Chapter 1

I rubbed my small towel against my forehead, wiping off all the sweat accumulated from my morning workout. Panting as I tried to catch my breath, I glanced at the clock above my gym.

6:30 AM

Hmm, I still have an hour left before I need to start heading to work.

I scrolled through my calendar on my phone, double-checking my schedule. From what I remembered, I should've already finished all the paperwork that needed my attention this week, and I didn't seem to have many meetings for today. Joseph, my PA of 5 years, must've cleared today's schedule for Ms. Belcalis's arrival.

I tossed my towel into a laundry bin and walked over to my bathroom to take a quick shower. After all, this entire floor was my residence.

I lived in the penthouse of one of the luxury apartment buildings I owned. I was one of the few permanent residents in this building since it was usually only rented out to business directors, usually only people that worked for me, for a few months at a time as they traveled between cities for work. Since they only lived in this building for work purposes, I rarely had any trouble with the tenants, keeping the building wonderfully quiet for me.

When I stepped out of the shower, I tousled my hair with a bit of gel and changed into one of my suits, cuffings the ends of my sleeves as I draped my jacket over my arm. I glanced at my watch.

7:00 AM

I guess I have a bit of time to make myself some breakfast. I threw together a simple omelet with the very few ingredients that I had lying around my fridge and toasted a few slices of bread as I waited for my coffee.

I didn't have much in my apartment because I never spent much time at home. I had never been able to sleep well, waking up crazy early and not feeling sleepy until late at night, so I had always just stayed at my office to keep myself occupied. At least it would be a good use of my time.

I usually sped out of my apartment every morning at 6:30 AM to my office to get a head start on my paperwork and prepare for a day's worth of back-to-back meetings. As such, I rarely had much time to have breakfast in the morning and relied solely on the coffee that Joseph would bring me halfway through my morning.

To add on, I almost never returned home until 10 PM at night. My meetings usually dragged on to at least 8 PM by which all sorts of new paperwork popping up along the way that needed to be handled ASAP. Thus, I usually just called take-out for dinner in my office if I remembered eating or just simply skip the meal altogether. It probably wasn't a very healthy lifestyle, but it was what I was used to.

I chomped down on my bland breakfast as I scrolled through today's news and updates on the stock market. It was nothing all that surprising. All within range of my finance department's predictions.

Noting the time, I grabbed my coffee and made my way out of my apartment. I stepped into the elevator as I impatiently waited for it to descend down 76 floors.

Once I reached the garage floor of my building, I found Joseph already waiting for me outside the elevator.

"Good morning, sir," he greeted me as he opened the car door.

I nodded in acknowledgment of his greeting and stepped into the car. I waited for him to sit in the driver's seat and start the car before asking, "The current itinerary on my calendar is the most up-to-date schedule for today?"

"Yes." He spun the wheel as we turned into the streets of New York. "I know it looks a bit empty, but Mr. Harlow told me that you are still in phase 1 of planning and haven't even figured out the location for your expanded headquarters yet, so I figured you would need some extra time to straighten out the plans with Ms. Belcalis."

I nodded again, knowing that I didn't have give Benedict any concrete plans and simply told him to send me his most competent worker.

I sipped on my coffee as I listed out the things I was looking for in my head but ended up choking on it the moment the atrocious liquid hit my taste buds, making me immediately set the cup aside. Either my coffee machine was broken, or I was seriously terrible at making coffee.

Joseph glanced at me from the rearview mirror and added, "I actually got a call from Emily while I was waiting for you. Apparently, Ms. Belcalis has already arrived at the building and is currently waiting in front of your office."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. It was barely 7:30 AM, and she was at work before I had even arrived. Was she just a dedicated worker or another one of those clingy chicks?

Before I could come to any conclusion, Joseph pulled up to the front entrance of my building and stepped out to open the door for me.

"Thank you, Joseph. I'll message you if I need anything else from you later."

He bowed as I walked into my building, ignoring the flood of my employees passing by me. I stepped up to the receptionist's desk and asked Emily, "Ms. Belcalis is waiting in front of my office?"

The elderly lady immediately perked up and nodded eagerly. She chirped, "Yep, I already gave her the security badge and company-issued laptop."

I nodded acceptingly and turned to leave. But before I could depart the desk, Emily called out, "Rafael, try not to be so intimidating when you walk up there. The poor girl doesn't need that kind of rude behavior."

