while I give the report to the CEO. What if I get suspended or my salary gets deducted, or worse, I get fired?

When we stepped out of the lift, he paused, making me run back as I was directly behind him. He turns to me, his dark blue eyes which almost match the colo r of his suit stare at me as he speaks slowly, in the same manner he always does, "There's nothing to be scared of, Luciana. Stop panicking".

My surprise at him addressing me by my full name and trying to cheer me up in his own blunt way both make me pause and forget to give him a response. When I look up, he's already walking past a tall slender young man who I assume is a secretary and into the larger of the only two doors on this floor. I quicken my steps and smile at the secretary as I walk by. He gives me a small smile and a nod as I walk in through the door into the room which I immediately notice is really large and pristine white like the ground floor and the kitchen of this building. I briefly look around the room before my gaze catches that of a tall moderately muscular red haired man in a charcoal black suit who looks to be in his early thirties, sitting at the only desk in the room. I try to tear my eyes away from his intimidating forest green gaze as I seek out MacCarthy who is now sitting in one of the two leather chairs positioned opposite the green eyes man who I assume is the CEO. Seriously though, is everyone in this company ridiculously good looking or is it just those I've met?

MacCarthy gestures for me to take my seat and I quickly do, after nodding and slightly smiling at the CEO, in greeting, still feeling the piercing gaze settled on me. He doesn't nod or even smile back.

"Well then, let us begin," the deep velvety voice spills out from his lips, as his gaze shifts from me to the Sales Manager. I silently breathe a sigh of relief.

MacCarthy begins by speaking about the recently launched PC which the company put on sale a few months earlier and gives a brief report on how the sales and marketing for the product has gone so far. I listen closely as he gives his report , my eyes sometimes picking up on the random glances the CEO throws at me during MacCarthy's talk. I try not to let it bother me, although my fingers keep clenching and unclenching on my thighs.

When MacCarthy finishes his speech, the President's eyes swing towards me. "And you, Miss Alejandro. What do you have for me?"

I clear my throat and immediately launch into my report about the quarterly sales performance for all of the company's products so far, from the technological ones to the household products and then, the consumable and finally skincare products. My mind gets calmer and more rational as I speak. While speaking, I notice the CEO's eyes never straying from my face unlike he did with MacCarthy. I desperately want to avoid his eyes and I do so from time to time, but it feels disrespectful to avoid your boss's gaze when you're giving a report, so I muster up courage and, while fiddling with my bracelet, end up looking back into his green eyes which I now notice have tiny flecks of gold.

"Very well," he states when I'm done speaking after what felt like an hour. As I take a sip of the water the secretary had placed on the table for each of us sometime during the report, I notice his gaze finally leaving mine as he stares back at MacCarthy who, like the CEO, left his glass of water untouched.

"She's able to give a comprehensive report, even though you've only just hired her. How impressive, Miss Alejandro," he turns to me at the last part. "I hope this one stays longer than the others, Eamon," he turns back to MacCarthy, his lips slightly lifted up at one corner in what I presume is supposed to be a smile. I don't miss his usage of MacCarthy's first name at the end of his sentence.

"We'll see," MacCarthy says succinctly with a shrug.

"You may both leave," the CEO turns his gaze back to me after he says this. And, as MacCarthy and I walk towards the large door, I feel his intense gaze following me out the office.

°°°

When I'm done with the work for the day, it's already a few minutes after 6pm which is supposed to be the time when the company closes. I quickly pick up my coat and purse and my phone rings almost immediately. I side the icon to answer and immediately hear Madison's cheery voice from the other end of the receiver.

"Hey, girl. We haven't even been able to see since morning. The workload of today was so fucking much. How did your first day go?"

I sigh as I walk out of my office, coming face-to-face with MacCarthy who happens to be stepping out of his office probably to head home, just like me. We nod at each other and walk towards the lift with me walking in front of him.

"Well, it was alright. Not as stressful as I thought it would be," I respond as I step into the empty lift, MacCarthy walking in closely behind me.

"Really?" She exclaims, her voice rising noticeably in surprise, "With that bloodsucking Manager of yours, I actually thought you'd be ranting by now".

I blink and slightly look at MacCarthy who was on the other side of the lift. His gaze which was on the door turned towards me, noticing my star. I move my eyes away from him and stare at the floor.

