I cleared my throat as I entered his office, digging my nails deep into my palms, I stood right in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

"Good Afternoon Miss Reinhart, please have a seat," he casually said like Friday night hadn't happened at all and he hadn't seen the drunk Isabelle.

God I did not even want to think about the things that I might've said to him. Drunk Isabelle didn't think, she just said whatever was on her mind and God forbid if I had told him what the sober Isabelle thought of him.

I nervously took the seat opposite to him and as always, I couldn't lift my eyes up to look at him. Most of the time it was because of the nervousness but today, today it was mostly because of the embarrassment so I settled for his laptop sitting right in front of him. 

"Miss Reinhart?" he spoke after a few moments of unbearable silence, letting me know that he needed all my attention on him. 

Fuck this world.

I lifted my eyes up and what I saw was definitely not what I had expected. I had expected him to be pissed, disappointed even but his eyes showed nothing but amusement.

"Yes?"

"I'm taking you don't remember much from Friday night?" his voice was still calm, like he didn't even care about what happened.

"No. Not much but I did get to know that you were the one to drop me off so thank you..?" don't ask me how, but praise God I did not stutter. 

"You're welcome. Do you remember the things that happened at the club?"

"Um....not really. I don't remember anything after my third drink..." I trailed off and lowered my head down in embarrassment but quickly recovered when I heard him chuckle richly.

"You were pretty high," Mr. Rhodes said lightly, leaning forward and putting his hands on the table and I cussed under my breath.

Why do I even touch alcohol, again?

"Look....

I started and took a deep breath

- I don't remember what happened at that party or how did I even end up being with you by the end of the night, but, I extremely apologise for anything that I did or said. I lose my mind when I'm drunk," I said straight forwardly as amusement danced in his every expression.

"I see. Look I know I'm not the one to say anything on this, but you really need to be in better company."

"I don't understand....." I frowned, utterly bewildered.

"Daniel spiked your drink," Mr. Rhodes stated and I broke into a fits of cough.

"What the hell," I said as I cleared my throat.

"I got to him before he had a chance to give you that drink," he shrugged.

Oh

So I was the damsel in distress and Mr. Rhodes was my saviour.

Made sense.

"You were in that club?" I asked and tucked my hair behind me ear.

Now that the tension was down, might as well feed my curious stomach.

"Unfortunately for me and fortunately for you-

he nodded

-by the way I fired Daniel," Mr. Rhodes casually stated and my eyes popped out of the their sockets.

"You did what?"

"I can't have manipulative and cheating employees working at my place," Mr. Rhodes shrugged and I nodded and leaned back on the chair.

Another round of uncomfortable surrounded us and I fidgeted with my fingers as I pondered on whether to say what I was thinking or just let it go.

For a few more painful moments, neither Mr. Rhodes nor I said anything until I broke the ice, 

"Did I say something to you....?" 

I closed my eyes and waited for him to drop a bomb on me but surprisingly he said nothing. When I opened my eyes, he was looking at me with amusement and an expression I couldn't decipher.

"I'd really appreciate if you'd bring my morning coffee yourself, Miss Reinhart. You can go now," Mr. Rhodes changed the topic with a faint smile lingering on his lips and I almost groaned out loud.

I stood up and turned around, ready to leave the office. I had expected myself to run for the hills after having this conversation with Mr. Rhodes but surprisingly I felt okay. I felt good. 

This was the first time that him and I had this long conversation besides work and no matter how bad it sounded, a stupid smile was creeping up on my lips while thinking about his words and how he saved me. 

As I clutched the door knob, I turned around and saw Mr. Rhodes looking at me. I smiled and left the office. 

Something felt about him, about us, felt different today.

*************

I furiously typed on the keyboard, trying to get as much work done alone as possible.

I didn't know why or how, but Mr. Rhodes hadn't showed up to the office today. I mean it felt surreal, him not coming to the office. 

It had been four days since my last 'out of ordinary' encounter with him. We didn't really bring Friday night in our conversations after that and went back to as things were before that.

The sound of my phone ringing caught my attention and I rolled my eyes and and silently prayed for it to stop ringing because hey, at least I was trying to be a good secretary here.

The number was not saved in my phone and I wasn't sure I recognised it but I decided to take it seeing as things were already out of hand in the office today.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Belle? Hey what's up?" the other person said and don't ask me how, but I immediately recognised that voice although I hadn't even thought about this person in ages.

"Alex?"

"The one and only," he said from the other side as I relaxed back on my chair.

"What's up?" I asked because Mr. Rhodes wasn't here, Alex was calling me on my phone, and let's just say I wasn't that stupid to not know something was up.

"Uh- Belle, be love and do me a favor, would you?"

"Um...as long as it doesn't involve me getting drunk, then sure."

"Haha I heard about the stunt you pulled out that night. Real mature Belle

Alex chuckled and I rolled my eyes, waiting for him to get to the main part

- uh actually this favor requires you going over to Ace's," he finished.

"Urgh please no. That's worse," I groaned and dragged a hand down my face.

"C'mon Belle, Ace is really sick and he's literally dying to come to the office. Don't ask me how I've stopped him from stepping a foot out of his bedroom while being here in Tennessee. But he insists that he has to sign some important documents today or otherwise the deal with the Lodges will be off. Would you be so kind to take those documents, and the cup of coffee you bring him everyday to his house?"

I thought about what he said for a few moments and then decided to agree. Not like I had any choice though, Alex was basically my CEO.

"Good. Driver is waiting outside, the files are in his top drawer. Hurry up because I don't think Ace is gonna stay put with our childhood's nanny on his head. And by the way Miss, he requested for the coffee himself," I could practically hear the smirk in Alex's voice as I ended the call with a 'whatever'.

This was going to be a long day. 

**************

Until then,

 - Your Karma

Peace