Chapter 9 - Distance!

I froze on where I'm standing. Why is he looking at me like that?

I was about to speak when the door opened and Mr. Zach Whitmore entered. He was surprised to see us in this position.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something?" He laughed a bit.

What? It's not what he thinks it is!

I immediately fixed the folders on my hands before making a distance between me and Mr. Parker.

"Yes, you do. As always," Mr. Parker said.

"Okay, I think I should go back later for you to continue on what you're doing. Besides, it seems like the both of you are having a good time." Mr. Whitmore playfully smiled.

"No, sir," I said to make him stop from leaving. "I was actually about to leave. You two can have your conversation."

I glanced at Mr. Parker and he still have that little smirk on his face. I took a deep breath when I got out of his office.

Gosh, what is that all about?

I walked towards the large cabinet full of drawers near my cabin to arrange these folders. It wasn't so hard for me to sort it because Mr. Parker had it arranged before handing it to me.

…

"Hey, Liv! Open the door." I was about to change my clothes but I heard Alice's voice. I went downstairs to open the door.

She was carrying a big bowl and it was probably hot because she's wearing oven mitts.

"Baked Mac," she smiled. I looked at it before letting her in.

"I'm starting to think that your cooking skills are improving. I'm surprised it's not burned," I said while turning the lights on in the dining area.

"You won't be a good cook if you haven't experienced failure," she said then rolled her eyes. She put down the bowl before removing the oven mitts from her hands.

I got us some lemonade from the fridge and I poured it into two glasses. I went back to the kitchen countertop to get some plates and a spatula.

"Where's Summer?" She asked and I handed her the spatula.

"She's having a sleepover at her friend's house," I answered before sitting down in front of her.

"Wooh, sleepover, huh. Sounds fun," she said while putting some baked mac on her plate.

"Well, for me it's not," I shrugged when she handed me the spatula to get some food for myself.

Alice laughed a bit on what I said. "Come on, Liv. Your sister is already 17, let her have some fun."

"Fun is not always appropriate," I objected before eating.

"Remember what everyone says, you only live once as a teenager," she explained.

Well, maybe she's right. I didn't have a lot of friends back then because I was an introvert. Summer's the opposite of me and I'm happy that she's making a lot of memories with her friends.

"Aren't you gonna talk about what happened earlier?" She asked before drinking.

"Earlier?" My eyebrows furrowed.

"At work, with Mr. Parker." She raised her eyebrow, not believing that I didn't know what she's talking about.

"Nothing happened," I said before taking another bite. Wow, Alice's baked mac is really delicious.

"Oh, come on. I have a talkative boss and she saw the two of you doing something mysterious," she smirked.

"Mysterious my ass," I said before laughing. "Look, we didn't do anything, okay? I just cleaned his wound, that's all."

"Did he flirt with you?" She asked again.

My eyes widened. "What?! Of course not. Didn't you tell me that our bosses don't flirt with their secretaries?"

"Well," she put down the fork. "Nothing is impossible."

"Yes, I believe that. That's why it's not impossible for Mr. Whitmore to flirt with you too," I fired back.

Her eyes widened too. "We didn't-"

I cut her off using my suspicious stare.

"Well, y-yeah, sometimes," she rolled her eyes.

Woah, she didn't mention anything before about it.

"I felt betrayed. Why aren't you spilling anything? Do you like him?" I ached a brow before drinking.

She was hesitating to answer but still did. It's impossible to keep secrets from the both of us.

"Working with him for 3 years? I think it's hard not to," she admitted.

…

"Someone's having a bad day," Mr. Parker smirked before reading his schedule.

I can't blame him for noticing it though. I was really bothered by what Alice told me last night.

'Protect yourself from falling in love with your boss. Mr. Parker don't take romantic relationships seriously.'

That's actually ridiculous! Why would I fall in love with him? I don't have time for that.

"I just had a bad dream last night, sir," I reasoned. I can't say the truth, of course!

He handed me the tablet before leaning against his swivel chair.

"About what? Your former boss fired you again?" He mocked me.

"Sir, please. Can we not talk about him?" I asked, trying to get that topic off.

He crossed his arms and he playfully smirked. "Why? Did you have a thing for him? Oh, I get it now." He slightly nodded in realization. "He broke your heart."

I rolled me eyes at him. I can't believe that he has a side like this.

"Just to make things clear, sir, I never liked him." I crossed my arms too. "In fact, he's the one who 'had' a thing for me."

"Well," he stood up before putting his hands inside his pockets. "It seems like you made a good decision for leaving his company."

"I didn't leave, sir. He fired me. There's a difference," I explained.

He walked in front of me and he leaned slightly on his desk. It was just like our position yesterday when we were caught by Mr. Whitmore.

"Yes, but you still left. Now, I think you already found a perfect boss who's willing to give you everything you want," he said, looking at me straight in the eyes.

I took a deep breath. "I'm here to work and to earn money, sir. Not to find someone who can give me a luxurious life."

He leaned until there were just inches between our faces.

"I wasn't talking about luxury, anyway."

Is he aware of how dickish he sounds?

I walked backwards because he's making me uncomfortable.

"You can't always do that, sir. I should keep distance from you and you should keep distance from me too," I seriously said.

"It's not like you don't wanna be near me," he said then chuckled.

"Uhm, no? Actually, I really don't want to," I fake smiled.

What is he trying to say? That I like him? Where the hell did that come from?

"That doesn't offend me," he said with a smile.

I took another deep breath. "I hate to break it to you, sir. But those charms you have? It doesn't work for me," I honestly answered.

"Well, that offended me." He still sounds like he's messing around.

Argh, I can't believe I'm working for this man.

…

Alice, Laura, Elle and me went out to have our lunch at the nearest restaurant. Alice always eats with her boss at this time but today, Mr. Whitmore said she can come with us.

"Hey, Liv. You okay? You look like you're going to punch someone with your stare," she said before sitting down beside me while Laura and Elle are sitting in front of us.

"Remember what you told me last night?" I asked before looking at Laura and Elle. They're kind of busy looking at their phones. It's not that I don't trust them, it's just a personal issue between me and Alice only.

"Which one?" She joked.

"The one about Mr. Parker," I said then rolled my eyes.

She looked up, thinking of something before answering.

"Don't tell me you had fallen for him already," she gasped. This woman is overreacting.

"No," I answered immediately. "I just want to make it clear that it will never happen."

We talked about different things while eating our lunch. After eating, we walked back towards the building.

At first, I was quite surprised that Mr. Parker works at his building, the hotel itself. Usually, CEOs like him works on a different building or office. But Alice explained everything to me that two years ago, Parker Hotel received a lot of negative reviews. It was because of lazy managers and poor maintenance. Mr. Parker doesn't want it to happen again so he chose to stay at the hotel to monitor everything.

My stomach hurts a little. I think I ate too much food.

We went into the elevator and I pressed the 45th floor because that's where we work. Mr. Parker's penthouse is on the 46th floor. He said he doesn't sleep there often but it's still being cleaned regularly.

"Hey," Alice called me. "Tomorrow's your day off. What would you be doing?" She asked me.

"I don't know," I sighed. "Look after Summer, I think?"

"Are you seriously going to treat your sister like a baby for the rest of her life?" She scoffed.

Well, yes. That's my job, to be a good sister to her.

…

I woke up at 7:00 AM. This is my first day off since I started working at the hotel.

I went to the bathroom to take a bath before going downstairs. Summer might still be asleep because it's Sunday. I was about to open the fridge to get something to cook when someone knocked. I'm actually not expecting someone. Alice is at work.

I was shocked by whom I just opened the door for.