Hiring Miss Linton

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Lily woke up with a backache - and a headache.

Squinting her eyes to adjust to the bright light, she scanned her surroundings. As she tried to, she felt a pang in her head.

"Urgh!" Lily groaned as she tried to massage the pain away.

"Seems like you're finally awake." Mr Ambrose strode in the room. Lily turned to him, startled.

Seeming to realize that she was lying on a couch in his office, she sat up straight and tried to ignore the pounding in her head. As she composed her thoughts, she recalled what had happened a night ago.

"Are you feeling alright, sir?"

"What do you mean?" Mr Ambrose narrowed his eyes at his secretary.

"You're drink got spiked, sir." Lily grimaced as she thought of a reply. "I certainly thought you wouldn't make it, seeing how helpless you were."

"Then you're wrong." Mr Ambrose sat in front of his desk and sorted through many folders. "As you can see, I am still working efficiently."

Lily resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She can't believe this man!

Before she could stand up from the couch, she heard her phone buzz. Lily whipped it out and read the caller I.D.

James Carter

"Excuse me, sir. I have to take this." She said as she approached her employer.

Without so much as giving her a nod, Lily proceeded to her office and answered the call.

"Hey, James! What's up?"

She heard laughter from the other side of the line. "Well someone sounds like she has a hungover."

Lily's cheeks blushed with embarrassment. "Is it that obvious?"

"Maybe only to me, 'coz we're best friends."

"Damn you." Lily cursed at him, laughing. She sobered up as she saw piles of folders on her desk. "Hey uhm... can you call back tonight? I am currently at work so..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." James quickly apologized. "I'll be looking forward to our talk later, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Bye!" Lily quickly hung up, laughing lightly as she strode to her desk. In her field of vision, she notices an odd piece of envelope on top of all the folders on her desk.

A pink, scented envelope.

***

Mr Ambrose was signing multiple papers when he heard light laughter from the other side of the room.

What is she laughing about again? He asks himself as he continued working.

He would never admit it out loud but he always wondered what made her smile often. Even as he made her work hard like an ox, it would never leave her face. At times he acted like a jerk, there was still a hint of lightness in her expression.

But even if her forehead did crease, she still looked very lovely.

The pen in Mr Ambrose's right hand snapped in half, it's sharp plastic shard wounding his thumb. Hissing, he hurriedly went to the medicine cabinet and took out the needed materials to clean the cut and a box of band-aids.

That infernal woman had been consuming his thoughts ever since he accepted her as his private secretary - which was three months ago. He always pondered if he made a bad decision of taking her in. This job was dangerous. Last night would have been a great example, but she just couldn't resign from the damn job.

And what's more messed up than that? The fact that Mr Ambrose didn't actually want to get rid of her.

A knock from the connecting door tore him from his thoughts.

"Enter." He called out.

A familiar head of brown locks peeked into his office, a quite nervous smile on her face.

"What do you need?"

"I was wondering, sir..."

"I do not pay you to wonder."

"... If you had a pain killer." She said as she fiddled with her blouse. "Or just something to ease my hungover, sir.'

Lily barely caught the packet of tablets thrown to her by Mr Ambrose. As it landed on her palms, she caught sight of a drop of blood on her employer's hand.

"Did you cut yourself, sir?" she tentatively asked.

Silence.

Feeling the corners of the pink envelope press into her thighs from her pocket, she decided this would be the best way to approach her employer about the odd mail mixed in with his correspondence.

Lily approached Mr Ambrose who seemed to be struggling to open a strip of band-aid. Taking it from his hands, she did it for him and put it over the slightly deep cut on his thumb.

Mr Ambrose stilled as he felt his secretary's touch. He hadn't expected her to do that.

Snatching his hand away from her grip after regaining his wits, he curtly spoke. "I can take care of myself, Ms Linton."

"A simple Thank You would be enough, sir." Lily said as she crossed her arms. After a moment, she uncrossed them and reached into her pocket, revealing the pink enveloped that slightly bothered her when she saw it and read who the sender was.

"I thought you might want to see this, sir." She stated as she handed the envelope to her employer. "It was sent by a Samantha Genevive Ambro-"

The object was snatched away from her before she could even finish the sentence.

"Next time you see this kind of letters, do not show them to me. Just throw it away." Mr Ambrose said in a voice so calm, it almost scared Lily.

Without deciding on her next words, she asked, "Who is she, sir?".

Mr Ambrose could have frozen her on the spot if he could. Lily noticed a spark of cold fury in his eyes. "That is none of your business."

Luckily, Lily had thought of a reply to that. "Your business is my business too, sir. I am your private secretary after all."

As she grasped the door knob of the connecting door, she turned to her boss once again. "The world is a heavy thing to bear, sir. You could at least have someone to share the burden with you."

"I already have Karim." He bluntly stated.

"I doubt you would tell him about personal matters such as that." A woman, whom I still don't know her relations with you.

And with that, Lily entered her office.

She can't understand why she reacted that way. It shouldn't mean anything to her if Mr Ambrose had a relationship with another female. She shouldn't care - at all!

Only one thing was for sure. It was really weird picturing Mr Ambrose in the company of another girl other than herself.