Twice the Love

5

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing.

"Hello?"

"Katherine, it's Mr. Pate."

"What can I do for you sir?" At three in the morning!

"After a long night of thinking I have come upon a conclusion."

"A conclusion?"

"Yes, you are going to Deluge to stand as an advocate for Daylight."

"What?" I'm going where now?

"I've already talked it over with Mr. Fane. Starting today you'll go to Deluge's office to work there. We don't want any problems with Clearglass." He hung up. What was that? I'm going to go work at Deluge? Where even is Deluge?

Thank God for Google. Finding Deluge's address wasn't so hard, but was I really supposed to go there? I mean I can understand they want someone over there who knows and understands Clearglass, but this is kinda sudden.

I headed over to my closet, ugh, clothing. What do people at Deluge where? All that came to mind were three way too expensive suits. I jumped into the shower, it's a bit early to start getting ready, but I couldn't go back to sleep now.

I settled on a navy blue dress, black pumps, and a brown coat. Putting my hair up into a bun I checked my phone. Was my team going to get a new leader? I saw that I had received a text from Mr. Fane. We had exchanged numbers last night.

*I enjoyed dinner last night. How does an outing this evening sound?* An outing? What was this for, me coming to his company? I suppose I didn't have much to do at home anyway.

*Sure, what time?*

*7, I'll pick you up.*

*Okay.* Mr. Fane is a more chill person than I thought. Did he really take people out this often for such small things? I glanced at the clock I should probably head to the bus stop now. Deluge is a lot further than Daylight.

I hopped off the bus and walked towards a huge skyscraper. The word Deluge was plated above the doorway in gold. It had one of those spinny doors some hotels had. Inside the building shuffled men in suits and women in dresses.

I walked up to the front desk. A Latino woman gave me a large, blatantly fake, smile.

"Hi, I'm, uh, Katherine Bell from Daylight."

"Oh, yes, Miss Bell. You're early, you should head to Mr. Fane's office on floor 53, it's the only room there," she said.

"Thanks, uh."

"You can call me Leina," she said. I waved goodbye to her and headed towards the elevator. Even the elevator looked expensive, Beethoven's fifth was playing and I pressed the glowing number 53. It didn't seem to move, and a couple seconds later the door opened.

Was it broken? No, the door opened to a completely different room. A desk sat in front of a large glass wall. Bookshelves lined the others, and the floor was made of black marble tiles outlined in gold. I walked into it and Mr. Fane looked up from his desk.

"Miss Bell, or may I call you Katherine?"

"Katherine is fine."

"Right, you shall be working from there," he said, pointing to a desk in the corner.

"I deeply value this contract, and I'd like you to stay here and manage Clearglass for me. I expect nothing but the best from you."

"Yes, Mr. Fane." I sat down in my seat and watched as Mr. Fane returned to his work. No smile, all business. Maybe this is just how he was during office hours. There were people like that.

I flipped open my laptop. This was pretty much what I wanted. 8 hours of silence and work all by myself. No more group projects, no more talking. No more fake smiles, and routine conversations. Just me and Mr. Fane's statute in a seemingly empty room.

I glanced at him, he was both completely different and exactly the same as when I went out to dinner with him last night. Mr. Fane didn't give fake smiles. He didn't bother with small talk. He seemed honest and straight forward. All work no play. Did he really spend all day sitting in this room by himself?

"Get to work, Katherine," he said, anger and irritation mixed in his voice. I jerked my head back towards my computer, but my eyes lingered on his profile.

"Oh," he said, "You were late."

"Late? I was here at 4:40, doesn't work starts at 5?"

"I expect everyone half an hour early," he said, his gaze still locked onto his computer screen, "Don't let it happen again."

"Yes, Sir." Strict, much?

It was 12 pm and my stomach was grumbling. With all the confusion I had forgotten lunch, and I tried to focus on work.

Mr. Fane was staring at me. Was my posture bad or something? I straightened my back, but he continued to stare intently at me. I turned to face him.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Fane?" I asked.

"Make me lunch," he said. What? Lunch?

"Make yourself something while your at it." He pointed towards a miniature kitchen across the room from my desk. He wants me to make him lunch? What the heck?

"Hustle," he growled. I jumped to my feet. I guess it couldn't hurt to make him something since he seemed to be willing to let me use his kitchen to make myself something.

I walked over there. Do billionaires eat BLTs? Chicken soup seemed like a safe option. I opened the stocked fridge and pulled out the ingredients. How many years had it been since I had made chicken soup? Probably the last time my family ate dinner together.

I handed Mr. Fane a bowl of soup which he spun on his desk. He then returned to his laptop, waving for me to leave. I returned to my own desk, I took a sip of the soup. It wasn't all that bad. I looked at my computer screen.

*40 unread emails*

The laptop shut in my face. I looked up to see it was Mr. Fane who had closed it.

"Office rule, no working while eating," he said, walking back to his own desk, gesturing for me to follow. I sat down in front of his desk my bowl of soup in my lap. I watched nervously as he to a spoonful of the soup.

"The chicken is undercooked, and the broth is too thick," he said. My heart sank, I guess I couldn't cook to a billionaire's taste.

"Sorry, would you like me to remake it?" I asked. He shook his head as he took another bite. Despite the what he said he ate the entire bowl of soup. I rushed to finish mine, then stood up.

He looked down at his phone, seeming to have gotten a text, and smiled. A smile like the one when he was at my apartment. A genuine smile of pure happiness. But, it left much to quickly.

"You can head home," he said, "I have other work to do and I don't need you here." I nodded walking over to my desk. I picked up my laptop and walked back to the elevator. Mr. Fane wasn't all that bad.