Taming Mrs. Mafia

"Hana, you have to finish these documents before you run off somewhere again," Ericka, her secretary, insisted while heaving. The woman dumped stacks of paper on top of her table.

"Why are there so many pending documents? Am I slacking off this much or are you?"

She was spinning her chair while drinking her iced latte. She also waved her hand around when she asked the question.

Ericka stopped her from moving the chair around.

"We both know the answer to that. Now, get moving."

Ericka hit her head with a bunch of paper she rolled. The seated woman just glared at her secretary.

Hana Figueroa is an online writer but, she eventually turned her savings into buildings and farmlands. That's how she ended up becoming a small-time business owner.

She's currently using one of the floors in one of her buildings as the company's headquarters. The employees who kept her business flowing were gathered on this floor while the rest of the building was being rented out to other clients.

Hana stayed in the building most of the time.

As a rookie business owner, her attitude is a little more... peculiar. She's used to functioning alone as a writer and she didn't know how to collaborate with a large group of people, much more to lead one.

Ericka, her secretary, was the one helping her fill up her lapses as the head of a company.

"What else do I have in my schedule today?"

She adjusted her glasses and looked up at Ericka.

"We'll be visiting La Marina and we're leaving at three. We'll be there until the following day. Do you want the cooks to prepare your meal?" She contemplated for a while.

La Marina is one of her ventures -a sea farm focused on breeding and selling fish at maturity.

"Nah, I'll just have pizza. I don't want the staff to stay up late just to serve me. It'll be awkward." Hana shivered.

She might be the boss but she did not want people to serve her.

Weird, but she liked to keep a low profile. As a writer, she liked the feeling of solitude achieved only when there was no one hovering around her.

The clock struck one in the afternoon.

"It's past lunchtime already. Why don't we eat first?"

Without looking up from the documents she's reading, she shooed the other woman away.

Ericka went to lunch while she sipped on her latte. She buried herself in her work.

When she concentrated on what's in front of her, her focus stopped her from feeling hungry and she forgot everything else.

An hour later, Ericka returned with a take-out lunch from the restaurant across their building. This is how they usually get by daily. The restaurant across basically fed them the entire time they were working in that building.

Working together for three years now, Ericka understood her boss enough.

Hana hardly ate while working but that did not mean that she won't need food.

If she will just let her starve, Hana's stomach growls will fill the entire office. The crazy boss could ignore her hunger and the noise of her stomach, but not Ericka. She would not be able to concentrate at work!

The "thoughtful" secretary placed the paper bag in front of Hana.

The latter did not notice the bag at first. However, the smell eventually wafted to her nose and it made her salivate in hunger. This distracted her from working for a moment.

She looked up and finally noticed the paper bag. It was only then that she realized Ericka had already returned from her lunch.

"Is this for me?"

She excitedly grabbed the paper bag and opened it. Seeing two cheesy mushroom burgers, fries, and cola inside, she giddily let them out and started eating them.

"I never said they're yours yet." Hana did not believe her. The combination has always been her usual order.

"Yeah, yeah, thank you. How much do I owe you?" Hana asked while munching on her burger. Her personal expenses were always separate from the company's.

Ericka looked at her boss who was talking while her mouth's filled with food. She had been working long enough with the woman in front of her to know that there's a huge difference between how she's acting now compared to when she's attending events with important figures. She also had a different attitude when dealing with other employees aside from her and Carlos.

How does she do that?

Ericka's aware that humans wear different masks all the time. However, Hana switched masks so effortlessly which left her speechless, especially since she knew that Hana's an introvert. If work was not required to live life as a normal human being, she'll stay in her house her whole life.

Shouldn't introverts feel tired after switching from one persona to another? Hana's other characters are total extroverts and it amazed Ericka that she had done it tirelessly ever since they met three years ago.

