"You look tired," Heather commented as she sat down.

"I am, barely got any sleep last night." I yawned.

"Oh, why?"

"I binge watched gossip girl all night." I grinned and she laughed.

"Well, now we know your reason for arriving late two weeks ago." The ever efficient Lilian said as she appeared round the corner.

"That was not–"

"I'm sure it was something just as silly," she said and I breathed in. Patience, that had been all getting me through the past few days as she seemed to have a personal vendetta against me.

The doors to William's office opened and out he came, dressed in one of his signature immaculate suits I'd become accustomed to seeing him in, the past few weeks.

"What's my schedule for today like?"

"A meeting by 10, which Miss Jack will accompany you to, then another by 12 with the stakeholders. You mentioned needing your home office reorganised so Miss Duhamels will handle that later in the day."

"Okay, good. We'll leave for Illston tech by 9:30," he said to Heather and she nodded then he turned to me, "and by 3 pm, we should be on our way to my apartment." I nodded as well.

"Also, I'm shifting the salary payment date to Tuesday, three weeks from now. There are some issues within the financial department that need to sorted out first. Let that circulate." He finished and returned to his office.

I immediately panicked.

Salaries were meant to be paid by the end of this week and my rent was due this Saturday. I already had everything calculated and planned out. Pay Jiggy rent, go grocery shopping and save a little.

Jiggy was not going to be happy.

What if I asked for an advanced payment? And let William know I was struggling? No.

The rest of the day, I tried not to think about my poverty, looming rent or Jiggy but how could I not? My head played all the words and possible future scenes on a constant reloop. It was only the Tuesday of my fourth week working at Dieter and Leona and I wished the weekend or any other week would never arrive.

"You're back early, where's the boss?" I asked Heather who was just returning since leaving with William in the morning.

"In the parking lot, waiting in the car. Have you had lunch? We stopped on the way here and I got one extra sandwich for you incase." She lifted a brown lunch bag up and I smiled apologetically.

"I have actually but thank you though." I stood up carrying my bag.

"Alright, bye. See you tomorrow," she waved.

I lied about lunch. I felt too queasy to eat or drink anything but walking to the elevator, my stomach rumbled. I ignored it and continued down till I was in the lot. Finding the car, I entered the passenger side, sitting beside to the driver.

"Hello," I smiled at the driver who'd helped me with my first dreadful assignment at the furniture shop.

"Good afternoon miss." He smiled back and started the car. William was seated at the back but we didn't exchange any words. Thirty minutes later, the car parked in front of a very tall apartment complex.

"Thank you Jay, you can return to office." William said from the back seat.

"Alright sir."

"Thanks," I smiled at him again before alighting the car.

"Let's go." William said and I followed him towards the entrance of the apartment complex. The lobby was cooler in temperature than outside. The cool air only chilled my inner turmoil slightly.

"Good afternoon sir, welcome." The only receptionist behind the long black desk greeted.

"Afternoon Lisa," He nodded but didn't stop till we reached the elevator. He pressed the P button which I deduced meant penthouse. He really should have been poor, jobless and homeless. The elevator opened up directly into his apartment. We stepped out and I reluctantly admired the classy bachelor's pad.

The silence continued as we walked up the stairs then down a corner. He stopped at a door on the right and opened it.

"This is my home office," he entered and I followed.

The room was very salient in contrast to the other parts of the apartment I saw merely seconds ago. I stared at the room in anguish. Nothing was in place, absolutely nothing. There were files strewn all over the floor, tables and chairs and most of the shelves were empty. Did a tornado recently occur and I wasn't aware?

"I want everything arranged in a chronological order as well as colour."

I turned to him.

"I don't think this is a one woman job, can this even be finished today?"

"If you start now." His smile deeply infuriated me but shutting my eyes and sucking it up, I begrudgingly began the strenuous task.

Halfway through sorting through William's messy office, he came back in wearing only his suit pants and shirt. His tie was gone and sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He sat behind the desk.

"Have you arranged the blue files dating back to last year's app development programs?" He asked and I nodded, "let me see."

I reached for the files and wordlessly handed them to him. My phone started vibrating against my thigh pocket and I quickly turned around to answer it without much of a thought for who the caller was, "hello?"

"Ophelia, hey." I cringed hearing the familiar voice.

"Cecile?"

"Mmhm," my sister answered.

