06

Lauren Hart

“I’ll be waiting in my car.”

As soon as those words left his mouth I again went inside and rummaged through the wardrobe. The rushed panic inside me caused me to wear whatever came in my hands first. Rugged jeans, a creased t-shirt, black sneakers without socks, disheveled hair, and I was ready. I was not on a mission to impress. That was the last thing in my mind as my already overcrowded mind was in a state of confusion as to where to fit the fact that my boss Sean Peterson was standing at my doorstep and had wanted to talk to me. About what? I had no clue. What could be so important that he couldn’t wait till the morning?

After messaging Christy that I was going out for some work I exited the house and while I was locking the door, my eyes landed on the window of Mrs. Harris from where she was still peeking. “God, this irritating lady!” I muttered through my teeth. But I too wasn’t any less if she could irritate me then I could too. I passed a fake, sweet tight-lipped-go complaint to my mother about my late-night getaway. I don’t care- smile and walked away.

The awkwardly silent car ride with my boss to I didn’t know where was too boring. The firm silence in the car was killing me. I couldn’t even ask him to turn on the radio as I knew he wouldn’t do it. Traveling with him for official work taught me that he enjoyed driving in silence.

He stopped the car at a restaurant and we went in. The place was almost empty still he took the end corner table to sit at.

“What would you like to have?” He asked me.

“We are here to talk, right sir?” We were not here to eat. Moreover, I had my dinner waiting at home. I didn’t want to waste it as I paid for it.

“Yes, Miss Hart but we can’t sit here without ordering.”

Oh, yeah, he makes sense. He always does. Too perfect and sensible.

“Okay then, coffee would be fine,” I said as I tapped my fingers on the table.

He ordered coffee and I ran my eyes left to right, studying the few people that were enjoying their food. What? I had nothing to do. I was waiting for him to start speaking. Two minutes passed, three minutes passed but he didn’t speak. So, while tapping my fingers on the table I slowly darted my eyes at him and found him lost in his thoughts, scratching his eyebrow with his index finger.

“Mr. Peterson?” I mumbled. His eyes shot up and I raised my eyebrows which caused him to sit straight in his chair.

“Ahem, Miss Hart. Actually…there is something I need to know.” He said a bit hesitantly and I was like Whoa, Sean Peterson was hesitant? That was new.

“Yes?”

“On the scale of 1-10, how good are you with kids?”

Huh? I stared at him weirdly, looking for a sign of horns on his head. What kind of question was that?

“Uh, why?”

“Just answer.” His tone changed to bossy again.

“Well, I do like kids but I’ll give myself a score between 5 and 6.”

“5.5. This can work.” He mumbled to himself but I heard him. He assumed 5.5 can’t it be 5.1 or 5.9 or any other?

He suddenly sat stiffly, bored his eyes in mine which made me uncomfortable.

“Listen, Miss Hart. There is this child who is my-“

I gasped and abruptly stood up from the chair. I shrieked. “You have a child? Oh my god! Why didn’t I know? Does anyone know? How old is the kid? Who is the mother-“

“MISS HART lower your voice. There are people here.” He snapped. I shut my mouth tight instantly.

“Do not conclude before listening completely. I am talking about my nephew, not my child.”

“Oh.” Embarrassed by my outburst, I sat down quietly. My cheeks grew hotter by every passing microsecond.

“Now, I want you to remain quiet till I finish speaking, do you understand?” The authority in his tone had me compelled and my head automatically bobbed up and down in submission.

“So the matter is I wanted my nephew to live with me for a while but my grandma didn’t agree, saying I’m a busy person so…I blurted out that I have a…umm…woman living with me while in reality there is no one living with me.”

He paused.

I thought he would continue but he didn’t. I was confused as to why he was telling me all that and why he stopped without completing whatever he wanted to say or was it all? The waiter came and scurried away after placing our coffee in front of us but we didn’t pay heed to it as our eyes were surprisingly locked with each other. I was waiting for him to complete and he might be waiting for my response.

Being the curious cat I am, I decided to break the awkward silence but before I do that I dragged the coffee cup near me and took a sip to wet my dry throat.

“So…umm…why are you telling me this?” I asked with a frown as I ran my finger on the rim of the coffee cup.

“Because I told my grandma that the woman living with me is you. So I need you to move in with me.”

“What?! Ow…” My body jerked and I hissed as my finger slipped in the hot coffee. To reduce the stinging pain of my finger I put it in my mouth and sucked it.

My currently out-of-mind boss threw tissue at me “Use a tissue, Miss Hart.” He hissed.

“Wait, wait, wait…” I swatted the tissues away when I came back to my senses.

“You mean to say that YOU said to your grandma that I am living with YOU. So, you want me to move in with you?”