Ericka was lost in her thoughts, not noticing that she's been staring at Hana for a while. Hana looked back at her without blinking, while still eating the food Ericka bought her. She witnessed how Ericka's facial expressions changed depending on the thoughts that flowed into her head.

The staring contest dragged on for a long time. Eventually, Ericka broke the silence.

"That would be 252.75."

Hana was drinking the cola when Ericka spread her palm. She just finished eating everything inside the paper bag and unexpectedly burped loudly. She hurriedly covered her mouth and motioned with her hands for Ericka to excuse the burp she wasn't able to suppress.

Oh, please.

Ericka wasn't able to stop herself from rolling her eyes.

"What's 252.75?"

"Your lunch."

She fiddled with her phone to pay Ericka back.

"So, why did you stare at me? Do you have a question? Ask and I'll answer."

Ericka stood to return to her table.

"Nothing, Boss. I was just daydreaming."

Hana did not believe what she said. Ericka's face clearly showed all the thoughts she had earlier. It was easy for Hana to read her.

The two went back to work until three in the afternoon when it was finally time for them to leave.

Hana was only able to finish three-fourths of the things she planned to do for the day, but that's fine.

"It's time to go, Boss."

Ericka came knocking on her door to remind her.

"Ok. Let me freshen up first."

She was retouching her makeup when she suddenly remembered something. "By the way, don't forget my pizza and your dinner, darling. Food deliveries won't reach us at La Marina." She spoke in a melodic tone which was not unusual for her to do.

She was still doing her makeup when she stopped and thought of something. "Are food deliveries using boats and ships now? If that's the case, we'll just order when we get there. I want to experience being delivered food via boat."

Ericka just stared at her weirdly.

"I know time and technology progress rapidly and I also know that your head is always in the air thinking about the future, but that way is just not profitable. No one wants to invest in wasting a lot of expensive fuel just to send a few dishes. So, could you please hurry it up? We will be late if you dilly-dally much longer."

"Okay, okay."

Hana and Ericka's office was enclosed in a cubicle that separated them from other employees. Because of this, only Ericka was able to witness Hana's "weirdness".

Every time Hana left the office, she always stood tall, acting like she was someone worthy of people's respect. The employees looked at her with admiration, not knowing she was childish and not the leader material they had in mind.

"Miss Hana, are you leaving now?"

"When will you be back, Miss Hana?"

"Miss Hana, how was my proposal? Did you like it?"

Hana stopped for a moment to address their concerns, acting like the "perfect" boss everyone looked up to.

"I'd like to eat some pizza... some pepperoni pizza... gooey cheesy pizza..." Hana kept on singing a weird song in the passenger seat which irked Ericka who was driving. The two were on their way to La Marina.

"Boss, if you don't want us to end up in an accident, please stop singing that weird song."

She ignored Ericka and looked at the view outside the window. She did stop singing, but now she wiggled around as if she was dancing to an imaginary beat. Ericka expelled a deep breath out of frustration.

"Ooh... There's a new pizza joint. Let's try that one out!" Hana exclaimed excitedly like a kindergartener on her first school trip.

Ericka parked the car and Hana went out to order herself. Of course, when she got out of the car, gone was the girl singing a stupid pizza song a few minutes ago.

Hana was busy looking at the menu board while waiting for her turn when she noticed people whispering.

What are they whispering about? Is it me? Is there something on my face?

She whipped her phone out to check but did not find anything on her face.

She looked around and noticed that the customers, especially the female population, kept on looking at something behind her.

She turned around to see what was wrong when her eyes met a man's firm chest evident under a white shirt partially exposed beneath a burgundy trench coat. He was scrolling through his phone while waiting for his turn.

She scanned him from head to toe.

Wow, fashion over comfort. Can't he feel this heat?

Hana judged people right away in her head. Thankfully, she never uttered her thoughts out loud.

The heat was at its peak and Princil was known for extremely high temperatures. She was amazed that someone would be daring enough to wear multiple layers of clothes at that time of the day.

