Facing Xavier’s hate

“Hate is a terrible thing. It's a wasteful, stupid emotion. You can hate someone with all your heart, but it'll never do them a bit of harm. The only person it hurts is you. You can spend your days hating, letting it eat away at you, and the person you hate will go on living just the same. So, what's the point?”

Sitting outside the office of Mr. Walker, I waited for him to arrive. Despite my protests, Kat didn't let me wear my old clothes as I was dressed in her floral color pencil skirt and black button-up shirt, I looked really decent and professional. And finally, the heels, which she stubbornly made me wear. I applied some natural makeup on my face and let my strawberry hair down, so they reached my waist in light waves.

It was already fifteen minutes past eight in the morning, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do and where to go.

Time passed as it was exact nine in the morning, when I watched Mr. Walker walking out of the private elevator, wearing a light green two-piece business suit.

He passed me his radiant smile as he walked towards me, taking off the shades. "Good morning, Mr. Walker." I greeted him, tiptoeing behind him towards his office.

"Save the pleasantries, Evelyn. You can call me Chris." He said, entering inside his office, ordering me to sit on the visitor's chair.

"Why haven't you reported Mr. Knight?" He asked, while sitting in his chair.

"Yes, I wanted to talk about this, why am I appointed as his secretary?"

"Because we are working together on our recent project. Plus, he wanted an excellent negotiator." Mr. Walker said, winking at me.

"Oh, Okay." I replied, giving him a small smile.

"Have you seen your office?" He asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"Damn, I told Maya to give you a tour of the floor once." He sighed, while standing up from his seat and picking up the coat that rested on the chair. "Come on." He said as I trailed behind him.

There was a door that connected the room to the hallway. We exited his office as he knocked at the door that was facing the door of Mr. Walker's office.

"This is the office of Mr. Knight. You met him during the interview, right?" He asked which I nodded.

When we heard a subtle 'come in', Mr. Walker opened the door and barged inside.

My eyes fell on the figure sitting, Xavier, who was engrossed in the huge pile of files in front of him. When his eyes flicked towards me, his smile turned into a frown.

"Evelyn, meet Xavier Knight. He's our partner in the recent project. You'll be assisting him." He introduced us.

Talk about irony.

Xavier smiled at him without even acknowledging me. He wore a well-tailored black business suit. I couldn't believe my eyes that he was the same man I used to know five years ago.

"Xavier, brief Evelyn about her job?" Chris asked.

"Sure, mate." Xavier forced a smile on his face and after Chris left, he stood up and walked towards me.

The air between us was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Xavier walked past me as I followed him.

There was a door on the back of his desk. It led to a small, joined office, with a small desk in the middle and walls painted in bright baby blue color. There was a huge collection of pens, highlighters, notes.

We stepped into my office, "Your job is filling all the important documents, arranging them in specific order, receiving the calls and direct important ones to me, corresponding all the information to our clients and receiving all the visitors."

While he was explaining the job, my eyes wandered to his face which stayed focused on the wall behind me. It deeply hurt me, that he wouldn't even look at my face once. Who could blame him?

"Understood?"

"Why did you give me this job?" I asked the question that had been bugging me for the last two days.

Xavier immediately looked at me as his jaw clenched. He stepped towards me, and I took a step back. I hadn't noticed how tall he was before he was towering over me as I was caged between him and the wall.

"What did you just say?" His gaze was so damn piercing that I had to lower my head to avoid his eyes.

Mustering all the courage, I looked at him, and asked, "W-Why did you hire me as your assistant? Is this some kind of revenge?"

His arms slammed into the wall on either side of me, caging me in, cutting off any avenues of escape. Dark forest greens, churning with the rage of the ocean, bored into me.

"Don't give yourself such credit, Miss Williams. You aren't worthy of any revenge." His words pierced right through my heart. "But now, as you've suggested. I would really like to play that game of yours, Evelyn."

His lips didn't curve into a derisive smile, but even without that, I could hear that cold venom he put into my name.

"If it was up to me, Miss Williams." One of his hands slid away from the wall, caressing my face in a move so caring, so gentle, it almost took my breath away. But what he said after that had left me in tears. "I would not even let you work in any of the company in New York, let alone my office. It was Chris who gave you this job, not me."

After that he walked past me and angrily stomped out of my office. Guilt clouded my senses after listening to his words.

Like always…