The Dream

Personal Assistant

-Zain Danial-

"Mr Danial?" 

I stopped before entering the building to look at the security guard who had stopped me, wide grin, young and energetic figure it seemed. 

"Yes?" 

"You're our CEO's new personal assistant right?" I couldn't help but smirk at him knowing this, word travels fast here that's for sure. 

I nodded back at him, "That's me." His eyes seemed to sparkle at my answer and he outstretched an arm towards me. 

"I'm Micheal Adless," He glanced up towards the upper floors of the building, "Her security guard." I shook his hand, noticing his firm hold, impressed.

"You have quite the grip," I complimented when we let go which made him look at me with glee. Could this kid get any happier? It almost made me want to grin with him. 

He looked down at his hand, a weirdly happy look, "Really?" He asked me, " When I first met the boss, she told me that the gain of respect starts with a firm handshake, a great posture and confidence!" I raised an eyebrow in amusement. This kid was awfully enthusiastic about the CEO despite her being a woman. That reminded me,

"Why is it that everyone here avoids saying Carla's name-?"

He grabbed my shoulder before I could finish my question, grip a lot more threatening than his handshake. I looked into his eyes, startled, they were no longer sparkling. Instead, they were looking at me with warning. He shook his head and slowly let go of my shoulder, quickly greeting the workers who passed us and into the building with the same excitement I had first met him with. 

After they were gone, he turned back to me with the serious look again. "She probably hasn't told you yet, but we have a rule at this company, 'the CEO is just the CEO, no he, no she.' I know it sounds weird but the business world isn't a kind one. A female CEO would never get the same respect and attention that a male one would." I gulped a little at this, it was unintentional but I thought the same. "Miss Carla Siddiki is the first one to go in every morning and the last one to leave every evening and makes sure everything is always perfect and stable within her corporation, I think if anyone deserves respect as a hard-working leader, it's her. So please, follow the rule." 

After that he bid me goodbye, telling me that he doesn't want to be the reason I was late on my first day. I didn't say anything much back although I had a lot I wanted to ask. I figured I would just ask her directly. 

-

"Ah, good morning Zain, come in!" 

My ears couldn't help but enjoy that silk of a voice she had but I forced myself to put it past me as I walked into her office. "Morning, Miss Siddiki," 

She smiles and motions towards the seat in front of her as she sat on her own. Her chair filled in the gap of intimidating height that she lacked and so as I sat opposite her, I felt quite small. I noticed there were cups in front of both of us containing coffee instead of tea like last time. 

"You can relax, it's your first day, I don't expect much work from you. I freed this morning so I could answer the questions I know you have about the company, about me." She read me perfectly, quickly, confidently. It almost caught me off guard but I refused to slip so easily. My strengths came in my knowledge, in my ability to speak, my ability to lie. 

I watched as she lifted her cup to her mouth while leaning back on her chair and swivelling half her chair to face the city below her. The light against her face allowed me to notice her long eyelashes, her dark eyes and her sharp jawline. This woman-

"I didn't say I had any questions." 

Why does she-

She turns her eyes to glance at me from her cup, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Don't make me repeat myself. I said I know you do." 

I took a sip of my coffee all without breaking my stare on her. I wouldn't let her intimidate me. I've always been above others, leadership hierarchy or not. 

"Why did you choose me? With how the interview went, I was certain I'd be disapproved of." She put her cup down on her desk and reached under the desk to a drawer where she took out a file, opening it and scanning it as it was held in between her long slender fingers. 

"Grades triple A*, A and B at A levels, graduated university with a Master of Science degree and multiple work experiences in different fields-" 

"You chose me for my qualifications." 

"-I don't hear of many students who decide to do five A levels at a time. You must have some confidence in your ability to decide to do something risky like that. You're hard-working too, those subjects all excelling with perfect grades." 

"It came naturally, the only reason I got a B instead of another A was that they were persistent on pressuring me with work I didn't deem necessarily useful nor knowledgable." 

"Dedication showed through university-"

"A degree is the easiest way to gain respect." 

"And the flexibility of work-"

"I was bored."

I didn't notice until after the words flew through my mouth that what I was saying, how I was cutting her off, may have seemed rude but I didn't apologise. She didn't look affected by it either, not in the slightest. Her face was calm and patient. She took another sip of her coffee before looking up at me again, letting the files drop out of her hand. 

"And?" She asked but I didn't reply straight away. She leaned her face on her hand a looked at me with a look I didn't understand. It was as if she already knew everything I had just said though, that they weren't really the reasons that she hired me and she was now asking me whether I knew what it was if it wasn't those things. 

"The skills and qualities that have made me get this far are what makes the best company's employees 'the best..." 

She looked at me smugly before leaning back again.

I personally didn't even know where those words came from. Never would I say something like that on my own but the way she looked at me, the aura of not just her but the room, the building itself, everything that I knew about this place, drove me to say those words and it shocked me. 

"Not everyone would be able to tell me what you just did. It's usually me who has to bring it to their attention, that doesn't make them worthy of the 'Royalty' title." She starts and suddenly something waves through me. Something I had never really felt towards an individual. 

"Everyone in this company must acknowledge that they have their unique talents and powers over specific objects or people. I find those people and I hire them if I believe they will allow this business to continue to strive and grow towards success and beauty. Stability doesn't just come from foundations, although they are important, it's every level of the tower, with the top leaning in the direction in which the tower will tilt. You showed me you have this potential."

It was respect that I was feeling.

"But what about the way I treated you? Dismissing the thought that a woman like you could be the CEO." 

She chuckles at me before giving me a reply that, for the first time in my life, shut me up.

"Oh, I found that quite cute."