"What do you want? I'm busy right now, I'm at work." I glanced at Will who was focused on the papers.

"You never told me you got a job."

"Well I did, now will that be all?" I pressed.

"Richmond says hi, we are currently on a boat in Venice, the water is amazing." Richmond was her stupidly--good for nothing--rich husband, whom she'd being married to for over six years. They suited each other well.

"I'm glad the water in Venice is amazing. Goodbye."

"I know you are still angry over what happened but we can't continue like this. I was just trying to help you–" she rushed out but I didn't let her finish.

"By not being there when I needed you the most." I laughed humourlessly.

"Don't put that on me. That man–"

"Continue living your life and I will live mine Cecile. Don't remind me of my bad life choices." I knew my slightly hushed tone had increased but my sister just had a way of riling me up.

"You never want to listen to anyone but yourself, I was really trying to help you, you don't understand, you can't," she sounded frustrated but so was I.

"I do understand. You weren't trying to help me, you were being selfish and the same as ever, I don't know why I even expected anything else from you. Goodbye Cecile, enjoy Venice and don't ever call me again." I snapped and ended the call.

Cecile and I for the longest time never agreed on much but last year had only worsened our plight. I breathed in and let out all my anger. The clearing of a throat behind me brought me back to reality and I quickly turned around to see William staring at me.

"Are you okay?" He asked slowly.

"Yes," I smiled tightly and moved back to where I was. I just wanted to be back on my bed and maybe take a nap for the rest of the week. William at one point, joined in arranging the scattered files and papers and we were able to finish everything just before 8 pm.

"If that's all, I'll be going now." I picked my bag up.

"I'll drop you off." He said but I shook my head in refusal.

"I wasn't asking you, I was telling you." He said stockily and walked out of the room.

"I wasn't asking you, I was telling you." I mimicked him but nonetheless followed. The elevator stopped on the ground floor which was the parking lot and we entered his sleek black BMW. After giving him my address, we were on our way.

"I can hear your judgement." I said as we neared my shabby apartment building. Most of the buildings in the vicinity were like that. It was a pretty shabby neighbourhood.

"I didn't say anything," he glanced at me.

"It's loud enough."

"Okay, I'll admit, the neighbourhood doesn't look safe."

"Better me than you then."

"You are difficult," he sighed as he parked the car.

"Thank you for the ride." I smiled falsely and left the car without turning back.

***

"Get ready we are leaving for Illston tech in five minutes." William's deep voice came through the intercom.

"Okay." I managed to say before the connection ended. Like clockwork, he was out of his office exactly five minutes later.

"Are you ready?" He asked and I nodded. "Miss Jack check how much the visual team here spent in January and February and all the exact days, if they were recorded."

"Okay sir." Heather replied.

We went towards the elevator falling into silence as we left the building. I imagined if we didn't have this stiffling silence, there would be chaos.

The drive to Illston tech was longer due to traffic but nearly thirty five minutes later, I was able to finally see the infamous office that represented William's growing tech empire. It stood tall amongst the other skyscrapers in the area.

William moved and I silently walked behind him, entering the building. The shape and design of the lobby varied from that of Dieter and Leona. It had warmer tones. Walking past the reception and staff entry points, a number of heads turned. We went straight to the private elevator which went all the way to the highest floor.

"Good morning sir," Lilian who was seated behind a desk adjacent to the double brown doors that presumably led to William's office, stood.

"Lilian, how are you?"

"Good sir," she smiled then turned to me and spared only half a smile. I returned the gesture before following William into his office.

As my eyes glided over the grey hues of the room, the doors opened and someone walked in.

"I expected you at half past."

"Traffic," William said.

"Ophelia, if I remember correctly?" I stared at the handsome dark skinned man and quickly remembered him as Mark Durham.

"Yes, good morning." I smiled.

"Will is surely out doing himself having this many pretty PAs." He winked.

"How did the meeting go?" William drawled from behind his desk. Mark grinned before turning to William and briefing him. I continued my slow perusal of the office, walked to one of the couches and sat down.

"Here," I looked up to see William stretching out one hand which held a laptop. I collected it. "I have some emails in my drafts. I need you to edit them and send to all the emails in a folder named investors."

"Password?" I asked.

"My birthday."

My eyes narrowed at him and he grinned.

"Get to work Miss Duhamels, it's unlocked," he said and returned to Mark while I faced the laptop.

***