Next day, Adam arrived at the office on time. He was greeted by Bella on his way to his office, "Good morning, Sir."
"Morning Bella." He replied to her politely.
"Sir, Stella hasn't arrived yet. If you need anything, you can call me." She informed him
"What? Why hasn't she? Is she okay?" He couldn't help but get worried.
"Sir, I tried calling, but couldn't get through to her." Bella replied apologetically.
"Okay." Adam went inside his office room. He was still worried for her.
"She's all alone by herself. What if she falls ill? Should I go to her place or not?" He thought out loud.
He was starting to get panicked. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.
'She slept late last night, must be just running late.'
He tried convincing himself. Thinking about last night he remembered that he still had to deal with that sleazeball.
Thinking about last night made his blood boil in anger again. 'How dare he order other staff members to do the work of that immoral assistant of his. I have to teach him a lesson that he won't be able to forget any time soon.'
He buzzed Bella through the intercom. He asked her to call a meeting of the heads of department in an hour.
He sat down on his swiveling chair and stared outside through the floor to ceiling glass wall.
He heaved out a long sigh turning back to face his desk and busied himself looking through the emails. It was already pretty late when he reached his house last night, so he didn't bother to look at them. Most importantly, he wasn't in the mood to. Therefore, there were a lot of them. Although Bella filtered them and only forwarded him the most important ones, there were still quite a few.
Half an hour later, someone entered after knocking on the dark wood door.
"Good morning, Sir." He was greeted by an angelic voice.
Adam snapped his head up to see someone familiar standing before his desk.
"I am sorry for being late. I slept in." She said scratching the back of her head.
"It's alright." Adam smiled at her.
Adam looked at her and thought to himself, 'No wonder I was shocked when I heard her voice out of nowhere.'
She wasn't wearing heels like she usually did. Instead she was wearing black sneakers today that had golden stripes on the sides. She was dressed up a bit casually today, dressed up in ripped blue jeans paired with a black long-sleeved crop top that showed a bit of her fair waist. Her hairs tied up in a messy bun with a few locks escaping out, framing her small face. He noticed that there was something written on her shirt.
'What are you looking at?' Adam burst out laughing reading it.
Stella was frozen in her spot, rooted to the ground thinking that he must have been laughing on her attire. "I am sorry, Sir. I didn't have time to change into something formal." She lowered her head down as if she was feeling ashamed of herself.
It was then that Adam realized that she must have misunderstood the reason for his laughing. "What are you being sorry about? It's not that I am laughing on you or the way you have dressed up. It's totally up to you, you can wear whatever you like. I just found what's written on your shirt a bit funny." He explained it to her slowly.
"In fact I wouldn't even mind you dressing up like this regularly rather than in some professional attire." He added, smiling. 'Moreover, you look more cute when you are casually dressed up.' He kept the later part to himself.
"Thank you, Sir." She said.
"You don't have to thank me for anything Stella." He spoke, gentleness evident in his words.
"By the way, give me your phone." He asked, extending his hand towards her.
"Uh?" He could see confusion written on her face in bold letters.
"Hand me your phone, Stella." He asked her again.
Stella reluctantly gave her phone to him.
"Unlock it." Adam asked her politely. She did as she was told.
He punched in a number and saved it. His phone rang a few seconds later. He gave her back her phone.
"I have saved my phone number in there. You can give me a call whenever you need to. And don't even bother hesitating when doing it." He added with a gentle smile.
Stella looked like she wanted to say something but was being doubtful.
"Stella! What did I tell you about keeping things to yourself?" He reminded her.
She finally spoke up after contemplating for a minute, "Why? Why are you doing this? Why are you being so good to me?"
"Don't take me or my actions wrongly, please. It's just that you are good at your job and I know how to appreciate my staff, especially when they are hard working." He said. 'Also, I have taken a liking to you.' He chose to keep the later part to himself.
"Moreover, you live by yourself. What if you get in some sort of trouble." He added.
Stella was left dumbstruck hearing his answer, particularly the second one. She couldn't say anything in return. After a while she opened her mouth, "Thank you so much. I will keep that in mind." She gave him a hearty smile.
He smiled back at her.
"There will be a meeting in half an hour, be there. Don't forget it." He reminded her as she went back to her office.