Meeting Mia
Anastasia
“Is he in?”
A dark-haired lady of about average height drags her sunglasses over her luscious hair and peers down at me with a set of light brown eyes.
I tap on my screen. “Yes.”
“Okay.”
“But he has a meeting in ten minutes and he doesn’t want to be disturbed.”
“He’ll appreciate me being here,” she chirps.
I bet he will.
“Sure. I’ll let him know and see what he says.” I grab the phone. “Who should I say is here for him?”
“Mia,” she provides with a wink like her name is meant to mean something.
I mean, unless she is Mia Culpa – which she obviously isn’t – the name rings no bell in my head although her features looks vaguely familiar.
“Mia,” I repeat.
“Mia Keaton.”
Oh!
My mouth forms a little ‘o’ as the recognition hits me. I knew she looked familiar I just didn’t know it’s because I am staring at a female, shorter, fairer version of my boss. Her face would have been angular if not for the tiny bust of soft cheeks and her slender body could have easily passed for a runway model. I remember seeing her at the charity function but it didn’t strike me after that night probably because I had been drunk.
“And you,” she points a polished finger at me, “you must be Anastasia.”
“I am,” I give her a weak smile, “you know me.”
I try to hide the surprise that hits me. Jake doesn’t seem like the type that goes about talking about his assistant to other people not even his sister.
Mia provides a pack of gum from the designer bag slung over her shoulders and pops one strawberry flavored gum in her mouth.
“I have a feeling we’d be very good friends soon, you and I,” she speculates before striding off to her brother’s office.
So, I just met Mia Keaton. She has to be the brightest Keaton so far. I met Mrs. Keaton – Jake’s mother – briefly during that event but she hadn’t even spared me a glance and I don’t his father will be any less gloomy than he is.
Shrugging Jake’s family out of my head, I move on to finish up the filing on my desk. I’ve got a lot assigned to me today. After the rows of papers I have to file, I also have to take a trip to the nearest branches in Jake’s stead and meet with the executives for a discussion of their monthly reports and then back to the office to submit the reports back to Jake.
For the past one week, we’ve been mostly avoiding each other. I don’t know why and I don’t think it is completely unintentional too but we barely talk except when we absolutely have to interact and Jake has gone back to being his nonchalant cold self again.
Frankly, I’m not complaining.
I prefer him cold because then, I don’t have to second guess his thoughts and actions.
I work for about twenty more minutes before Jake enters my office with Mia by his side.
His face is impassive when he says, “We’re out for lunch. Cancel the next appointment till I’m back.”
I nod my response and go back to the work at hand. When I’m done filing I’m about to leave for the branch companies when there is a knock on the door and Adam Keaton pokes his mass of brown hair into the crack.
“Hey, Anna.”
Oh Great, now I have to deal with three Keatons today?
I grab my bag and fix my hair in the vanity mirror opposite me. For some reason there are mirrors in every office like being vain is a quality for employment in Jake’s company.
“Hey Adam,” it’s a good thing I was finally able to stop calling him Mr. Keaton because he was right, it did make him sound almost as formidable as Jake.
He steps further into the office, “Is Jake in?”
“He just left.”
Adam is not as tall as Jake but he still towers over me and I feel him give me a one over.
“Going somewhere?”
I send him a smile, “To the branch offices.”
“Mind if I accompany you?”
I squint my eyes, uncertain, “I don’t know if that’s –”
“I mean,” he starts leading the way out, holding the door open for me, “If anything the COO of the company should be present in meeting with the branches.”
“Okay,” there’s nothing wrong with having more company on an otherwise boring day.
Adam and I visit the nearest branch first and it was mostly annoying if anything that we had to identify ourselves and show proof before they let us go through their monthly stipends. By the time we are in branch office number three, my feet mostly hurt and Adam’s already askew tie is hanging low on his shirt. The weather is a low buzz reflecting how I feel and I am sure of an incoming storm sooner than later.
“If I had any idea how difficult holding a corporate job is I’d never have fought for it so hard,” he says as we get back in the car to avoid the oncoming storm.
“You fought for it?”
He pumps the gas and hits the road, “My father would never have let me take on such responsibility.”
The drive back to headquarters is a fast one because we are trying to get there before the rain hits and Adam is such a reckless driver.
Throughout the entire drive, my fingers grip the seatbelt around me so hard, my knuckles go white, because he is racing past other cars like he is being paid to be out of control.
“Adam, can you slow down,” I yell, my eyes squeezed shut.
“No need,” I hear the laughter in his voice, “we’re here. You can breathe now.”
True enough, he skids to a parking spot in front of the enormous building and I glare at him immediately I am able to breathe again.
“Next time you want to kill me, please use a knife inside.”
It is night already so I don’t see the expression on his face clearly but I hear his light laughter when he says, “I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”
The rain is already pouring when I scurry across the ground, clutching my bag to my chest as I make my way back into the building.
It’s practically empty when I enter the building so I quickly make my way through the elevators and into my office.
I don’t hear Adam behind me until the office door closes behind me and I realized I didn’t close it myself.
“You didn’t have to follow me in here,” I tell him.
“I know,” he says, his voice dropped to a deep whisper.
“Right,” I nod and make my way to Jake’s office, “I’m just going to leave these on his tab—”
His voice cuts me off, stopping me at the door. “Did you think about my offer?”
I breathe in. “Yes.”
“And?” he steps closer.
“I’m…” another step closer, “pretty comfortable…” another step, “with working with – can you stop?”
Amusement dances in his eyes, “Why?”
“Because, I’m trying to – stop it!” he is too close to me now, “step back Adam.”
“Okay,” he stops walking but doesn’t make any move to step back, “come work with me Anna.”
“Why.”
“Because I want you by my side.”
“I’m already with Jake,” fuck, that came out wrong.
Adam sneers, “No, you’re not. You’ve only got to say the word.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Come on, Anastasia,” he whispers and I can barely hear him over the thunder crackling outside, “I don’t bite.”
His head swoops down and for a second I am sure – horrified – that he is about to kiss me when –
The door bangs open.
And Jake Keaton steps in.