Tall, Dark and Handsome

chapter 3

I had arrived to work bright and early the next day. There was hardly anyone in the office except for Mr. Richardson's ancient secretary, Margaret, who was already bustling around the small kitchenette, making his coffee. I gave a warm smile to Margaret as I passed along, not wanting to stop for our usual light chat as I was sure she was going to figure out something was wrong about me. I had arrived home yesterday in a complete trance. The whole car ride from the movie theatre to my small flat on the east of London seemed to be like a dream. I had somehow managed to step out of the car, unlock my flat door and proceed to do my normal routine before going to bed all in a daze. It was only until my head physically hit the pillow did the shocking revelation that one of the most powerful men in London knew who I was, kissed me and apparently wanted to have sex with me.

I sat down in my little cubicle, unsure of what to do next. I had already finished the work I was ordered to do yesterday so now I had some few extra minutes before more work would be assigned once Alfred came in. Deciding that fear was getting the better of me, I pulled myself in closer towards the desk on my chair and began searching up why exactly might be the reason I feared him.

Tom Hiddleston Girlfriend.

2,456,895 results.

The number was quite impressive, I thought bitterly to myself. I began navigating through various links that caught my eye. Apparently, his last girlfriend was an American supermodel named Kimberly Knight and they had been reportedly broken up to do timing conflicts and whatnot. However, as I skimmed through more and more of these tabloid websites, other reports claimed Tom was cheating on her with another supermodel who was also Kimberly's best friend. I was never the one to believe in silly things like these as it was a general rule that one shouldn't trust tabloids ever but as I clicked the image results, I was blown away by how many pictures of him with other females presumably his girlfriends. All of them were beautiful enough to become models and actresses. They were all so tall, so lean and perfectly well dressed. So why the hell was he interest in me when clearly there were so many beautiful women who were practically lining up the door to date him?

"Good morning!" Alfred said in a cherry mood. I leaped out of my chair, taken aback by his appearance out of thin air. My cheeks flushed red as I quickly exited all the tabs I had opened about Tom, not wanting to seem like I was a total stalker. "I've got some news for you..." He said in a low voice, taking off his thin wired glasses and squinting to study the smudge on the lens. Grunting, he wiped it off with his fat hideously patterned tie and smiled back at me. "Would you mind stepping into my office?"

"Yes, no problem." I hastily got up. What on Earth did I do now? I thought as I entered his medium sized office full of boxes of old files, plastic plants and a moth eaten couch. He closed the door behind him and then walked around to his side of the table, leaving me standing there in the middle of his office, not having the slightest idea what to do.

"Please, sit." Alfred motioned for me to take a seat in the chair in front of him. Hesitantly, I sat down on the very edge of the seat, spine erected. I never had any serious conversations with Alfred before. If he wanted me to do something, he would either leave a note on my desk or send me a wordy email stating all my instructions for the day. "Since working here, Amelia...We know your value to the company. We appreciate it a lot. In fact, I believe you put in more effort than anyone on this floor, in this building and maybe even in the company...So it's my deepest apologies that I—"

Panic rose inside me, stealing the very breath out of my lungs. His speech had suddenly gone from heart-warming to sudden regret as his eyebrows furrowed deeper. I can't lose this job. I can't lose it.

"Have to transfer you into corporate."

"Please don't fire me!" I squeaked, talked right over what he was saying.