The Headturner

Baby steps

Chapter Thirty-Five - Baby steps

Despite Anne telling him not to bother, David insisted upon dropping her off. She reluctantly gave Adam's address as she had promised him that she would be staying over to make up for ditching him for a business meeting.

David drove the car himself, with Anne in the passenger seat. There was an awkward silence in the car. As much as Anne wanted to talk about the weather, just to overcome the silence, she could not do it without looking stupid. Thankfully, David put on some music before he stepped on the accelerator.

Anne would have thought he would listen to classical music or opera, him being all prim and proper all the time. Instead, it was Imagine Dragons' 'Radioactive' which started blaring.

"Imagine Dragons?" Anne meant to wonder to herself but it was out of her lips before she could realize.

"Yes. Good to know you know music." David said as he took a turn and got out of parking area.

"Of course I do. Music and books are the things that kept me sane." She stopped as she did not think David was interested in her spilling her guts out.

"I never took you for someone who could go insane." When David saw that Anne was giving him a look of confusion, he clarified. "I mean, the way I have been testing your patience, you should have gone insane long time back."

She shrugged, "I guess I have had practice. People have been testing my patience for as long as I can remember."

David shot her a questioning glance. "I was bullied in school."

"For being a nerd?" He asked bluntly.

"For being fat." It was David's turn to look shocked.

"You mean to say your generation thinks you are fat?"

Anne could not help but giggle at him saying 'your generation' as if he was much older.

"In their defense, I used to be much bulkier."

"Ms. Miller, do I sense you falling into peer pressure of adhering to some social norms of body standards? Is that why you barely touched your food back at the restaurant?"

She felt beyond embarrassed that her boss had caught on so easily on her body issues. She regretted having said too much.

"Uh... no... actually I was excited about your proposal, you know?" She tried to lie.

David looked incredulously, "Yes, I know you are too smart to do that." Anne could not help feeling a bit guilty. Without a doubt, David knew she was lying but he was definitely right. She should have been smarter.

"You know what, I was also bullied when I was in school. I was not athletic or outgoing. I was a nerd who was way too serious about life. I was too mature for my age and kids targeted me, probably because they were scared of their own drawbacks. They were not perfect like me." He said jokingly and Anne felt her lips curl up in a relaxed smile. It was unnerving how the awkward silence had turned into such a heart-to-heart conversation. She had not talked about her bullying with anyone else like that. In return, she learnt that her stone-hearted boss had a different side to the story as well. She could understand why he had his guards up.

"But in the real world, all that matters is how you hold up in different circumstances, how you choose to handle the situation." Anne spoke up earning herself an appreciative nod from David.

"I knew I invested in the right person. Look, I know you are too young and it must be overwhelming for you right now. But I trust you would be able to handle it. I will not leave you to man the wheel unless I am sure you won't sink the ship."