A Bonus
“One month bonus salary for the junior staff”.
Kaylah looks at me surprised. She blinks her eyes a few times, hangs over my desk up to my face. "Did you say a whole month's bonus, free money for all but the top employees?", she asks to be sure. I look at her with a straight face. “Said in round English words”, I snap at her. Her eyes search my face. “Did Santa visit you last night? You are never that generous.”
This bitch!
"One more word and you can whistle to yours," I hiss at her. Yes, this threat is making her go back on her words. She gets herself together and walks straight to the finance department.
After fifteen minutes she’s back with the printout for approval and places it demonstratively on my table. I look at her from under my reading glasses. “Do I have to do your job too? My signature is too precious for such worthless things. Take it and sign it yourself. If you waste my money you will never come to me for my signature.
She sighs dramatically. “Loraine, these are not regular expenses, this is an extra burden on the budget,” she explains as if talking to a toddler. I look up immediately. “No, this will be debited from my personal account. It's a reward from me for the staff."
Now there is fear on her face, this woman is such a great actress.
"Personal account? Holy shit! Aziel!", she shouts down the hall. Not long and Aziel ambles towards us. “What caused this noise pollution, Kaylah? Are you on your period?!”.
Kaylah stutters, pointing her finger at me.
“Loraine wants to pay all juniors a bonus, one month salary. From her personal account, Aziel, can you imagine, her p-e-r-s-o-n-a-l account! Today as well. This miser who hasn't touched that account in three years and never gives anything away for free! Can you take her temperature before she does something irreparable?”
“Don't waste my time”, I warn the two in front of me. With one more glare, Kaylah disappears through the door, Aziel remains standing in front of my desk. "Please Aziel, use a chair, you're causing me neck pain." He drops lazily into the chair, one leg over the armrest, and continues to stare at me. “What provoked this social gesture of yours, Loraine? Something drastic must have happened to trigger this in you. Tell me!", he asks with raised eyebrows.
I wasn’t really waiting for a visitor in my office, especially if he criticizes my actions. What I long for is for everyone to leave me alone so that I can dream away, glorify me in the beautiful moments of this morning. I lick my lower lip to suppress a sigh of ecstasy.
“Did you find out you're in love with Danner?”, I hear this bastard Aziel asks. With a tug I raise my face to see if he believes his own nonsense. Suddenly he bursts into an uncontrollable laugh. “I feared the worst. Negative, though”, he hiccups soberly.
“Aziel, how was your vacation? Why am I only meeting you now, a week after you got back? Addicted to a leggy blonde?”, I distract him from talking about Danner now. He's serious again. “I only like black tops with gray blinkers”. I roll my eyes at his endless flirtation.
“And what about New York's most famous engaged couple? Still glued?”, he asks, not without jealousy in his voice.
“Why don't you tell me about your vacation instead? You went to the Caribbean islands, didn't you? I would like to do that when Danner is less busy.” I intentionally add the latter to bounce back. “Why Danner? You would have a great time with me. I know the islands like the back of my hand," he adds. I look at him intently. "Danner, because he's my betrothed. For starters," I answer him immediately.
His face turns sour and now he decides to leave the subject at that. We start discussing some issues that affect the work further. I love his business instinct. Aziel makes meticulous analyses, his assumptions are always correct. We want to expand and look for less competitive markets so we can get a strong foothold before the vultures descend.
"Have you researched how we get the shares of the mall, Aziel?", I remind him. The business trip to China delayed that project a bit, but it's not off the table. Especially since Dordrich is the largest shareholder, I'm even more interested in it.
“You'll get the file on your desk in the morning. I've already bought almost thirty percent, you just have to sign. Fellogan doesn't want to sell, but don't worry. As long as you have the majority of the shares, you can carry out your plans.” That's exactly what I want to hear. I have big plans for the mall, I want to prove myself to Dordrich, show him that I am not only a pretty face, but also a good cause.
Preferably with him I want to collaborate so that I always have a good excuse to be around him, to enjoy him now that I can’t get closer since he is married, out of reach for me. Nobody will suspect anything as long as we are business partners, we can always put our meetings in that context. And if things don't work out between us, I can always charge a staff member with the further handling of the collaboration.
I think I have the solution to our forbidden love.
When I look up I see Aziel looking at me thoughtfully. "Besides your great insights about the mall, is there another reason that you've focused your attention on that? I suspect other motive," he explains hesitantly. “What else could be the reason? I want to earn money, expand and diversify my business. I run a commercial company, Aziel, not a kindergarten”, I emphasize. "If you say so. I also had no other thought, but wanted to see if we are still on the same page", he responds. He stands up like an old man and walks out of my office. At last, I’m alone!