Miss Poppy and the Beast

5. First Day in Job

The only word she could comprehend when it comes to describing Artemis Lykaios was "Obnoxious".

She knew what she did was unacceptable. She shouldn't have jumped right into her own conclusions without correcting her facts right, beforehand. Even though she was feeling like a feeble-minded girl.

But again, who gave him the right to make such snide remarks that made her feel offended. She may belong to a low-class family, but her pride was as high as Mount Everest.

The minute she saw Theo's father and Eugene in the same room, she finally realised that these two men were actually twins. Though they had very few differences in their features, anyone could confuse that obnoxious of a man for Eugene.

After that embarrassing incident, Eugene escorted Poppy to his own office.

They were walking through the corridor when Eugene asked her if something happened between them. She explained everything to him in detail, word to word.

Eugene started laughing like a madman which startled her. She watched him laughing with a gape and thought how could someone laugh at someone's misery.

"I had no idea Theodore's father would be your twin. Why didn't you enlighten me with this knowledge before?", she pouted and said.

"How would I know you still live under a rock? Every single person in Sicily knows about the Lykaios family and I thought you were no exception"

"I am not a Sicilian and I hardly know anything about this place. I think he hates me now.", Poppy sighed, looking distressed. "God", she exhaled loudly, "Now I lost this job even before landing it".

"Hate is a really strong word, Poppy. He would have kicked you out if that was the case. But the good news is he didn't do that, which means he doesn't hate you and is giving you a chance to be Theo's teacher", Eugene said.

"Are you serious? Then he should have said so. But no, he chose to humiliate me instead "

"Sorry to say, but your story says the other way round. You are the first to humiliate him. "

"Yeah! you are right. I did mess it up and I am ashamed of that"

"Your intention was not bad. You were concerned about Theo and I am sure Artemis saw that. But his bruised ego didn't let him be verbal about it, so he chose to humiliate you in return. And It's Artemis we are talking about and he is like this only"

"Hmm.. like father like son"

Eugene entered his office followed by Poppy. She was again baffled by the beauty of his office.

He made his way to the couch and gestured for Poppy to make her sit.

Eugene realised that she was upset, looking at her face. "Don't make such a long face, it doesn't suit you at all. Forget about what happened."

"But you said the other day that Theo's father is my boss. So this is a matter of concern for me. I have no strength to confront him again."

"He may be your employer but he hardly stays at home and even if he does he spends his time alone in the room. Most of the time either he stays in his office or goes on business trips. So your chances to face him are zero.", Eugene explained to him.

"Such a boring life he has. Doesn't he spend more time with his son.", Poppy asked.

He was taken back by her question. After a few seconds of being paused, he said, " It's.. umm... a little complicated"

Poppy wanted to drill on the matter more, but she knew Eugene was feeling uncomfortable talking about his brother and it was not her place to pester him, so she let it go this time.