My Enigmatic Billionaire Boss

"Good morning sir", Emily welcomes her boss, Alex to work on a bright Monday morning and with a wave of hand He snubs her greetings.

Alexander Reynolds, the CEO of Cartar Enterprises had always been cold towards his workers and it has become a normal routine for him to reply coldly to his secretary's greetings but Emily was unusually bothered this morning as he had never completely snubbed her this way. She persists in her greetings, "Trust you had a great weekend sir?", but Alex still did not reply and this got Emily bothered. "What could have happened to him?" She thought.

Alex stormed into his office with obvious rage and it is almost definite that he would transfer the aggression to anyone that gives him any opportunity to that day. Emily's usual routine as his secretary was to allow him settle in his office for a few minutes then present him the daily schedules, appointments and meetings he would be having for the day, if there was any spill over from the previous day, it is her duty to remind him and afterwards serve him a drink which could be tea, coffee, wine or juice all based on his request but Emily feels reluctant to do all these this morning giving the countenance of her boss but she is left with no choice as she does not even want Alex to have a single reason to relieve her of her duties since it had been his normal routine to change secretaries like his clothes. He has had over eight secretaries in two years of him being the CEO before Emily started six months ago, obviously, she had stayed the longest.

Emily has being ever diligent since she became his secretary because she needed the job due to the state of poverty in her home, she had to support her parents to make sure they had a good life and working with Carter Enterprises is a great privilege as the pay is enough to give her family a little above average lifestyle.

"Tap, tap, tap", Emily gently taps her boss' door and enters. "Good morning sir, you would be having two meetings today with.........", Alex stops her with a raise of his hand.

"Get me coffee", he said. Emily drops the files with her on his table while she prepares the coffee on the table, she brought it to him and he lifts the tea cup and gestures her to fill it for him.

"If you want sir, I can cancel all appointments for today giving your mood and reschedule the...", she said while she filled the cup, she hadn't finished her statement when she accidentally spilled the coffee on Alex's shirt. She was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say knowing full well the type of person her boss is coupled with his terrible mood this morning.

There was a moment of silence in the office as they both gazed at each other, and several unexpected interactions flowed through them both and surprisingly they both burst into a genuine laughter which seems odd to Emily because it was a huge contrast to what she expected.

"I'm so sorry sir, I'll fix you another shirt immediately" she quickly said as she stopped laughing. She turned around but Alex held her hand and gestured her to sit right with him on the cushion in the office where he sat.

"Not so fast, it can wait" Alex replied. "Anyone can spill coffee, leave it for now. Let's know what I have to do for today before fixing another shirt" He said and he sipped from his cup of coffee.

Emily, still amazed, picked up the file she dropped and couldn't even read the schedule as she gazed at her boss with several thoughts running through her mind. "What's going on with him? Did he really take this lightly? Can he really sit in this stained shirt? He didn't even yell as usual? Is this a dream or what?" All these thoughts went through her mind as she was interrupted by Alex.

"I'm all hears", Alex cut through her thoughts

"Ehm, Erm, I'm so sorry sir" she jacked out of her thoughts. "You have two business meetings today, one at 10 am with Shiel Holdings and another one at 2 pm with Golden M Enterprises. And you have an appointment by 4 pm with the marketers from the new company that is seeking to partner with Cartar Enterpises on our next project. Today is going to be a busy one sir" she relayed.

"Okay, prepare me a new shirt, I'll like to prepare for the meeting" Alex replied.

Emily rises and leaves the office to prepare him a new shirt with series of thoughts going through her mind. Alex on the other hand watches her as she leaves, he had admired her diligence over the months and he had begin to like her. He was sorry for snubbing her earlier but he couldn't bring himself to tell her he is sorry, he is her boss after all. He saw the spilled coffee as an opportunity to make it up to her for snubbing her since he couldn't say sorry directly, he handled it as if nothing had happened.

As Emily was preparing the new shirt, series of thoughts went through her mind, "is this a dream? The ever cold and almighty Alexander Reynolds was so calm after I spilled the coffee on his shirt? He held my hand, asked me to sit? Is this really happening?" She thought, "I must have had a wrong notion of him all along, why does he now behave like that? Hmmmm..." she kept on thinking as she picked up another shirt from the wardrobe Alex had in the office and on her way returning to Alex's office, she kept on thinking and smiling happily as she thought of what just happened, Her thoughts were soon interrupted by her friend and colleague, Anna.

