Chapter 2014 - Avoiding Negative Outcomes

Chloe reached her apartment and exhaled in relief. Her day in office was confusing, nerve-wracking, exciting, and filled with Noah.

She kept the folder on the coffee table and changed into comfortable yoga pants and a t-shirt when someone rang her doorbell.

"Matilda?"

"It's good to see you home. I checked ten minutes ago, and no one answered. Did you just arrive?"

Chloe confirmed. "A few minutes ago. What's up?"

"Do you want to join us for dinner?"

"I'm embarrassed to always mooch off from you for food."

Matilda smiled. "Bring a bottle of wine and we are even."

Chloe bobbed her head. "I can do that." She looked at herself. "Do I need to change?"

Matilda rolled her eyes. "Look at me, girl..."

Chloe noticed that Matilda is in sweatpants and a t-shirt, and that made Chloe's garments acceptable. "Give me a second…"

Chloe fetched a bottle of wine from the pantry and found Matilda in the living room. She was looking at the gray folder with the Blanc logo on it.

"Are you bringing work home?", Matilda asked. Chloe just started working, so it's expected that for the first week (or more) she gets familiarized with the office, coworkers, and work in general. For that purpose, newcomers usually get a variety of smaller tasks like helping seniors. It should be easy work, yet Chloe is not having time for lunch, and working until late, and now this thick folder… it was unusual.

Chloe chided herself for keeping that folder there. Now what? She didn't want to appear rude, but she couldn't let Matilda see the files inside. Noah said that it was a secret.

"Yeah, I'm swamped…", Chloe said and snatched the folder just as Matilda was reaching for it. Chloe went to keep the folder in her bedroom and returned to see Matilda looking at her curiously.

"I met Justin from your floor this afternoon and he told me that you were not at your workstation today. Something about special task…", Matilda paused and looked at Chloe expectantly, obviously waiting for Chloe to explain what is going on.

Chloe thought for a second. "Can you keep a secret?"

Matilda's eyes widened and she nodded.

"I've got a task with instructions that I should not talk about it, so please don't ask me about it."

Matilda frowned. "Your secret is that you can't talk about your secret?"

"For the duration of this task, I'm working from a different location and I have a different supervisor."

Matilda whistled. "Sounds important. From where are you working? Who is the supervisor? Or is that a secret as well?"

Chloe bit her lower lip. No matter how secretive the financial audit is, people will easily find out that Chloe is going to the top floor and only directors have offices there so… "Director Bennet."

"Are you working from him or for him?"

"From his office. For him.", Chloe clarified. How can she work from him? That didn't make sense and it sounded suggestive.

Matilda remembered that Chloe declined her invitation for lunch, and at five o'clock Chloe said that she will work late. If she worked with Noah, that means that Chloe spent the whole day with the man.

Matilda touched her chin like she is thinking deeply about something. "You are saying that director Bennet has a super special secretive task and out of all people in finances, he picked a brand new hire?"

"Noah explained that my inexperience is beneficial for this task.", Chloe said.

"I'm sure he did."

Chloe's face fell when she saw Matilda grinning at her.

"Matilda, please… don't jump to conclusions. There is nothing going on."

Matilda sat on the sofa and looked at Chloe knowingly. "Are you kidding me or yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've met director Bennet when he came to your rescue, he set you up for a job at Blanc, approached you in the Chaos nightclub, walked you home, and now you are working from his office, for him, and there is NOTHING going on?"

Chloe sat on the sofa chair and faced Matilda. "What do you think is going on?"

"Do you even need to ask?", Matilda questioned grumpily. "But let me ask you one thing. Do you like him?"

"That is not important."

"I think it is. I am here for more than two years and I can tell you that people are watching him because of his position and we know a lot of things about his behavior. What he did for you, he didn't do for anyone else. People call him boss, director, sergeant, and you are the only one who calls him by his name."

"That is because when I've met him, he was Noah, a security guy at a party."

Matilda realized that Chloe is holding back because of Noah's position. "What changed? He is still the same man."

Chloe shook her head and smiled sadly. "It sounds easy when you say that."

"Why are you making it difficult?", Matilda probed. "I believe that you like him, and based on his behavior, he likes you as well."

"Let's assume that he likes me and that I like him. There is no way that it will end well for me."

Matilda didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"What are the options? One is that we start a relationship and split up after some time. Where does that put me? Director's ex-lover? How will I go to work after that? The other option is that we end up together long term, and maybe even marry. I am back to the same question, where does that put me? A wife of a director? Should I quit my job and be a housewife or should I continue going to work and always wonder if my review is because of my merits or because my husband is director Bennet? People will talk behind my back and I really don't want to be known as a woman who warms the director's bed."

"You are shutting it down before anything happens.", Matilda voiced her observation.

"That is the only way. You know that I escaped a messy situation and I'm still not out of it. I don't want to make it worse.", Chloe said and leaned in the backrest. "Honestly, if he is just a security guard, things would be simpler, but like this… I don't see things working out. I am finally free to make my own decisions, and I don't want to mess it up. I will finish this project and go back to my cubicle and things will go back to normal. I don't know what that normal will be, but I know that it will not include people gossiping about me dating director Bennet."

Chloe looked at Matilda pleadingly. "I don't have many things, Tilda, but I have a clear conscience and I would like to keep that."

"I understand.", Matilda said and patted Chloe's knee. She didn't agree with Chloe about how that relationship must end badly, but she saw that Chloe was troubled by it and she didn't want to push it. "Sorry for poking into that matter. Let's go to my place, guys are hungry and waiting for us."

Chloe was glad that Matilda dropped the topic.

Chloe found it ironic that when she met Noah the first time, her family would reject him because a man of Noah's background is not good enough for the young Miss of the Long family. And now in a matter of days, the tables turned, and she is not good enough for him. In any case, the two of them are not meant to be.

Chloe suppressed her thoughts about Noah and focused on the woman who was dragging her out of the apartment with an intention to feed her.

"I assume that Tim, Chad, and Rosie there."

"Mhm…", Matilda confirmed. "Mark also."

Chloe noticed that Matilda mentioned Mark as she should know him. "Mark?"

"Mark works as a bouncer at the club. He said that he met you last night."

Chloe remembered the big guy from the entry door, the one who said that he will buy her a drink next time. It seemed that everyone is connected here. No wonder Chad said that Chloe is family.

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