Chapter 15 - Little Surprise

He's horrible. Mr. Cane is simply an awful man. There's no other way to say it.

His mood started quite early in the morning and it didn't let up. I thought he was going to have a fistfight with Tommy.

I don't know what crawled up his butt, but Tommy was just being nice.

I saw him in the lobby on the way up and he wanted to chat. It's sweet of him to walk me over. The long corridor leading to Mr. Cane’s office can be creepy sometimes.

I think there’s some tension between the two, they keep on butting heads every time they talk. I haven’t seen them get along. The others say Tommy’s one of the few friends Mr. Cane has in the office, but it doesn’t seem like he’s being a good friend whenever they see each other.

I think it confirms that he really must be an unpleasant guy. With the way he snipes and sometimes outright threatens his friend, it’s kinda hard to believe there’s something good left in him.

From that encounter, it just got worse. He was so damn moody in the car, I didn’t want to engage in any form of conversation. Another factor to that is that we’ve never actually really talked. Beyond the shouted instructions and icy orders I get every day as his assistant, I can say that we’ve only had a few sentences of small talk. And that was because we were stuck in a car with just the two of us when he demanded to give me a ride home that one time.

How can anyone stand his attitude? Everybody must be on tiptoes with his awful personality.

If I were that rich, I wouldn’t be so terrible to everyone around me. He has all the success, money, and power anyone could want. What else can he be so hung up about? It doesn’t make sense to me that he refuses to not be a dick all the time when he has all that life could offer.

It irritates me that he doesn’t recognize how lucky and privileged he is to have the life he has. People would kill just to have a little bit of what he has. I don’t understand him, I really don’t. And what irks me is that even though I know he’s awful, despite all the blatant terrible actions he does every single day, I still want to understand. I want to dissect his mind.

It’s such a silly crush. I roll my eyes at myself. Trust me to be attracted to guys like him. I think I just need more distance from him. I sneak a peek at his side profile.

There is something about men driving these huge cars. The way his dark hair just falls that way and the stern look he has on his angular face make me want to ask him what’s on his mind.

I quickly backtrack when I realize that I’ve been staring at his jaw for too long. It’s a good thing he’s concentrating on the road and still stewing in his bad mood.

The awkwardness is palpable, at least on my part, especially after what happened at the site.

I know the foreman is on the wrong side, it was pretty clear everybody was slacking off. But should Mr. Cane really be that explosive? I bet the workers would have listened. With his intimidating appearance, anyone would follow even if he just whispered his orders. I don’t see the need to shout all the time.

Whatever the project was, is it more important than the workers’ morale? I know construction is a rough job and they have their own world out there, but would it really matter if he was shouting the orders? A simple set of instructions would suffice, or maybe I’m just naive. Couldn’t he just give one more chance to people instead of firing them on the spot for one mistake?

The whole ride back to Portland, I chose to appreciate the view of Montana. I keep my gaze on the mountains instead of Mr. Cane’s features.

Montana is quite picturesque. I’ve never visited anywhere like this. Well, I don’t go anywhere at all.

I don’t have the money for trips and the few I’ve had were school trips where we’d all be cramped in a school bus and go to a museum. I loved those trips, but it was nothing like this.

The open-air, the sense of freedom, and just nature at its finest. I wish I could visit places like this. Just get away from everything and everyone, and live a simple life.

The animals on the prairies and the waterfalls in the valleys we passed by are something else. The peaceful scenery and my daydreaming of a life so far from mine lulled me to sleep.

I wake up to the sound of heavy rain. Mr. Cane’s windshield is on overdrive trying to wipe away what seems to be buckets of water poured over the front of the car. How long was I asleep?

The dark clouds and thunder in the distance of the Portland sky are a stark contrast to the sky-blue and fluffy clouds of Montana.

We’re in the heart of downtown and people are scrambling for shelter. Some are running, others are battling with their umbrellas.

Mr. Cane’s stoic face lets me know that he isn’t worried at all about the storm outside. He drives smoothly, almost nonchalantly while everybody is panicking.

This calms me down. I’ve lived my entire life in Portland. The gloomy weather is one of the hallmarks of it that I’ve learned to adore. I’d love to be more exposed to sunnier states like Montana especially when it’s like this.

The rain is pelting the windshield but what I’m worried about is the snow. I don’t think our house can take another snowstorm in its dilapidated state.

Driving through the streets, the flood is rising up. I thought we had more time to get back to the office. By this time, it’s almost early evening.

My mom replies to my message, telling me that the multiple leaks in the house are somewhat still fine and that the buckets are at least helping. What I’m worried about is the cold, the heater broke a few months ago and I haven’t saved up enough for it. I prioritized our food and my bus fare last payday.

Augustus is nowhere to be found. Better that he’s out of the way, he just causes more trouble.

I let out a deep breath, I hope the house holds up. I hope there are still buses and that the flood in the streets won’t stop all public transportation.

