Roses and Flames (ongoing)

3. Thea

Am I dreaming? I should be. Because right now I'm staring into the same eyes that yesterday looked annoyed but today with a glint of amusement.

No
No
No

Did I call my new boss an asshole, well, without knowing who he was? Check.

Does he remember me? Check.

Oh my god! I screwed up, didn’t I?

I looked around me, breaking my trance only to find that I was the only one standing now. What is wrong with me today!?

Back to my poker face, I looked at him as he said, "So let's start by introducing ourselves. I'm Tyler Anderson, the new CEO of Athena Group and grandson of the former CEO and chairman, Mr. Henry Anderson.

Everyone welcomed him with applause.

I guess my prayers went unheard. I got exactly the opposite of what I wanted. I can already feel the arrogance radiating from him.

By the time I was bitching about him in my mind, it was my turn to introduce myself. I cleared my throat and introduced myself "Hi, I'm Thea Smith, head of the legal department." He raised his eyebrow and smirked while shaking my hands. It felt warm, unlike his cold appearance.

"Born to argue then" he muttered.

Even if it was for a millisecond I thought of apologizing to him. But now? Nah I'm good.

The meeting continued with him listening to others say about how they are excited to work with him and him projecting some ideas and introducing his premium car brand.

After the meeting was dispersed I walked to my office when someone called me "Thea!" I turned to find Mr. Anderson, the former CEO.

"Mr. Anderson. I thought you would've gone." I said, surprised.

"No, I didn’t." he said, "I thought I might stroll around the corridor. How was the meeting?"

I smiled politely and said, "It went well."

"You'll be coming to the welcome party later, won't you?" he asked me.

I responded honestly, "I'm afraid I won't be there, I've to catch up on my sleep, I've been really tired lately."

Normally I never miss a party as grand as this but I'm running on empty. Yesterday I had to review the final report Ms. Carter mailed me and stayed up until 3 a.m, if it was one of my fiction novels I'd have finished reading way faster than that. But I managed to get a few hours of sleep anyway. Well now I have another reason for not going to the party, I don’t want to be near Tyler Anderson other than for work.

"Oh. That’s okay, rest well. I'll get going then." he said, giving me a reassuring smile.

''Yeah, sure Mr. Anderson. Thank you for inviting me though." I said as we parted ways.

Getting in the elevator, I changed my mind and pressed the button for the floor where the office pantry was.

I reached the office pantry to get a cup of coffee and saw Logan Fischer, the design department head already there making one.

"Hey! You want one?" he asked me.

"Yeah, sure." He handed me the cup he made and started making one for him. I grabbed a chair and sipped my coffee when he came and sat next to me.

"Why do you look pale?" concern crept into his eyes and asked me.

Laughing lightly, I said, "Not enough sleep, I guess."

His eyebrows scrunched he told me "Oh, go home and rest well. Don’t hesitate to call me if you need something. Okay?"

I smiled and replied "Okay." Logan was always nice to me, the perfect gentleman type and we got along well.

Going back to my office after finishing my coffee, I buckled down and stretched out my legs.

I engrossed myself in the two voices arguing in my mind. One was regretful, saying I shouldn't have had that conflict with him wondering if he is going to take payback or something. The other was confident, saying he shouldn't have done that. It was his fault for spilling his drink on my favourite coat. I should have made him compensate before I knew he was going to be my superior. Shaking my head, breaking my thoughts, I exhaled through my mouth. He'll always be an asshole, that's for sure.
Flipping the pages of my file, I got on with my work.
 
________

I reached home after work and found Emma curled up on the couch watching something on her laptop.

"What are you watching?" I walked up to her and asked.

"Hey! You're here. I was watching La La Land." Emma replied, looking up from the couch.

I peeked in and got a glance at the screen "I would've joined you if I wasn’t this sleepy." I stifled a yawn and said.

"Yeah, you should go and sleep. You've really messed up your sleeping schedule this past week."

"As if I have one," I chuckled as I walked to my bedroom.

I usually go to sleep late, reading my books. But this past week, even though I stopped working thinking that I should go to sleep now, books call me like 'Come have some comfort time before you go to sleep' and that’s a temptation I can't resist.

When I was in university, people teased me saying I read those cutesy romance novels and probably fall for fictional men. At first, I tried to explain. After a few, I didn’t even bother to care what they said.

They are kind of true, though. I like fictional men in those cutesy romance novels, but I fall for those dark, morally grey ones. I do read other genres too, mysteries and thrillers being my other favourite ones. Anyway, they won't get it, so why explain then? If real men were like them, I wouldn’t have fallen for fictional men in the first place. It's all a play now. I know true love exists, but forever? I don’t know. I don’t think I ever would get a man who meets my standards, and that’s pretty much high.

I went straight to my bathroom and prepared a hot bath. Sliding into the warm water, it calmed my nerves. Slowly resting my head on the rim of the tub, I closed my eyes and sighed in relief. "Perfect as it should be," I whispered to myself

I finally came out after my bath. I didn’t exactly know how much time I spent on my bath, but it had been quite a time. I would have slept there in the water's warm embrace had it not cooled after a while. Pampering myself with my night skincare regimen, I stepped out into my bedroom.

I jumped onto my cozy bed with my phone to set the alarm. A new message notification popped. Mom. Ignoring it, I set the alarm and kept the phone on my nightstand. I should have checked her message, but not today. It's another date she is setting up, and I'm sure of it.
We usually check on each other on a regular basis, but now, it's going to be three days. I even looked at her message, it's in no time she'll call Emma and explain. As this is the topic, Emma is going to be so helpful to her.

Pushing away my musings, I cuddled with one of my pillows and called it a night.