Mercy

Chapter Two

"If you drink anymore coffee, you're going to die."

Zyporrah rolled her eyes as she quickly drank her eighth cup of espresso, relishing the taste of strong caffeine.

"I have to be present for three board meetings, file and sort documents and letters, and prepare for a visitor that's coming from another company to discuss a possible merger, I'm drinking this damn coffee," Zyporrah retorted as she set down her empty ceramic mug next to an untouched plated of steamed broccoli and grilled salmon. "I need to be awake to get through this day."

Turning to her right, there sat Saxa, her best friend and colleague; grinning as she continued to eat her walnut and cranberry salad.

"I'm sure Mr. Mal-Chin would be very upset to see his secretary drowning herself in caffeine because she went a little overboard last night," Saxa teased as she watched Zyporrah grimace. "Did you even sleep?"

Zyporrah sighed, ignoring Saxa's question and began to eat her steamed broccoli.

She hadn't slept a wink.

By the time she was finished with Marques it was seven in the morning. While he was able to relax in his puddle of sweat, she had to rush to her apartment, shower and get to work at eight. She had arrived early with ten minutes to spare before her boss arrived demanding reports that needed to be reviewed.

"Does that mean the sleepover is canceled?" Regina pouted as she crossed her arms in a huff, her chicken tenders and fries completely devoured from her plate leaving only a brownie sundae untouched. "I just bought a new pajama set!"

Zyporrah chuckled as she watched her other best friend whine and pout. She was definitely tired even borderline exhausted but that didn't mean their bi-weekly sleepover was down for the count.

"The sleepover is still on," Zyporrah chuckled. "It's about time we left loose anyway, plus I have goodies for you guys!"

Saxa and Regina cooed in anticipation. They loved receiving goodies from their sleepovers.

Since the day they met; Saxa, Zyporrah, and Regina became fast friends and developed a close bond. The fact that they had different yet similar kinks was just a bonus.

"I'll bring the movies and candy," Regina exclaimed happily as bounced in her seat.

"No, I'm bringing the movies." Saxa objected as she wagged her finger in Regina's face. "I'm tired of watching The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio."

"Those movies are classics!" Regina exclaimed. "Everyone loves The Little Mermaid!"

"You guys do realize we only have twenty minutes left in our lunch break right?" Zyporrah quipped as she finished off her grilled salmon. "We can discuss movies and everything else at my apartment, I'm not going back to work on an empty stomach because you two are arguing about Disney movies."

Saxa and Regina rolled their eyes and continued to finish eating their lunch. They all had busy schedules to attend to but Zyporrah had the worst being a CEO's secretary. From eight in the morning to eight in the evening, she was working non-stop. While they were graced with leaving at five in the evening, Zyporrah had to withstand an additional three hours of working, the fact that she had another job was beyond them.

Promptly finishing their lunch, Saxa and Zyporrah bit Regina farewell until they met again for their sleepover and headed across the street towards a towering corporate building.

Walking up the concrete steps, passing the bubbling water fountains and entering its revolving doors, Zyporrah and Saxa were inside The Mal-Chin Group's corporate building.

Hurrying through security and the metal detectors, they rushed towards the elevator happily scoring an empty one and pressing the buttons for the 15th and 30th floor. As they adjusted their outfits, Zyporrah took a deep breath and prepared herself for the onslaught of paperwork that needed to be done.

She wanted this day over with, the espressos had a small effect on keeping her awake and focused but she would have to deal with it. Saying a short goodbye to Saxa, Zyporrah straightened her posture and relaxed her face. She was here to work which meant work efficiently with no mistakes so she could leave. As the elevator door dinged and opened, Zyporrah strode towards her desk with five minutes to spare before her lunch had officially ended.

Taking off her black flats and slipping on her black Christian Louboutin stilettos Zyporrah got to work. She began to read the daily progress reports from all the departments and summarizing them in a brief document to her superior, while then opening and sorting business invitations to corporate luncheons and dinners and squeezing them in her boss's schedule. As she busied herself with managing schedules and letters, she didn't hear the ding of the elevator door opening.

"Efficient as ever I see."

Zyporrah looked up from typing to see her boss, Mr. Joon Mal-Chin.

Dressed in a dark grey Burberry suit with matching tie, her boss towered over her desk with a proud smirk on his face. His black hair was styled and slicked back to perfection while his arms relaxed in his pants pockets muffling the loud ticking of his silver Rolex watch.

"Here are the progress reports sir," Zyporrah said quickly rising from her seat and handing Joon a manilla folder. "I already sent a summarized report to your email."

"Thank you Miss Hayes," Joon replied as he took the manilla folder and tucked it under his arm. "Would you follow me into my office?"

Knowing that this wasn't a question but an order, Zyporrah grabbed her notebook and pen and followed Joon into his office.

His office was massive. The walls were a metallic grey, bare of any pictures. A black leather sofa set was positioned on both sides of the metallic grey walls as his black wooden desk stood in the between them near the glass windows of the office. Near the right side of the office was a closed door hiding a simple full size bed and shower used when paperwork needed to done past normal business hours or when board meetings prolonged past four hours.

As Joon settled in his black leather chair behind his desk, Zyporrah followed seating herself on the smaller chairs in front.

"Have all the preparations been made for our visitor?" Joon asked as he began to skim over the progress reports.

"The hotel room has been reserved, concierge will call me when he arrives. A car is waiting for him as we speak at the airport, and dinner reservations have been made for the two of you as well." Zyporrah reported. "Is there anything I'm missing sir?"

"You have everything covered," Joon replied as he smirked at Zyporrah's quip. "Our guest will arrive after our last meeting has concluded. Speaking of which, are you ready for these meetings?"

Zyporrah rolled her eyes. She had all the files on three companies that were on the verge of collapse that her boss was investing in, she was ready to hear his game plan and what was needed to move forward into bringing profits and stock back up, what she wasn't ready for was the whining from the board of directors that always spiraled into a whirlwind of debacles because they could claim majority of the profits. The fact that they only shared twelve percent of shares was a great move on Joon's part to make sure they didn't steal his company from under him but they were always greedy for more.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Zyporrah huffed as she rose from her seat.

After reviewing and going over the recent updates of his schedule, going over emails and sending afternoon memos, it was time for the first board meeting of three.

The faster these board meetings were over, the faster Joon's esteemed guest would be closer to arriving. The faster Zyporrah could go home.

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