Serum of Love: CEO x Model

5 // Seraphina 🥃

I don't know how long I was up for, it's about three in the morning, so I got up and headed downstairs to the living room. A box that I tossed inside earlier caught my attention as I strolled to the couch, I opened it, and there was a production package for our upcoming shoot. Oh. Right. I have to lead this project. I tracked down the X-ACTO knife in the kitchen and gently sliced through the opening. The entire package was about 300 pages long with details and suggestions on how to complete the entire ad. None of those pages piqued my interest, however, the styling and set design did. Phillip, the one in charge of writing production packages, gave me 3 pages full of different colour themes. All of which had navy blue. I opened my phone, and searched Tobias' Instagram, I compared each colour theme to his skin complexion and shape. Trying to accentuate his grey eyes. For a while, I found myself examining his entire build. Looking back at the colour themes, I understood why Phillip added navy blue to each one, it brought out his glassy skin and grey eyes. An hour passed, and I eventually decided on what I wanted exactly for the promotion ads and posters.
Calvin, my driver, pulled up to the front of my house. Upon entering, I realized I left my wallet in the house, I asked Calvin to wait as I rushed back in. About three minutes in, a memory of me leaving it at the gym flashed in my head, stupid. I ambled towards the car again when I spotted Tobias approaching my house. He looked at the fat numbers adjacent to the door and what looked like, my missing wallet.
"Stalker much?" I taunted, and he only smirked back.
"Nice to see you too, babe. No actually, you left your wallet in the gym, just traced down the address." Words couldn't come out of my mouth, so I said the first thing I could think of.
"Don't call me that." Are you kidding me?
"Call you what, babe?"
"That."
"Got to hear you say it." I swear I'm so close to slitting this motherfuckers throat.
"Don't call me babe." It wasn't difficult to say it, it was just hard to say it to him. "And thanks for giving me my wallet." I almost mumbled those last words, again, not letting him get any satisfaction.
"You're welcome, princess." At this point, I didn't bother, as a fact, I enjoyed it a bit. Calvin's head popped from the window, explaining that we had to leave before my first meeting of the day. Without thinking, I turned to Tobias and offered to drive him to Sophrosyne. "How did you know I was headed there?" Okay, he's either teasing or is stupid.
"Your meeting at 12 with me and the production team." His face untwisted, so, he didn't know.
"Just kidding, I knew the whole time. You thought I was stupid, didn't you?" This is Tobias Park we are talking about, of course, he would know. "I'll ride with you, princess." We piled in the car, and I took out my iPad, sorting out meetings and compiling speaker notes. I peered over at Tobias who was scrolling through TikTok, he liked a video on 'things to do to get a girl to want you'. Oh? Is Tobias Park having a hard time getting girls?
"I can see you looking, are you jealous, Seraphina?" I chose to use my tactic of ignoring the question, which Tobias didn't seem to notice.
Finally, we arrived at Sophrosyne, I headed in the opposite direction of Tobias.
"Sera?" His words stopped me in my tracks, I turned around and saw a lost-looking Tobias.
"Yes, Tobias?" I tried my best to not seem exasperated because that poor guy looked lost.
"I don't know my way around Sophrosyne, can you send someone?" I nodded, speed-dialing Lottie. She didn't pick up the first time, nor the second. I sent her a message, to which she replied abruptly. Traffic, is it urgent? I let out a sigh and slipped my phone back into my pocket.
"I'll take you, where do you need to go?" He smiled and told me where in Sophrosyne he needed to be. We went in together, eyes protruding at the sight of Tobias. Some females in the marketing department asked for his signature, we hadn't reached 20 metres into the building when another group of people asked for signatures.
"Listen, I have duties, and so do you guys. If you plan on keeping your job, please let us go to the conference rooms." Everyone hastily left us alone, Tobias looking butt-hurt that he couldn't sign someone's mug. "Oh come on, I have a meeting I need to attend, and it's on the other side of the building."
"You're a meanie, Sera."
"We're at work, no time for informalities." I was pacing away, Tobias rushing to keep up.
"Sorry, Ms.Maiorana." He had a sly tone in his voice, almost mocking me for being bossy. Once I dropped off Tobias, I heard rushed footsteps approaching behind me.
