Always The Second Choice

6. Retry. Repeat.

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"Oh my god, everyone has seen it!" Nicola screeched as she paced her office room.

The new intern, Heather, had went and posted the celebration on social media and now it was trending.

"I would ask her to take it down but many other handles have already reposted it." Blair bit her tongue. She felt guilty - it was her job to make sure that everything went smoothly but she had forgotten to warn them not to post anything.

While the rest of the team knew how much of a private person Nicola was, the new kid didn't.

 Not exactly a kid. She was twenty-four, two years older than her Boss. But she had not had to go through the pains of being an adult like Nicola did even before she had actually become an adult.

"There's no use. There's no use. EVERYONE saw me laugh and dance and play!"

"That's your concern?" Nicola's thirty-year-old assistant raised a brow at her.

Nicola let out a deep breath and turned to her, her face neutral. "Blair."

"Boss."

"Go to my apartment and pack all my things - don't leave a thing - and bring them back here. And take Heather with you."

"Power abuse?" She smirked.

Nicola sighed and folded her hands together. "Feel some pity for me and do it, madam."

Blair laughed. "I don't understand your need to be so poker-faced in front of the world, and in front of your own family. They are supposed to accept you the way you are. The way we accept you."

"Well, I don't know for sure if you guys accept me or just tolerate me." Nicola shrugged.

"You, my dear Boss, have some serious insecurities," Blair said as she typed a message to Heather to meet her at the parking lot.

"You wanna say something to the intern, Boss? She's scared out of her wits."

"Quote me for her. Last chance. One more slip up and..." Nicola pretended to slit her throat while making a slitting sound.

"Aye aye, Boss."

"Boss!" George barged in like his buttocks were on fire.

"Yes, Georgie?"

"Your ex-husband's here."

Nicola looked at Blair and then at George and stomped her feet like a child. "My reputation went down the drain!"

Her staff turned out to be traitors, for they burst out laughing at her plight.

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Nicola took a sip of her coffee, her eyes intently on the mug. She could feel Dominic's eyes boring into her skull but she held onto her sheer will and refused to make eye contact.

"You've got some funky moves."

Sheer will.

"And a mean right hook."

"It's not like I actually hit you." Nicola immediately shut up as Dominic loudly placed his coffee mug down.

"Eye contact please." He said, humor in his voice.

Nicola sighed and looked up, her poker face intact. "I apologize for the misstep on my employee's part. She should not have posted the video."

Dominic chuckled. "But you are not sorry about doing what you did."