She looked up to see the man's face and she was not surprised to see a foreign man with a pale complexion, different from theirs who was born and raised in Princil. Well, she had no idea what his nationality was. Foreigners all looked the same to her anyway.

However, she had to admit, the man's looks were above average compared to the foreign celebrities she knew. That's probably the reason why the girls can't stop looking at him.

He was wearing sunglasses so she's not sure if he noticed her looking at him.

Whatever.

She ignored the guy and turned to look towards the cashier again.

Finally, it was her turn to order.

"Hi. Can I get two pepperonis, two creole shrimp pizzas, one buffalo chicken pizza, one order of mozzarella sticks, and two colas in can, to go, please?"

The cashier looked up at her and was dazed for a moment. She cleared her throat and the man punched her order into the monitor.

"Of course. Uhm... would you like to add more?"

"No, that would be all."

She handed the money over to the man.

The cashier looked at the woman wearing a semi-formal office outfit in front of him.

She was almost as tall as him and looked like she stayed in air-conditioned rooms all her life for her complexion to be silky smooth. She radiated like the golden sun.

He paused a while ago not only because he found her beautiful, but also because when he looked in her direction, he saw her next to the foreign man and they looked good together. If not for the fact that the two had not talked to each other at all, he would've assumed that they were together despite them arriving at different times.

Hana waited for her order to arrive.

The foreign man noticed that the service crew was almost done preparing Hana's order, so he moved closer to the counter and closer to her.

Because of his act, Hana caught a whiff of his scent.

The scent was not overpowering and painful to the nose, unlike most of the perfumes she used to smell from the men she frequently encountered. Surprisingly, she wanted to keep smelling his scent. She did not move away even though the man came too close for her comfort.

People inside that pizza place had been looking at the man ever since he stepped inside. The women were envious when the man moved closer to Hana. They wanted to be close to the man, too!

One of the girls mustered up her courage.

Taking her wallet with her, she stood up from her seat.

She lined up behind the man acting as if she wanted to order even though food filled her table, still untouched.

After standing there for a while, the girl said, "Hi, I'm a patron of this pizza joint and I don't find you familiar. Are you new around here?"

The girl successfully diverted the man's attention away from his phone. When the man found a pretty decent girl smiling at him, he smiled back.

"Hi. Yes, I'm not a local as you can see."

The woman laughed 'gracefully' at his reply.

"Have you decided on what to order, yet? If you're undecided, I can recommend you some of my favorites."

"Really? I'd like to hear what a pretty girl like you prefers. I'd like to try them."

The woman blushed when she heard him call her pretty. That prompted her to tuck some of her hair strands behind her ear. The two talked about the woman's pizza recommendations.

"By the way, I'm Audrey and you are..."

"I'm Zeno."

"If you are interested, I could tour you around. I know a lot..."

Hana was listening to their conversation and when the man flirted back, she wanted to barf.

As expected, a handsome man would act like a Casanova, flirting with every woman who showed interest in him.

Hana wasn't sure who to blame for the trend, but since Casanovas started dominating fictional love interests, real-life men with fuckboy energy were everywhere.

Do flirty men also read romance novels? How were they able to materialize such characters in real life?

Anyways, she detested such guys. She shuddered mentally.

Thankfully, her order arrived. She left the establishment in big strides as if the place was on fire.

When she left the pizza place, the foreign man's gaze followed her even though his mouth continued conversing with the woman flirting with him.

Hana caught his attention the moment he entered the pizza place.

When everybody was looking at him, he was looking at the woman before him instead, and when she looked back at him, he almost let out a loud intake of breath in shock. Good thing he was able to hold it in.

The woman was... breathtakingly beautiful.

Her wavy hair that reached her waist framed her cute round face. The frame of her rectangular glasses held back her side bangs away from her face.

An innocent face and a nerdy look combined with uniform seduction were just too much for him. Not to mention that her height was what he preferred in a woman.