“Exactl—“

“NO! A big N with a big O.” I deadpanned. Had he gone mad? Or perhaps he hit his head on the hard floor?

“Miss Hart, this is not the way to talk to your boss. And for heaven’s sake lower your damn voice.”

“Lower my voice, Mr. Peterson? How can I, sir? Why would you do that? Why would you drag my name into your matters? I mean, out of million women you chose to use my name? Why me? You practically told your grandmother that YOU and I are in a relationship.” I shrieked in a low voice.

Frowning, he leaned forward and stick out an accusing finger at me. “I’m in this mess because of you. Only if you hadn’t called me, I would have come up with something but your call interpreted my plan. Now, you have to do as I say.”

The audacity of this handsome but currently not-so-sensible man!

“My call? My calls are always related to work, sir. I only give you a call when it’s urgent.” I defended myself. I had no idea how I was speaking so much when I had always remained like a meek mouse in front of him. Maybe because I was being accused of something that wasn’t my fault.

“But this time you chose the wrong timing, Miss Hart.”

How would I know if the time is right or wrong?

“Listen, you don’t have to worry about anything. About the relationship thing…I have mentioned to her that you are my P.A and we share a strictly professional relationship, nothing more. All you are going to have to do is stay with me for a week. That’s all.”

He thought this could calm me? No.

I huffed. “Mr. Peterson…I’m sorry I can’t.”

“Very well then, you left me with no other choice.” His bossy aura suddenly came back that turned me anxious. Placing his forearms on the table he leaned forward, wearing a dominating look on his face.

“You remember the car that you damaged?”

Huh? Why was he bringing this up all of a sudden?

His accusing eyes caged me in his vicious trap and my body shrank back in the chair. “It’s payback time, Miss Hart.”

“Wh…what d…do you mean?” I suddenly lost my voice. The roaring lioness had now turned into a fragile kitten.

“Remember I forgave you without asking for compensation for the damage?”

“And I told you I’ll pay for the damage. What amount is it? $100, $500, $1000? I have savings.”

“If I needed money I wouldn’t have forgiven you without taking it from you. But money is not what I want…now I want compensation in another form… I want you.”

I want you… It should’ve sounded like a melody, it should’ve arisen yummy shudders in my body but all I got is dangerous goosebumps because it sounded like a threat.

“You already forgave me. Now, how…how can you ask for compensation? Moreover, you don’t have proof that I did that to your car. No CCTV was covering the spot.” I tried to manipulate him, hoping for him to change his decision but the devil smirked in return.

“Do you really think I would park my expensive car in no surveillance area? Are you really that dumb? And as you aren’t willing to do as I say so here is my deal…”

My heart started to pump blood at an alarming rate, making it to drum loudly. Deep inside I knew I was going to be in big trouble.

“Either you do as I say or you lose your job.”

Dropped. My heart. It dropped in the pit of my stomach.

Sagged. My shoulders. They sagged because of the burden of compensation I had to pay.

Paralyzed. My body. It got paralyzed because of the consequences I had to suffer because of my one single stupidity.

“But…but this is blackmail.” The poor kitten tried to meow.

“You can put it that way.” He simply shrugged his shoulders and leaned back in the chair, sitting in the most relaxed position he could attain.

At that moment I thought— I’d rather be fired—But again, what would I do if I get fired from the job? Does that mean I have to accept his offer? No, it’s not an offer it’s blackmail, a threat to be exact. I wanted to bang my head on the table but I didn’t want to make fun of myself. I was already in a deep sinking ship.

With bouncing knees, fidgeting fingers, rubbing teeth, drumming heart, I struggled to think about getting out of this mess but my own brain denied to help me.

“Come on Lauren, come up with something. You need to find a way out and if not, you need to find a loophole. You can’t let him blackmail you.” I mentally said to myself.

“We don’t have all night, Miss Hart. Decide now. Help me save my time. Job or no job?”

Help him save his time? He was concerned about his time and here I was concerned about my life. He was acting as if he didn’t need my help—oh, wait… I stopped running my mind when I realized something. Help.

Help! HELP!

SEAN PETERSON needed MY HELP.

Why hadn’t it struck me before? My soul did a happy dance when I found a loophole and slowly a smirk started to appear on my lips. I knew I couldn’t get out of the mess but I got an idea where he couldn’t blackmail me. Devil me was back!

“What’s with the smile, Miss Hart? I want your answer, not your smile.”

Time to roar again, lioness.

“Mr. Peterson, I accept that I can’t at all deny what you want me to do…but…”

His eyebrows raised and my smirk widened.

“…for me to do as you say…you need to ask me properly for my help. A simple request with please would do.”

There, I said that. Bang on!

“Excuse me?” He screeched.

