The Assistant

Chapter Seven

"It would appear that everyone checked in this hotel today in a hurry due to the news of the Premium Event happening today, but it was moved to tomorrow night, so we have this whole day for ourselves," Mr. Han said, reading over the typed letters displayed on his tablet. "So, I don't need to sit in the bath using the fancy soaps for three hours?" Aurora asked curiously while searching her packed bags for all her needed supplies. Mr. Han laughed as he put down the tablet. "Why would you need to bathe for three hours?" he asked, walking towards the room service phone. "Well, I wanted to smell nice, you know, all these fancy people won't know what cheap deodorant smells like," Aurora said, feeling slightly embarrassed 'why did I say that' she thought slapping herself in the face. He laughed again. "I'm going to have a laughing fit if you keep acting so cute." "It's just me being me, I guess," Aurora said, smiling at him, trying to make this situation a bit less awkward than it already is.

"Shall I call room service for something to eat?" Aurora took a moment to feel if she was hungry enough to eat "Yes, sir." "As much as this is a business trip, you can be less formal with me and use my first name, seeing as you'll be working for me for a while," he smiled. "Wait, I'm not going to get annoyed," he raised his eyebrow. "Why would you think that?" Aurora rubbed the back of her head, feeling stupid, thinking about it now. "Well, after I watched you fire, Miss Jones, I thought I was next." He shook his head. "Of course not. You're the best damn assistant, I know, and I prefer to keep the best of the best with me."

Aurora was shocked, she didn't think she would be that useful, not in a mean way but in a way that she was so insecure and scared of seeing someone get fired she thought it would happen to her too. "Well, thank you, Mr. Han, but I prefer saying that. You're welcome to call me by my first name." "I will." They exchanged a small smile at each other before she realized, "You swore we still need to be professional." Mr. Han laughed before picking up the phone. "Yes, you're right." Aurora has never seen Mr. Han smile and laugh this much; maybe here and there rarely, but everyone thinks he's such an uptight guy when in reality he's pretty fun. Maybe that's the only side he let her see. "I have to go meet up with some board members for tomorrow night; I'll be back in an hour or so. Call me if you need anything or if something happens," and just like that, he left. Aurora was alone, she collapsed on the queen-sized bed the bed they would probably have to share. Aurora buried her face in the pillow, she still couldn't get used to the idea of sharing a bed with her boss.

Mr. Han came back with some tea and sandwiches, the hour he was gone felt like five minutes; then again Aurora didn't do much except be on her phone relaxing from the car drive. "I'm sorry if I took long, I had to wrap up the meeting quickly and see what they had for us to eat; unfortunately this is all I could get as we had to wait till eight to have supper; so they would serve us dinner, because all the chefs were still busy cooking everyone's course". Mr. Han said placing it down on the bed for us to eat, it was obvious everyone here at the hotel was here for the 'The Premier Prize Giving Ceremony,' also known as 'TPPGC.' It sounded so unreal to have such lengths for a silly prize giving but t Mr. Han said it would turn people down if they expected something grand as I thought since it's only for those who are getting promoted or something as well as the models receiving prizes. "There is a little town close by with shops and a café if you're interested" Aurora smiled at the idea "But, our food?" "We can just get coffee and something sweet" Aurora raised an eyebrow "You have a sweet tooth?" He shook his head "I assumed you do" "Yes"

After they ate their long-deserved sandwiches and tea; Mr. Han got dressed in his suit, Aurora didn't know why he would change back after wearing his casual clothes even though they weren't at work, it probably had something to do with the meeting he had. Aurora got dressed in a simple t-shirt and jeans along with sneakers, but, as for Mr. Han, he put on his suit. As we left our room walking to the outdoor section of the hotel just before we reached the town, Mr. Han and Aurora had small conversations from likes and dislikes to childhood memories they treasured. "I can't believe eating a penny is your favorite childhood memory," Aurora said, laughing. "What? I thought I'd be rich if I did," he said laughing as well. "Weren't you rich from birth?" "Yes, but I never thought of the money as my own." "Oh, and this one time I fed a dog an onion." "Dog Killer!" he yelled, taking two steps away from the murderer. Aurora did feel weird having his bodyguard around them; he was walking a meter away from them to give space, when Aurora asked why he needed protection he said his family insisted on it all of a sudden and he couldn't refuse. It felt rude to ignore him, but every time she did try and strike up a conversation with him he requested to pretend he wasn't there unless needed.

"I didn't know; I was like seven years old," he defended himself as we continued laughing. "How about you?" Aurora thought about this one long and hard. "Definitely riding a skateboard, falling over, and scraping my knee," she said, smiling. "How is that your favorite memory?" happily she replied. "Well, I had such adrenaline that when my mom came, I told her I was fine even though my whole knee was open to the bone; of course, I was rushed to the hospital," Aurora said, laughing at herself. "So that's where you got the scar on your knee," he said. "Yes, how'd you notice it though? It's completely healed with every scar removal cream my mom could afford for me." Aurora said, sounding quite impressed. "Well, you are my only assistant, and I just noticed it." "You were staring at my legs, weren't you?" Aurora said with a smug look on her face.

"Yes, Aurora you got me," he said, looking in the other direction. The café was right in front of them their long walk ended as they made their way inside hearing the bell chime. They took a seat right by the window looking at the view, the café was a face brick with black and white trimming. The area was far from the city so everything was more urban. Soon he noticed someone waving him to come out, Mr. Han told her to wait there and order without him since she already knew the type of coffee he liked. Aurora watched as Mr. Han left the café walking towards a familiar-looking man, it was Mr. Mason with another guy next to him, both men were wearing suits looking professional while the mystery man wore casual formal clothes.

Not long their drinks came out and by this time Mr. Han waved her over; Aurora gestured that the drinks were ready for them, but after many communicated hand movements she left the table telling the waiter they would be back. Aurora made her way to the men who were right over the street "Miss Solace, I don't think I formally introduced you to my good friend and most loyal company partner Mr. Mason ." Aurora smiled at him extending her hand onto his; he firmly shook her. "This is my number one right-hand man Michael; he is the male version of you from the way Hiroto speaks about you" "Hiroto?" "Your boss" "Oh yes" it completely went over Aurora's head that her boss had a name beyond Mr. Han. "Well it is very nice to finally meet you in person and not in the office and you too Michael" "He smiled at Aurora sweetly giving her a small wave. Unlike Mr. Mason who looked as if his suit was ready to tear Michael was slim and had a small figure with golden blonde hair that was just past his ears. Aurora laughed nervously, "He will be tagging along with us before tomorrow, I can assure you that he is a trusted man" "Sure" Aurora turned to the café pointing at their drink "Care to join us" "We would love to"