Physically, she's top-tier, yes, but the man also felt a mysterious pull towards the woman. He wants to learn more about her.

When she left, his gaze gravitated to her, more especially towards her plump backside that bounced in every step.

Hmmm... Maybe I should frequent this shop.

He did not know that Hana did not have any plans to return to that shop soon because of him.

"Whoa, Boss, isn't that an overkill?"

Ericka looked at the five boxes of pizza and the plastic bag in her hands.

"I'm planning on eating pasta for dinner. I'm not going to help you eat all that. I'm on a diet."

"Who said I'm going to share them with you? I'm eating all of these myself and I'm not gonna share."

After saying this, she started munching on the mozzarella sticks she ordered.

I give up on this woman, Ericka thought.

Ericka looked for another restaurant where she could buy her dinner on their way to La Marina. Thankfully, she was able to find one.

When she walked out of the pasta restaurant clutching a bag with a box of food and Diet Coke in it, she saw Hana frown at her.

"You know, even if you eat healthy foods all your life, as long as you pair it with diet coke, you will still end up bigger than your desired size."

"Boss, it's 'diet' coke for a reason."

"Really? Then, why did you only order a small portion of your meal? I'm paying you huge amounts of money, and you starve yourself? Are you this thrifty? What are you even saving your money for? You don't even date."

"I'm not starving myself. I just don't binge eat like you do, but I at least eat three times a day. And what about you, Hana, you earn a lot of money even if you just stay in your house and sit all day. What are you even saving your money for? You don't even date," Ericka retorted.

"Whatever. Just don't pass out on me one of these days."

The two continued bickering until they reached La Marina.

Ericka eventually slowed down in front of an intricately designed wrought-iron gate.

The guard recognized the red car and before it completely came to a stop, he opened the sliding door and saluted to greet the people inside the car.

Ericka honked the car to acknowledge the guard as she rolled down the window and smiled at the man.

The man smiled widely upon seeing the two beauties acknowledge him.

The place they entered was La Marina's head office where the majority of the office staff stay. A separate structure was built in the middle of the sea where marine biologists, divers, fishermen, and other people involved in fish production were based.

Hana was not interested in the chaotic offices that only had boring paperwork. What she wanted to see was how the operation in the middle of the sea flowed. Every time she visited the base in the middle of the sea, she always learned something new and that's what she looked forward to the most in her every visit.

"Hana! You're late!" Someone's scream broke her trail of thoughts.

Carlos is the current manager of La Marina. He's also the husband of one of Hana's friends. He was also one of the few who knew of Hana's "weirdness". It's not that she's trying to hide it. She just did not want to publicly air it to everyone.

Hana brushed off Carlos' greeting with a smile and a hug. The two immediately started talking seriously about business after the greeting while Ericka struggled with Hana's food.

Along the way, many staff passed by them to say hi. It's rare for her to visit the site so a lot went out of their way to greet her. She just responded with a nod of her head as she continued talking to Carlos. Ericka joined them midway after she ditched Hana's food somewhere.

"Will we be staying the night in the middle of the sea?"

Carlos nodded his head.

She looked over her shoulder and said, "Ericka, don't forget my food. If you leave them behind, I'm going to feed you to the sharks."

Ericka just sighed. She had just finished placing them in the fridge when Hana decided to go visit the other base of La Marina found in the middle of the sea. She had no choice but to get them again.

What a high-maintenance woman! I pity the one who's going to end up as your husband!

Riding on a motor yacht, Carlos, Hana, and Ericka traveled for thirty minutes to reach the La Marina base in the middle of the ocean. The tower of steel stood out gallantly. It had two parts- one was above the water where marine biologists conduct research studies to help fishes grow fast and healthy, and the other was underwater. The underwater facility was filled with underwater tanks where different species of fish were contained. Inside a tank, corals were nurtured to facilitate the growth of fishes.

The tanks were wide and were made to hold the fish in one place, to prevent predators from eating them.

