PLAYHOUSE

TWELVE

Iris' POV

So today marks my first day at Thompson Group of Company and as Cale's secretary.

I can't believe it, I'm here with the person I never thought to see again. I feel a bit nervous actually but I don't exactly know the reason why.

Maybe because it's my first day? Maybe because I've never been a secretary before and I don't have any idea what an actual secretary does...

Or maybe because your ex is now your boss and you'd probably be working for him for the rest of your life--

No. Not that. I said to myself. I'm just nervous, that's all and it's pretty normal to feel that way.

I continued to follow Cale, his employees greeted him as they passed by. I wasn't sure if Cale was even acknowledging them because I don't hear him respond and his broad back was facing me.

My heels clattered over the tiled floor and I just wanna reach Cale's office and finally sit down. I have been standing for a good one hour waiting for this man. But no matter how much my feet were killing me I tried to smile, it is my first day so I should at least make a good impression.

And finally, Cale opened the door of his office and I was met again by tanned walls. Just then, I realized that Cale's office was massive. It's even bigger than my own bedroom! Wow. The maintenance must be spending a good 2 hours to clean this room. This man had really hit the spot.

He took his coat off and was now wearing his plain longsleeved polo and finally sat down on his swivel chair.

"You may sit down, Iris." He spoke and thank God I could give my feet a little rest.

"Thank you." I finally said and sat on the expensive looking chair in front of his desk.

"Do you want coffee or anything?" I was quite surprised that he asked me but I shook my head as I tried to be comfortable on my seat.

"Okay, well let's proceed." He started and cleared his throat. "First off, I just wanna congratulate you for having the spot, I am very much sure that you are perfect for the position and that you would do pretty well." He smiled a bit. That was a really nice thing to say. "As my secretary your task is to do half of my work, you'll do the signing of papers, gonna talk to some of our clients, attend meetings so most of the time you'll be spending your day mostly with me. I hope you are okay with that."

Cale looked at me waiting for my answer. "I don't have any problem with it."

"Good." He spoke. "This company's quite strict when it comes to attendance and performance and we don't tolerate any personal issues here. I hope you know what I'm talking about, Ms. Payton."

I looked at Cale, waiting for him to continue his speech. He had gone from serious to very serious now and I just want him to get to the point.

"I'm sorry but can you just get to the point, Mr. Thompson."

"Well, let's not pretend that we're okay. We both know that we're not. But as workmates and as your boss, I hope we won't bring any personal issues here."

Who does this man think he is? He doesn't tell me what to do because I know exactly what a professional is and should act. And top it all of, he didn't even apologize? Like seriously, I know it happened years back but at least say sorry for my benefit. He had the nerve to tell me that when it was actually his fault why everything fell apart.

Now Iris, calm down. It's your first day do not let anything ruin this.

"Of course." I said back holding my annoyance.

Cale looked at me for a while probably trying to see through me if I was still the weak Iris that he'd known.

Sorry Thompson, but I'm not anymore.

"Right, well, I have here some papers for you to work on and probably by next week I'll introduce you to some of our clients."

"Do I have some kind of table so I could start with these?"

"Oh yes, I almost forgot." He stood up and led me to the door and pointed me to a little office not too far from his. "This is going to be your place, you have a phone there to answer phone calls and your own fax machine. You can even decorate the walls if you want."

"Okay, I think I'm good. Thank you." I said and finally went in to start on the papers. Cale finally turned away and I was relieved that I wasn't facing him anymore. I don't wanna talk to him as of this moment. How dare he? I know what we had was long over but he might at least say sorry. He left me hanging that day. But no, of course he wouldn't apologize. He's too proud of himself. I must admit though, those things coming out from his mouth kinda hurt a bit. I'm growing even more annoyed and my feet were adding up to my annoyance.

"Hi." Someone suddenly spoke catching my attention away from my aching feet. I turned to see a guy wearing a long sleeved shirt, his hair was neatly brushed back giving him the Clark Kent vibe.

"Hello." I tried to smile.

"You're Mr. Thompson's secretary right?" I nodded. "I'm Vince, and you're?"

"I'm Iris. Nice to meet you." I shook hands with him. Vince was tall and lean and I must say, he's an attractive guy.

"Nice to meet you too, Iris." Vince said with a smile plastered on his face. He looked nice and friendly. I was actually glad that someone had already approached me on my first day. In the adult world, it's really hard to find real friends, I've been there and that's one of the reasons why it's hard for me to trust people, resulting for me to have a very small circle of friends. But I prefer my very small circle of friends than have a bunch of people who aren't even reliable enough.

"Say, we're going to grab some lunch later at 12. You can tag along if you want."

It was so nice of him to invite me but I thought first.

"Don't worry, Megan, Archie and Kim won't bite. They're my friends and they're nice, trust me. It would be too lonely to eat alone, you know."

This guy talks too much, but he's nice, so okay. "Okay, maybe I'll tag along. Thanks."

"Good. We'll meet you here later."

I nodded and he left. I had already spent 30 minutes doing nothing. I have to sign these papers, at least half of them before I take my lunch break, I don't wanna have the wrong impression especially to Cale since he's the boss.

I read and signed the papers one by one as I check on the time. I don't wanna be late for lunch with Vince and his friends though, I wouldn't want them to be waiting. I continued on signing, and when it was 11:55 I had already signed half of the paper works. I neatly shuffled the papers aside, and took my bag and finally went down.

When I made it to the ground floor I was met by Vince and 3 others who I guess were Megan, Kim and Arthur.