Blind Date with Boss

Chapter 4

Percy officially considered himself lucky.

Sneaking past Luke wasn't easy but he made it to his desk and propped his head on the desk, pretending to be one of those workers who were laid off from the Blacksmith project. It wouldn't be the most convincing option but it would be enough.

"Percy."

Speak of the devil. Percy looked up, acting exhausted as he asked Luke, "Hey Luke, whats up?"

"Where were you on Friday?" Luke asked abruptly, blue eyes staring intently at the Percy.

The latter, meanwhile, rubbed the back of his head, "I had taken Friday off. Remember, I was telling you how Connor wanted me to use the app that his brother Travis found?"

"Oh, you mean the dating app?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I went on one of those on Thursday."

"How was it?" Luke asked, rolling a chair nearby and propping himself on it as he waited for Percy's response.

The dark haired man chuckled awkwardly, "Well, the app works I suppose."

"How was your date?"

"It was-" Percy thought about what response would satiate his curiosity. How did the date go? It went fine, right? I mean, we ended up at my place, didn't we? Don't you call that a success?

As he kept wondering what to answer, he failed to notice a shadow looming over him till it called out, "Percy." Looking up, he finally spotted Zoe glaring at him, her brown eyes glaring holes into him despite her face not betraying any emotion.

"Yes?"

"Ms. Artemis is asking for you. You'd better hurry."

Percy promptly stood up, apologising and promising Luke to complete his date story later while silently thanking Zoe and Artemis for getting him out of the situation. As he followed Zoe, he realised that this is probably the most he had seen of Artemis' secretary. Like Artemis, Zoe was rarely seen around the building unless she was delivering a message from Artemis or, like this instance, summoning them to Artemis' office.

"About before," Zoe began, her gaze stayed forward without shifting.

Percy remembered the conversation and her threat, that she had played off as a joke, and began sweating buckets, "Wh-What about it?"

For the first time, Zoe lifted her head and looked at Percy, slight surprise visible on her face before steely expression returned and her gaze shifted back to looking at the direction that they were travelling, "Never mind."

The corridor seemed to go on endlessly or maybe it was his hallucination but when they reached the wooden door that held the gold name plate reading 'Artemis', Percy all but fell to the ground thanking every deity he could list off the top of his head. The black haired secretary knocked twice on the door and called out, "Ms. Artemis, I have brought Percy here."

"Come in," the familiar voice called out and Zoe opened the door, leading the both of them inside.

Percy walked inside and his jaw almost fell to the ground as he looked at Artemis' pristine office. From a standard oak office desk to stacked shelves with books stacked orderly, Percy had to admit that the office seemed much more mild and realistic than he had first assumed. Thinking back to it, he can't remember what he initially assumed her office to be but it surely wasn't this... normal.

"Are you done looking, Mr. Jackson?" The cold voice spoke up and Percy focused on the figure sitting behind the oak desk, her gaze piercing through him, the auburn hair tied in a bun and Percy could only gulp as he caught glimpses of her pale skin between the gap of where he hairline ends and the collar of her shirt starts.

"Yes, how can I help?"

Percy forced himself to look away, unable to meet her gaze. They had not talked since he brought her to his house and he was hoping that she would not bring it up in Zoe's presence. He did not want any misunderstandings, although, he wasn't sure why it would matter if Zoe knew or didn't.

"I would like a report from you," Artemis said simply.

To his credit, Percy looked at her stupefied, "What report?"

Artemis's gaze did not falter, "About the Maple Beauty Corporation. I have heard they managed to have success over the weekend so go and prepare a report."

"Oh, that..." Percy was a bit disappointed. He was contradicting himself but he didn't think that she wanted to see him about this, "Yeah, I'll have it at your desk by tomorrow."

"Good."

Silence enveloped the office and he finished, "Am I all good to leave now?"

There was no response from Artemis for a minute before she sighed and nodded. Zoe escorted Percy to the door and said, "I will see you tomorrow Percy."

"See you Zo."

He walked off, unable to see Zoe pausing from that nickname. If the report needed to be handed in the next day, he needed to start as soon as possible; and for that, he needed to meet with those who finally succeeded in getting contracts from Maple Beauty Corporation: Annabeth Chase, Silena Beauregard and Katie Gardener.

"Percy!"

Before that, however, trouble awaits him. Turning towards the source of the voice, he spotted two identical twins sprinting towards him, their moppy brown locks of hair bouncing with the motion.

"Well, if it aint the Stolls," Percy responded as the twins reached him, panting heavily.

The shorter of the twins, Connor, began, "So, did you test the app out?"

"Yep, it works," Percy nodded with a smile, "You can tell your friend that his app is great."

"So, you went on the date?" The taller twin, Travis, asked.

In response, Percy shrugged, acting as if he was unbothered, "I did. Before you ask, the date was alright. Nothing too special and nothing bad."

The Stolls eyed him suspiciously, not wanting to believe his words but they had no reason to doubt him. As long as the app is working, their work is done with him. Connor continued, "Who was the date?"

"Well..." Percy trailed off as he wondered if it was alright to reveal Artemis being the blind date. It wasn't like the date was an actual date. It was more like friends hanging out, not that he'd dare to say something like this to Artemis.

Sensing his hesitance, Travis pulled Connor back, "Cmon Connor, its private to Percy. Let him have his privacy. We can always snoop around later if we want to. We need to go and tell the good news to Beckendorf. Come on."

Connor, in return, scoffed, "As if he'll pay attention to us. He's probably busy exploring his girlfriend's mouth than to indulge us."

The two began discussing as they walked away, leaving Percy behind all alone. With a shake of his head, Percy rushed to find Annabeth to ask her about the Maple Beauty Corporation's contract. He was not disappointing Artemis a second time.