Chapter 20
"Someone come in here and clean Mr. Mercer's office floor."
Adrian's assistant knocked on the secretarial office door.
Everyone inside froze.
Wasn't that housekeeping's job?
Then they remembered who their boss was.
At that point, nothing surprised them anymore.
Who knew what went on inside that man's head?
All morning, delivery drivers had been showing up at reception with bubble tea.
Dozens of them.
Every single order had been placed by Adrian's assistant.
What kind of normal person did that?
There were only two people left in the secretarial office that morning.
One of the other secretaries had gone out to run an errand.
Emma and Mia looked at each other.
Emma sighed and stood up.
"I'll do it."
She was an intern, after all.
Apparently, cleaning up after the boss was part of the job.
The moment Adrian saw Emma walk into his office behind his assistant, the corner of his mouth lifted.
See?
She really can't let me go.
She just needed an excuse to come see me.
There were three people in the secretarial office.
Yet somehow, Emma was the one who came.
And she'd submitted a resignation letter?
Clearly, she hadn't meant it.
The office had its own mop, stored behind the bathroom door.
Emma knew exactly where it was.
She'd cleaned this floor plenty of times before.
But when she saw Adrian's enormous desk covered in bubble tea cups, her eyelid twitched.
Holy crap.
Was this man planning to quit his job and become a bubble tea reviewer?
Mercer Holdings mainly operated in real estate and hospitality.
Apparently, Adrian had decided to diversify.
Emma had questions.
She asked none of them.
That was one of the first rules she'd learned from working for Adrian:
So she said nothing.
She simply picked up the mop and got to work.
Adrian, however, was not happy.
His eyes followed her.
Emma bent slightly as she mopped, spreading the spilled bubble tea across a surprisingly large section of the floor.
She was wearing a black blazer with matching trousers.
The tailored suit emphasized her slim waist and graceful figure.
Adrian's eyes lingered for half a second.
His heart suddenly skipped.
He immediately looked away.
Holy shit.
What was I even looking at?
Have I officially become a creep?
Back when he'd lived abroad, he'd barely spared a glance at the women dancing in nightclubs.
With his family background, looks, and personality, women had always thrown themselves at him.
He'd even had women take their clothes off right in front of him.
His reaction had always been the same:
Get them out.
He'd never been interested.
So why was he suddenly noticing Emma's figure?
I'm screwed.
She's ruined me.
I've become a pervert.
Adrian glanced at Emma again.
Then immediately looked away.
This is her fault.
His assistant had been secretly watching the two of them.
He was a shipper too.
He noticed that Adrian had only glanced at Emma a few times before abruptly lowering his head and pretending to focus on his documents.
He didn't look at her again.
Not once.
The assistant's heart sank.
Nooooo.
The group chat was wrong.
Mr. Mercer really doesn't have feelings for Emma.
My ship is dead.
Emma finished mopping quickly.
She walked out of Adrian's office and smiled to herself.
Perfect.
Didn't get yelled at.
Apparently, Adrian really did hate being treated like some celebrity by women who followed him around.
As long as she stopped flattering him, he didn't seem nearly as hostile.
Maybe that was the secret.
At the end of the workday, Mia posted the latest update in the office group chat.
That night, Emma had no other work.
She went home and slept.
And slept.
And slept some more.
She went to bed at 8:00 p.m.
She woke up at 8:00 a.m.
After two consecutive nights of barely sleeping, her body had apparently decided to collect the debt.
Adrian, meanwhile, still couldn't sleep.
He'd taken sleeping pills.
They had worked.
Technically.
He'd fallen asleep.
Unfortunately, he'd spent the entire night dreaming.
And not normal dreams.
The kind of dreams he'd probably never had in his entire life.
Which made absolutely no sense.
And made him furious.
By the time Adrian arrived at work the next morning, he looked terrible.
Anyone who saw him stayed at least six feet away.
He had the expression of a man who might walk into the office and blow up the entire building.
Yes, technically the company belonged to his family.
That didn't make anyone feel safer.
But the moment Adrian stepped into his office—
he stopped.
There was breakfast sitting on his desk.
And next to it—
a cup of bubble tea.
The cup looked exactly like the one Emma used to bring him.
Clear plastic.
No logo.
No writing.
Adrian stared at it.
What does this mean?
Then his eyes widened.
Emma.
Obviously.
Who else would use that exact cup?
In an instant, it felt like someone had dropped him into an air-conditioned room after he'd spent three hours standing in the sun.
