Ginger Sweets

Chapter One

Steven:

I hated ‘bring your kid to the office’ days. Whoever made up such a thing must have been out of
his mind.

My assistant, Sally, had requested to bring her younger brother to work, since they did not have
parents to take him anywhere. That’s why I was a little confused when she came in with
someone dressed in a green tartan dress.

“ Good morning, Steven! This is my brother Edwin.” Sally introduced me to the… boy. I took a
look of the face that was partly hidden by soft, ginger curls. It was the prettiest face I’ve ever
seen. Pale, soft features decorated with few little freckles. Suddenly my hatred for ‘bring your
brats to my office’ day started to resolve.

“ Nice to meet you, Edwin.” I said and offered a handshake. Edwin’s hand was warm and a bit
sweaty, he looked very nervous but determined to come across as polite.

“ Thank you for letting me come here today, sir.” His reply seemed rehearsed, but I didn’t mind.

“ Actually I have a little job for you, Edwin.” I smiled, coming up with a plan to get to know this
perfect little creature. “ If it’s okay with you, Sally?”

“ Of course it is. Do your best, Winnie, I don’t want to lose my job because of you.” Sally gave
her brother a playful push and headed towards her own desk.

“ If you’d follow me.” I said to Edwin, who was blushing furiously because of the nickname his
sister had just given away. He followed me to my office and I pointed him a spot with a chair at
the corner of my desk.

I took a good look at him, while he was nervously shuffling towards the
chair. He had long, slim legs covered in mustard yellow tights, tiny waist, accentuated by the
dress’ tight waistline. His hair was cut shorter on the back, showing off the pale, slender neck I
just wanted to bruise with kisses.

“ Are you good with grammar?” I asked him while tracking down a small stack of papers I was
going to give him.

“ Um, yeah, pretty good, actually.” Edwin offered me a nervous smile. A smile I immediately
wanted to see again.

“ That’s good. I would like you to take a look at these. It is litteration of a phone conversation.
Check that it’s understandable for a reader. Sometimes the program makes silly mistakes, so if
something doesn’t make any sense, you can listen to that part from the original recording.” I
explained and handed him earphones and a red pen and started to look for the right file from a
laptop I was going to borrow him.

Edwin looked slightly overwhelmed but nodded, when I asked if everything was clear.

“ If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask.” I gave him a reassuring smile and sat down onto my
own chair. I glanced at the boy and smiled when I saw him reading the paper with the utmost
concentration.

Surprisingly comfortable silence fell to the room. Only the subtle ruffling of papers and my typing
could be heard.

“ Um, Mr Carol, sir?” After a long while Edwin’s soft voice got my attention.

“ You can call me Steven, you know, especially in private.” I added with a slightly flirting manner.

“ Oh thank you, sir. I mean Steven!” Edwin looked a bit flustered.

“ So what’s the matter? Do you need help?”

“ Yes, please. I tried to listen this part but I still have no idea what you were talking about in it, so I
don’t really know if the litteration is anywhere near readable.”

“ All right, let me take a look at it, Winnie.” I said with a chuckle.

“ Oh my God, I’m so going to kill Sally.” Edwin sighed and hid his face into his hands.

“ Please don’t, she is a very good assistant. And I find Winnie a very cute name.”

Edwin:

I had been terrified of the idea of ‘be a nuisance at you sister’s work’ day. Especially because I’d
seen pictures of her boss. Steven Carol, the CEO. Probably the coolest, most handsome man in
the world.

I had asked Sally if I should wear boyish clothes, but my sister had said that I should
be me and not give a shit about others’ opinions. Mr Carol, Steven, did not even bat an eyelid
when he saw an eighteen year old boy in a pinafore dress, so I suppose it was okay to wear a
dress in his presence.

Steven was nice. He smiled a lot and gave me a real task, which made me happy. It made me
feel a bit less like a nuisance. He invited me and Sally for lunch. Sally chatted casually with her
boss while we were walking towards the lifts. I tried to walk a bit behind them to keep a
respectful distance. But to my surprise Steven put his hand on the small of my back and guided
me to walk alongside him. His touch sent sparks up my spine. Guys sometimes grope me and I
hate that, but Steven’s firm touch was not creepy or humiliating. His touch made me giddy but it
also made me feel safe and accepted.

I gave Steven a questioning look, but he kept talking with Sally, like resting his hand on my back
was the most natural thing to do.

Half way through the best lunch I’ve ever had, Steven coughed a little, like he was going to say
something important.

“ It’s good that we met, Edwin. I really need to take Sally with me for my next business trip and
she’s quite reluctant, since she doesn’t want to leave you alone for two weeks. I was thinking of
bringing you with us. That way you don’t have to be alone and I can take Sally with me.”

“ No please, Mr Carol, that’s way too much. You know I don’t like the idea of leaving Edwin
alone for such a long time, but he’ll manage, his eighteen now. And he needs to go to school.”
Sally said quickly.

“ But you would go crazy with concern, Sally. I’ve seen how you get when he doesn’t text you in
time.” Steven laughed teasingly. “ So Winnie, would you like to come with us? I’ll arrange
something educational and interesting for you to do while we work, of course.”

Two weeks trip with the sexiest man alive? Yes, please!

“ Sounds great! But I’m not sure they will let in slide in school.”

“ You just leave it to me.” Steven said confidently and gave Sally I smile that clearly said it’s settled.