Meeting Mr. Mogul(48)

When it was my turn to order, I was relieved to see a new face behind  the counter. I quietly waited for my order, getting William's, Maggie's  and my drink with Alexandra's. As my order was announced, I didn't think  twice and walked out of the coffee shop before anyone could recognize  me.

I stepped out of the elevator to my floor and jogged towards Maggie's  table and placed her drink and William's, too. Maggie looked up at me in  surprise.   





 

"Andy! I didn't hear you come in."

"Is Ms. Maxwell here yet?" I asked quickly, ignoring her words. I  scanned the room and glanced at the door to Alexandra's office. There  were no lights seeping under the door. With a sigh, I felt a wave of  relief that she wasn't here yet.

"Why are you asking about Ms. Alex? You know she's in Italy right now," Maggie looked at me in confusion.

"She didn't tell you? Did she tell William?" I asked, confused about her reaction.

"William is in his office right now. If he knew, he would have informed  me," she replied and glanced at William's office for a second.

I followed her eyes and looked at William's closed door. He is here. What was I going to do?

"What did Alex tell you?" Maggie suddenly asked, tearing my eyes away from the door.

"Ah …  She told me to place the files that are ready to be signed on her table," I replied, recalling her instructions.

"Okay," Maggie nodded in understanding as she started to pull some  papers out of her desk drawer on her table. "Can you get a file for me  from HR department? It's on the seventh floor," she asked as she looked  back at me and neatly placed the files together.

"Sure. What am I going to get?" I asked, slightly taken aback that she knew what to do.

Maggie grabbed a post-it note from her desk and started to write  something down. When she was finished, she handed it to me. "Give this  to the receptionist. They'll know what to do," she instructed. It made  me sigh in relief internally.

"Thank you, Maggie," I called towards her as I quickly made my way towards the elevator.

I reached the said floor and was slightly disoriented with the different  interior design. Despite my confusion, I was able to spot the reception  desk easily since it was placed at the entrance of the floor. The  receptionist was very welcoming and helped me get the job done in no  time.

Half an hour had passed and I was on my way back up to my floor with the  files in hand. As the metal doors opened, I was startled at the person  standing in front of me.

"Ah …  Hey. Good morning," William stuttered a bit.

"Good morning," I countered in a whisper.

"Oh! Andy, you're here!" a familiar female voice interrupted, making us both turn towards the voice.

"Ms. Maxwell. Good morning." I quickly made my way towards her and  passed William by like we didn't have that quiet greeting a few moments  ago.

"Ah …  Andy, can you wait for me before you leave work tonight?" William softly asked, making me stop in my track.

I took a step back when there was little distance between us. "Oh …   sure," I replied quickly, not sure about why he was asking me such a  question.

William gave me a curt nod as goodbye. When he was finally gone, I  turned back towards my desk only to find Maggie and Alexandra looking at  me with a small smile on their faces.

"What?"

Alexandra's smile only grew wider as she shook her head. "Can you help  me file these papers in my office?" she asked, changing the topic.

"Okay," I replied and did not press on the matter.

Alexandra entered her office while I made a quick trip to my desk to get  our coffee and some of the files that she needed. While I was there, I  turned to Maggie and stared at her suspiciously.

"Maggie! Maggie!" I called her, my voice a whisper. Maggie finally  turned towards me. I didn't give her a chance to change the topic. "What  was that all about?" I asked after she looked at me.

In reply, Maggie gave me a secret smile before she turned back to her  work. I was about to call her again when Alexandra called my name. I  would have to ambush her later during lunch. I hoped this was not about  William and me, but that was very unlikely from the direction they were  looking a while ago.





Thirty-One





As I sat across Alexandra, I admit that I wasn't paying attention to  most of the papers I was handling. Since this morning, I couldn't help  but be distracted by a certain someone who was stirring up my personal  life right now. In addition, that someone had asked me to wait after  work for something. What did he want from me now?   





 

Halfway through sorting the papers, my eyes caught one of the titles in  the paper, which was printed in huge, bold print in the topmost part. I  eyed it for a second before grasping the information. I couldn't help  myself and asked.

"Excuse me, Ms. Maxwell. Are these resignation and transfer papers?"

Across me, Alexandra looked up from a paper she was reading before I  unnecessarily voiced out my curiosity. She assessed me for a moment  before she gave me a truthful reply. "Yes. It is."

"You're leaving the company? I thought you're the one running it," I  continued, not really contented with the information she shared.

"The company is under my name. I don't personally run it. William does,"  she replied confidently as she gave me a small smile when she mentioned  her brother's name.

"But why do you have to leave? And if you're leaving, that would mean I  won't have a job anymore … " I asked, my thoughts linking to my current  professional situation. In the end, I was back at square one.

"Did you forget about the other job after the three month duration of being my secretary?" she asked with a chuckle.

I can't help but give her a small smile in reply. "Oh. Right. The  curator job," I replied shyly, feeling stupid for forgetting the reason  on why I accepted this job.

"I thought you forgot about it already … " she trailed off as she shook  her head in amusement, "the art works are still being shipped here, so  you'll have at least a week of leave before starting your work at the  gallery," she continued, her voice taking on a more serious tone.

"Oh. That's good to hear. When would that be?" I hesitantly asked,  internally cringing for actually voicing out another question. Then, a  thought crossed my mind. I'll be jobless for a week.

"If you're thinking about not getting paid for the leave, you don't have  to worry. You'll still get paid and I still need you to help me clear  out my office for that week," she stated. "I only said it as a leave  since you wouldn't be doing any reporting anymore other than sending my  things to my place."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you so much for that assurance," I said shyly, my voice  raising an octave as my nerves got the better of me. I can't believe  she read me like how her brother did yesterday.

Am I that easy to read? Is there a signboard on my forehead that displays what I was thinking?

"I'll be filing these today, so that will take at least a week before it  can take effect. Your leave might start next week," she informed me as  she looked back down at the paper she was holding and continued to read.

I took this as a cue that the conversation had ended. Even though I knew  she wouldn't see me, I gave her a curt nod in reply. Though there were  still things I wanted to ask her, I didn't dare to press on that matter.  I reckoned she didn't want to talk about it from the way she didn't  tell me the reasons why she had to leave the company. Does that mean  William is going to be the official owner starting next week?

I shrugged it off and quickly disregarded my thoughts. As the day slowly  passed, the chance on asking Maggie about what happened this morning  was gone. It was rather odd in some way that when I was about to  approach her, Maggie suddenly stood up from her desk and excused herself  to get some lunch and when she got back, she was already done eating  and went straight back to work. I wanted to approach her again. But then  Alexandra got back from her lunch out with some associates, so I didn't  get any answers.

The afternoon passed, and the sky turned dark and I was now uncertain on  asking Maggie about it. I was on my last round in filing Alexandra's  things when her office door suddenly burst open.

"Oh, god! I thought you'd already gone home!" William exclaimed in relief, yet the way he was holding himself, he looked beat.

I stared at his tired face before talking. "Good evening, Mr. Maxwell.  Is there something we can do for you? Ms. Maxwell and I are in a middle  of work at moment," I asked in a monotonous tone as I tried to look  unaffected.

William quickly scanned the room, from Alexandra's desk to her and down  to me. "What are you working on?" he countered my question with a  question as he looked at me.   





 

I was about to reply but Alexandra beat me to it. "What do you want  William?" she asked, finally looking up from the paper she was currently  signing.