Miss CEO

Chapter 20

"Is it me, or has Miss Rose seemed to be in an awful mood all week?"

I was seated across Javier having lunch.

I placed a forkful of rice in my mouth before replying. "Really? I hadn't even noticed."

That was a lie. This entire week had been hell. Miss Rose was avoiding me at any moment she got. She would not speak to me unless absolutely necessary. Even at meetings; we would sit there next to each other in silence, afterwards we would drive back in silence. Her face was set- expressionless. The worst part of it, I had to pretend that I wasn't bothered by this; I had to pretend to be indifferent to her obvious changes in behavior; I had to pretend that my heart didn't shatter into a million pieces whenever she walked past without as much as a single word or a glance my way.

"Yeah." Javier said as he leaned forward in his seat, "it's been really weird. I've never seen her like this. She seems a lot more irritable as of recent as well. The whole thing is crazy."

"Mmmm," I replied, stuffing another forkful of rice in my mouth to avoid having to come up with a coherent reply.

The rice was tasteless in my mouth. I chewed it mechanically and forced it down my throat before taking a gulp of water to wash it down. I had been drinking freezing cold water much more often as of recently; I like the numbing effect it had. I really needed that right now.

"Are you gonna finish that?" Javier asked, motioning to the rice on my plate which I had subconsciously started playing with.

I pushed my plate towards him and sat back in my seat as I watched him gobble it up hungrily.

"Are you sure you're okay, Muna?" Javier asked, looking up at me with concern etched all over his face, "you seem a bit tense lately."

"I've just been tired and stressed out is all," I replied, forcing a smile unto my face.

It wasn't completely a lie. I was extremely stressed out and tired, but that was due to the fact I couldn't sleep at night. I was too paranoid to even close my eyes for more than a few hours; I felt like I was being watched everywhere I was, and these feelings of paranoia seemed to intensify at night.

"I'll tell you what," Javier said as he leaned over, "why don't you come over to my house tomorrow night. We can watch a movie and unwind."

I almost found myself leaping out of my seat at the offer. I could barely stand being alone in my apartment, anything that meant I didn't have to be alone was good enough for me.

"I'd really like that," I replied, giving Javier a genuine smile.

"It's settled then," Javier said, stretching in his seat before glancing at his watch, "I gotta go Muna, I have a conference to attend."

I waved goodbye to Javier. Shortly after, I got up and began heading back to my floor. Rather than taking the elevator like I usually did, I used the stairs. I really did not want to endure the remaining few hours of work, I was tired and sleep deprived and a headache had begun to form at the back of my head.

I got onto my floor and was instantly shocked seeing Miss Rose standing next to my table with an annoyed look on her face.

"Lunch break ended 10 minutes ago." Miss Rose said unsmilingly as she looked at me, "I pay you for every minute you work here."

"I'm sorry," I murmured, shifting my gaze to the floor.

"That's not good enough." Was Miss Rose's curt reply, "anyway, I need you to go represent me at a meeting at 1pm in Charleston Hotel. "