Chapter 34 - The Exception #2
"You're forcing everyone through here, then making them cut back across the lobby to get where they're actually going."
"That's not what happens."
I grabbed my pencil.
"That is exactly what happens."
I drew directly over his plan.
Adrian watched me do it.
His jaw tightened.
"You just drew on my drawing."
"Yes."
"Don't."
"Then stop bringing me things I have to fix."
His eyes lifted to mine.
Oh.
There he was.
Pissed Adrian.
Emma was finally getting the deluxe package.
Adrian took the pencil out of my hand.
"Your solution creates a bottleneck here."
"No, it doesn't."
"It does."
"Only if you keep this wall."
"The wall stays."
"Why?"
"Because it belongs there."
"That isn't an architectural reason."
"I don't need to explain every decision to you."
"If you want me to agree with it, you do."
His eyes narrowed.
Mine probably did too.
For the next several minutes, we argued.
About the wall.
The entrance.
The circulation.
The sightline.
The fact that Adrian apparently believed being CEO gave him the supernatural ability to always be right.
And the fact that I apparently enjoyed reminding him that it didn't.
At one point, he took my pencil again.
I took it back.
He moved the drawing.
I moved it back.
He told me my solution wouldn't work.
I showed him exactly why it would.
He found another problem.
I solved that one too.
Then finally-
Adrian stopped.
He looked at the drawing.
I waited.
He looked at it for several more seconds.
Then at me.
"Fine."
I blinked.
"Fine?"
"Your solution works."
I smiled.
"I know."
"Don't."
"I'm not doing anything."
"You're smiling."
"Am I not allowed?"
"No."
My smile got bigger.
Adrian gave me one last irritated look, picked up the drawings, and walked back toward his office.
I watched him go.
Then returned to my computer.
Normal Thursday.
About ten minutes later, I realized Emma hadn't said a word.
I looked over.
She was staring at me.
Then she looked around the office.
Everyone was working.
Ben was at his computer. Maya hadn't even looked up. Daniel was doing something at his desk.
Nobody seemed remotely surprised by what had just happened.
Emma looked back at me.
Somehow, that seemed to shock her even more.
"What?"
She stared for another second.
"You were fighting with Adrian Vale."
"Yes. He was wrong."
Her eyes widened.
"And you said that to his face."
"Yeah. I needed to. Otherwise he would've proceeded with the wrong design."
Emma looked around the office.
Then back at me.
"Nobody talks to him like that."
"Apparently."
"Yet you did."
"Yes."
"And he accepted your solution."
"Because I was right."
She stared at me.
"And you're somehow not fired."
"No."
"How is that possible?"
Before I could answer, Ben peeked around his monitor.
"Don't try to understand her employment."
Emma looked at him.
Ben shook his head.
"It's different. We don't understand it either."
"Ben."
"What?"
"Go away."
"I am at my desk."
"Then stay on your side of it."
He disappeared behind his monitor.
I went back to my computer.
Emma didn't.
She remained completely silent.
But every few seconds, I could feel her looking at me.
Then toward Adrian's office.
Then back at me.
I let her.
She'd figure out eventually that arguing with Adrian wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looked.
At least for me.
Apparently.
Emma discovered the coffee on Friday.
I had just reached my desk that morning, put my bag down, and picked up my coffee.
Then I noticed her staring at me.
I took a sip.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
She looked at the cup in my hand.
"Why is there a coffee at your desk every morning?"
"Because I drink coffee every morning."
"I know that."
"Then why did you ask?"
"Who puts it there?"
I stopped.
Oh.
I looked at my coffee.
Then at Emma.
What exactly was I supposed to tell her?
Adrian.
That answer seemed unnecessarily complicated.
Emma was still waiting.
I opened my mouth.
Maya beat me to it.
"His Majesty gets coffee for her."
Emma turned toward her.
"Who the hell is His Majesty?"
Maya looked delighted.
"There's only one king who rules here. Guess who?"
Emma's eyes widened.
"No way."
"Yes."
"Adrian Vale?"
"Yes."
Emma looked at me.
Then at the coffee.
Then at me again.
"He gets her coffee every morning?"
"Yes," Maya said.
"Why?"
"Because I work hard," I answered.
Maya made a sound beside me.
I looked at her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Emma was still staring.
"But he doesn't do it for anybody else."
I took another sip.
Apparently coffee had become an interrogation.
Emma waited for me to explain.
I didn't.
Her eyebrows pulled together.
"Then that's partiality."
I lowered my cup.
"What?"
"Why do you get that alone?"
I stared at her.
Maya suddenly became extremely interested in her computer.
"Because I do things for him that no one else does."
Emma looked at me.
"What kind of things?"
"Work. Overwork. Loads of overwork when I need to. Stay extremely late when necessary. Work more than twelve hours straight sometimes. Be alone in this office until eight or nine when everyone else is already gone."
I lifted my coffee.
"After all that, can't he even give me a coffee in the morning?"
Emma considered that.
"Okay."
She turned back toward her computer.
But she didn't look convinced.
Not even a little.