Maisara's pov
"Good morning, Maisara!"
A dramatic groan leaves my mouth as soon as I hear the animated female tone from the other side of the office door. The only human being whom I know to be so perky at this early in the morning is surely none other than my dearest colleague, Chloé.
I look up from my laptop just as she confirms her presence by opening the door and popping her head in. Flashing a wide grin, she chirps, "May I come in?"
I lean back on my chair watching her already sliding her body inside. "Would you not come in if I say no?"
She lets out a laugh which sounds really out of space in the quietness of my office. Actually, her whole colorful attire and cheerful personality are in contrast to the dark theme of my office.
"Silly girl, you can't say no to me." She walks over to me adding a dramatic sway on her hips and places them over the corner of my desk, her wide-legged pants crinkling near the thigh with the motion. I narrow my eyes at her. "I pretty much can."
Another carefree chuckle. "Nope."
"Get out," I tell her in a seriously flat tone before turning my attention from her to my laptop. She places her hand gently over the top cover of the laptop and closes it. Her vanilla perfume hits my nostrils suggesting to me that she has moved closer. I don't realize exactly how much closer she is until I look back at her face and find it inches away from me.
"That was hot. Say that again," she whispers and her minty breath fans on my face. Her hair is brushed back into a neat bun. But as she leans forward, a few strands come out of their space and fall over her eyebrows.
I lean back on my chair, raising my eyebrows slightly. "I'm quite serious, Chloé."
"So am I, darling." I frown realizing her whispering tone has turned into a seductive one. "Are you seriously flirting with me this early in the morning, Chloe Sinclair? And here I thought you don't swing that way."
She lets out a small chuckle, moving back a little. Her fingers work on the strands to move them back to their places while she says in a dismissal tone, "Oh, for you, I swing all way."
I shrug, suppressing the urge to smile. "Well, sorry for you, but I don't."
"You will eventually, dear. Don't worry." She winks to which I roll my eyes. She slides off the table and walks over to grab a chair. Pushing it beside mine, she turns the back of it towards me and sits on it in a very unladylike position. Finally, when she's comfortable, she goes, "So, now tell me, how was your weekend?"
The whole weekend flashes before my eyes. From the apartment and the argument between Lydia and me to the fight between Ryker and Felix to the reading session in the library and lastly the phone call from Daisy. At this point, the last working day feels like a whole month ago. I realize a deep breath. "Just a long weekend."
"Mhm, tell me about it." She crosses her legs and leans back on her chair. Her eyes shine with newfound interest that tells me she's ready to hear all the gossip. People in our office don't call her gossip queen for no reason. She literally lives on gossip.
And I'm not dumb enough to provide all the juicy gossip about me so that she can go and supply them to all the people around the office. The only gossip I decide to hand her over is that I suddenly had a chance of mind and moved out of my apartment overnight.
"Eh, moving out is a hell lot of work." Luckily, that's her only response. I nod my agreement with her and then before she can ask any more questions, I inquire, "How was yours?"
Of course, she has to sigh dramatically at first. Then she leans forward placing her hands over the backrest of the chair and crossing them there before putting her chin on top of them. Her expression tells me beforehand how her weekend went even before she starts talking.
"Busy as hell but every moment was worth it. As you know already, I went back to Spain to attend my cousin's wedding. The drama in there is one thing but-"
She gets cut off by the sound of a new notification popping on her phone. She reaches for it over the table and turns around to check the notification. As a response to that certain notification, she lets out a squeal so loud that I'm pretty sure my ears have started bleeding.
"What the hell, Chloé?" I hiss at her rubbing my ears. She doesn't bother to look up. Still grinning at her phone screen, she answers, "Moonlight posted."
I should have already guessed it from her expression. Moonlight is a random faceless guy with thousands of followers on Instagram who likes to post thirst traps every now and then. And girls like Chloé are obsessed with him. I mean like on what are you crushing, girls? You don't even know his real name, let alone what his face looks like. The only things you know are his Instagram account name, Moonlight with double zero like your brain, and his thirst traps.
"Oh my gosh, he looks so hot!" She squeals again making me cringe. Of course, he does. That's a thirst trap, for God's sake. What else are you expecting?
"You should see it too." And before I can get a word out, she shoves the phone to my face. I hold it before it hits my forehead and look at the screen.
There is this 'moonlight' guy simply sitting on a table and eating some sort of salad. His head is out of the camera frame as always, the only visible portion is from his neck to his chest including his hands over the table. And of course, the editing, posture and lightning of a simple photo like this make it look like a thirst trap. The post is 45 seconds old and already has 867 likes including Chloé's and 24 comments. The caption says Good morning with a sun emoji. I hand back Chloé her phone.
"Isn't he so fuc-"
"No, he is not," I respond cutting off her squeaky voice. My hard glare is enough to make her shut her mouth and return back to her phone.
The fact she doesn't notice is that I'm lying. It hurts to admit when he's making such cringe content but he actually does have a great body.
A few minutes later-
Chloe is briefly describing the drama she faced at her cousin's wedding when an abrupt knock on my office door cuts her off. Both of us exchange a look before glancing at the door with me barking, "Come in."
The door opens with a click and a blonde head pops in followed by a grinning face. "Good morning, Maisara."
That's our new intern, Jeremy. He is a male version of Chloé, a more sarcastic version. Probably that's one of the reason why Chloé finds him rather interesting.
I glance once at her while he makes his way to my desk. She has jumped out of her position on the chair and now standing with a hand on the desk. And of course, her eyes are glued to him with her cheekbones slightly tainted pink. I debate forbidding her to not be so obvious but then decide to go against it.
I don't know if Jeremy is seriously oblivious to Chloe or if he's outright ignoring her gawking. However, he's not ignoring her presence. His eyes move over her and he nods his greeting to her as well.
"Oliver is looking for you," he tells me. The name alone is enough to set off an alarm in my head. It is an effort to not glance at Chloe when her hand suddenly grips mine tightly in warning under the desk. I squeeze it back keeping my face neutral as stone as I stare up at Jeremy.
"Meet him in his office as quickly as possible," Jeremy adds, looking from me to Chloe, then back to me. I'm not entirely sure whether he senses the sudden tension in the air or not. "He seems........serious."
"Tell him, I'm coming," I reply tightly even when Chloé repeatedly keeps squeezing my hand to make me say no. Jeremy nods before walking out of the door.
When I'm sure he's out of earshot, I look back at Chloé just at the same time, she hisses at me, "What the hell, Maisara? No, you can't go meet him in his office."
The fear and anxiety are pretty clear in her cobalt eyes. I feel sorry for her and rage towards Oliver for what he did to her. Taking a deep breath, I try to keep myself calm.
"He is our boss, Chloé," I start but she doesn't hear my other words before she decides to interrupt, "Like hell, I care. You know everything, know that meeting him alone in his office screams danger. I'm not letting you do that. Not alone, at least. I'm coming with you."
"No, you aren't coming with me. He asked to meet me alone." I know I'm not really sounding considerate but it doesn't matter. I know what I feel and I know what I need to do to stop the monster in the form of our boss before it can extend its filthy activities any further. Standing up from the chair, I announce, "Besides, I have a plan to catch him red-handed this time."
"Oh my God, Maisara. No, you're going to get yourself into trouble. I know you. You'll do reckless things. I'm coming with you." Chloe stands up as well, dusting off her pants and getting ready to leave the office with me.
I huff out a sigh. "The plan won't work unless I'm alone with him, Chloé," I tell her and when she still doesn't look convinced, I add, "Relax. I'm just trying to give him a test of the hell that's already waiting for him."
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