*3rd Person POV*
An aura of confidence and control surrounds the man as he walks the grounds of the campus outside the main office building. Everyone who sees him knows him and his influence in the offices and throughout the tech world. Behind the man is his assistant, a woman with blonde hair tied up into a messy bun with stray strands framing her face. Her eyes behind glasses with a siren look to them, fitting her straight-to-the-point personality. Her outfit was fairly simple in the terms of professional attire, and contrasts her boss's bright blue suit and clean appearance.
Her red heels click rapidly on the concrete sidewalks as she tries to keep up with the pace of the taller man ahead. Occasionally needing to jog ahead to keep up, her boss slowed down and turned to her.
"I apologize my dear, have I been walking too fast?" he asks, waiting for her to catch up with him.
"Not at all sir, I walk too slow" She says, huffing slightly. She quickly adjusts her hold on the clipboard she hugs to her chest.
"I'll try to slow down, can't have you work too hard in the morning when I need you for the rest of the day" he says, smiling at her before turning around to continue his journey to the door. As he got close some employees who were entering the building at the same time noticed him and quickly scrambled to hold open the door for him. He tips his hat to them as he passes through the door.
"Good morning Mr. {----}! How are you doing?" The woman at the receptionist desk says, raising her hand in a gentle wave and smiling. Her smile was bright, however her pink gums shown a bit too much which made the assistant uncomfortable
" I am doing marvelous, and I hope you are too" he replies warmly, stopping at the desk in front of the receptionist. The Assistant stopped not too far behind, keenly aware of the eyes in the room watching the interaction.
"I am wonderful Mr. {----}! I have your morning coffee right here for you!" The receptionist says, holding up a blue mug with the company logo on it. The man grabbed the mug and took a sip, careful to not get any liquid in his salt and pepper mustache. He raised the mug in appreciation towards the receptionist before going into the office's entrance to the right of the desk.
When they got past the desk and away from the attention of the lobby, the man reached his arm outwards away from his body and turned the mug upside down. The coffee spilled out onto the tiled floor, splashing a nearby employee's shoes. The man then put the mug on whatever nearby surface was available, which was a simple table with a simple fern. He rubbed his gloved hand against his mouth before continuing on
"Remind me to fire that front desk girl, this is the third time she's got my coffee wrong. Plus, I don't like her gums showing all the time, not a great first impression for those walking into the building" The man said, waving his arm slightly to the assistant behind him
"I'll have the correct order sent to your office, and I'll send the janitor to clean the spill" The assistant said, scribbling down notes on her clipboard with a red pen.
"Anyways, what do we have on the agenda today? More meetings I presume?" The man asks, smiling and nodding at different employees that they walk by.
"You have 2 meetings before lunch, one at 9:30 with the sales department and one at 11:45 with Public relations. Then you have a meeting with the programming manager over lunch. Then 4 meetings in the afternoon. one at 1:00 with the production team, one at 2:30 with advertising, one at 3:45 with the groundskeepers. The last one at 4:15 with the legal team, then in between those meetings there's a few other things such as the progress report with the new {-- —----}" The assistant said, flipping through notes on her clipboard as she listed all of the things on the schedule.
"Who decided it was a good idea to schedule a meeting during my lunch break?" The man asked, adjusting his neck-tie to be less tight against his neck.
"You did, sir" The assistant said, finishing flipping through the clipboard.
"Oh, well sacrifices have to be made I guess" The man said as they both stopped in front of the elevator. The man pressed the button and waited, bouncing on his heels slightly. The woman just stood next to him, staring at her blurred reflection in the metal of the closed elevator door.
When the door opened they moved out of the way for the few employees exiting the elevator, who when they saw the man smiling at them tried their best to move out of the way as fast as possible without looking like a lunatic. They enter the elevator, the man pressing the button to the 4th floor, and allowing the door to close.
"There is one more thing I must tell you sir" The assistant spoke. The man turned his head to look at her, waiting for her to continue
"It concerns the east building, and it's important" She said, tensing up as she felt the man's gaze press upon her. He said nothing, just turned back to the door as it opened. They strode on through the group of employees waiting for the elevator. He turned down a hallway towards the private meeting rooms, and the assistant followed. They found one at the very end, one rarely used by anyone. He opened the door and held it open, motioning the assistant to enter. She did, and he followed her in. closing the door and locking it. He pressed a button on the remote next to the door and shades dropped down from the ceiling, blocking anyone from looking in.
"What did you fuck up now?" The man asked, turning to her, his smile replaced with coldness.
"S-sir please, it's not m-my fault" The assistant stammered, putting the clipboard on the meeting table next to her and backing up.
"Of course it's not your fault, it's never anyone's fault. Is it?" he said, stepping closer.
"Sir please" the assistant pleaded, hitting the wall behind her. The man kept getting closer and finally leaned his left hand on the wall behind her and brought his body really close to hers, essentially trapping her without actually touching her.
"Tell me, what happened?" He asked, gazing down at her.
"The game has a glitch, and it seems that the ringmaster can't handle it. We think it's infected him" The woman says, keeping her gaze in line with his.
"A glitch huh? Where is the source?"
"We-... We don't know yet." she admitted, a tear running down her face. He just stared at her for a long while, processing this new information. After a couple minutes his face softened
"You're lucky that I like you, and admire your beauty." He said quietly, putting his right hand on the woman's cheek and wiping away the tear. She leaned into his hand slightly, forcing down any more tears.
"Please forgive my outburst, You understand the stress I'm under and it's been difficult to maintain lately" he said, lowering his body down to one knee and grabbing the women's left hand. He kissed it gently in a form of apology, she just let him.
They walked out of the meeting room and back through the hallways of the office, the man was back to smiling and nodding at the employees. The assistant was looking down at the ground, hoping no one could see her face. They eventually made it to the head office, where they both walked inside. However instead of sitting down and starting business as usual he grabbed the warm cup of coffee and took a sip, then started to go back out the door again.
"Clear my schedule for today please, I have some important business to take care of" he asked, the assistant looked up at him walking away
"What should I tell them if they ask?"
"I need to visit a couple of old friends"
YOU ARE READING
Artificially Organic
FanfictionWhat is Caine? Is he an A.I? is he human? is he Artificially organic? This Fic follows Caine and his thoughts as he works through why he feels so empty. And panics as his many mistakes piles up into a big problem. the other members deal with Caine a...
