Restart (A Billionaire Story)

24: Explain

Mr. Greenfield's P.O.V

"I quit" Ms. Bauer said with a stern expression on her face, before closing the door pretty harshly. "What the fuck?" I mumbled to myself. Did she really just quit her job? I was pretty shocked to say the least. It took me a moment to comprehend what just happened. Did I  expected her to still be angry after apologising? Yes. Did I expect her to forgive me though? Yes again. Did I even think about the possibility of her quitting? Definitely not.

As far as I can remember none of my employees ever dared to stand up to me like this. She was different though-in so many ways.

I got up and took a sip of my water, loosening my tie a little as I leaned against my desk. I wasn't sure what to do now. I've had quite a few personal assistants in the past but no one could really compare to Ms. Bauer. I was used to them doing everything in order to keep their job but none of them ever disobeyed me like that, let alone just quit. It was usually always the other way around, with me being the one kicking them out for whatever reasons.

I was really tempted to switch out the water in my glass with some whiskey and just drown all my problems in alcohol. I forced myself to get my shit together though and didn't want to make the same mistake as I made on Monday night.

I tried my best to keep my thoughts straight as I sat down at my desk again. I guess the logic next step would be to just hire a new PA. It's not like there weren't plenty of people who'd gladly take her place. However, I just wasn't sure if that was also what I wanted to do.
I felt bad for Ms. Bauer, even more now than before. I shouldn't even care about it and just move on but as much as I wanted to do that, something in me told me I shouldn't and can't.

After debating for quite a while longer, I put my glass down and then grabbed my phone and car keys, before leaving my office. I could tell that some people on the floor witnessed what happened earlier and a few were whispering things when I stepped out the door. "Don't you have work to do?!" I asked and gave them a stern look. They immediately stopped and went back to work, before I stepped into the elevator.

I made my way to the parking lot and got in to drive to my favourite Italian restaurant. After I got two pizzas for takeaway, I made my way to Ms. Bauer's apartment complex, parking on the side of the street. I got out and took the two cartons of pizza, before walking up to the door. Luckily for me, the front door was open, so I made my way up to her flat right away. I bit my lip, before knocking at Ms. Bauer's door.

'What the hell are you doing here, Alex?' I thought to myself. I've never gone out of my way like this for any of my employees. I needed to make things right again with Mrs. Bauer though so I guess this was necessary.

I was torn out of my thoughts, when the door opened and Ms. Bauer stood in front of me, wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. The surprise was clearly showing on her face as she looked at me with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at me. "Uhm I wanted to talk to you. Can I come in? I brought pizza..." I said, holding it up and giving her a slight smile.

"Are you kidding me?!" She said, looking like she was about to explode any second as she closed the door again. "No. Please. I really need to talk to you. Just give me a few minutes" I told her and held the door open. "Please" I said once again.

I could hear her sigh, before she opened up again and stepped aside. "I can't believe I'm doing this" I heard her mumble to herself as she went inside and sat down at her table. I followed her quietly and put the pizza down on the table, before sitting down as well.

"Uhm so I wanted to talk to you about all of...well everything I guess" I told her and bit my lip a little nervously. The most important and influential business partner didn't manage to make me nervous, however she did. I wasn't used to feeling like this so it kinda scared me.

"What exactly do you mean by everything?" Ms. Bauer asked me, confusion on her face. "About how I've been treating you....and why" I said and looked at her as she nodded.
I still couldn't believe that I was really about to tell her this but I guess I finally needed to be honest to her and to myself as well.  This was so far from easy for me. I can't remember the last time I talked about my feelings or anything even close to it.

"I don't even know where to start. I guess, I'll just start from the beginning...So when you applied for the job, you had a bit of a go at me, remember? I guess most employers wouldn't have hired you after that but I though it was pretty interesting how you stood up to me like that. None of any of my PAs have ever been like you and well I guess that's why I picked you." I started to explain.

"So you hired me because I yelled at you at the job interview?" she asked me, looking irritated as I nodded quietly. "I guess so. Well not only because of that but yeah. You did great at your job even when you had just started. You really did" I told her and smiled at her softly. "Well thanks a lot for telling me now, after always making me feel like I was horrible all the time" she said as she looked at me with her eyebrows raised, annoyance clearly visible on her face.

"I'm sorry. I noticed that I was starting to like you but I'm never friends with any of my employees so I figured acting even bossier would solve that problem. I didn't think much about how that would make you feel" I admit.

"Was that also why you accused me of not being professional and threatened to fire me?" she then asked me. It wasn't hard for me to tell that she was still really hurt by this. It was written all over her face.

"No. That was me just straight up being an asshole" I told her and ran my fingers through my hair. "I don't really know what's gotten into me. I guess I maybe was a little jealous and let it out on you..." I admit. Before she could say anything though, I continued. "I instantly regretted it though. I saw how much I hurt you. I even saw that you were crying later that night. And I'm so sorry for it all" I explained. "You saw me cry? I thought you didn't notice. You were with your girlfriend..." Ms. Bauer responded and I shook my head at her. "She's not my girlfriend" I simply told her.

"I felt horrible because I was being a butt hurt prick and didn't think about how what I said would make you feel. I guess overhearing your conversation with Luke yesterday at work made me hate myself even more for what I did" I continued. "Wait what? You eavesdropped on my conversation with Luke?" she interrupted me.

"No. I mean...Not really I guess. I was about to come to your office to tell you about a meeting but I heard that you were talking to someone and overheard a little of your conversation with Luke. I didn't mean to eavesdrop" I tried to explain. I guess my jealousy might have taken over again. I just couldn't help it and just wanted to know what kind of things she was always talking about with Luke, since I could tell that they seemed to be really close. I didn't want to tell her that though, since I was already pretty much laying my whole heart and soul out in front of her at the moment anyways.

"Anyways, so uhm I felt horrible, knowing that I caused you that much stress and pain. So I thought that it was a good idea to just work even more than I already did to take my mind off of it. And I also though that having one or two glasses of whiskey would help too. And uhm well you know that I ended up having a bit more than just that. But at least it took my mind off of things.....off of you. Well that only worked until you unexpectedly showed up in my office though" I explained and bit my lip embarrassed by what I had just admitted. I knew that I needed to be honest and explain things though if I wanted to make her forgive me.

I then looked at Ms. Bauer, since she just didn't say anything. "Uhm so...I'm really sorry about everything. I know this is not an excuse for my awful behaviour but I just thought that I owed you an explanation" I told her and waited for her reaction, kind of worried.

"You said you were jealous...why?" was the only thing she asked, completely ignoring my apology. I bit my lip nervously as I looked down at my hands. I felt really stupid by what I had already confessed and didn't want to embarrass myself even more.

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First of all, I am really sorry for the long pause but I was really busy once again and I also suffered from a bit of writers block. I'll try to updated more and also more regularly again though!!
I really don't want to beg for likes or anything but it's really motivating to see that people are actually liking my story and want me to continue. So likes and comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks for your support.

xx Steffi