When the elevator stopped on the fourth floor and the doors opened, Johari walked down the hallway, carrying a stack of documents in her hands.

The floor, which was her workplace, had two offices, a break room, and the reception area. The main office belonged to her boss, while the other served as a meeting room. Between the two offices was the reception desk, with a large desk occupying most of the space. Its surface was impeccably clean and organized, holding a computer, an intercom, a phone, and a multifunction printer.

She walked around the desk and placed the documents on it. The day was just beginning, and she sensed it would be long and hectic.

Her boss, Andrew Tanner, would not arrive for another hour, which gave her plenty of time to organize all the documents, files, and the day’s schedule. Once she had completed half of her work, she decided to take a short break and head to the break room to make herself a good cup of coffee. With the cup in hand, she returned to her workstation. She sat down in her more-than-comfortable chair and happily took a sip of the delicious coffee.

“Good morning, Kitty,” she greeted, speaking to the stuffed kitten resting beside the computer screen.

As always, the plush toy did not respond. It stared back at her with its large felt eyes, a warm shade of ochre, while she pressed the power button on the computer. The stuffed animal had been a gift from her best friend to celebrate getting the job. Many people had noticed it as they passed by her desk on their way to her boss’s office, and more than one had commented on how cute it was. The truth was, she loved that little bundle of fur.

As if it were a divine sign, her phone began to vibrate on the desk. She could only think of one person who would not only be awake at such an early hour, but also be the only one sending her messages.

“This is unfair. He’s avoiding me and I don’t know why,” she read silently.

Letting out a long sigh, she shook her head. Oriana had become her best friend since she moved to London five years ago, and since then they had been almost inseparable, in a way. Oriana was the complete opposite of her when it came to romantic relationships. She never quite knew when to leave a relationship behind. It wasn’t that she was overly clingy, but she certainly found it harder than most to accept when a relationship had come to an end. And no, Johari did not judge her. She never did.

Shaking her head once again, she thought for a few seconds about what response to give her friend. Then she proceeded to type her reply.

She took another sip of coffee while waiting for her computer screen to turn on, but her phone vibrated again with another message.

She nearly rolled her eyes when she finished reading her friend’s response. She would definitely have a long conversation with Oriana when she got home later that afternoon. Still, she replied, subtly suggesting that she consider the man’s schedule and that perhaps he hadn’t been able to respond to some of her countless messages due to work or time constraints.

She turned her attention back to the computer. The system took a moment to review its records before a confirmation screen appeared. It had always been her least favorite part of the entire process… Her boss was extremely cautious when it came to security systems on networked computers. However, what she disliked the most was seeing that photograph of her face on the screen. The same one taken when she got the job as a personal assistant. She didn’t look good. She was barely wearing any makeup, her cheeks lacked color, her dark brown eyes weren’t outlined with her favorite blue eyeliner, and her curly hair looked like a bird’s nest because she hadn’t had time to straighten it that morning. God, seriously, that image of her face was horrible, but well… what was done was done.

When the system finally decided to show the familiar home screen of her computer, she began reviewing the new messages waiting for her. There were the standard emails sent directly to her, followed by those that had been copied to her boss.

She didn’t see anything of real importance, so she moved on to the inbox reserved for her boss. Her access to CEO Tanner’s messages was limited to general emails from members of the board of directors and personal emails that also appeared in her own inbox. Her boss had granted her extended access a few months earlier in an attempt to bring some order to the chaos that constantly flooded his personal inbox. She certainly never read anything truly personal, but he had given her permission to do so if necessary.

She skipped over an email from her boss’s brother, Francis, and moved on to a message from the vice president of Chrome Machine, Delclaux Luciano. These types of emails she filtered and forwarded to her boss without reading them. However, she was always the first to notice when an email arrived from an important company with a subject related to potential investments in Chrome Machine. Those were the ones she did read, since she was responsible for scheduling her boss’s important meetings.

Her phone suddenly began to ring, startling her and nearly causing her to spill her coffee onto the desk. She frowned and looked almost angrily at the phone screen, where the caller’s name flashed.

“Hi, Ori,” she greeted when she placed the headset against her right ear. “What are you doing awake so early?”

“Seriously, Jo?” her friend replied. “I’m still processing your last message.”

She stifled a small laugh as she continued filtering emails for her boss.

“I only told you to make a clean break,” she repeated from her earlier message. “Besides, it’s good to meet new people.”

“And you’re telling me that?”

“Exactly. I don’t think it would be that hard for you,” she replied, shrugging. “But I still think he might not have time, and sending messages every few minutes isn’t doing you any good, Ori. Really. Maybe the best thing is to forget him and move on.”

“I know, but it wouldn’t have killed him to reply to at least some of my messages. At least to tell me he doesn’t want anything else and be done with it.” She nodded, even though her friend couldn’t see her. “God, I’m so sick of men acting like tyrants.”

“All I want is for you not to let a man affect you to the point of—” she stopped short, catching sight of someone stepping out of the elevator from the corner of her eye. “Ori, I have to go. We’ll talk about this when I get home, okay?”

“Mhmm, daddy boss?”

“Talk to you later, Ori,” she retorted, ending the call.

At that moment, she was truly grateful for her skin tone, because the blush that settled into her cheeks wasn’t noticeable… or at least, not much.