Mr. Cane looks at me sideways. I stare out the window once more.

The abrupt halting of the car shakes me out of my stupor. We’re right on the spot where he ran me over on my interview day. Mr. Cane is upset. He’s craning his neck, searching for something on the pavement. I guess he saw what he was looking for because he swung the car to the parking lot quickly and got out.

I barely have time to close the passenger door when he’s striding back towards the pavement outside. My curiosity gets the better of me as with most things regarding my boss, and I follow him.

His broad shoulders and that white long-sleeve polo are drenched by the time I reach him.

Crouching down, he's picking up something from the street. I take a closer look and what I see shocks me.

It's a small dog. Its black fur is matted and plastered to its skin and bones. It's shivering and whimpering. It tried to shelter its body in one of the awnings of the building but the rain and snow still got to it. The poor dog curled up its body to protect itself.

Mr. Cane immediately lifts it and its big puppy eyes are alarmed. It tried to fight back, thinking that Mr. Cane is going to hurt it.

It scuttled away, back to its awning but Mr.Cane crouched down again and soon coaxed the poor animal back into his arms.

He glanced at me while carrying the puppy to the parking lot and was surprised that I went out in the rain and snow.

"You shouldn't have followed me." He said while he once again scooped up the freezing dog and tucked it inside his polo.

I shrugged. I'm freezing now since my clothes have soaked through and my thin jacket is no help. But the bizarreness of the situation spiked my adrenaline. Is Mr. Cane picking up a random dog off the street? Insanely cute.

He motioned me to join them in the elevator. I was contemplating catching a bus back home since I'm worried about our house.

"Come on, you need dry clothes." I followed him once again. I'm assuming he must have some clothes in his office to lend me.

He pushed the button to the top floor of the building. I should be wondering where we're going but with his polo bundled up over the puppy, there's a lot of skin on display.

Glorious skin. Abs galore.

"It's okay." Mr. Cane said. My heart skipped a beat. I thought he was talking to me and giving me permission to look at his glorious body.

He was talking to the puppy.

"We're almost there." He told the lump bundled on his shirt.

It's beyond adorable.

Just before I coo at the pair, the elevator doors open and Mr. Cane leads us toward what I can only assume is the penthouse of the building.

I snap my jaw shut. I try my best not to ogle the place. It looks like this is his home.

He puts the puppy down on the luxurious rug beside the fireplace (yes, he has a fully functioning fireplace on top of his building), and the puppy tries to go after him. I stop it with my hand. I pet its ear and it closes its eyes.

Oh my god, so precious. I sneak a peek to check, it's a girl. Of course with her cute eyes, floppy ears, and dainty movements, I can totally see she's a girl.

She looks up at me while shivering. I try to warm her up with my hands until Mr. Cane comes over with a fluffy and warm towel for her.

He gestures to a set of clothes he laid on top of the sofa.

"You can change." He points me towards a door while he dries the puppy.

I take the clothes and try not to sniff it. Inside the bathroom, I examine it. My suspicions are correct, he gave me his black shirt and sweats. It's a little big on me.

I'm kinda surprised he owns something simple. Every day at the office he looks like he just came from a fashion show.

Back in the living room, he's managed to cuddle with the bundled-up puppy on the sofa.

"What can we feed her? I think puppies can eat chicken. Do you have milk?" I go ahead and look through his fridge. I know he's my boss and all, but the puppy comes first.

I spy some bowls in a cabinet and pour out some water in one and milk in another.

Seems like Mr. Cane is a fan of steaks. I take a small piece from what seems to be leftovers and place it on a saucer. I bring them all over to the sofa.

The puppy scarfed it down. She's looking for more. I hurry and grab more steak while she's drinking the milk. Mr. Cane’s just sat there staring at her.

I hand over the meat. She snuggles up to Mr. Cane while chewing her food.

"What do we do with her? Do we bring her to the animal shelter?" He asks me but his attention is still on the puppy.

She clearly has no collar, and with her state, I doubt her owner is out there looking for her.

"She might be a stray. She's so thin." I poke her ear. She clambers toward me.

"Oh my god, can you keep her?" I bring her up with both my hands and bring her snout to Mr. Cane's face.

"Look at her, just look how cute she is! She needs you." The puppy seems to be cooperating, she jumps up from my hands and into Mr. Cane's lap. She circles, once twice, and snuggles some more. She really likes him.

He takes his forefinger and rubs it on her small head. The puppy angles her face towards his hand.

I can’t take much more of the adorableness. He was literally shouting and firing his employees a few hours ago but here we are, he’s as much of a puppy as the one he is holding.

“Storm’s pretty bad. You can’t go, and I can’t drive you as well. The streets are pretty dangerous.”

I don’t know what to reply to that. I’m sure I’ll be an inconvenience and I don’t want to make things more awkward as it is.

“Stay here tonight.”