"Well, it really wasn't bad or anything like that," I say absentmindedly, mulling on whether or not to tell Maddy about the weird behavior of the CEO towards me. But I decided to just brush it off and not speak about it, classifying it as one of those weird things bosses do to intimidate new employees. I wouldn't even be able to tell her about it if I wanted to right now since MacCarthy was standing right beside me.

"I'm just getting to the parking lot," I say as the lift gets to the parking lot which was underground. "I'm actually hurrying to go pick up Rodrigo from the after school daycare" I continue as I walk towards my car. I nod at MacCarthy who nods back and walks towards his car on the other end of the parking lot.

"Well, I have to round up the work I'm doing. Bye, love," Madison's voice comes out with a yawn.

"See you tomorrow, Maddy," I responded, getting into my car and locking the door.

"Oh, and you better sit with me and some of the rest during lunch tomorrow. I'll come drag you from your office if you forget," she says, ending the call before I can even respond.

I roll my eyes skyward and place my key into the ignition, starting the car, with a small smile on my face.

°°°

Rodrigo skipped all the way up the stairs ahead of me as he told me about his day at school. I began to ask him how his time at the after-school daycare went when we ran into Mary like we did two days back at the exact same place we met.

"Oh, hello, you both," she says, surprised at having met us here again just like we did before.

"Hello, Mary," we say uniformly and then smile at each other after.

" I didn't expect to see you again here. Anyway, you look like you've gotten a job. Have you, dear?" She inquires with a smile on her face.

I stare at Rodrigo who is playing a game as he counts his steps out loud while walking up the stairs. "I did get a job, Mary, yes".

"That's so good for you, my dear. After all the waiting and all," she says with enthusiasm. "Where do you work now? Oh, and where does your boy stay while you work?"

I almost grimace at the intrusive tone, but I try my hardest to maintain a polite smile as I simply answer her in words which I'm sure will be known to all of the tenants in the building by tomorrow.

"I got employed at Maverick Corporation and I got an after school daycare for Rodrigo to stay at when his classes are over at school".

She lets out an "Ah" and is about to say something more when I continue speaking, trying my best to look apologetic, "We've really got to go, Mary. The cold here is not the best, plus Rodrigo has really got to pee".

"Oh, okay, honey. See you tomorrow then," she says blinking at being cut short before she can continue asking more questions.

I briskly walk up to Rodrigo who is standing waiting for me at the top of the stairs. I take his arm as we walk up the remaining stairs more quickly than we did when coming in. When we get to our floor, I see Claire's head of black hair peeking out of her door towards our direction.

"I thought that was you two," she smiles warmly at the both of us, her gray eyes glistening like they always do with barely repressed mischief and mirth.

"Claire!" Rodrigo shouts happily and runs to go hug her as she walks out of her apartment, dressed in a tube top and a flowy floral skirt.

"My little Pumpkin," she catches him in her hold while peppering his face with kisses, gushing over how adorable he always looks.

I chuckle, marveling at how she seems unaffected by the cold even though we're literally in the middle of winter. Either her apartment has some good ass heating or she is unable to get affected by the cold. I leaned towards the latter, since that would be a more "Claire" thing.

"How are you not cold, lady? It's literally almost freezing out here," I say.

"Well, that's exactly why I'm running back into my apartment right now before I turn into a block of ice," she says, chuckling before waving at me and doing just that.

I shake my head at her shenanigans before walking towards our apartment with Rodrigo leading the way.

We finally settled down an hour later after we've both had our baths and dinner. We're settling in to read bedtime stories when my phone chimes, showing I've received a message.

I pick it up, while Rodrigo goes to his shelf to choose a bedtime story for the evening. It was my mother telling me she had set me up on another blind date. This one, she reveals, in a smug tone which I can decipher from the way the message is typed, is with some handsome, responsible Irish dude with a stable job - my mum capitalized the words at that "stable job" part - who decided to accept the date when he took a look at my picture which Sheila had shown him. I blanked at that. What picture of mine did Sheila even have? Most probably something my Ma had taken without my awareness.

I was about to type a refusal when my mind chose to, at that moment, bring up the conversation we had over the phone the other day. I pause for a while and stare at the screen, a plan brewing up in my mind, before typing a simple "okay".