𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡
Lord Lionel Shahbandar had everything that others could not even dream of. His own company, money until he dropped and a huge estate.
But one thing he did not have.
A love he neither sought nor missed.
Only when he ha...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After hours of exhausting work, Lionel took a deep breath and put his head back. He looked at his assistant, who was still sitting there bent over various papers in concentration.
"Let's have a drink," he said into the room and got up from his chair. A bit stiff from sitting for so long, he moved to the refreshments and began pouring two glasses.
Saskia also got up from her chair and looked at Lionel, who was pouring water with lemon wedges in it. Only now she realized that she was thirsty anyway and now also stepped to the side table next to him. "Thank you," she said to him and took the glass and drank from it slowly. She had turned a little sideways and was watching Gem, who was now rising from her lounger as well, stretching properly and doing a few stretches.
Saskia could feel her boss's presence right next to her and his expensive perfume smelled subtle and pleasant. She bit her lower lip lightly. She couldn't put it off much longer, she would have to let Lionel know that she was going out to party one night. She still had hope that he wouldn't want to work non-stop and give her the evening in question off.
Lionel was standing right next to Saskia, already pouring himself the second glass of water, when Gem started stroking around Sia's feet again. He was still wondering why his otherwise wayward cat seemed to have taken a fancy to hers. He put down the water glass and was about to say something when Saskia turned to him and looked at him slightly nervously, which made him wonder.
Saskia looked tensely into her boss's face and almost couldn't withstand the intense gaze of his brown eyes. It's now or never, she thought to herself. Delaying something unpleasant further brought nothing but musings, so at least she had it over with. "I agreed to an appointment even before I knew I was coming here. Would it be possible for me to keep this one, or do we have a specific schedule to keep this weekend?", Saskia tried to make her request as matter-of-factly as possible. Inside, however, she was terribly nervous as she noticed his gaze change slightly during her question, unable to interpret what that meant at all.
Lionel listened to Saskia's question, which in truth did not suit him at all. So a "date" she had this weekend. He would have preferred to stop it, but that would be more than ridiculous. He couldn't plausibly explain why he was keeping her here when she'd really rather be seeing someone else, he considered angrily.
He buried his hands in his trouser pockets and strode to the nearest window, looking out as he spoke to Saskia, "I don't think it will be a problem. However, I would like you to be back on time in the morning!" He said more unkindly than he should be to her, but he just couldn't help it.
It scratched his ego that she would rather meet with someone else than spend her brief free time with him. He was actually about to tell her that he wanted to go over the property and the stables with her on the weekend.
But he quickly lost the desire to do so. Whether he wanted to or not, he was just disappointed in himself and everything. What had he actually imagined. Wordlessly, he simply walked out of his office, leaving Saskia alone.
Saskia looked after Lionel in astonishment. What was wrong with him all of a sudden? She didn't really want to come back as late as he had indicated. But he had actually given her an idea. If he didn't seem to care how long she was out at night anyway, she could stay in her old room right away. That way, she wouldn't have as far to go home from central London, where they would be on their way. Saskia would then just come back here to his estate as early as possible. On the grandiose idea, she had actually brought only his strange allusion.
But the fact that Lionel thought she had a date and would spend the night at a man's house, of course, didn't occur to her at all. It was so far-fetched to her that she didn't even think about it, unlike him.
When there was a knock at the door, Saskia opened it, since she was standing nearby. The butler was in front of it, asking to be seated, since by now it was already time for dinner. Due to Saskia's late arrival and intense work, there had been no lunch at all. What she noticed only now, after the servant had spoken of it.
Immediately she followed him, since she would not have found her way through the estate alone at the moment. She had a good sense of direction, but she had been in almost no rooms.
Attentively, she memorized the various corridors and hallways, hoping to soon find everything on her own. When she was taken to the huge hall, where there was a long table, she was once again speechless.
The hall had ceiling paintings like in an old castle, decorated with gold and stucco. It was just all so beautiful and incredibly magnificent again. When, after an extensive look around, the focus came back to the long table, she noticed that two place settings had already been prepared. One on the short side and the other next to it on the long side.
Saskia knew exactly that the chair was clearly Lionel's as the head of the house. Thus it was clear for her where her place was and sat down at the long side. She had hardly sat down on the soft, brocade-covered armchair when a servant arrived with a selection of drinks.
Just when she thought Lionel might not come at all, since he had been in such a strange mood earlier, he entered the dining room. Saskia looked up at him, but he only looked stubbornly in another direction. She swallowed hard and noticed that something had changed between them. Just today, she thought to herself, it had been really pleasant to work with him. But suddenly everything had changed again. She just couldn't figure out her boss.
The food was served immediately, as soon as Lionel had entered the room. The dinner was excellent and exquisite. But Sia could not really enjoy it. Where had the casual, slightly teasing manner gone? Why did he suddenly seem so stiff and dismissive. Of course, why should he continue to treat her that way. He was her employer and he didn't have to make small talk with her if he didn't want to.
Resignedly, she lowered the cutlery, barely having eaten the main course. She drank the last sip of water from her glass and simply stood up. She just wanted to get away from him, she couldn't breathe in his presence anymore and she could well do without dessert, her throat felt like it was constricted.
Without apologizing, as one usually did when the meal was not yet over, she simply walked out of the hall. Her heart became heavy and she went towards the exit so that she could get some fresh air.
