Incapable Fool

Mason paced his office pondering on the exchange between him and Evans earlier, once again he had let his temper get the best of him with Evans and he felt horrible about it. Deep down he knew Evans was only trying to help even if he didn't fully understand that Mason was trying to do the exact same thing. It also puzzled him how Evans found out about Bryan, in full detail too even if the details were biased and twisted to make Mason seem like a controlling jerk. He wondered if Ben could have told him but dismissed that thought immediately, Ben was a professional who understood confidentiality. He wouldn't tattle to Evans like that and even if he did, Ben didn't know why Mason was hiring Bryan so that ruled him out.

"What if Bryan and Evans somehow met behind my back?" He said to himself and immediately ruled that out too, there wasn't any way Evans could have contacted Bryan and his friend obviously didn't like Bryan so he was sure Evans wouldn't go out of his way to have a chat with Bryan about the details of his appointment. That brought him to his last conclusion, if he ,Ben and Bryan didn't tell Evans, that left only one person; Lisa.

It made sense that Lisa was the one who told Evans, she had always thought he was trying to run her life which made sense that she'd think hiring Bryan was another way of doing so. She had also always ran to Evans for help especially when it involved him, Evans was her "cool" big brother while he was the annoying one who didn't want her to live her life independently. Evans and Lisa definitely had each other's contact so all it would take was a text or a call and Evans would know what was going on, from Lisa's perspective obviously which meant that his friend would disagree with him.

"How did Lisa find out? When did she find out?" He muttered as he sat down on his chair swivelling to face the view outside, he couldn't think of anything that might have hinted Lisa about him hiring Bryan but it did explain her behavior at breakfast. He had thought he would be the one to break the news to Lisa and he had been preparing for an outburst, Lisa would yell at him, eventually start to cry and lock herself up in her room. Then he would sit by her door, explain his decision and leave a present by the door, she would come out, tell him she hasn't forgiven him but would take the gift he got her. However Lisa had found out on her own before he had time to plan his moves, what's more surprising was the lack of an outburst. Sure she had been a little cold but that was better than an outburst, maybe she took it better than he thought she would.

"Ahem" Bryan's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He turned his chair around to face his newest employee, Bryan stood by the door and to his credit he made an effort in his appearance. He was wearing a polished black shoe, ironed black trousers, a blue striped shirt and a blue tie that was slightly askew, his clothes and shoes looked a little worn out but they were neat and formal. "Good morning sir" he said with a grin. Mason sighed and responded "Fix your tie". Bryan straightened and adjusted his tie, he waited expectantly for Mason to say something

"Well?" Mason said looking at him with an eyebrow raised

"Well what sir?" He responded a little confused

"What is the first thing on my schedule today?" Mason said slowly

"Oh yeah the schedule. I knew I was forgetting something" Bryan said as he dashed out of Mason's office. Mason sighed as he left, it was going to be a long day. Bryan came back in with a tablet in his hands, his confident grin was back. He walked over to his chair in a corner of the office and sat "Well sir, in 30 minutes, it appears that you will be meeting with the head of HR to discuss working conditions here and how to improve it" he said using what he thought was his professional voice.

"Well before then, there's a video recording I need you to go over and transcribe into a document. Be sure to get everything in details. That's your work tablet, you have been assigned a work email and most of your instructions will be sent to it so be sure to take care with it"

Bryan nodded and checked his tablet and the notification sound tinkled softly "I just sent the video to you. Start working on it immediately" Mason instructed and started to read a pile of documents before him. Bryan connected his earphones to the tablet and they both started to work in silence. They had worked for a while before Mason heard a knock on the door, the head of HR was here for their meeting. Mason asked her to enter and she walked into the office. From the corner of his eyes, Bryan saw a figure walk into the office and raised his head, it appeared that the woman was the head of HR. He stood to greet her, and the tablet slipped from his hand to the floor.

