Chapter 22: Every action has a reaction. pt. i

The following morning went as usual: Seven entered the company building, feeling the cold breeze of the air conditioning hit the back of his thin neck. He gripped Nicolas' coffee, warming up his hands as he stepped toward the elevator. As the days passed, he noticed himself slowly getting comfortable with the rich environment. Before, he would walk inside the building and think all eyes were on him. Though perceiving it now, he ridiculed himself at how easily nervous he got. "Morning, Mr. Ochoa." the lady at the front desk greeted. Seven grinned at her as he pressed the 'up' button on the elevator's dashboard. The assistant sighed, gazing up at the screen that showed which floor the elevator was on, waiting for it to hit the '1st floor'.

"Hey, Ochoa!" a familiar voice called out. The voice was low but happy. Seven didn't turn around, knowing that the person that called out to him was running towards him. The elevator doors opened, Seven stepping in as he heard the footsteps of the individual rushing in as well, standing next to him.

"Morning, Mr. Adams." Seven greeted. He pressed the button on the dashboard and started the elevator.

"Why so formal? I'm not your boss," Marcel laughed as the doors closed, "I heard you and Nick fucked up the meeting with WebBaze."

Seven's shoulders raised, a lump growing in his throat at the mention of the party. He had possibly tried his best to shrug it off the best he can, and he didn't even want to think about it. The reason for ditching the meeting was as embarrassing as it was, nevermind missing the meeting with the chairman of the company.

Ochoa cleared his throat, "Yeah, we had a sort of issue during the event."

Marcel nodded, chuckling lightly, "Joseph completely blames it on you, Ochoa. Ha! I mean, talk about anxiety, huh? Can't believe you actually missed the meeting you arranged because you felt ill."

Seven let out a silent and careful sigh, keeping his eyes on the elevator's dashboard, "Social anxiety is a hell of a thing." he commented.

"Well, if it means anything, you shouldn't pressure yourself to convince WebBaze again."

This caught the assistant's attention. The tension on his shoulders left as he turned his head to face the taller lawyer that stood next to him, "But it's my job."Marcel nodded, turning his head as well to face Seven, "I'm aware, but WebBaze is not a company that can easily be convinced after messing up the first meeting." It went silent for a bit, Marcel narrowing his eyes at the assistant, "Look, all I'm saying don't make it your priority. Do the easy stuff first, you know? Let loose."

The elevator doors opened, Marcel stepping out first. Serene followed, gazing down at his black shoes the followed behind Marcel's, "Respectfully, Marcel-" "Nah- Nah. Don't talk to me so formally. It creeps me out," he turned around slightly, eyeing Seven, "We're chill, right? I'm not your boss."

Seven looked up, seeing the reassuring smile on the lawyer's face, the corner of cheeks wrinkling into the grin. Though... it wasn't like Serene talked formally because it was the right environment. He did it because it was just respectful.

"I'm not the type of person to take my job easy, Marcel. I have expectations for myself and I intend to meet those expectations. Applying for this job, I got myself into promising Mr. Anderson that I can meet his job demands and criteria." Seven walked past Marcel who had stopped walking. He opened the door to Nicolas' waiting room, holding it with a sly smile as he eyed Marcel to step in first.

Marcel scoffed, shaking his head, stepping into the waiting room, eyeing the assistant, "You sure do keep your promises, huh?"

As the two entered the waiting room, they heard shouting from inside Nicolas' office. "No, listen. You don't understand! Dad-"

Marcel reacted first, rushing into the office and seeing Nicolas pacing by his desk, holding the phone to his ear. Seven was surprised to see Marcel react so aggressively as if Nicolas was going to be killed. Though, Marcel only reacted like that since, after all this time of being friends with Nick, the lawyer never heard Nicolas shouting inside his office. It was even the fact that Nick shouted 'Dad' which threw off Marcel.

Marcel crossed his arms, staring at his frustrated friend. Seven looked at the ground, avoiding any eye contact with the angry CEO, hurrying to his desk, and placing the warm beverage next to a pile of files.

"Fine," Nicolas groaned, hanging up the call as he quit pacing, stopping in front of his desk. Serene glanced up eventually, walking away from the desk, meeting eyes with Nick as the two brushed shoulders, "Morning." Seven muttered, turning his attention back to Marcel.

