“If you’re not happy here, the exit is wide open. Do you think I care?”
A cold voice cut through from behind the open door. Arka stood there with one hand in his trouser pocket. His gaze was just as sharp as ever. Sofi and Maya immediately lowered their heads stiffly, their faces deathly pale.
“S-sorry, Mr. Arka! We were just joking!” Maya stammered. “Yeah, Mr. Arka! It was just... just an act to relieve stress!” Sofi added in a panic.
Without moving an inch, Arka continued staring at them impassively. “Get back to your desks.”
Without needing to be told twice, Sofi and Maya hurried away, leaving Alya all alone. Damn! They sacrificed me! Alya cursed inwardly.
“Why are you quiet? Go ahead and continue your rant,” Arka challenged, looking Alya up and down. Alya quickly wiped away her tears. She drew a deep breath, trying to calm her emotions. Ignoring her boss was practically handing her neck over to the executioner.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Arka. I just got emotional for a moment.” “Emotional?” Arka sneered. “I should be the one getting emotional over being stuck with an incompetent secretary like you on my first day.”
BAM! Arka went back inside and slammed the door to his office shut.
Alya patted her chest, scared half to death. “Crazy! I’m going to lose my mind if this keeps up!” she muttered. The day turned to noon, but the tension on the upper floor still didn’t let up.
“Is the proposal packet for tomorrow’s meeting finished?” Arka asked without looking away from his laptop as Alya came back in carrying a stack of documents.
“Yes, Mr. Arka.”
Arka took the packet and flipped carefully through the pages. The farther he read, the deeper his frown grew.
God, please... Don’t make me revise the whole thing. I worked on this all night, Alya thought, nervously squeezing her fingers.
Thump. Arka took off his glasses and tossed the documents onto the desk.
“Read point three.” “Y-yes, Mr. Arka.” Alya read it carefully.
“Point five!”
Alya read it again.
“Point eight!”
And so it went, several times over. The atmosphere in the office grew increasingly suffocating.
“Enough,” Arka cut in sharply. “Is this the extent of your ability?” “I did my best, Mr. Arka.” “Your best?” Arka gave a hollow laugh. “How did Dad ever manage to put up with a secretary whose work standards are this low?”
Alya clenched her fists at her sides, beside her work dress. The urge to scream had reached its boiling point, but she held it back with all her might.
Arka tore off a sheet of notepaper, wrote down an address, and held it out to Alya. “Tomorrow, meet the person at this address. They’ll teach you the basics of preparing professional documents.”
“Yes, Mr. Arka...” “Fix the pages I marked in red. Bring them back to me before quitting time.” “Yes, Mr. Arka.”
Alya took the packet and turned around. But just as her hand touched the doorknob, the door was pushed open from the outside.
“Daddyyyy!”
A little girl of about four came running and leaped past Alya, barreling straight into Arka’s legs. Behind her, a neatly dressed young woman smiled warmly at Alya.
Alya froze in place. D-Daddy?
She slowly turned around. The sight before her left Alya unable to believe her eyes. Arka’s cold, sharp gaze instantly softened. He knelt down and welcomed the little girl with the warmest, gentlest smile Alya had ever seen from him. His stiff face became strikingly handsome when he smiled sincerely.
“Caca missed Daddy!” the little girl babbled as she hugged Arka’s neck. “Daddy’s smart girl... You missed me too, huh?” Arka chuckled, giving his daughter’s nose an affectionate pinch.
Alya was stunned. A child? This killer boss already had a kid?
Noticing that his secretary was still rooted to the spot, the young woman in the doorway smiled politely at Alya. “Excuse me.”
Alya edged closer and whispered in surprise, “Sorry, but is that child...” “Yes, little Caca is Mr. Arka’s daughter,” the woman replied softly. “Then... are you Mr. Arka’s wife?” The woman giggled softly. “No, I’m Sari, Caca’s babysitter. Mr. Arka is a single parent.”
“A single parent?” Alya blurted out in shock. “Sari, come in. Let’s have lunch together,” Arka called from inside the office, cutting off their conversation.
“Yes, Mr. Arka.”
Arka carried Caca with great affection and walked past Alya as though she were invisible. The difference this time was that warmth radiated from the CEO.
Alya remained rooted to the spot. All kinds of wild speculation spun through her mind. In the pantry area, rumors flew much faster. Still lost in thought in the corner, Alya could only listen to her coworkers whispering.
“Seriously?! Mr. Arka already has a kid?!”
“Yeah! I heard he’s only twenty-six! His kid is already four. So he had a child at twenty-two?”
“Crazy... He’s so young! But seriously, he gave off such hot-daddy vibes when he was carrying his kid earlier!”
“Handsome, rich, loves kids... Ugh, even if he’s scary, I’d gladly be Caca’s mom. She’s so adorable!”
“But I heard he’s a single parent not because he got divorced, but because that child was the result of...”
Enough!
Alya couldn’t bear to hear any more of their speculation. Her memory carried her back to that night filled with trauma. She placed her stack of revised documents on the nearest table, then hurried toward the restroom to calm her increasingly chaotic thoughts.