“Sir, with due respect, we have an audience here. I request you to lower your voice.” I said innocently, an evil smirk still not leaving my lips.

“You are aware that you’re speaking to your boss, right? Or have you lost your mind? If yes, then let me remind you that I can have you fired in a snap of my fingers and have any other woman do the work for me.”

This time his intimidating eyes didn’t affect me. I was most confident I could ever be. Leaning forward, I wore a genuine, sweet smile and placed my palms on the table.

“Mr. Peterson… you know many people consider me stupid but what they don’t know is I am smart too, in my own way. And I’m smart enough to know that you wouldn’t have come to me if you had others to help you.”

I saw his jaw drop down to the floor, his eyes turning wide as if he had seen a ghost. That was the scene to be captured in the camera. I swear I would have taken out my phone to click his picture only if he wasn’t my boss.

His demeanor suddenly changed as he clenched his jaw and mumbled something under his breath which I couldn’t understand. I was waiting for him to make a move but he kept staring at me with his hard eyes as if he had wanted to kill me.

I gulped and bit my cheek wall. Had I gone too far? Was he really thinking to fire me from the job? I knew I was playing with fire but I was a spark too, a curious spark that can ignite the fire which I did a moment ago.

He for sure will fire me and ask for another woman’s help. God, what have I done? I suddenly panicked because …

1-) I had dug my own grave with my own personal hands.

2-) I lost the chance to live with my crush.

How more stupid I could get?

“Lauren you fool. You should have accepted his proposal. Now get ready to lose your job.” I mentally scolded myself.

“I see that you have enough courage to put your job on stake, Miss Hart.”

God, it was happening. I shivered at his authoritative, hard tone. His eyes were throwing fireballs in my direction.

“I don’t intend to forgive you for saying whatever you said a few moments ago…” He paused.

“But I’m in a big problem right now and you seem to be the only solution…So…”

“Please help me get out of this mess.”

This time my jaw dropped to the floor. Did he just say please? Mighty Sean Peterson said please? For the first time, he didn’t order me and my job was saved for the second time in a row.

I mentally thanked the Almighty for always having my back although it’s me who drag myself into trouble.

“Will you?”

I jerked back into reality and without thinking twice I eagerly nodded my head.

“Yes, I will help you.”

I saw him sigh in relief. “Good. Now listen to me. All you have to do is to live at my house for a week and look after a kid-“

“Wait, look after a kid? I’m not a babysitter.” I scowled.

“What will you take to listen before getting to the conclusion?” He chided and I instantly shut my mouth like a child.

“What I mean to say is you have to convince grandma that she can leave my nephew with me without being concerned about him. Just gain her trust, okay?”

“No offense but you should be the one doing so. I mean gaining her trust. She’s is your grandmother and the nephew is yours, not mine.”

“You are right but my grandma thinks that I can’t look after a kid if I don’t have a female by my side.”

“She is so damn right,” I muttered under my breath. “I understand,” I said loudly.

“Good. Any more questions?”

I scratched the back of my head. “I do have a question. What have you told your grandma as to why I’m living with you?”

“About that…” He averted his eyes and cleared his throat. Something was fishy for sure. I had a bad feeling about it.

“I told her that you currently don’t have a place to live so I gave you space in my house until you find one for yourself.”

“What?!” I gaped at him. “You told her that I’m homeless? How could you?”

“Not homeless…just currently searching for a good place to live.”

“And she accepted just like that?”

“Well, yes?”

“I can’t believe it.” I leaned back in the chair, placing the palms on the table.

“Can I back out now?” I dared to ask.

“No, you can’t.” He said in a heartbeat. “Listen, you are unknown to her which means you shouldn’t be concerned about what she thinks about you. Just a week and you’ll be free. As I said before, what matters to her is a female—who is not a babysitter— should be capable of taking care of a child in her absence. So, just convince her that she can leave my nephew with me without her being around me. And to do that you’ll be working from home for the rest of the week.”

“What? Work from home? But this means double, triple work.” I screeched.

“Well, you have to manage for a week. I’ll give you an increment.” His tone was dismissive.

I couldn’t believe it. Without my consent, my name was dragged into someone’s problems.—My boss’s problems to be specific. Despite being having a good job and a house, I was characterized as homeless. Had to do triple work for a week. And above all, I agreed to please his grandma so that he could keep his nephew near him.

What was in for me? Nothing.

And I couldn’t back out. What had I gotten myself into? My brain was on the verge of exploding due to over thinking I had done since he had shown himself on my doorstep. As I couldn’t think of anything that could pull me out from the mess I decided to agree.

“I…” I sighed. “Okay.”

“Good.” That’s all he said.

We sat in silence for a while, doing nothing when he broke the silence with another question.