"What was that?" Marcel asked, seeing Anderson follow Serene to the sofa, setting up his laptop. Nicolas sighed, turning his attention to his friend, "Nothing." he responded. Marcel scoffed, "Like hell. You were yelling at the chairman. Which, may I add, is pretty fucking rare."

Nicolas grabbed his coffee that was placed on his desk, "He wanted something from me. That is all."

Marcel nodded, his eyebrows raised, "Okay...? It sounded like he wanted something extreme from you."

Nicolas took a sip from his coffee, swallowing it as he motioned the cup in a circular motion, "He wanted to arrange a marriage for me."

Ochoa's eyes widened, dropping his phone on to the floor as he heard what was announced. Nicolas eyed Seven, seeing the back of his assistant as he crouched down to pick it up. Marcel kept his eyes on the CEO, narrowing his eyes, "You're joking?" Nicolas inhaled deeply, setting the coffee down as he crossed his arms, "I wish I was," he sighed, "Though, the chairman surely wants the best for the company, so what's better than marrying two companies, right?"

"I can name a couple of things that can be way better than a forced marriage." Marcel shook his head.

Seven sat on the black leather couch in the office, his eyes on the screen of the laptop. Though, he wasn't doing much but moving the mouse. His ears were on the conversation the two friends were having. In all honesty, Serene was confused as to how a forced marriage would even play out. He's seen a lot of films and read a lot of novels that cooperated that trope, though since it's happening now, it's kind of unbelievable.

"When is the date?" Marcel asked, standing in front of Nick who leaned against the desk with his arms crossed, "I don't know. He just called that he'll be marrying me to someone's daughter from a company. Didn't tell me who or when."

"This is ridiculous. You don't even know the girl!" Marcel shouted.

"Of course not, Marcel! I don't have time to mingle with people because Joseph never lets me! To him, it's always work, work, work." Nicolas groaned, running his tanned handed through his brown, silky hair, "When he called, I thought he was going to inform me something about WebBaze."

Marcel rolled his eyes, "He shouldn't force you into a marriage. I mean, coming from him-"

"He doesn't care, M! He doesn't care if I want it or not. If it's for the company then he believes it's a good thing."

The room went silent. Marcel kept his arms crossed, glaring at the floor, not knowing what to say. Nicolas, on the other hand, eyed the assistant who kept a sturdy stare at the laptop screen, "How's your morning, Ochoa?" Nicolas asked.

You'd think after sleeping with Nick, Seven would feel horrible about hearing him planning a marriage. But it didn't bug him. Not an ounce of jealousy in his body. The night of the donation party still meant nothing to him. Nothing but an 'in-the-moment' night. What did crawl inside his mind was confusion as to how this would play out. Reasonably, Seven kept his eyes on the screen with the only thought running in his mind was whether Nicolas would follow up with the order. If it was for the benefit of the company, then there's no question about it. Though, ethically, it was probably the worst thing that could happen for a business. Serene didn't know what to speculate about it. Supporting the idea could profit the company, but going against it can allow Serene to help Nicolas emotionally. On that note, technically speaking, Serene wasn't the chairman's assistant. He didn't have to worry about what would benefit the business. He was Nicolas' assistant and all he needed to do was to be by his side and advise him.

"It's fine," Serene responded, keeping his eyes on the screen, "Thinking about what to email WebBaze. They send various emails before actually sending me a confirmation which is quite draining."

Marcel turned around, his eyes on the assistant, "Do you want to say something about the situation?"

"Marcel," Nicolas interrupted, keeping his stare on Serene, "He doesn't have anything to say. Let him work-"

"I do." Seven spoke, looking up from the screen with a small smile on his face as he gazed at Marcel, "I'm wondering... can't you just tell the chairman that you'd rather not get married to someone you don't know?"

Nicolas stood by his desk, squinting at the assistant. He honestly didn't expect for Ochoa to speak about the situation. Though, at the same time, he was glad he did. His shoulders loosened up when he heard the question from the calming voice of the PA. The corner of his lip curved into a small smile, but Nicolas didn't want the others to see so he gazed down, pressing his lips together, "If it were that easy to convince him, I would have done it the moment he mentioned it during the phone call."