"You know when I first heard of her plans, I genuinely thought she was a goner. I told her to see a psychologist who used to be my classmate back in high school. Imagine her talking about raising saltwater fish in the middle of the ocean. Sure, I've heard of saltwater fish farms but most of them are along the coastal areas, not like this one. I have to thank her for this idea though, it's bringing so much money that my wife hardly nags ever since I became a manager at this place."

The three of them were climbing up a flight of stairs when Carlos revealed his thoughts on her baby project.

"Really? I did it, though. I made an appointment with a psychiatrist and tricked her into going there," Ericka also shared.

Carlos' jaw dropped but when he recovered, he raised his palm to high-five Ericka.

"Great minds think alike."

"Both of you treat me like I'm crazy." The two stopped walking before her and looked back with weird expressions on their faces.

"And you think you're not?" Ericka asked her before she continued walking forward with Carlos. Hana just shrugged her shoulders.

The three reached the receiving area in no time.

La Marina may have been a research lab slash fish farming facility, but it was also the first of its kind in their area that clients consider their visit like field trips, thus, the need for a receiving area. The receptionist greeted the three upon their arrival. Carlos just casually waved his hand while Hana and Ericka nodded their heads.

"As you can see, business has been good so far, research has also been going well. What I- I mean, my wife, wanted to know is when you two will settle down, especially you, Hana."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're almost thirty now. Do you have a plan on settling down?"

"What's that? A type of pizza?" Hana asked indifferently.

"If you know any romantic handsome guys who earn seven digits monthly, please introduce me to them," Ericka also added.

"You two are a lost cause." Carlos even shook his head.

Did they even have experience being in a relationship?

The three went back to discussing business. Carlos took her to visit the researchers and see their progress. She also went diving to see the fish.

She was satisfied to see everyone's progress in the facility, she let everyone leave their stations an hour earlier that day and announced to give five percent bonuses to their salaries this month as a reward for their hard work.

The staff whistled and hollered in joy. She just smiled at them.

"Let's rest early, too. You," she pointed at Carlos. "...video call your wife or something, and you," she referred to Ericka. "Go visit some dating sites. Go to Omegle if you're desperate."

The two looked at her with wide eyes.

"Why the hell would I settle for Omegle and why are you doing this? Do you have any hidden agendas in shooing us away?" Ericka was suspicious.

Hana always came up with the weirdest ideas right after she felt like being generous. It's a weird pattern Ericka noticed a long time ago.

"No, but I'm thinking of something."

"What crazy ideas do you have in mind again?" Ericka looked at her warily. She needed to find out Hana's crazy idea to prepare herself for the worst.

"Relax, I was just thinking... would people like to sleep underwater? What if we build tanks like the ones below us? Put enough oxygen in it, and turn it into a room. People will see sharks swimming around them as they sleep. It will be a great experience, don't you think?"

"Hana, the only ones who will buy a room like that were people who won't go crazy thinking that the glass tanks could end up breaking and drown them in their sleep. Paying for a room that will give you paranoia, will drown you in your sleep, or will cut off your oxygen is a crazy idea. It's like asking people for money so you could kill them in different ways, effortlessly."

"You think so? I thought it was a good idea. I was even planning to make a business proposal immediately."

"Oh my god, don't." Carlos immediately butted in. He gently grabbed her shoulders to get her attention and... "Since it's rest time for everybody, why don't we also sleep early? Maybe you need sleep, Hana. I think you need it. Badly. Don't try to think of anything else. Just sleep."

"Also, please don't think of a new business idea anytime soon. We are just starting to recover the money we invested."

"Really? Okay, I'll just sleep early then. Eat well and good night in advance to you two. I won't be going out of my room at all."

Maybe I should write a little before going to sleep.

Dinner time came and the three separated ways.

Hana and Ericka ate inside the rooms provided for them, while Carlos ate at the cafeteria where the staff left food for him. The base had its cafeteria that provided meals for the staff but Hana did not want the cooks to hover around her just to ask for her opinion about the food they prepared.

