My Little Secret

I wake up in the morning before my alarm. I felt alive. I felt like the day was going to be good, I could just feel it. I think about last night and it brings a smile on my face.

Last night, I rode back home, slower than usual. Ivan's words echoing in my head. Him wanting to protect me, be there for me, was very comforting. But to be dependent on someone, all over again, that was a risk. I didn't know if I was ready to divulge into that yet. I wasn't sure about anything. There were a thousand things he did not know about me and a thousand things I did not know about him. I take a deep breath and let it go. I wasn't going to think about this now. I was going to be happy and  reminiscence the good moments.

I get ready for work and arrive earlier than usual. I had a meeting with Aaron and I had worked on the story and finished about seven chapters. The editors were going to review it today and I was supposed to send it to Andrew for review.

The office was busier today, everyone suddenly seemed to be running around. I realized that the cubicles were neater than usual and everyone were dressed at the best. I go to Hilda's cubicle and sit beside her.

"Are we expecting someone today?" I whisper.

"Bryan, Andrew's son is coming over today. He is going to be here for a couple of days actually. Preside over meetings and things like that." She says, not looking away from the screen.

"Damn it, I did not prepare anything!" I say and quickly walk to my cubicle. The meeting was one hour away and I started working on the presentation.

I get into the meeting room, ten minutes before the presentation and find a man already sitting there. Waiting. Did they hire someone new? I didn't think he was Bryan; nobody was flocking around him. Maybe he was just some new intern. There was something that seemed very familiar about him. Had we met before?

"Yes?" he looked at me confused. Damn it. I had been staring for seconds now without realizing it.

"I'm sorry, you just look so familiar. Have we met before?" I ask him.

"I don't think so" he says and smiles. I couldn't shake this feeling off, I was sure I had seen him somewhere.

"I don't mean to be rude, but I have a meeting here right now. I'm sure you're new here and you're waiting to get your own cubicle. I know things here can be so slow" I say and roll my eyes.

"Really? Things are slow around here?" he asks looking interested.

"The food here sucks, by the way. If they told you things like, 'Oh, we take care of our employees, we make sure that they are all happy and they naturally work better.' Don't be fooled! It'll take you months to get used to it. The service is pretty slow too. I mean, they should have given you a cubicle already. Instead of making you sit in the meeting room. How rude." I talk fast and catch my breath. "Nobody's come to welcome you either. Isn't that a bit rude? Like, everyone's in the office already. Waiting for Bryan, the new boss or whatever. Nobody cares about us. But you know what, you'll get used to it." I say and get back to my laptop.

I check the time and look outside. The commotion was getting worse. It looked like a market. Aaron running around, Meghan at his heels. It was fun to watch them work so hard. It hit me suddenly, that the person who was going to face Bryan, was me. I was the one giving the presentation. If anything, I was the one who was supposed to be running up and down.

"Are you okay?" asks the stranger.

"I'm just nervous. I'm supposed to give a presentation to this guy. The one everyone so scared of. He's coming today. It just hit me." I say and put a puppy face and he chuckles.

I laugh back.

"I'm Sofia Malitz by the way." I say and smile.

Aaron barges in and looks as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Goo.. good morning Mr. Bryan. I am so sorry about this. We didn't know you were already here." Aaron apologizes. He was freaked out.

"No issues"

"Ah, Sofia. I see that you have already met Mr. Bryan Radcliffe, our boss, Andrew Radcliffe's son. I'll leave you two to proceed with your meeting, let me know if you need anything Bryan." He says and leaves the meeting room.

I could feel the blood leaving my face and my heart thudding in my heart. Did I just ramble about how shitty the office was to the guy who owns this company? And, wait what? Radcliffe?