Chapter 12

He pushed me back, he let go of his palm over my lips but tightened his grip on both of my arms again. I could barely move an inch so I stayed calm, silent, and listened without uttering a word. I wanted to tell him everything but also wanted to see that to what extent he could play the role of a hell animal.

My eyes were watery because even stray dogs didn't take this much insult. Every moment in this office was like staying with a devil.

"Stop, okay?" I tried to control the tears but my eyes were definitely not obeying my commands. My voice was breaking into half because of them. It's really an annoying moment when you don't want to show your emotions but they appear making you look like a three-year-old.

"You're rusticated Miss Waters ", he let go off me with a sigh.

I looked at my arms which were completely red by the moment, bit swollen too. I didn't take any stand for myself even when I had a chance to. I wanted to prove Mr. Reynolds wrong but I wanted him to regret it.

\-TRING TRING - (phone rings)

Mr. Reynolds diverted his attention from me and started walking towards his desk where the phone rang. I started walking towards the door. I thought of submitting the contract papers to James as he was comparatively a better person and I lost the job anyway.

"Good Afternoon to you too", Mr. Reynolds's voice could be overheard.

"Really?" he sounded puzzled as he questioned the person on the other side of the phone. I took smaller steps then before because I somehow figured out that it was Mr. Linley on the other side of the phone.

"Okay, I'll hand it over to Miss Waters"

I turned around facing Mr. Reynolds when I heard my name. He aired the phone in my direction which meant that I had to attend it.

I quickly received the phone. "Well hello Miss Waters ", Mr. Linley greeted once again.

After clearing my throat, I replied with a 'Good Afternoon Sir' as my wrecked up voice needed to be hospitalized as soon as possible.

"Mr. Reynolds is really happy, isn't he?" Mr. Linley questioned.

"He's overjoyed ", I lied.

"My wife really liked you a lot! She was talking about you and your honesty. Visit her sometimes"

"Sure thing sir", my lips stretched into a smile.

"Of course, give my regards to ma'am sir!" I continued.

"Sure thing" I ended the call with a goodbye. Mr. Reynolds was staring at me continuously. No amount of guilt could be felt on her face, neither did he look happy. He had his poker face on point.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He questioned again.

"Because you didn't allow me to", I removed the papers from my bag and handed them to him.

He grabbed it as fast as he could like I was the criminal who was having an atom bomb. He examined the papers quietly for a while. I distracted my focus on him and started looking towards the window. I didn't feel like looking at him after his abusive behavior towards me.

"Alright", he closed the papers and kept them in the documentary locker "Goodbye", I looked down and quickly closed the chain of my bag again.

"Miss Waters, this is my new phone", he removed one from the locker. It was the latest model of an iPhone.

"Congratulations, I guess", I thought he was showing off but why would he, this office could denote his richness.

"I'm in no urge for your happy wishes, Miss Waters ", he smirked.

I furrowed my brows out of confusion. I waited for him to continue. A moment later, he removed a telephone directory and propelled it towards my direction.

"Transfer all these old contacts one by one and word to word. I do not encourage bad spellings", he forcefully handed me the directory.

I only wanted an apology and I would've forgotten everything. Everything in this office had terms and conditions."I'm done with this Job already, I guess", I inhaled deep.

"That's my choice, Miss Waters. You're no one to take the decision. The points were clear in the clauses, right?" he rhetorically questioned again and continued "You're definitely getting the increment"

I nodded but didn't thank him because I deserved it and maybe it was his way for apologizing, I took over the new phone carefully along with the directory and marched towards my cabin. I placed them on my desk and called Gina to get information about today's happening in college.

"Hi there ", I greeted quite formally.

"What's wrong?" Gina interrogated. She could sense the silence behind my sadness.

"Long story"

"Tell me in bits and pieces ", Gina commanded.

I then narrated the whole story as fast as I could in one single breath. "Man-whore", Gina judged him nastily.

"I didn't call you to backbite about him. Exams are near, what happened today?" I questioned.

"Nothing really exciting, we just sat for two lectures since you were absent. Francis got himself a new girl and Samuel accompanied me"

"I can sense the blush already!" I coughed dramatically.

"Mmhmm ", Gina cut my sentence into half.

"Okay, I'll catch you later ", I canceled the phone.

I compiled up all the mess on my table and placed the gigantic directory on my desk. I opened the first page and a part of me died already. There were like 20 contacts on each page. I quickly turned the book until the end and found out that there were 3000 names serial numbered systematically. It took me 2 minutes to enter each name carefully.

"Glad, you could make it" I heard a manly voice but I didn't look up as that way I could have lost synchronization with the work, which was now exhausting me.

"Yes! I'm sorry, I cannot attend you properly"

"Its okay baby girl", I knew it was James as he was the only one in this place who had sugar-coated words. I slightly looked up and there was a cup of coffee on my desk. James bought it, of course, the fact that he was sweet to me was enough to cause a disturbance in my mind.

"Thank you!" I smiled forcefully.

"Always a pleasure, want me to help?" he was sweet, I guess.

"How can you?" I immediately questioned back.

"I can read them aloud and you can create contacts without disturbing your beautiful neck", he smirked and then continued "it'll reduce half of your time "

"They're in thousands ", I tried being a pessimist.

"I can at least help you overcome hundreds ", he picked up a chair and shifted it besides me accompanying my chair. I wondered that he could've dictated me whilst sitting in front but he was James, he had to be touchy. He was good looking, no doubt. His dark brown eyes shined all the time but I couldn't afford to make eye contact because it could create a sensuous situation.

James dictated me the contacts very accurately, word to word. It reduced a lot of my time. I felt a touch on my forehead and then realized that James was carefully placing all the unwanted hair strands of mine behind my ears. His hands crawled slowly from my forehead till my ears. His seducing technique was impressive but it was not working on me.

"It's okay, I can do it myself ", I smiled dramatically distancing him carefully in a friendly way.

He continued doing it for an hour but distanced away on receiving an urgent call. He left that very moment.

I liked him and I disliked him. The difference was I hated Mr. Reynolds. There was no such choice for him. It was already 9 pm and I completed 3/4th of the work so I decided to carry the directory to my house. Within a few minutes, I was home. Mom plated my dinner. I ate as fast I could and ran towards the bedroom because I wanted to get rid of the directory as soon as possible.

I then flipped the pages from where I had to continue.