"Well, am I allowed to speak to him?" Marcel's eyebrows raised at the request. Nicolas' eyes widened as well, looking up quickly to eye Seven, "You want to?"

Serene nodded, keeping the grin on his face, "I am your personal assistant, sir. I think it is my job to speak for you when you're either too busy or feel nervous."

Nicolas' lips parted a bit at the reassuring statement. Seeing how genuine and thoughtful the assistant was relieving. Though, the idea itself was a bit nerve-wracking. Nicolas shook his head, "He'll fire you if you speak to him about such matters. Don't bother, Ochoa."

"But-"

"Ochoa," Nicolas interrupted, now giving the slimmer male a stern stare, "Don't talk to him if you want to keep your job. Listen to my words."

Seven was about to say something before Nicolas spoke in his place, "You to prove to your aunt that you're a sidekick, right? Don't take initiative and disappoint her." Seven's eyes darted down to Nicolas' shoes, feeling his shoulders tensed up at the comment. He didn't expect Nicolas to use his personal life as a threat. It was heartbreaking. Seven had trusted his boss to take everything he said yesterday to mind and use it to his advantage if he wanted to get closer to him. Hearing the CEO use his aunt as a way to stay out of Nick's decision was a bit disappointing.

On another note, Nicolas didn't intend to make it come out as a threat. For the past days, he's felt so invested towards his assistant. Usually, he wouldn't care if his former assistants did talk to the chairman, but right now, just thinking about Seven getting fired was not a direction the CEO wanted to take.

"Yes, sir." Seven frowned.

Marcel squinted at the reaction from Seven. He didn't quite understand what had happened or how the mention of his aunt got the assistant to forget the promise that he made about advising Nicolas. He turned to Nicolas who furrowed his eyebrows and quickly eyed Marcel then back at Serene, "Ochoa, go and grab me a water bottle from the vending machines."

Seven looked up, "Sir-"

"Go, Serene," Nicolas demanded.

At that point, Marcel was completely lost.

Seven gulped, eyeing Marcel. He didn't expect Nicolas to say his name in front of the lawyer and his shoulders tensed up as he stood up from the couch and walked out the room.

Nicolas bit the inside of his cheek realizing his mistake.

"Serene?" Marcel questioned, a smile appearing on his face.

"It slipped out," Nicolas responded keeping his face as professional as possible.

"His first name... slipped out?" Marcel repeated, "Nick, I've known you for a very long time, buddy. Let me tell you, not once have you ever referred to your assistants as their first name. Not Ms. Henning. Not Mrs. Lopez. Not Ms. Salazar- even with the ones you've slept with... you never acknowledged their first name." Marcel's smile grew as he saw Nicolas gaze down, biting his cheek.

"Oh... so you two-" Marcel nodded, clapping his hands as if he had just solved a puzzle. Nicolas looked up, glaring at him, "Don't start assuming things, Marcy!"

"I'm not assuming anything! All I'm saying is that it looks like you two have gotten pretty close these past days, huh..." Marcel stepped forward slowly, nudging Nicolas, "...Mr. Anderson?" he teased.

Nicolas shoved him away slightly, clicking his tongue, "So, why mention his aunt? You want to make him depressed or something? I mean, bringing up a personal thing is one thing, but seeing the way he reacted was a bit-"

"I maybe went too far," Nicolas admitted, grabbing the cup of coffee from his desk again and taking a sip, "Jospeh assigned me a lot of work last night and Ochoa told me a few things about his family, so I mentioned the aunt."

Marcel nodded, tilting his head, "Right... on another note, I came to talk about the donation party. I asked your assistant, but he wasn't really clear on the topic. A bit suspicious, if I can add."

Nicolas tilted his head back, tilting it side-to-side to pop the tension, "What about the party?"

"Where were you? Your father told me the thing Seven said, but I highly doubt that's anywhere near the truth." Marcel raised an eyebrow, "To miss a meeting with WebBaze? Must've been something important, huh?"

Nicolas stopped motioning his head, eyeing Marcel now. He scoffed, "Must've been."