From Mine to Ours

25: Meet the Family?!

For the first time ever, I've been asked to see Jennifer in her office. No one ever really goes to her office like this, she's the CEO after all. She won't handle every minor thing happening in her company, which brings me to question why she wants to see me.

"Do you plan on standing out here all day?" I jump up at the sudden voice cutting through the silence.

Turning my head at the sound, I spot none other than her personal assistant, Jasper, looking straight at me with arched brows. His expression shows no empathy or patience. The tapping of his foot sets me into overdrive and I'm quick to apologize and knock on her door three times.

"Come in!"

Her stereo is playing soft, instrumental music and that calms my nerves the tiniest bit. She's sitting on her desk with an inviting smile on her face.

Jennifer is intimidating in a different way compared to the other heads of her company. She's intimidating because she's rightfully very respected by pretty much everyone. Ever since her face and name hit the "Under 30s" list a few years back, no one dared to question her position at all. The fact that it took her reaching that list to earn that respect is something that needs to be talked about. And she does.

She's a huge advocate for equality for all genders.

"You wanted to see me?"

Her bejeweled fingers tap on the free chair in front of her as she gets up to take her own seat at her throne, which is her desk chair. Her husband had it custom-made for her.

"How are you feeling, Noah?" Her bright blue eyes pierce right through me and I swallow audibly at her gaze.

"Um, good..."

Her smile widens, "I'm sure all of this publicity has been a bit of a challenge for you," she grabs a stray pencil and rolls it around her palm.

I instantly nod, "yes, but I'm very grateful for it," her eyes briefly lose their sparkle as they narrow at me.

"Are you?" The insinuation behind her question irks me, but I pull myself together.

"With all due respect, ma'am, I appreciate every single person who's letting me stand where I am today, I wouldn't have started my latest project if I didn't care..." my own eyes begin to narrow, but I stop myself right as she bursts out laughing.

"Exactly what I wanted to hear!" She stands from her spinning chair and grabs a manila folder from one of her drawers, "I want to make you an offer," my eyes widen at her outburst.

Was she testing me?

"Offer?"

Her hair whips over her shoulder as she turns to look at me. She skims past whatever is in the folder before sliding it across the desk. Her head motions for me to open it.

My fingers rub against the rough texture of the folder, sending worried shivers down my back. Why must these folders always be so scary...

I rip it off like a bandaid and start reading as soon as I flip the folder open and the longer I read, the wider my eyes get. "You're firing me?!" Tears begin welling up in my eyes as soon as I take in the situation.

What am I going to do? I'll need to find a new job and a new apartment...

A hand touching my own over the now scrambled papers stops me from reaching full panic mode, "keep reading..." she whispers. Through my blurry vision I barely manage to see the reassuring smile on her features let alone the rest of the words on the paper.

She hands me a tissue and I get myself together enough to flip to the second stack of papers. Once again, my eyes fill with tears, but for a much different reason this time.