Love Worth Fighting For

Chapter 15: The arrogant master

When lunch time arrives, Christian is surprised by the arrival of Kainer who comes to his room with a beautiful girl who looks very neat. The girl is almost the same height as Kainer, but Christian believes it’s because of her shoes.

“Good afternoon, sir. I’m here with the elected secretary, her name is Elena Wilson.”

Christian doesn’t give any reaction, he tries to read the character of his new secretary in silence. Kainer, who already knew his boss’ character, could only stay silent, not daring to issue any orders to Elena who was standing beside him.

“Give me one reason why I should accept you to work at my company?” Christian says flatly without changing his expression.

“I need money, I’ve been without a job for almost two years and I’m always the butt of a neighbor who often comes to our cake shop.”

One of Christian’s eyebrows rises. “Cake Shop?”

“Yes, both my parents owned a small pastry shop which was our sole source of livelihood, sir,” answered Elena carefully.

.....

Christian shuts his mouth again but his eyes turn to Kainer, Kainer who understands the meaning of Christian’s gaze then immediately gives Elena’s file which she is still holding on to Christian. After Kainer puts down the file he wanted, Christian immediately reaches for it and reads it silently. His intelligent brain skimmed Elena’s biography, nothing interesting!

Those are the three words Christian can call for an Elena, his candidate for secretary-elect. What the hell? Christian Clarke has a mediocre secretary?

“Go to Finance, take your salary this month and you don’t have to come tomorrow.”

“What?”

“Sir...”

Christian smirks, throwing Elena’s file roughly onto the table. “Christian Clarke can’t possibly have a secretary without special skills like you.”

Elena’s hands were clenched into fists, holding back the tightness that suddenly squeezed her chest.

In his seat Christian was ready with all the possibilities that he would get, ranging from loud cursing to the blunt object from his secretary candidate until finally Elena surprisingly reached out, grabbed the file that had almost fallen off Christian’s desk with eyes that were already closed. filled with tears.

“Thank you for your kindness, sir. But sorry I will not receive payment before I work. Thank you for taking the time to bring your file without my skills, good afternoon.”

What is this?

Christian’s chest suddenly feels tight, it feels like he is very hurt to get such polite treatment from a girl he has fired in just one meeting. There’s a feeling that Christian can’t define right now.

“Then I excuse myself from resigning, sir. I will select a few other applicants for my interview first,” said Kainer politely bringing Christian back from his daydream.

Silence means ‘yes’ that is a non-verbal answer that Kainer has always understood when dealing with Christian, after bowing her head slightly Kainer finally left Christian’s study. Although still a little confused by Christian’s decision to fire the secretary who managed to get away with the highest score, Kainer couldn’t do anything.

***

By holding back Elena’s tears, she boarded the bus that would take her to the nearest bus stop in her modest home with her elderly parents, Elena was born when her mother was almost forty-three years old. An impossible thing without God’s intervention, because at the age of Elena, who will turn twenty-four, the age of her father and mother has entered an age where it is not recommended to do a lot of activities. Because of that, Elena decided to find a job in the office with a decent salary rather than having to continue her parents’ cake business.

“Elena!”

A call from a ten year old girl who was jogging towards Elena managed to make Elena unravel her sadness with a smile, Elena slowly slowed her pace and finally chose to stop waiting for the little ponytail girl to approach her.

“Oh Cecil, why do you smell so good this morning?” Elena teased softly at her little girl without hesitation.

The little girl named Cecilia smiled broadly, showing a row of white teeth that were neat for her age. “I just finished showering after helping out at the shop.”

“Cecil helping out at the shop?” repeated Elena pretending to be surprised, Cecil’s parents were both employees of Elena’s parents. Although their cake shop income is not large, Elena’s parents still employ Clecil’s parents out of compassion. The couple, who is no longer young, chooses to share the few blessings they have with people who need it more and for that reason the savings of Elena’s parents do not show a significant increase every month.

Cecil nodded excitedly. “Of course, Cecil wants to be the Head Baker of the most delicious cake shop in the world. That’s why Cecil has a lot to learn.”

Elena chuckled amused to hear the chatter of the little angel in her arms. “Ok ok Head Baker candidate, we’ll discuss that again after we get home, okay. Now we’re going home.”

“Okay.”

Laughter again graced Elena’s face, Cecil’s innocence really succeeded in making the sadness and disappointment that stifled Elena’s chest disappear. When they were almost ten meters away from the shop where Elena and her parents lived, they heard the sound of a man shouting Elena’s name loudly.

Feeling her name called, Elena stopped walking and looked around, trying to find out who had called her. When she managed to see the owner of the voice, Elena’s smile grew wider.

“How was your day, Jason?” Elena said warmly to the young man in the fireman’s uniform who had just stopped in front of her who was still holding Cecil’s small body.

Instead of answering a gentle question from Elena, the young man named Jason took Cecil from Elena’s arms.

“Guess what other food I bought,” Jason said quietly teasing Cecil who really liked eating it, a child of Clare’s age does have an appetite that is fun to look at.

“Pizza?”

“No.”

“Spaghetti?”

“Not really.”

“Burgers.”

“Still wrong.”

Cecil’s lips curled in annoyance, guessing wrong three times in a row made the little girl lose her patience. “Ah, I don’t know!”

Jason burst out laughing, couldn’t bear to see how adorable and cute Clare was right now. Even Elena, who was not part of the conversation, smiled amusedly.

“Ok princess I’m sorry, the food I brought was Red Velvet cake,” Jason said quietly.

“Red Velvet Cake?” repeated Cecil with sparkling eyes.

Jason pursed his lips, turning his gaze to Elena with a warm smile. “Yes, Elena’s favorite Red Velvet cake.”