"What's the occasion this morning, seeing you beaming with smiles?" Anna interrupted

"Arrgghhh, you startled me" Emily replied.

"Startled? You must have been in a very deep thought for me to have startled you, I hope all is well?" Anna asked.

"All is well" Emily replied.

"And what's it with the shirt? Your boss' shirt?" Anna asked.

Emily smiled again and whispered into Anna's ears, "I spilled coffee on his shirt".

"Really? He must have seriously scolded and spanked you, so why are you laughing? Is it funny at all?" Anna asked again.

"That's the most surprising thing, he was not angry at all, I don't know, but let me quickly run off, will give you the full gist after the close of work" she replied smiling as she ran off leaving Anna in a state of confusion, the Almighty Alexander Reynolds would not be as calm as Emily as portrayed but she definitely has to wait for the close of work to hear the full gist.

Emily and Alex accidentally bumped into each other as they both opened the office door, Alex opened it from the inside while Emily opened it from the outside. Leaving the facing each other directly, several interactions flowed through them again, the contact was too close for comfort and Emily began to feel uncomfortable.

"Here's your shirt" she broke the silence and shoved the shirt in his face to cover her shy face.

"Oh! Okay, thanks" Alex replied, jacking out of his thoughts and collected the shirt from her.

"Wait, I'll be done shortly" He charged her as he used the restroom to change his stained shirt.

"What was he doing at the door? He wasn't planning to leave the office in that stained shirt, was he?" This thought flooded Emily's mind as she was not conscious that her boss was already right behind her.

"Here's the shir..." Alex handed her the stained shirt, but before he could finish his statement, Emily was startled and while trying to turn around, she slipped and almost fell.

He caught her at the waist, holding her and preventing her from falling and there was a period of a very long silence between them, thru continued to gaze at each other for a long while.

"What's this? Will you just let go of me?" Emily thought with her heart beating twice as fast than usual.

"I am loving this already, I can't let go" Alex thought.

"Tap, tap, tap" A knock on the door interrupted the long moment of silence that just ensued between Alex and Emily and they both separated struggling to gain their balance.

"Good morning sir, representatives from Shiel Holdings are around already and they have been shown into the waiting room" Anna relayed to Alex as she noticed Emily's presence.

"I checked your table but you weren't there, hope you are good?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Emily replied.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm" Alex cleared his throat, "I will be with them shortly, I still have some few minutes before 10" Alex interrupted them. "Meanwhile, lead them to the boardroom" He added.

Anna and Emily both left the office and Anna continually teased Emily as they both walked down the corridor.

"What is going on exactly, Emily?" Anna asked, "Am I missing something? Are you guys up to something? Is there anything you are hiding? or is he........" Anna continued to ask her uneasy questions

"Too many questions girl, it's nothing, we'll talk after the close of work" Emily interrupted her many questions and they both went their separate ways.

After the close of work, Anna was there at Emily's desk alongside their other friend Tracy, they both work together at Cartar Enterprises and Anna was Emily's guardian Angel that helped her into the company as the HR of the company, her influence went a long way to secure her the job.

"Hey! Babes, what's up? Are you not done? Anna bumped on Emily at her desk. "I can't wait to have the full gist of what happened that led to what I saw today, please let us go" she added.

Emily looked up to her from her desk with a "you cannot change" look. "Anna, can you ever change? your ears are always itchy for gossip. Anyways, I am done already" she said as she cleared her desk.

They all left the office together and went to their regular spot, MAMA'S STEW PLACE. This has been their usual spot since school days, they had been friends since high school, through college up until university level, that's a serious friendship you know and they never hid anything from one another.

"Let's have our usuals please" Anna ordered the waitress. Being the lousiest amongst the three, everyone knows Anna a lot, from office, to church even to this spot.

"One minute" the waitress replied.

"Hey babes, shoot me please, what the heck is going on between you and the CEO?" Anna asked as they waited patiently for their order. "Anna!!! Calm down girl, let her rest" Tracy shut Anna out, "Emily dear, take all your time, I can't wait to hear the gist as well 'cause this girl here has cooked up a lot of things into my ears since morning of which I am willing to hear from the horse's mouth but then, if you don't wanna talk about it now, it's fine. You can take your time dear" she urged Emily

"Here's your order ma'am" the waitress arrived with their order and placed it on their table, it was hot chicken stew and a glass of beer. This has been their usuals for a long time.