Only little old Emily would dare to scold me in such a way, not that I minded too much because she was like family to me.

"I don't bite," I replied.

She huffed, but before she could respond, the elevator doors had already closed, sending me straight up to my office on the top floor of my building.

When the doors opened, all the employees, consisting mainly VPs, on my floor immediately stiffened and straightened up, greeting me as I passed. I wouldn't say I was a scary boss, but I definitely don't take bullshit and had a somewhat short fuse when things didn't meet my standards. But that was what kept Cordova Industries ahead of all the other companies.

I pushed up the door into the waiting room before my office, taking note of the little lady standing to the right of the room with a tiny purse and her laptop. Today, she had her hair tied up in a simple updo, making her loose ringlets bounce ever so slightly with each shift of her head.

Alongside her thick-rimmed glasses, she was in a creaseless white button-up shirt paired with a black skirt that flared out in such a way that accentuated her naturally thin waistline. If it weren't for her blank expression as she stared at me, I would've thought she was trying to catch my attention.

"Good morning, Ms. Belcalis, and thank you for coming early to meet with me," I greeted. Unlocking the door to my office with my fingerprint and face ID, I held the door open for her and continued, "Why don't we get started?"

She nodded meekly and stepped through the doorway without a single word. When she passed me, I noticed that she barely came up to my chest despite wearing heels.

She was so much smaller than me that I could see the top of her head and ended up receiving a waft of her scent. It wasn't anything nauseating like the over-perfumed women I would usually be stuck around. Rather, it was some sort of naturally sweet scent that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Stepping in behind her, I motioned for her to sit on the chair in front of my desk as I walked around my table to sit down at my seat, taking off my suit jacket along the way.

Right as I was about to speak again, I was handed a manila folder with a thick wad of papers inside it. I raised an eyebrow as I thumbed through the papers.

It contained a schedule for the next week, filled with meetings and plans for almost every hour of the workday from 8 AM to 5 PM, whether it be visiting different sites for potential constructions or meeting up with different firms who would help with building the new headquarters.

Although I hadn't told Benedict or her anything about what I was looking for, especially since I, myself, haven't even put much thought into it yet, she had already filled the folders with a list of potential locations, architectural firms, constructions firm, and all sorts of other things. Each possibility had a wad of papers listing the pros and cons, expenses, and time estimates with little notes written in the margin containing her thoughts and inputs on said item.

It was so detailed that I wasn't sure what else I needed to do besides joining her in the meetings and picking the ones I liked.

I glanced up at her.

She was standing perfectly still in front of my desk, not taking a seat at all, and simply holding her closed laptop close to her chest as she waited for my response.

Seeing someone so unaffected and monotoned in my presence brought up a strange feeling in my chest. Maybe I was just so used to having people constantly trying to talk themselves up to me and try to get closer to me that I found it odd to see someone put such a distinct barrier between herself and me.

"Everything looks good. I don't have much to say about it except wonderful work."

She nodded silently but made no other moves.

I straightened the papers and stood up from my seat. "Let me show you to your office for the next 2 months."

She nodded again and wordlessly followed me out of the office.

It wasn't a far walk because her office was right next to mine, but there were already all sorts of whispers around the office from the few minutes we stepped out into the corridor.

I wasn't sure what came over me, but after Ms. Belcalis stepped into her new office, I shot my employees a glare, immediately silencing their chatter with one look.

I was normally used to the stares and whispers, but for some reason, I couldn't stand how they were talking about her as if she was some sort of exhibition on display for scrutiny and ended up reflexively protecting her.

When I turned around to enter her office, I found Ms. Belcalis standing next to her new desk, tracing a single finger along the wood's grain. She looked up with her head slightly tilted in a confused manner.

Despite her lack of facial expressions, I thought the gesture was quite adorable.

With a light chuckle, I explained, "One of my previous VPs just retired, so I had a free office next door to my own, and I figured it would be better to keep you closer to me rather than farther, considering how close we're going to be working together for the next few months."

She nodded mutely as she gently set her laptop down on the table.

"Feel free to get comfortable. I will be next door finishing up some work before we need to leave for our first meeting in half an hour." As I left her new office, I paused at the doorway and added, "I look forward to working with you and will be expecting great things from you."

From the corner of my eye, right as I was about to close the door all the way, I noticed a set of dainty little ears that had turned red at the tips despite her expressionless face.

How cute.