𝘾𝙀𝙊. - 𝘾𝙀𝙊 𝙓 𝙍𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙀𝙍

8.

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My lungs fill and lower, the seeping scent of my oil diffuser filling my nostrils as the open breeze cools my skin.

My office has been a blessing that I didn't expect it to be, The warm, open windows, and the gentle wind that brushes and softens my mind.

It's spacious enough, with a lovely sight of the city around me and my walls lined with bookcases, decorative artwork and my desk dotted with trinkets I've collected.

The weeks have shifted and my new job has been both a social and environmental shift.

I am not completely used to it, though, it's lovely. The pay has benefited me greatly, and the solitude of my own office distances me from the overwhelming sensory stimulation of the open office area I used to work within, and the awkward social interactions I am pushed into daily.

Especially, with Ralph far from me.

────

As Leila leaves my office from her break, I place my office phone down and flick through my files, the warmth of the heater breezing through the gentle, loose strings of locks that hang my the sides of my face. The comfortable warmth and the soothing silence of my office have become a peaceful environment for me, despite how hard it is to take calls sometimes.

Yet all my peace always has to come to an end.

The loud, startling banging of a fist against my office door jolts my figure against my seat, my head darting up as the door opens.

My heart pounds from the jolting, unnease as my eyes fixate on the opening door, and my stomach drops in dread.

"I made this for you,"

Ralph.

A sigh leaves my nostrils, laced with frustration as he barges into my space, my privacy, my workspace.

Especially, since he isn't meant to be within this side of the company building.

A cup of coffee sits within his hair-prickled knuckles, a coat of what looks to be sweat or oil envelopes his skin and thin, black locks, and a wave of his scent washes over my oil diffuser's calming pungency.

My eyebrows narrow and my teeth grit tightly, my eyes lowering back to the files painted across my desk.

"I don't want it, t-thank you."

I state with firm order, my nails grazing across the sheets as I line and sign the papers.

"But I made it for you-"

"R-ralph, I told you, I-I don't want it... y-you are very...kind... but I said no." my words slightly sneer when I reach 'kind', yet I attempt to cover and front my obvious and uneased discomfort.

I can feel a twitch line the side of my face.

"You always reject me, I make you coffee every day, I always check up on you, what don't you like about me?"

I can pick up a twinge of agitation lining his words, and as my eye's fixate on my papers, they dart up and widen to the side of a barging figure.

My words drop as I see Mr Dostoevsky slip inside the doorway, towering over Ralph as his intimidating, authoritative aura washes across my office's atmosphere within an instant. Ralph's eyes lift to meet Mr Dostoesky's with hesitation, dropping his agitation towards me as soon as he sees the CEO of the company enter my office.

I watch carefully and nervously as Mr Dostoevsky's intense, icey eyes flick from Ralph, to me, back and forth before settling onto me.

"Fill these out for me," He commands softly, dropping a fresh batch of thick, stapled files onto my desk, and as I nod, I take in the wave of scent Mr Dostoevsky washes over me with his shifting figure.