Chapter 88

88 Feeding a CEO

“Time to take a break and eat,” I announced loudly.

“I’m working,” he replied coldly.

At least he wasn’t oblivious to my existence which was a huge leap forward. Now I just need to get his attention and convince him to stop working even if it was just for a second.

“Brandon, please eat your food. You also need to rest. Kenneth told me that you’ve been working for two days straight already,” I said firmly without willing to back down.

“Feed me,” he said passively.

“Stop working and eat yourself,” I snapped.

“I’m working. Feed me or I won’t eat at all,” he replied without a care.

Some things really never change. I had to feed and take care of Brandon as if he was a baby when he got like this back in the days too. No wonder Kenneth couldn’t do anything to help Brandon in this situation. I could feed him but that wasn’t a sustainable solution at all. What if I wasn’t here the next time that this happened? How had he been living all this time since we broke up? Who took care of him...?

I looked down at Brandon who was still working like his life and the world’s survival depended on it. Everyone who saw him now would think that he was a crazy workaholic. However, I bet everyone would think differently if they knew that this was how he built his empire from scratch.

.....

“Can’t you get someone else to do this? You have thousands of employees now, surely, one of them can code...” I suggested.

“Not as good as I can...” he replied without looking at me.

“Well, I guess that’s true, but you can’t keep on doing all the important stuff yourself,” I replied.

“I’ve delegated most things already, just let me do what I want, ok?” he replied, sounding a little irritated.

“Only if you sleep and eat enough. Your secretary is worried sick, and he’s been pestering me to straighten you out,” I said, referring to Kenneth.

“Are you worried?” Brandon asked.

“What?” I said softly, not quite sure what he was getting at.

“Are you worried about me, Elena?” Brandon asked while continuing to code.

“Well, yes. So, can you stop working now?” I asked as I placed a hand on his shoulder.

Brandon sighed loudly and I wanted to scream in joy and let the world know that ‘Brandon has finally lifted his hands off the keyboard everyone!’

Brandon’s hands fell to his side as he turned in his chair to face me. He looked dead tired but still very handsome.

“Ten minutes,” he muttered.

I knew exactly what that meant. Ten minutes break...that’s all?!

“That’s not enough...” I began complaining immediately.

“Your time starts now. You have ten minutes, what do you want me to do?” he asked absentmindedly.

Shit.

I ran to the table where the food was, grabbed it and came straight back to his side.

“Eat now...” I ordered.

Brandon smirked at me before opening his mouth a little so that I could feed him. I ripped open the box of food that Kenneth had bought. Thankfully, he managed to follow my instructions and the steak and vegetables were diced into small pieces. One by one, I fed the food into Brandon’s mouth while he chewed as necessary and swallowed. I could feel Kenneth’s eyes on us and knew that he was probably very surprised by what he was seeing.

After the ten minutes were over, Brandon automatically reverted to work mode and continued coding. It was driving me crazy. When will he be done with all this?

“When will you be done?” I asked.

“An hour. Max,” he replied monotonously.

“Ok. I’ll wait for you here,” I said with a firm nod.

I turned around to find Kenneth staring at me with his mouth hanging open. I flashed him a smile to reassure him that everything was ok before I headed towards the sofa and sat down. Since arriving here, I haven’t done much but I felt so drained of energy. Dealing with Brandon wasn’t easy, but I looked forward to his amazing creation just like I always did.

Kenneth took a seat on the sofa opposite from me before he smiled warmly at me. I nodded at him as if to thank him for helping out. Brandon mentioned that he would need at most another hour, so I fully expected him to be done soon.

“No wonder you are his girlfriend, you are a genius at dealing with Mr. Brandon,” Kenneth said with an appreciative smile.

Haha...not really...

“It’s nothing. I’m sure anyone can do as much...” I replied smoothly.

“I don’t think so. You might not know it but...most people find it very challenging to interact with Mr. Brandon and when he gets like that, no one can get to him at all. Even though I’m his secretary, and have been for a while, it is still impossible for me to handle him,” Kenneth said admittingly.

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised that no one could deal with Brandon. He was just...difficult and incredibly unique.

“I heard that you used to date Mr. Brandon before when you were both in university,” Kenneth said.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m his girlfriend now and also his ex-girlfriend,” I affirmed with a small laugh.

“Mr. Brandon finished his coffee. Did you make it for him?” Kenneth inquired.

“Yes, I did...” I replied.

“Well, if you don’t mind since we have some time to kill, could you show me how to make it?” Kenneth asked, sounding a little shy.

“You mean, how to make coffee?” I asked with surprise.

“Yes, if you don’t mind. You see, Mr. Brandon isn’t a fan of any coffee as far as I’m aware, but he seemed to like yours,” Kenneth replied.

“Oh, sure...” I agreed before smiling a little at him.

He was right, we had time to kill while we waited for Brandon to wrap up his work. Plus, the coffee recipe isn’t supposed to be a secret or anything. When I’m not here, it’ll probably help Brandon if Kenneth can make coffee for him.

Kenneth and I made our way to the pantry nearby where I made coffee for Brandon before, and I started teaching him how to make my special ‘Brandon’ coffee.

–To be continued...