Presidential Duties
Veil was distraught for the rest of the day, as every moment kept popping up in her head. She kept thinking there was something she could possibly do, even though Anders had told her to do nothing.
But how could he expect her to just stay still and watch everything go by from a corner? If Sophia hadn’t bothered knocking before walking through those doors, Veil would have been in a different type of trouble.
Or maybe Sophia knew and was only pulling her legs.
With a start, Veil realized that she had been working on the same page of a contract for the past thirty minutes and had made absolutely no change to it.
“I think I’m going insane,” Veil muttered to herself as she leaned against the headrest, closing her eyes. She could feel a migraine coming along and didn’t think she could work in that condition.
Veil could remember the day she got the invitation for an interview at Kingston Group. She had been so happy that she would finally be able to work somewhere as prestigious as KG, and all she wanted to do was to get a lot of money to take care of her father in the hospital.
But now, she felt tangled in a web, unsure of how to claw her way back. There was Anders, her boss, who had laid a claim on her despite the millions of other ladies that would die at his feet if he gave them the slightest attention. And there was also Sophia, who Veil was beginning to believe was really engaged to Anders.
She had mentioned a dinner with their families. It meant marriage was in the talks, didn’t it?
Anders didn’t come out of his office until 10 p. m., and at that time, Veil was exhausted and just wanted to lay on her bed, away from everyone else. He pushed her door open and leaned on the frame.
“Come on. Let me give you a ride.”
Veil was tired and thought it would be nice not to have to wait for a taxi tonight, but she didn’t think it was ideal to be in the same car with Anders at this time of the night. Now that she knew how her body responded to him, she needed to stay away from him.
“June is coming to get me,” she lied through her teeth, busying herself with shutting down the computer. “She already called to inform me she was on her way.”
Anders didn’t look like he believed her, but he also knew not to push it. Not tonight. He had put her through enough already. Sophia wasn’t the easiest person to face.
“Goodnight then,” he muttered, returning to his full height. “See you tomorrow.”
“Bright and early,” Veil responded, still not looking into his face. She was scared that if she did, he might see that she still hadn’t recovered from that moment in his office and that a part of her wanted to feel his huge, warm hands all over her body. The mere thought of it made her shiver in delight.
Anders nodded and closed the door behind him, his footsteps echoing away in the hallway.
Releasing a breath she had no clue she had been holding, Veil stayed back in the office a few more minutes to ensure Anders was gone before packing up her bag and heading for the ground floor.
“Even the receptionist is gone,” Veil said to herself in exhaustion. This was the ritual every day.
The doorman bid her a pleasant evening, but Veil didn’t think there was going to be anything pleasant about the night. She dreaded telling June about it, but that girl had the ability to sniff it off her.
Veil walked down to the streets and put her hands out to flag a taxi. A black car appeared in the distance, causing Veil to heave a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have to stay out here for as long as she had thought she would.
But when the car stopped in front of her, Veil wondered how she could have made the same mistake twice now. Orleans rolled down his window and gazed up at Veil.
“Come in, Veil,” he pleaded.
“I’ll get a taxi.”
“It’s late. That makes it hard to find one.”
“I’ve been doing this almost every single day, Orleans. A taxi will come around soon.”
“Is this about the meeting earlier today?” Orleans questioned.
“I don’t know,” Veil answered, shrugging. “Is it?”
“Anders put me in a fix, and I needed to get out of it,” he explained with remorse in his tone. “I know it was low of me to have talked to you in that manner, especially since I knew how stressed you already were by the job. It was really insensitive of me.”Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“I’ll still get a taxi, Orleans.” The anger that Veil had kept at bay all day came rushing at her, and she moved away from his car, further up the street.
But relentlessly, Orleans trailed after her. “I’m sorry, Veil.”
“Don’t you have to be home now?” she asked, still walking. “I bet you have some super important meeting to attend tomorrow morning. You know, duties of the President of a conglomerate.”
“I didn’t want you to see me that way,” Orleans explained, careful not to get her upset all over again. “Everyone around me sees me as Master Orleans, and then there was you, who cluelessly flagged my car down because you thought it was a taxi. I didn’t want that to change.”
“You wanted me to keep seeing you as a taxi driver?”
“No!” Orleans chuckled despite the situation. “I just want you to keep talking to me like the ordinary boring Orleans you’ve always known, not a president or the son of my wealthy mother.”
“Says the person who rides a Porsche.” Veil was no longer angry, and she had stopped walking.
“This Porsche could get you over to a bar tonight for drinks,” Orleans suggested with his fingers crossed. “You look like you need it.”
At least, he was right about something.