The Unexpected

"Good morning sir", Emily welcomes her boss, Alex to work on a bright Monday morning and with a wave of hand He snubs her greetings. 

Alexander Reynolds, the CEO of Cartar Enterprises had always been cold towards his workers and it has become a normal routine for him to reply coldly to his secretary's greetings but Emily was unusually bothered this morning as he had never completely snubbed her this way. She persists in her greetings, "Trust you had a great weekend sir?", but Alex still did not reply and this got Emily bothered. "What could have happened to him?" She thought. 

Alex stormed into his office with obvious rage and it is almost definite that he would transfer the aggression to anyone that gives him any opportunity to that day. Emily's usual routine as his secretary was to allow him settle in his office for a few minutes then present him the daily schedules, appointments and meetings he would be having for the day, if there was any spill over from the previous day, it is her duty to remind him and afterwards serve him a drink which could be tea, coffee, wine or juice all based on his request but Emily feels reluctant to do all these this morning giving the countenance of her boss but she is left with no choice as she does not even want Alex to have a single reason to relieve her of her duties since it had been his normal routine to change secretaries like his clothes. He has had over eight secretaries in two years of him being the CEO before Emily started six months ago, obviously, she had stayed the longest. 

Emily has being ever diligent since she became his secretary because she needed the job due to the state of poverty in her home, she had to support her parents to make sure they had a good life and working with Carter Enterprises is a great privilege as the pay is enough to give her family a little above average lifestyle.

"Tap, tap, tap", Emily gently taps her boss' door and enters. "Good morning sir, you would be having two meetings today with...…", Alex stops her with a raise of his hand. 

"Get me coffee", he said. Emily drops the files with her on his table while she prepares the coffee on the table, she brought it to him and he lifts the tea cup and gestures her to fill it for him. 

"If you want sir, I can cancel all appointments for today giving your mood and reschedule the…", she said while she filled the cup, she hadn't finished her statement when she accidentally spilled the coffee on Alex's shirt. She was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say knowing full well the type of person her boss is coupled with his terrible mood this morning. 

There was a moment of silence in the office as they both gazed at each other, and several unexpected interactions flowed through them both and surprisingly they both burst into a genuine laughter which seems odd to Emily because it was a huge contrast to what she expected. 

"I'm so sorry sir, I'll fix you another shirt immediately" she quickly said as she stopped laughing. She turned around but Alex held her hand and gestured her to sit right with him on the cushion in the office where he sat.

"Not so fast, it can wait" Alex replied. "Anyone can spill coffee, leave it for now. Let's know what I have to do for today before fixing another shirt" He said and he sipped from his cup of coffee.

Emily, still amazed, picked up the file she dropped and couldn't even read the schedule as she gazed at her boss with several thoughts running through her mind. "What's going on with him? Did he really take this lightly? Can he really sit in this stained shirt? He didn't even yell as usual? Is this a dream or what?" All these thoughts went through her mind as she was interrupted by Alex.

"I'm all hears", Alex cut through her thoughts

"Ehm, Erm, I'm so sorry sir" she jacked out of her thoughts. "You have two business meetings today, one at 10 am with Shiel Holdings and another one at 2 pm with Golden M Enterprises. And you have an appointment by 4 pm with the marketers from the new company that is seeking to partner with Cartar Enterpises on our next project. Today is going to be a busy one sir" she relayed.

"Okay, prepare me a new shirt, I'll like to prepare for the meeting" Alex replied.

Emily rises and leaves the office to prepare him a new shirt with series of thoughts going through her mind. Alex on the other hand watches her as she leaves, he had admired her diligence over the months and he had begin to like her. He was sorry for snubbing her earlier but he couldn't bring himself to tell her he is sorry, he is her boss after all. He saw the spilled coffee as an opportunity to make it up to her for snubbing her since he couldn't say sorry directly, he handled it as if nothing had happened.

As Emily was preparing the new shirt, series of thoughts went through her mind, "is this a dream? The ever cold and almighty Alexander Reynolds was so calm after I spilled the coffee on his shirt? He held my hand, asked me to sit? Is this really happening?" She thought, "I must have had a wrong notion of him all along, why does he now behave like that? Hmmmm…" she kept on thinking as she picked up another shirt from the wardrobe Alex had in the office and on her way returning to Alex's office, she kept on thinking and smiling happily as she thought of what just happened, Her thoughts were soon interrupted by her friend and colleague, Anna.

"What's the occasion this morning, seeing you beaming with smiles?" Anna interrupted

"Arrgghhh, you startled me" Emily replied. 

"Startled? You must have been in a very deep thought for me to have startled you, I hope all is well?" Anna asked.

"All is well" Emily replied.

"And what's it with the shirt? Your boss' shirt?" Anna asked.

Emily smiled again and whispered into Anna's ears, "I spilled coffee on his shirt".

"Really? He must have seriously scolded and spanked you, so why are you laughing? Is it funny at all?" Anna asked again.

"That's the most surprising thing, he was not angry at all, I don't know, but let me quickly run off, will give you the full gist after the close of work" she replied smiling as she ran off leaving Anna in a state of confusion, the Almighty Alexander Reynolds would not be as calm as Emily as portrayed but she definitely has to wait for the close of work to hear the full gist.

Emily and Alex accidentally bumped into each other as they both opened the office door, Alex opened it from the inside while Emily opened it from the outside. Leaving the facing each other directly, several interactions flowed through them again, the contact was too close for comfort and Emily began to feel uncomfortable.

"Here's your shirt" she broke the silence and shoved the shirt in his face to cover her shy face.

"Oh! Okay, thanks" Alex replied, jacking out of his thoughts and collected the shirt from her. 

"Wait, I'll be done shortly" He charged her as he used the restroom to change his stained shirt.

"What was he doing at the door? He wasn't planning to leave the office in that stained shirt, was he?" This thought flooded Emily's mind as she was not conscious that her boss was already right behind her.

"Here's the shir…" Alex handed her the stained shirt, but before he could finish his statement, Emily was startled and while trying to turn around, she slipped and almost fell.

He caught her at the waist, holding her and preventing her from falling and there was a period of a very long silence between them, thru continued to gaze at each other for a long while.

"What's this? Will you just let go of me?" Emily thought with her heart beating twice as fast than usual.

"I am loving this already, I can't let go" Alex thought.