Chapter 10
"What kind of stupid job is this? Why does the boss have to show up in person?"
The moment Adrian Mercer stepped into his office, he dropped onto the leather sofa.
His long legs sprawled carelessly across the cushions, one hand lazily holding his phone.
He glanced at the time.
A crooked, almost mischievous smile tugged at his lips.
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One."
Beep!
The office door unlocked.
Adrian's eyebrow lifted.
He tossed his phone aside, leaned his head against the sofa, and stared up at the ceiling.
He didn't even need to look.
He knew exactly who it was.
Every morning at nine sharp, Emma showed up with breakfast and a cup of bubble tea.
The Mercer family had never really been exposed to that kind of drink. Their household was far more accustomed to expensive coffee, fine tea, and other ridiculously sophisticated beverages.
Then Emma introduced Adrian to bubble tea one morning.
He took one sip.
That was it.
He was hooked.
Ever since then, nine o'clock meant breakfast and bubble tea.
And Adrian expected both.
He stretched out his hand lazily.
Something was placed in his palm.
Without looking, he picked it up and brought it straight to his mouth.
He took a bite.
The next second—
"BLEGH! What the hell is this?!"
"Emma! Are you trying to kill me?!"
Adrian threw the thing onto the floor.
Then he looked up.
"Holy shit! It's you?"
His assistant stood in the doorway.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"Mr. Mercer... it's me."
He hurried over and picked up the object.
Adrian frowned.
"What is that?"
"A box of badminton shuttlecocks."
His assistant tried very hard not to laugh.
"You said yesterday that you wanted to play badminton, remember? You told me to buy these and bring them in today."
Adrian stared at the box.
The packaging was roughly the same shape as a bubble-tea cup.
And he'd just bitten into it.
He grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth, looking thoroughly offended.
"Put it over there."
Damn Emma.
She'd already made him embarrass himself before he'd even had breakfast.
Just wait until she showed up.
He was going to give her hell.
?
Emma, meanwhile, had no idea she was already in trouble.
She had barely stepped into the secretarial office when Grace Bennett, the head secretary, gave her an unfriendly look.
"Do you know what time it is?"
Emma glanced at her watch.
"Nine."
Grace:
"......"
Her expression hardened.
"You actually showed up at nine? Don't you know we're supposed to get here early?"
Another secretary, Mia Parker, quickly came over.
"Grace, it's Emma's first time cutting it this close. Just let it go."
There were three secretaries in Adrian's office.
Grace was the most senior. She had been left behind by the previous general manager and had plenty of experience under her belt.
Mia had joined the company a month before Emma.
That made Emma the newest member of the team.
She was also still a college student, so technically, she wasn't even a full-time employee.
Normally, though, Emma was always the first one in.
She did her work well, never complained, and rarely gave anyone a reason to criticize her.
But lately, she had also become the secretary Adrian relied on the most.
Grace had been looking for an excuse to make things difficult for her for a long time.
She just hadn't found one.
Adrian Mercer was the sole heir to the Mercer family business.
To practically every woman in the company, that made him one hell of a catch.
Grace had tried her luck with him too.
Unfortunately, she didn't have Emma's thick skin.
She gave up pretty quickly.
And honestly, she thought she'd made the smart choice.
As far as she knew, Adrian's father had once had an affair with a secretary.
Mrs. Mercer absolutely despised secretaries because of it.
There was no way she'd ever allow her son to marry one.
So, as far as Grace was concerned, Emma was wasting her time.
Sure, Adrian now gave Emma a lot of instructions directly.
But when a young man had a pretty woman chasing him for more than a year, it was only natural for him to become more familiar with her.
That didn't mean he was actually interested.
Still, it made Grace feel like her authority was being undermined.
"I'm talking to you."
Grace stared at Emma.
Emma didn't even bother looking up.
"Get lost."
Mia's eyes widened.
Oh.
Emma woke up dangerous today.
Grace clearly hadn't expected that.
Her face darkened.
"You've gotten bold, haven't you?"
She pointed at Emma.
"Forget about getting hired permanently."
Mia immediately worried the two of them were about to start fighting.
She grabbed Emma's arm and pulled her toward her desk.
"Okay, okay. Enough. Just go sit down."
Grace looked smug.
She thought she'd finally found Emma's weak spot.
She hadn't.
Emma had never planned on staying permanently anyway.
Being a secretary wasn't exactly her dream job.
She'd taken the internship during the second half of her junior year because she desperately needed money.
The pay was decent.
And if Mrs. Mercer hadn't been paying her $5,000 a month, Emma would've ended the internship a long time ago.
Emma sat down and turned on her computer.
She planned to finish the urgent work on her desk first.
Then she'd write her resignation letter.
Mia looked at her suspiciously.
"Emma, seriously. What's wrong with you today?"
Emma turned around.
"What do you mean?"
Mia stared at the single lonely bag beside her.
Then her eyes widened.
"Where's your breakfast?"
"And your bubble tea?"
Emma smiled.
"I woke up late. Didn't have time."
Which was technically true.