"You must be the newest employee, that tablet cost a lot and any damages to it will be deducted from your paycheck" the woman said sternly glaring at Bryan and then turned to face Mason "Honestly sir, you should have let us take care of hiring an assistant for you sir, I can guarantee that we'll find someone that matches your criteria perfectly". Bryan rolled his eyes at the woman's back before picking the tablet "Hey it's not broken, it didn't even fall that hard" he said sulkily. The woman's eyes widened as she heard Bryan's petulant tone "As an employee you are required to take proper care of the company's properties, you are risking your job if you keep this up" she snapped at him

"It's alright Doris, he did say it's not broken so let it go. We should start the meeting now" Mason said without looking up from the documents in front of him. The woman opened her mouth to say something and shut it again, she sent Bryan one last glare before sitting in front of Mason.

"Alright sir, I'd like to begin by reviewing–"

"–Bryan move closer, you need to get this down" Mason cut in, making the woman flush in annoyance. Bryan nodded and moved to the chair beside Doris, the woman was about to continue when Bryan cut in "Um…I don't have a pen and a pad to write this down" he said sheepishly.

"Record it on your tablet Bryan, then you can transcribe it later" Mason responded.

The woman opened her mouth in disbelief, it was clear that Bryan didn't know his duties but here he was, hired without her knowledge as the head of human resources. She shifted a little away from Bryan and the meeting started. At first, Bryan forgot to press the record button and Mason made Doris start all over again do he could get everything, then he kept holding the tablet close to her mouth claiming that she spoke too low and wanted to get everything she said, by the time the meeting was done and she left, she was fuming with anger.

She left the office muttering angrily to herself heading towards the elevator, as the door opened, she marched in not realizing someone was about to get out and bumped into him. "How many incapable fools are running around right under my nose, can't you s–" she stopped mid sentence as she gazed up to meet Evans face, he had one eyebrow raised "Hello Doris, are you going to fire this incapable fool?" he said lightly.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry sir, I didn't realize it was you, my fault for not looking at where I was going sir. I'm so sorry" she choked out blushing with embarrassment.

Evans chuckled slightly, Doris was known for her strictness, she was fair to everyone under her but was a no nonsense woman who would not hesitate to call anyone out "Relax Doris. Someone must have pissed you off, I really pity the person that angered you" he teased and was surprised when she didn't say anything in return. "So who was it?" He pressed trying to get her to relax and forget her embarrassment

She pouted and responded "I really don't want to question Mr Carlton's judgement"

Her statement made Evans stop and he immediately guessed who she was talking about "Hey Doris do you think you have time for coffee? You can rant about the incapable fool all you want". Her eyes widened as she agreed without a second thought. Evans was very attractive and even though she was older than him, the thought of having coffee with him made her feel like a little girl. She allowed him to lead the way to his office and followed, smiling to herself. Who knows, maybe he could help her get rid of the idiot the CEO hired and leave it to her.

10 minutes and a cup of coffee later, a happy Doris left Evans office thanking him for listening to her concerns and hinting that Evans should do something about the CEO's assistant. He sat pondering on what he had just heard, it was very strange that Mason chose to hire someone he knew quite well wasn't qualified enough. Of course he had said he was doing it for Lisa but if Mason didn't approve of his sister being friends with Bryan, he could have paid Bryan off and warned him to stay away from Lisa. Bryan seemed like a cunning person and the thought of him behind so close to Mason made him feel uneasy, then a thought suddenly creeped into his mind. Mason had called Bryan a bike riding lunatic, "He must be dangerous" Evans thought, stroking his jaw, there's only one reason his friend would hire someone like Bryan and fail to discipline him correctly as his employer. Mason wasn't in control and if he wasn't then Bryan must be the one pulling the strings. "He must have threatened Mason somehow to get himself a position here, I bet he threatened Lisa" he said to himself anger boiling in the pit of his stomach. The guy had some nerve to take advantage of his best friend's soft heart and love for his sister. He tightened his jaw and swore . He was definitely not going to sit back and watch that happen