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Friday
July 29, 2011
12:38pm
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I stared at the screen of the device I was holding in my hand. Payment? What was that supposed to mean, I wondered in confusion. I had been reviewing the schedule the previous assistant had drawn up and I realized that for all the last Fridays in a month, she always had the word payment. I know we normally pay off bills at the end of the month but I was sure that I didn't have that kind of responsibility in the company, so what exactly did this mean?

I was tempted to ask Mr. Remora, but every time the idea occurred to me, I battered it out with my imaginary hammer. I didn't want to bother him and I should've already gotten a hang of this job. It's been a month for cheese cake!

It had been no more than five minutes when I finally decided to swallow my pride and go ask Mr. Remora what this ‘payment’ meant.

"What do you want?" he asked as soon as I shut the door behind me.

"Sorry to disturb you Mr. Remora, but I was just wondering if I could ask you something."

"Well keep wondering because I'm not going to answer you anyway. As you can see, I am on a break and would prefer it a lot more if you would leave since you have already had yours," the complicated man replied. I rolled my eyes and advanced into his office anyway. If this was important then he was going to answer whether he like it or not.

He was sitting on one of the chairs by the fireplace, reading a tabloid and seeming very much interested.

"I came to find out what exactly payment means? Your previous assistant had it written down for every last Friday for each month," I explained, and Mr. Remora's head came up.

He looked at me before putting his paper down.

"Why didn't you ask me this sooner Ms. Harrington?" he asked, getting up from his chair and going over to his desk. I rose an eyebrow but didn't say a word, he however didnt think that he could do the same as he commented once again, "and this is why I can't stand new assistants."

Mr. Remora sat at his desk and pulled out a stack of papers from one of the drawers. "If you know me, which you should by now, you would know that the idea to name this task ‘payment’ was not my idea as it has nothing to do with the task itself. That however does not change the fact that you are expected to send a sum of $5,000 to the orphanage situated at this address on the last Friday of each month," he spoke, glancing at me and then back to the stack.

"The receipts for each deposit must be added to this stack and after each addition, the stack returned to my desk drawer. Have you got that Ms. Harrington?"

I nodded immediately.

"Now here," he handed the stack to me along with a paper with the address of the orphanage. I took them and proceeded to leave the office.

"Oh and Ms. Harrington," Mr. Remora stopped me, "thank you so much for interrupting my break. Now I'll have to go through the remainder of the day in a bad mood since I do not know who sabotaged the Delantos' Inc. or the reason why," he smiled with cold eyes and then returned to his work.

I froze in place and swallowed, before hurrying from the room. When this man decided to do things that he rarely did, like smile and be sarcastic, you really have to be cautious, which was why I wasn't about to stay for another second there with him.

:*:*:*:*:*:*:

Mr. Remora was really proving to be more and more generous nowadays. I remembered the moment when he had told me that he wasn't one to give charity to those who appeared to not need it, and now I really understood it. He didn't give to people who didn't need it, but he surely gave to those who did. I was only just realising that he was a really good person. What he did for Gavin, the old man, and this orphanage was proof of this, and I was sure that these weren't the only great things he did in his lifetime.

Though, his goodness might've only been reflected through this way since otherwise he was a complete ass in behaviour, and that was of course still  in mind as I set the stack of reciepts back on Mr. Remora's desk and shook my head as he didn't even spare a glance my way.

I sighed and spun around to leave the office but just as I was about to step off, Mr. Remora stopped me... rather distraught I have to say.

"There is this thing-" he cut himself off abruptly and glared at the wall beside my head. My eyebrow raised and I looked at him with an amused smirk.

"Tomorrow night, a business dinner will be held at the Cristal Resort's 5-star Restaurant, and as much as I do not like this," he muttered out that last part, "it may be mandatory that I bring my assistant along, which is unfortunately, you."

I smiled and then grinned, even with the knowledge of all the offending things he had just muttered, as I was way too excited about my first outing with Mr. Remora that wasn't to some other company for a meeting or the port. The last time, Mr. Remora had managed to leave me behind when he was attending that conference, but this time he could not do this. I wanted to rub it in his face so badly but I held myself back.

"A business dinner huh?" I asked nonchalantly. "What time is it?"

Yeah, yeah, I should've probably known about this but it seemed as if Mr. Remora kept some of his business plans to himself so I wasn't really even surprised.

"Eight, but you will be there by six thirty."

I rolled my eyes again at his command before groaning and sulkily leaving his office at his final words.
 
"Ms. Harrington, I know you may not like me, but for Pete's sake, wear something that won't let you look like a circus clown at a funeral."

The little piece of sh...!!

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Saturday
July 30, 2011
6:30pm
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I stared at myself in my mirror, looking at the dress I was wearing a long with its adornments, my high heels and purse. For a second there I had contemplated actually dressing up like a clown just to make a statement to Mr. Remora, but then I pushed the thought away as that would embarrass myself and probably affect whatever business Mr. Remora was going to sort out that night, and that would go against my contract.

My dress was forest green, laced and long sleeved. It stopped just above my knees which made me feel comfortable and not too exposed. I had found it after work, on sale for a very reasonable price which surprised me to say the least. With a pair of black heels and my black purse that was big enough to hold my pen and pad, money, and other necessities, I found myself ready for the evening.

I glanced down at the small watch that was on my wrist and my eyes became saucers when I saw the time. I was supposed to be at the restaurant at that moment, and instead I was looking at myself at home. I was in trouble, but I couldn't help laughing as I thought about what my definition of trouble had become.