"Thanks" Emily answered the waitress. She sipped on her beer and cleared her throat, "hmm, hmm, hmm, hey ladies, I don't know where to start from actually but I find it so hard to believe that the CEO did not react to the spilled coffee on his shirt, oh my jeez. I was so shocked, we both burst into laughter after I spilled the coffee and up until noy, I can't even place the reason for that. He even held my hands to gesture at me to sit when I wanted to fix him a new shirt and even discussed his schedule in that dirty shirt, I am still..." Emily hadn't finished her statement before Anna butt in.

"oh! My!Are you kidding me? The almighty Alexander Reynolds? The ever cold and snubby CEO? I can't believe my ears now" Anna said

"Honestly I am dumbfounded, the last time you fixed him tea instead of the coffee he requested, he spilled it on your face, is it this same man we are talking about?" "Tracy said with surprise and confusion written over her face.

"And I had to deal with serious pains from the burns on my face as a result of that" Emily added with laughter.

"Remember when you skipped one of his appointments lately, he yelled like a crazy dog that I heard it from my office, imagine! With the distance between our offices. I believe the entire Cartar Enterprises heard him scream that day" Anna recalled laughing.

"My dear, that day? I felt like going deep into the ground for it to cover my shame. It was like the whole world was crumbling on me and I almost wanted to resign from this job" Emily replied with laughter. "And come to think of it that I later discovered that it was his mistake, he had told me the previous day that he had cancelled the appointment and he never told me that it had been rescheduled again, but I couldn't even bring myself to tell him that because I didn't want another headache. My CEO is practically annoying" she added laughing hard.

"It would really be a good thing to have him change for good, you know, the office would be a better place to work for people like you that work directly with him," Anna joked.

"So Emily, what do you feel about this whole thing?" Tracy asked Emily.

"Yes, because you haven't even told us what happened before I came into the CEOs office earlier this morning, the atmosphere was tense, what happened again?" Anna chipped in

"Your itchy ears needs to be cautioned Anna" Emily replied and they all burst into laughter.

"Okay girls," she continued, "I tripped and almost fell so he caught me before I could fall to the ground that's all" she added.

"Hmmmmmm, I smell something" Tracy cuts in. "Tell us what you feel dear" she added.

"I don't know but one thing I am sure of is that my prayers are beginning to get answers because I have prayed hard for a conducive environment to work in peace without the fear of being yelled at or having to listen to terrible insults everyday" Emily replied.

"On a serious note, Emily, this is an opportunity to build a friendship with the CEO because he might change again but if you have built friendship, he'll not be too stern with you even if another thing comes up '' Anna advised.

"Yeah, that's true dear, it should be an opportunity for a change" Tracy added as she scooped the reminder of her soup and sipped up her remaining beer.

"Hmmmm, okay girls, I would give it a thought" Emily replied "And thanks for your listening ears, I feel much better now" she added rising to her feet. They all left the stew place and went to their various homes.

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Emily was greeted with a bright sunny Tuesday as she struggled out of her bed to get prepared for work. She had slept late with the thoughts of Alex's behavior the previous day. She wondered why he had been so cold if he really hard that side of him that he showed her yesterday. She then was determined to study him closely. "There is definitely a different personality behind this cold, cruel CEO" she thought to herself.

As she hurriedly dressed for work, she sipped on the tea prepared for her by her mother just to please her, she was running late and would have just left without the tea, but her mom was the female version of her boss, yelling was the last thing her ears itches for that morning.

"Bye mom" she said as she closed the entrance door behind her as she left the house but stepping outside she was met with the greatest surprise of her entire life, her CEOs car was outside her house. She wiped her face with her hands just to be sure she was not dreaming. "It's his car, is he really the one? Or he came to check on someone around?" all these questions ran through her mind and before she could get answers the window of the car rolled down,

"Oh! My" Emily said, "what was I expecting?" She added.

"Good morning, Spencer" Emily greeted as she saw Alex's driver in the car. "What is the occasion?" She asked since it was a usual habit of their boss to send him to her if he wanted her to attend to some businesses outside work for him. Businesses like getting him some stuffs he must have noted down in a paper and sent through Spencer. "Why do I have to do these for him, I'm not his maid and this isn't work related, also today is not a Saturday either" she mumbled to herself.