"There you are, Seraphina!" Lottie had a worried look on her face, she came to a halt, catching her breath. "I heard from Loreli you were here."
"Ah, Tobias needed help going to the conference rooms to review Phillip's production package." I patted Lottie's shoulder, and we both headed to the HR department. A pang in my heart stopped me in my tracks, saying Tobias' name left a bitter taste in my mouth. Both Lottie and I managed to arrive at my meeting just in time.
After my meeting, I glanced at the time on my iPad. Just one more presentation, and I can spend the rest of my day working on my next skincare line. Lottie grabbed a pain au chocolat from the French store downstairs, and handed it to me. I bumped into Tobias, who again, looks lost. Without looking up, I could tell that he was smiling, guiltily.
"Follow me. Lottie, another pain au chocolat, please." She gingerly scurried in the other direction, while I walked with Tobias to the production rooms. The walk was around 4 minutes, however, it felt like the longest walk ever.
"Busy day today?" Tobias questioned.
"Hm, something like that, the day just started. How about you?" We kept walking in silence, I wondered if he was generating an answer in his head. For a few minutes, I was quite hopeful.
"I guess." He sounded a bit sad, as if he had something in his mind.
"Something bothering you?" I turned around and saw Tobias standing still with a grin, he probably thinks I was worried about him. "I'm only asking because you are working for us, and it's our priority to take care of everyone." That should'a covered my slip up.
"Are you worried about me? Is Seraphina worried I have relationship problems?"
"Trust me, I am not worried. If you have relationship issues, good for you." I lied, however, I didn't want to admit it.
"Don't worry babe, I'm not taken." Tobias winked at me, letting out a small chuckle. For whatever reason, I felt relieved that he doesn't have a girl wrapped around his fingers. We made our way to the entrance of the production room, before opening the doors, I came to a stop and faced Tobias.
"I said this once and I'll say it again, please refrain from calling me 'babe'." He nodded, hustling his way to the door to open it for me. I thanked him before walking inside. "Thanks everyone for being here today, as you may know, I'll be in charge of the advertisements since we have the well known Tobias Park." Everyone clapped their hands, Tobias, of course, was digging all the attention. Once the clapping died down, I settled into my chair and began.
The meeting was somewhat productive, the lighting and design team discussed the pros and cons of each individual set. We settled on a navy blue bedroom concept, fitting to the products intended use. Everyone helped out during the planning process, the stylists were toying around with Tobias' features. I worked closely with the design team figuring out where to put certain props, most of it was stressful.
A few hours of shuffling around props, setting up lights, and the cameras, we finally finished the set. I thanked everyone for helping and staying later than usual. As a reward, I suggested I treat everyone to a round of drinks and dinner.

***
We all filed into a small private room, everyone sat shoulder to shoulder, it was sort of claustrophobic, but I managed. The only uncomfortable thing was being awfully close to Tobias, he was shuffling a lot so every time he moved, I felt agitated. The waiter started us off with water and some alcohol, I didn't want to drink with everyone around. As orders came and went, the enclosed room began to feel more tight as the laughter became louder, and the plates were clattering and stacked up. Dizziness overcame me, Lottie noticed and ushered me outside for a break.
"Thanks, Lottie." I weakly smiled at her while trying to control my breaths, she handed me some Tylenol and water. We sat outside in silence, taking in the symphony of crickets and rain. My head began to clear up, thanking Lottie for being by my side.
"I am the best assistant aren't I?" She boasted, which made me laugh. "We should start heading back in, I can see some people getting ready to leave." I peered into the restaurant and saw people leaving the private room, I couldn't find Tobias anywhere.
"Thanks everyone for all your hard work tonight, get some rest." Everyone clapped and expressed their gratitude as they all left the restaurant, Lottie suggested she wait till Calvin arrived. Instead, I told her to just go home and that I will order an Uber instead. Once everyone left, I headed over to the bar, ordering some strong drinks. Too much on my mind, I needed to catch a break.