I didn't wait for Mr. Remora to call me fuming thought, I hurriedly ran for the door, said goodbye to dad and went to catch a taxi.

:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:

"You're late." Mr. Remora said shortly as he sipped on some water at the bar that was off to the side of the restaurant. My breath hitched and I swallowed.

It had been 7:40 when I had arrived and although the meeting hadn't begun as yet, Mr. Remora seemed upset that I hadn't arrived at the time he had told me. I didn't see what the fuss was about but he was angry so I was panicking. "Huh..I was stuck in traffic?" I asked more that told, even though that was a lie.

Slowly Mr. Remora faced me for the first time. "I asked you to do one thing and you could not follow the order. Come six thirty, that's all you needed to do," he hissed making me wonder what his problem was.

I sighed and lowered my gaze. "I'm sorry sir, I got a little late. I didn't mean to go against your orders," I apologized truthfully...well mostly, but I had to save myself from some of his wrath.

"Whatever, let's go," he muttered before getting up from his stool and walking around occupied tables to go over to the one we would be having the meeting at I presumed. On the way though, he made sure to give me an earful, more words that I was used to from him, but when you hear what it was about, you will understand why he spoke so much to me.

"Here are the rules for tonight Ms. Harrington," he began. I literally rolled my eyes. Of course he would have rules, I thought with my lips twisted.

"You are not allowed to speak out of turn, be annoying, argumentative or behave as if you have never been to a business dinner before, even if that is true. Do not consume any alcohol, eat too much or drink too much. You are not allowed to leave the table at all until the meeting is over and unless I ask for something, do not bother me with anything you assume to be important. You should not be involved with any of our fellow partners or divulge any of our confidential information to them, even if they hold a gun to your throat. But most importantly, do. Not. Embarrass me."

"Now that you have all the rules straight, I think it's time we join our fellow friends," Mr. Remora finally ended, bringing me to the realization that we had just taken our last step towards our table and a group of twelve was now looking at us.

I smiled with an awkward wave at the surprise.

"Welcome Mr. Remora," one of the men present spoke, standing and shaking his hand firmly.

"Thank you, I hope you have all started," he replied, not really sounding interested in the answer as he sat, and I beside him.

"Of course not, you had not yet arrived," the man replied. I accidentally let out a scoff as I wondered for how long these people had been doing butt kissing. Pretty long I was sure.

Mr. Remora flashed me a glance making me straighten immediately, and so, the meeting began.

:*:*:*:*:*:*:
Hours later
:*:*:*:*:*:*:

I tapped my pen on the edge of the table impatiently as I waiting for the boring meeting to conclude. I was never going to beg to come to another meeting like this again, that was sure.

We had finished dinner and was now waiting to finish the business part of it, and I wasn't the only person who didn't seem so interested anymore. A guy across the table seemed to be catching up on some well deserved sleep and Mr. Remora was looking into space on the opposite side of the table from the speaker. I chuckled quietly to myself.

I had just made my first aim to smack my head against the table when I saw one of the men, that was on my side of the table, stand and go over to the man who had been talking. He seemed young, too young for the business, but not too young that he would be easily pushed over by anyone.

"Ah thanks a lot Mr. Bore-Foreman for that woefu- wonderful insight on the ah, progress of your company with the new shipping route," the guy said making me giggle along with a few of the ladies around the table. Mr. Remora glanced my way and rose an eyebrow but then looked away once more to his land of thoughts.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," the guy continued as we all murmured the same. I sat up straighter in my seat as he was the first person out of the six that had spoken who had actually gotten my willing attention.

"How are we feeling tonight?"

I cringed at the question but then laughed along with some others as he answered for us, "refreshed I can tell, seeing that you have all just awoken from your naps."

He did have some nerve saying that in front of all the men who had spoken, but that was quickly forgotten as the guy made some other jokes which even had them laughing.

It turned out that the guy's name was Josk Cover and he was actually one of the men's assistants which made me even more intrigued. It kinda explained why he was the only one who could keep us entertained since the others who had spoken were mostly old men who probably lost their sense of humour centuries ago... though Mr. Remora seemed to also be lacking in that department.

I laughed again as Josk spoke and for a few more minutes, this was how things went, Josk made the jokes and we laughed. This continued until he began the farewells by thanking each member for being there through saying something funny about each of them... well those who weren't assistants that was. I was very excited for what he was going to say about Mr. Remora though said man was still looking out into the abyss, doing an excellent job at ignoring all that was happening.

Josk moved on to the lady next to Mr.  Remora and improvised, "Thank you as well Ms. Lorlei Jennings for joining us. As we all know, you are a woman of many surprises... and ex-husbands," Josk laughed along with others, but I was anticipating Mr. Remora's farewell message too much to join in.

Maybe he would speak about his silence throughout the meeting... or the permanent scowl etched unto his face...

"And finally, next to the lovely lady, we have the powerful Mr. Remora,"

...no, wait, maybe his way with the ladies... or- or- his...

"How's it going Riddian?"

I froze.

And everyone else laughed as I slowly looked in Mr. Remora's direction.

Mr. Remora snapped out of his daze and looked at the man before him. A small smile appeared on his face.

Well...

...shit.

_____________________

Author's note

Hello dear readers! I know it's been a long time since I have updated but have been busy with school and have had a bit of writer's block here and there. But not to worry, today I present to you two chapters and another chapter will be posted soon... hopefully.

This chapter is also dedicated to @latty2001 who has been constantly asking me to update. Thanks for the push and as I have mentioned, I will try to update again as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading, and until the next,

💕S4_angel