All the irritation vanished.
His shoulders relaxed.
His entire mood improved.
I knew it.
She finally couldn't resist.
She brought me breakfast and bubble tea.
A smug smile spread across his face.
Adrian picked up the drink and took a sip.
Then—
his expression changed.
Huh?
Something was wrong.
"This tastes different."
His assistant walked back into the office after using the restroom.
He immediately grinned.
"Mr. Mercer, how is it?"
Adrian paused.
"This is..."
His assistant looked proud.
"I made it!"
"I got the recipe from Emma."
Adrian:
"......"
His assistant continued happily.
"She even gave me some of the ingredients from her apartment and a few of those cups she uses."
"She was really nice about it."
Adrian stared at him.
His expression went completely blank.
Then—
Once he was safely in the hallway, he muttered miserably,
"This man is impossible."
He sighed.
"If this job didn't pay me twice what everyone else makes, I'd have quit months ago."
As fate would have it, he ran into Emma on the way back from the restroom.
He immediately gave her a thumbs-up.
"You're my hero."
Emma blinked.
"What?"
The assistant sighed dramatically.
"She makes three thousand a month."
"And somehow, she's survived Mr. Mercer for over a year."
"That's dedication."
Emma stared at him.
"...What are you talking about?"
The assistant suddenly clasped his hands together.
"Emma, please don't quit."
"I'm begging you."
Emma obviously couldn't agree to that.
She patted him on the shoulder.
"Hang in there, soldier."
The assistant:
"......"
He watched her walk away.
She really is heartless.
That day, Emma went back to doing her job properly.
As an intern secretary, her duties were fairly simple.
Organizing documents.
Preparing paperwork.
Passing files around.
That sort of thing.
Before, she'd always volunteered to go into Adrian's office.
She'd fought to be the one delivering documents for his signature.
Now?
Not anymore.
She had absolutely no interest in getting yelled at for an extra three thousand dollars a month.
That afternoon, Mia suddenly leaned over Emma's desk.
She clasped her hands together and even dropped two fingers toward the desk like she was begging.
"Emma, please."
"Can you take this file into Mr. Mercer's office and get his signature?"
Emma looked at her.
Mia's face was full of genuine desperation.
"I almost died in there this morning."
"It was like my first week here all over again."
Ever since Emma had started showering Adrian with praise, his tolerance for small mistakes had mysteriously increased.
He didn't yell at the other secretaries nearly as much.
Maybe he only had a limited daily supply of insults.
If Emma used them all up, everyone else got a peaceful workday.
But today?
Everything was apparently fair game.
He'd even yelled at someone because he didn't like the font on a printed document.
Mia shuddered.
"He yelled at the font."
Emma looked up.
"What did the font do?"
Mia:
"Exactly."
She wasn't going anywhere near his office again.
It was hell.
Just then, the secretary who usually didn't get along with Emma dropped two more files onto her desk.
"These too."
Emma:
"......"
She looked at the pile.
Then at Mia.
Then back at the pile.
Fine.
She picked them up.
She walked to Adrian's office.
"Come in!"
The tone was unmistakable.
Emma was used to it by now.
She walked over to Adrian's desk with the exact expression appropriate for someone earning $3,000 a month.
"Mr. Mercer, I need you to sign these."
Adrian was playing a game on his phone.
And losing.
Again.
His mood was already terrible.
The moment he heard Emma's voice, his fingers twitched.
But he kept playing.
"Oh."
Emma blinked.
He hadn't yelled at her.
Normally, he would've snapped:
You're annoying. Get out.
Apparently, not being his personal admirer really was working.
Thank God.
Emma placed the documents on his desk.
"These are urgent. Could you sign them now, please?"
She opened the files to the correct pages and placed a pen beside his hand.
"No."
Adrian turned his chair around so his back faced her.
"I don't feel like it."
His fingers continued moving across his phone.
Even though the game screen had already gone gray.
Emma stared at him.
Is this man twelve?
She reached over, grabbed the back of his chair, and turned him around again.
"You don't get to bring your mood into work."
"Sign the papers."
Adrian looked up.
Emma froze.
Two tears suddenly rolled down his cheeks.
His eyes were red and watery.
For the first time all day, he looked less like the heir to Mercer Holdings and more like a neglected puppy.
"Emma, you don't care about me at all!"
Emma stared at him.
Adrian looked genuinely betrayed.
Then he sniffed again.
"I haven't eaten all day."
Emma:
"......"