Chapter 57

57 The CEO’s Favorite

“I don’t particularly care if the CEO favors her or not as long as she can do her job properly!” Richard’s loud voice sounded in the office.

“Shhhh...don’t be so loud. She’s going to hear you,” another member of the team hissed.

“What? I’m saying thing as it is. What is the problem? I don’t care about any rumors. If her work is good enough to meet the team’s standards then it doesn’t matter what kind of relationship she has with the boss,” Richard said as loudly as before.

“Rumors are just rumors. Now stop it, both of you!” Julianna snapped loudly.

There are rumors...

The three of them turned to look awkwardly around the room before their eyes rested on me. Then as if they had seen a ghost, they quickly looked away before pretending that nothing ever happened.

I see, so they were talking about me. Who else could it be? I’m probably the only one whose work doesn’t yet meet the standard of this A-list Team. Although what they said was technically true, it still hurt me to hear it said like that. The implication that they thought that I got to join this team because the CEO ‘favors’ me was also clear. I didn’t have to ask for more details on what they meant by the CEO’s ‘favor’.

My fingers continued typing at the keyboard, but my mind was far from focused on the work in front of me. I knew that a day like this would come; however, I never thought that it would come so soon. Anticipating this, I even told Ace before that I didn’t want to take this role because I didn’t want to sleep my way up. I don’t think Ace has ever shown any action that would make people think that he favors me apart from appointing me to be his secretary. It’s normal for the CEO and senior managers to have a secretary so I didn’t see anything wrong with that.

I can’t concentrate and I’m supposed to fix this before the end of the day so that I would have something that was at least passable to show Ace. I licked my dry lips as the tension in the room started to get to me. The sound of the other people typing on their keyboard, the sounds of people talking to each other in hushed whispers, the sound of someone stirring tea in their cup with a small metal spoon. Everything felt so loud, and it was driving me crazy.

.....

Suddenly, I shot up from my seat and people turned to look my way at the loud sound that I had made. It was probably my own imagination, but I had never felt this alienated before.

“Excuse me...” I whispered before quickly walking out of the room.

“I told you to keep it down...” someone hissed behind my back.

“It’s not my fault. If she can’t take it, she can just leave...” someone else replied. I thought that it must have been Richard.

“We already have someone to do design anyways...” a woman spoke up without a care.

“Dating between employees is strictly forbidden...” another voice stated while sounding very bored.

'

“Stop it. The CEO isn’t dating her. Why would he date her of all people?” another woman snapped, clearly annoyed.

I made my way away from the door before I would pick up more of what they were saying about me. If that was their idea of whispering, then I had to say that we had very different understanding of the meaning of the word.

Thinking that drinking something sweet could help with my depressed feelings, I headed for the vending machine. After buying a can of drink, I stood in front of the machine in a daze. I had no idea how long I stood there for. It was like everything had gone blank and I felt very empty inside. The sound of people talking made me realize that someone was coming this way and that meant that this resting area wouldn’t be so private anymore. With a resigned sigh, I left the break area and headed where I thought that I could be alone.

This place didn’t hold any dear memories for me at all but regardless of that I had somehow ended up here. I looked at the view of the city from high up on the roof top opening of the building. The last time I was here, I walked up those stairs thinking that I had a loving boyfriend, a perfect relationship, and the prospect of getting married in the near future. A short while later, I walked down the same flight of stairs as a single and heart broken woman with her entire career at risk.

I tipped the can back and felt the sweetness of the drink fill my mouth. It was windy and my hair flapped wildly around my face. Surprisingly, this place helped me to calm down and I could be alone. The view was amazing too. I closed my eyes for a moment as I took in deep breaths.

“Enjoying yourself?”

I jumped and almost screamed in shock at the sound of someone speaking very close to me.

“Why are you here?”

My eyes widened when I turned to see Ace just standing there casually. He looked at me and began stretching as I stared back at him in pure shock.

When did he get here? Why is he here?

“Ace? Why are you here?” I asked in surprise.

Ace looked like he had just woken up. Oh...please don’t tell me...

“Wait...” I said as I tried to wrap my head around what was going on.

He’s not supposed to be here. I know that he’s not supposed to be here.

I took out my phone and opened Ace’s calendar that was synced to my phone. If I’m not wrong, which I didn’t think that I was, Ace is supposed to be in a meeting right now. So, why is he here?

“You’re supposed to be in a meeting right now!” I exclaimed in shock as I pointed to the meeting slot on my phone screen and showed it to him.

–To be continued...