Betrayed To Be Loved

Chapter-5 Nervous Yet Confident

Arabella

I have never felt so stupid ever before in my life, I could not recognize Mr. Ethan??? Arghhh... how did I manage to miss the fact that such a handsome man whom I am seeing for the first time in two months; that too on the day we have our meeting with the big boss is non-other than the devil himself. Ok now I know it's not good to call someone a devil right after your first meeting. But I can't ignore the fact that he did behave like one, I mean the man was scowling at all of us as if he was ready to eat us up. There was no special treatment for Mr. Jason who also turns out to be his cousin. The gist of the meeting was that Mr. Ethan was not very impressed with our department's progress report. He had a serious conversation with Mr. Jason demanding the reasons behind this not so good progress. To be honest I did not like the way he was treating my boss, so what if he is the big boss I have seen how much hard work Jason does. Anyway the worst part of the meeting was the end where Mr. Ethan called out my name and said he wants to have a word with me. I felt I was going to have a panic attack but tried to calm my nerves. Well the reason he wanted to talk to me seemed really silly to me but then I remembered how much I have heard about his obsession with punctuality. He told me that next time I should be able to punch in at least 5 minutes before the office hours begin, as today it was just a minute before. I couldn't say anything so just nodded in agreement. One thing about him did intrigue me a lot, the left side of his face had this really big scar, and it did make him look dangerous. Now I understood why Victor said one side of him is creepy, in all honesty after seeing his full face I did not like Victor's description. The scar definitely seemed to be the result of some accident. I don't like labeling people because of their physical appearance. I wonder how he got that scar, must have been painful.

Once we were out of the conference room, Jason asked me to see him in his office. Now I wonder what could be the reason, right now I am in the lift thankfully with a bunch of people but still I can't say that I am absolutely comfortable. Only God knows if ever I will be able to get rid of my phobias, it's not just one by the way. Probably the beginning years of my life that I had spent at the orphanage also has a role behind my different phobias...let's not think about all of them right now...my sub conscious mind tries to knock some sense in me. As the lift door opens at my floor I rush out of the metal box and walk straight into Mr. Jason's office. He was not here yet so I took a seat outside his office, I had to wait for hardly five minutes and then followed my boss to his office as he gestured me to follow him. This guy is easy to work with if you are minding your own business, do your daily tasks efficiently and on time; you can easily get into his good books. To be honest I don't know yet if I have made it to his good book or not, he won't give away any clues. But according to Mrs. Johnson the fact that I am assisting Jason in itself is a proof that I have made it in his list of favorable employees.

Anyway as I enter his office Jason doesn't even ask me to have a seat which is usually the first thing he says, I guess I am in trouble here...

"What was with the ridiculously immature behavior outside the conference room?" Jason asks me in a pissed off tone. I couldn't help but flinch a little at his raised voice; I should have known this was coming. I stay silent trying to gather all the courage I could to stop myself from crying and keep my eyes lowered. Well this is another one of weakness; I get really nervous if someone talks to me with a raised voice, I just can't stop the tears that threaten to leave my eyes. And first these tears are out of fear followed by tears of frustration. Frustration that I couldn't be strong enough, the same is about to happen now but I am trying my best to keep a check on my emotions. Jason seems to have noticed my body language and finally asks me to sit which I immediately do. I hear him take in a deep breath and ask me again, but this time his voiced is quite calm and composed...

"Arabella, I really want you tell me the reason for your behavior up there." I finally look at him and answer...

"I am really sorry Sir; actually it was my best friend Edna's call and she told me that her boyfriend for three years has proposed her for marriage. I just got carried away and out of excitement didn't realize where I was. This won't happen again, I am really sorry." Well that is actually the truth; it was Edna who called me. Though first I got a little irritated as to why was she calling me at that time since she was aware of my meeting but the moment she told me that Jimmy has asked her for marriage I couldn't be happier. So here I am now sitting in front of my boss being scolded like a five year old. After a pause of may be 5-7 seconds Jason says something that has my eyes as big as saucers...

"Ethan's personal accountant Mrs. Sara will be leaving in the next two months and I wanted you to replace her. But after your first impression on Ethan I doubt if he will even listen to me. I know you have it in you Arabella, but if you think to impress me with your work is difficult then with Ethan you can increase the difficulty ten times." I couldn't react, no way was I willing to work for the big boss that too as his personal accountant. But I guess I should not panic as Jason already said that Ethan might not agree on taking me. I know this sound stupid but once I settle in a place it is very difficult for me to move away. Working with Mrs. Johnson and now under Jason directly I have become comfortable here, I am not a very ambitious girl and so once I settle somewhere I don't prefer changes. Good or bad I don't know but that is just how I am. Finally I walk out of Jason's office with a frown on my face as Jason said that he will still talk to Ethan about me. I wonder what bad I did to my current boss.

The office hours were finished and I picked my stuff and walked towards the lift. Thankfully I had company and reached the basement surrounded by a few of my colleagues. In the parking lot I saw Victor standing near my car, I smiled waving at him. We spoke about our day and he apologized once again for the morning. I told him its fine and that I did make it on time, I asked Victor if Edna called him or not? And yes Edna did tell him about Jimmy's proposal, though I could see that Victor was not happy. Even I knew that Jimmy and Victor were never on good terms, both of them don't like each other. It is just for Edna's sake that both try to remain civil if they meet that is. Jimmy once said that Victor is not what he pretends to be, I still wonder what he actually meant by that. Whatever it is I like both these guys but don't really understand their dislike for each other. Edna is happy and that's what is most important for me. I finally bid goodbye to Victor and drive back home, it was a long day and I just want to lie down on my bed and have a nice nap.

Third Person POV

Around 6 in the evening Jason goes to meet his cousin Ethan in his office. Ethan is in need of a new personal accountant and Jason has a few people in mind. Though he wants to give this opportunity to Arabella, he thinks he has seen it in her. But as expected after witnessing Arabella's silly behavior before the meeting Ethan right away said a big NO for Arabella to be his personal accountant. According to him she seems too young, immature and unprofessional. He couldn't deny that she was good at her work after seeing her progress reports. But he still did not agree to give her this position. It was too soon to trust her to be Ethan's personal accountant; she has hardly been in the company for 2-3 months. Jason couldn't disagree with his cousin. Finally they decided to get the senior accountant Mr. Roy transferred from the New York branch to be Ethan's personal accountant. Ethan was getting impatient now; he wanted Roy to join as soon as possible so that Mrs. Sara is able to guide him. Ethan was in no mood to do babysitting by grooming his new personal accountant himself. For heaven sake he had so much already on his plate.

It was decided that the next day an official e mail will be sent to Mr. Roy and his department head regarding his new position as the CEO Mr. Ethan's personal accountant. Ethan was a bit relieved and so was Jason. Both brothers left office together and headed to Ethan's house to have dinner and a couple of drinks together.