People tend to ask for her opinion because she eats a lot. Thankfully, she's aware that she was the worst food critic ever. If people ask her how the food tasted, she'll just say it tasted like it was supposed to, with no further elaboration.

She once ate at a three-star restaurant with Veronica, Carlos' wife.

The chef recognized her as a patron because she frequented that restaurant due to her clients' requests. He even thought it was because she liked their food so he went out of his way to ask for her opinion.

"Ma'am, I noticed that you always visit our restaurant. I am the head chef and I would like to ask for your reviews. What made you come back here so many times? Which one do you like the most? How did you like the soup you ordered? I boiled it for two nights. Please do tell me if there are things we need to improve. You are one of our patrons, your judgment matters to us." The chef was so excited to hear her opinion that his voice was high-pitched and his words were uttered fast. Hana just looked at him blankly and said, "It tastes just like soup. It's liquid and it filled my stomach. I'm full now because of it. Thank you for making such a filling dish."

When the chef heard that, he was crestfallen. For him, her words meant that his cooking did not stand out, that was why she said 'It tastes just like soup'.

Veronica was quick to notice the chef's mood so she asked Hana, "How was that ice cream you ate at that five-star restaurant in Lyvia? Did it taste good?"

"It's sweet. It tasted like ice cream. Why? You want me to treat you there?"

"No, I just asked. It suddenly entered my mind so I blurted that out of nowhere."

The chef's face lighted up when the realization dawned on him.

Oh, this woman's just a bad critic. She treated food just as something that would fill her up!

Upon realizing this, he thanked the two women, excused himself, and then returned to the kitchen.

When the chef left, Veronica berated Hana for being so blasé about her opinion. She then told her not to express her opinion about food to anyone for it was better for her to shut up about it than hurt the feelings of hard-working people. Hana thought about her actions and maybe she was a bad critic so she never attempted to comment on food ever again.

That night, in her room, Hana wrote a few pages for her online novel while munching on her pizza. She was on her fourth box when she decided to stop writing and watch a movie instead. She decided to watch The Meg again. Watching it while she's staying at La Marina provided a really good atmosphere. She ate another box of pizza with gusto.

The following day, Hana and Ericka left to go visit another farm.

"Do I have to visit every business I have? This is too tiring... and boring." She mumbled the last part but Ericka still heard it.

"Stop complaining. I know you're planning something again. You left a lot of days vacant in your schedule. You're going somewhere again, aren't you?" She tried diverting Ericka's attention elsewhere. "You're just being paranoid. Maybe Carlos was right. You should get married, that way, you would stop overthinking things."

"Stop changing the topic. Argh... I swear my job is to be a secretary but I feel like I'm babysitting instead."

She just laughed when Ericka acted like she wanted to strangle her.

For months, the two went all over Princil to visit Hana's businesses to check on their progress and make some changes. Hana was dead tired as she sloppily plopped on her seat. The routine tasks bored her to death but she had no choice because that's how she's earning money. The only benefit she got was her going to different places.

Despite this, all she ever saw were offices and paper works. She wanted a different scenery to look at.

One evening, Hana bolted toward Ericka's hotel room. The latter was doing her skincare routine in front of the vanity.

"We are going to take a break tomorrow. That's final. No work for me. Don't call me. You won't be seeing me."

Hana surprised Ericka with her sudden declaration.

"What? You can't just decide that out of nowhere. You have to follow your schedule. It was already set!"

"Honey, I'm dead tired. If you want me to act like a zombie in all of those meetings and break the beautiful image I worked so hard to build, I'll kill you in your sleep. You want that instead?"

Ericka allowed her a few days' rest.

She knew that when her boss' vocabulary included the word 'kill', she couldn't convince her to work anymore.

Hana was, first and foremost, an artist. Her mood always affected her work.

Ericka forgot that for a moment. She had no choice but to relent.