After leaving Lawrence's house, she'd rushed through a shower, changed clothes, touched up her makeup, and practically driven her little electric scooter into the ground trying to get here on time.
She'd barely made it before nine.
And the month was almost over.
If she could finish the handover without missing a day, she could at least finish the month with perfect attendance.
Mia looked genuinely shocked.
"Ever since you started liking Mr. Mercer, you've never missed a single day!"
She shook her head.
"Today the sun really did rise in the west."
At first, everyone had assumed Emma was trying to marry into the Mercer family.
Then they'd watched her chase Adrian for more than a year.
Day after day.
No matter how cold he was.
No matter how many times he brushed her off.
Eventually, people stopped thinking she was after his money.
They started believing she genuinely loved him.
The company even had employees secretly rooting for them.
Mia was one of them.
At first, Adrian used to throw everything Emma brought him straight into the trash.
Then, eventually, he stopped.
A gorgeous secretary and a rebellious young heir?
What was there not to ship?
Mia narrowed her eyes.
"Did you change your strategy?"
She leaned closer.
"Playing hard to get?"
Emma rolled her eyes.
"Read fewer romance novels."
The irony wasn't lost on her.
Most of the ridiculous romance novels Mia had recommended were the reason Emma knew exactly where this conversation was going.
The Ruthless CEO Wants Me.
My Billionaire Puppy Chases Me 999 Times.
Pregnant With the Billionaire's Baby.
Mia had practically forced those books on her.
Emma had read them mostly so she could understand what kind of nonsense her coworkers were obsessed with.
Mia finally returned to her desk.
Then she opened a private company group chat.
The group was called:
[Did Emma Make Any Progress Today?]
It was a secret little corner of the company where employees gathered to obsess over Emma and Adrian.
Nobody knew it yet, but one day the group would be renamed:
[Did Mr. Mercer Finally Win His Wife Back Today?]
But that was a story for later.
Mia's fingers flew across the keyboard.
[brEAKING NEWS: Secretary Emma did NOT bring Mr. Mercer breakfast or bubble tea today!]
Messages immediately started popping up.
[WHAT?!]
[Wait. Is my ship about to sink?]
[Technically, has this ship ever even sailed?]
[Don't say that! They've already had a whole relationship in my head.]
[Same. I dreamed last night that Emma had eighteen babies.]
[EIGHTEEN?!]
[Don't judge me. It was a very intense dream.]
Mia typed:
[Emma says she woke up late and didn't have time to make breakfast.]
Then she added:
[But I know what's really going on.]
[They had a fight.]
A reply came almost immediately.
[What could they possibly fight about?]
[Did Mr. Mercer break her heart again?]
[I want to know how this ends! This has to be their first fight, right? Emma never gets angry!]
[Exactly! She acts like nothing he does can hurt her. No matter how badly Mr. Mercer treats her, she still loves him.]
[I asked her once if she ever gets sad when Mr. Mercer gives her the cold shoulder.]
[What did she say?]
[She said she does.]
[See?! She's just hiding all that pain inside!]
Mia looked at the clock.
Then she typed:
[UPDATE: It's been ten minutes.]
[Emma still hasn't gone to Mr. Mercer's office.]
The group went wild.
[WHAT?! TEN MINUTES?!]
[How is she resisting?!]
[Going to see Mr. Mercer is literally the first thing she does every morning!]
[I bet she won't last an hour.]
[You're giving her way too much credit. Thirty minutes, tops.]
[Fine. If she lasts more than thirty minutes, lunch is on me.]
[Screenshot saved.]
[Screenshot saved.]
?
Thirty minutes passed.
Emma was still working.
One hour passed.
Emma was still working.
Ninety minutes passed.
Still working.
Mia was starting to feel personally betrayed.
Then Emma stood up.
Mia's eyes widened.
Finally.
She's going.
Emma walked past her desk.
Mia followed her with her eyes.
Emma walked straight to the water dispenser.
She filled a glass.
Then took a long drink.
Mia:
"......"
You have got to be kidding me.
Emma had noticed Mia staring at her for the past hour and a half.
She turned around, glass in hand.
"Mia."
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
Mia looked away.
"Nothing."
Emma raised an eyebrow.
"You've been staring at me all morning."
"I was thinking about my vacation."
Emma took another sip.
"Where are you going?"
"I haven't decided."
A moment later, Mia brightened.
"Actually, I think I'm going to Altay."
Emma blinked.
"Altay?"
"Yeah."
Mia clasped her hands dramatically.
"I want to see huge herds of horses and cattle. Get away from the city. Experience nature. Poetry. Freedom."
She sighed dreamily.
"Find myself."
Emma stared at her.
"Horses and cattle?"
"Yeah."
Emma took another sip of water.
"Why go all the way to Altay?"
Mia blinked.
Emma glanced around the office.
"We already have plenty of those here."
She pointed at Mia.
"You included."
Mia:
"......"
Emma calmly took another sip.
Mia stared at her.
For the first time that morning, she had absolutely no idea what was happening to her favorite ship.