It had been Alex's usual habit to send his secretaries on non official assignments which had always pissed Emily off. He had always claimed he needed a female touch on his appearances and since they were his secretary, they should know how best he should appear and to him it was part of their official assignment. The only thing that amazed Emily was that, it usually happens on Saturdays, not during the week and he usually tells her before hand that he was going to send Spencer to her of which he didn't make mention of such yesterday, do why today? she thought.

"Shall we?" Spencer butt into Emily's thought.

"Yeah, sure" Emily replied as she got into the front sit beside Spencer. He handed her the note from Alex and going through it, she told him where to head out to. She got all what she was asked to but she did that in serious confusion, "who the hell is this man?", He had given her reason to see him in a different perspective yesterday but she doesn't know why he had to start her day like this, without prior notice and he was very difficult to satisfy so she always prepared against running his errands, searching the net thoroughly for those things that would be okay for a paranoid like him but this particular day, she hope she doesn't get into problems because she wasn't prepared at all.

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"Good morning sir" Emily greeted as she entered Alex's office after knocking.

"Morning" Alex replied cold as usual.

"Here are the things you ordered sir" She said as she placed them on his cushion. She gave him a breakdown of his schedule for the day as usual and made him tea as he requested. "Would that be all sir?" She asked.

"Yes, you may leave, would ring you if there is anything" Alex replied and Emily left the office.

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Few hours later, Emily was at her desk doing her job as usual and also in thought of what changed Alex's attitude overnight again, or perhaps yesterday was a mistake, she thought

"Ring, ring ring" her office line blared and picking up the receiver Emily said, "Yes????"

"Meet me in my office NOW!!!" Alex's voice thundered on the other side of the phone. Knocked off balance, Emily was right there in front of him in no time.

"What the hell is this?" He shouted, "is this red?" He said gesturing at the tie in his hands.

"Bu, bb, bbb......." Emily stammered, and before she could bring herself to finishing her statement, Alex fired again

"But what? I clearly wrote red tie but you bought wine? He shouted at her.

"But sir, you didn't state the color, it was just a tie in the list, all the same I'm sorry sir" she apologized with great amusement and shock. This attitude of his was a huge contrast to what he did yesterday.

"Sorry for yourself" he retorted. Then Emily made a move to leave the office and when she was almost at the door, she turned back, "But Mr Alexander Reynolds, my ever paranoid and aloof boss, in my own opinion, you really need to work on your temper, if you have personal issues, you do not have to transfer aggressions and as a matter of fact, you are getting angry over nothing, you shift blames on other people to ease yourself, it isn't really nice. Hey! Mr, work on yourself 'cause you never wrote a tie in the list given, I bought it on my own Accord!!!" Emily yelled making sure it was clear enough from her voice that she was really mad at him.

"Good day" she added as she slammed the door behind her.

Alex stood dumbfounded, unable to say a word and blank as to what to think. Did she just talk back at him, did he really not write a red tie on the list, he was so confused and he also didn't expect such reactions from her.

He had thought about her throughout the night and felt something about her that he couldn't explain yet, he send Spencer to her in the morning because he wanted him to pick her to the office, sending her those things were just to divert her attention from the main purpose and he would have been there himself but his ego would not allow. And why did he even yell at her?, All these were running through his mind and without a conclusive answer, he stepped out of his office and as he got to her desk, she wasn't there, he picked up a painting that he saw on her table and looked at it closely, although it is not his first time of seeing her with paintings but there was something about this one he couldn't place, placing the painting back on her table, he went outside the building, stepped in his car and off he went without his driver, Spencer.

Emily on the the other hand wondered where she got the nerves to talk back at him "but someone has to talk senses into him someday" she thought.

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*Knock, knock, knock" Emily knocked on Alex's office door and stepped in and soon realized he was not on sit, she dropped the file with her on his table and left wondering where he was, where on earth is he? She thought. She hoped she hadn't stepped on the python's tail.

Seconds rolled into minutes and minutes into hours and up until the close of the day, Alex never came back to the office that day. Emily left for home really bothered but there was almost nothing she could do.

The next morning, she got to the office as early as she could but he still wasn't there, she was so troubled now, "did I say something wrong?" She said to herself. While at her desk, heads down, doing some official work and mumbling somethings to herself, a hand placed a box on her table

"I'm sorry for yesterday" a voice said, Emily looked up to know who is apologizing and why?

"What???" She marvelled at the sight of the person.