“Miss Hart, do you have a boyfriend?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I don’t want any kind of boyfriend drama and at any cost, I don’t want to see your boyfriend at my place. Listen, I’m not binding you to me as I know you have your own life too so you are free to spend time outside with whosoever you want. Just not at my place.”

Phew! At least I had my freedom.

“Don’t worry. I don’t have a boyfriend.” I mumbled, my face burning up.

Firstly he looked surprised then he again held his poker face and nodded his head.

“What about you? I mean I too don’t want to be answerable to your grandma about women you spend your time with or you are living with.” I said.

“This is none of your concern.” He said sternly.

I scowled. “Why? Why my boyfriend is your concern and your girlfriend is not? For heaven’s sake, I’ll be living with you which means I too will have to give answers to your grandma. What will I say if some random woman knocks on the door of your house?”

“It won’t happen.”

“How are you so sure?”

“Because it won’t happen.”

“That’s why I asked how are you so sure?”

“Goddammit because I have not been with any woman for the last two years.”

The sudden explosion of his anger shrank me back to the chair but couldn’t stop myself from mumbling. “Why don’t I believe him?”

Could he be right? He had been celibate for two years? How could it be possible for a man like him who had women lined up for him?

“I heard you, Miss Hart. Again, this is not of your concern.”

“Err, yeah. Sorry.”

Why can’t I keep my mouth shut? Simple, because I can’t.

“Make sure to be at my place tomorrow before noon.” He ordered. I just nodded my head as I didn’t trust my mouth.

“I think this is enough for now. Let’s go, I’ll drop you at your place.” He said as he stood up from his seat.

“But the coffee. You haven’t even touched it.” I said, pointing at the cup.

“I don’t have time. Now let’s go.”

I gaped at him as he placed the money on the table before making his way out, leaving me there. How gentlemanly!

Why had he even order coffee if he didn’t want to touch it? And he even didn’t let me drink mine. How rude!

Scowling, I stood up from my seat and made my way out.

Sean Peterson

Why are women so wicked?

First, my grandmother and now her.

I thought I would intimidate her and use the car to make her do as I say but this cunning woman tangled me in her wicked ways. My own plan backfired on me.

To be honest, I was regretting involving her with me. If she could manipulate me, compel me to request her for help then she could do anything.

But in the end, I had convinced myself that Miss Hart was only my last hope. If not for her, I would have no one to help me. Even my friends couldn’t help me to bring me out of the mess.

My friends- Shit!

How could I forget such an important thing?

I stopped the car in front of her house and before she could step out I stopped her.

“Miss Hart.”

“Yes, Sir?”

“There is something I forgot to mention.”

“Uh, what?”

Before speaking I shifted in my seat to face her. “At any cost…I mean it, Miss Hart, at any cost…all the talk that happened between us…” I directed my finger between us. “…should not reach to Ariana or Eloise. If it reached their ears they’ll definitely tell it to Xavier and Daniel and I do not want to involve any of them in this, get that?”

“Huh?” She frowned. “They will eventually get to know. They are your best friends.”

“Well, I’m not going to tell them and nobody else knows except you. So, try to keep your talkative mouth shut.”

“You mean to say I have to avoid my friends for the rest of the week?” She scowled.

“As you can’t shut your mouth when needed so, yes, it would be better if you stay away from them for a week. They shouldn’t ever get to know about this, not now, not ever.” I threatened her.

“But you said I can meet whosoever I want.”

“Anyone but them,” I said dismissively.

“This is not right, Mr. Peterson.”

“I’m warning you, Miss Hart. There’ll be consequences. You’ll lose your job and this time for real.”

“You are again blackmailing me!”

“You should’ve thought of this before blackmailing me to make a request to you.”

Did she think I would leave her for blackmailing me? No, I knew how to play the games. If she was wicked I was evil too.

She crossed her hands before grumbling “okay.”

“Miss Hart, I’m not making you sign any contract this time. I’m trusting you on this. Hope you’ll remember the consequences.”

“Mr. Peterson, I can’t afford to lose my job. So yes, I’ll remember every single word you said to threaten me. Good night.”

She grumbled and stepping out of the car she slammed the door shut with ferocity, shaking the car in the process.

How dare she? God, her attitude! Why I never saw this irritable side of her? What had I missed? She had been working for me for almost four years now, and I didn’t know her even a bit.

What did I even do to her that she showed me her attitude? She was being disrespectful to me on purpose even though I had been polite to her, I went out of my way to be nice to her. I requested her, didn’t I? I know I threatened her a little but it was a need of the moment as I couldn’t afford the news to reach my friends.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

Closing my eyes I leaned my head down on the steering wheel and muttered,

“Hope she does not create more problems for me.”