I straighten my shirt for the fiftieth time as I look at myself in the mirror.

My mom curls my hair for today and it's weird from my straight hair. I try to smooth it down, but the curls stick out everywhere, annoying me.

"You look beautiful," Mom comments from the hallway.

"Thanks, Mom."

I turn away from the mirror, smoothing back my brown hair as I climb down the stairs. I grab my keys, kiss my Mom on the cheek, then head out the door.

"You'll do great!"

I laugh as I make my way to the car after my Mom yelled those words of encouragement, and get inside. I turn on the engine and take a deep breath. Then I pull out the driveway in reverse, and I'm on my way.

When I received the call about when I should be coming in, she told me to head straight to the office, where I would officially meet my boss. He wasn't there when I got my interview done, because of something personal, so not only am I training today, I am also meeting my boss.

I got nervous easily, but right now I feel like my chest might explode with anxiety.

True to my GPS, it only took fifteen minutes to get there. I pull into the parking lot, seeing the staff parking. I stop my car there, pull into a spot, and turn off my car. I look in my rearview mirror, make sure I'm still presentable, then tell myself to stop stressing.

I step out of my car, careful to not fall on my heels as I close my door, locking it. I take a deep breath and take a look up at the building. It seemed taller than last time.

I make my way inside, taking the elevator to the highest floor. When I arrive, I walk into a large white room where I had my interview. I spot one of the ladies I know but her name averts me.

"Lucy, nice to see you again!" she greets, giving me a smile, "The boss is just through there. Only call him sir, though."

I nod at her advice and walk through a pair of glass doors. I see the back of a man's head, a few strands of blonde hair peeking up. I smile.

When he turns, I almost stop immediately. I wasn't expecting this.

He sits up, leaning on his desk. I try not to look, but I could hardly not since he is wearing a white collared shirt that is short-sleeved. So all I got is a whole lotta muscle.

"You must be Miss Bleu," he greets, unmoving.

I smile. "That I am. A pleasure to meet you. And it's Lucy if you don't mind."

He smiles and stands. He walks over to me and I find myself looking up to meet his eye. I think he's taller than Travis.

"What did they tell you to call me?"

"Sir," I say, hopefully confidently. I feel my legs quake.

He chuckles. "Good girl. Now, I'm sure Elaine will brief you on everything you need to know, but for right now, don't bother me. Hold all my calls, and my lunch break is in three hours exactly. Thanks." he shuts the door, then walks back to his desk.

I take in a deep breath, and turn around, walking straight to the front desk.

Elaine! That's her name.

I chuckle to myself as I find her.

"So, you good to go?" Elaine finds me and I nod. "Perfect. Now I will teach you everything you need although you'll most definitely pick it up quickly. Follow me!"

I follow her over to my desk. Over the next two hours, I learn what to say when answering phones, how to make the bosses coffee, and how to do lunch orders. I wasn't expecting so much all at once, but soon it all starts to flow. That is, until they would hoist a new job for me.

Then the panic would start all over again.

Luckily, Elaine was with me all day, helping me adjust and answering any questions I had.

The boss peeks his head out of his door, "Elaine, I'm taking my lunch now."

I glanced at the clock, and sure enough, it's three hours from when he said he would eat his lunch. He's very punctual.

"He eats the same time every day," Elaine explains as she closes his blinds, "and he always eats in his room. And your job when he eats is to close his front door blinds."

I nod, taking it all in. I decide to write it all down in a notebook, so I write down to close his blinds when he eats lunch.

"Got it," I respond.

She smiles. "You're a pro at this. Look at you with your notebook." She laughs.

I shrug. "It helps me memorize stuff."

"Good for you."

The rest of the day passes by quite smoothly. I have two days off, which is Sunday and Friday, which I am fine with. I could sleep in on those two days.

Internally, I high five myself.

"Lu! Come!"

I frown, turning toward the boss's room. He's motioning to me. I stand, and walk into his room, shutting the door behind me.

"Yes, sir?"

He smiles. "Oh, I was just trying out the name. I like it! Lu. Suits you. You alright with that?"

Before I can say anything, he claps his hands together.

"Perfect, me too. I also need the file that I left on your desk, the one that has all of the training papers. Thanks."

I nod, turning around. I grab it from the counter and walk to his desk, handing it to him.

"Anything else?"

"No, thank you, Lu. You can go home now," he says as he waves his hand at me, motioning for me to scoot. I smile and nod, leaving his room.

I grab my purse and say goodbye to Elaine. Then I head down the elevator, to my car. I make my way home and collapse on the couch.

"You look exhausted," Mom comments from the kitchen.

"I am. Training is tiring."

"How was the boss? Is he nice?"

I sit up. "And cute! Mom, not to be weird, but he is so good looking, I think my jaw almost dropped when I walked into his office. He can't be much older than me though, which is weird because he owns a company."

Mom laughs. "Oh Lucy, ever the romantic. And yeah, I did some research when you accepted the job. Apparently, it was his father's before him, and he inherited it when his father passed away two years ago."

I nod. "Nice. I also have to call him sir, which is funny. I don't even know his real name."

"Elias Jude Castle. He goes by Jude and never lets people call him by his first name. He also is an only child, and lives about twenty minutes away from here," she recites to me, smiling as she does.

I frown. "Mom, you're a stalker."

She raises her hands. "Hey, I wanted to be sure before I sent you off to work there. He could have been a murderer for all we know, just hiding behind the fact that he got that company from his father. I wanted to be sure!"

"Mom! Don't be weird."

"But apparently, he's cute. We should have him over for dinner."

I shake my head. "Mom, no. Please no. That would be the most embarrassing thing ever, so please no. At least not until I've worked there longer, then maybe you can think about it."

She gives me a sly look. "Okay."

I give her a glare and she laughs. I can't help but laugh with her though.

I start to walk toward my room.

"Alright, go to sleep! You look tired. Have fun tomorrow. Maybe you can stalk your boss tomorrow, probably better than I can!"

I gasp.

"Goodnight Mom!" I yell at her.

All I hear is her laughter.

"Morning!"

"Hi, Elaine."

She smiles as I walk toward my desk, setting down my lunch bag. I tuck it inside my little fridge near my feet, shutting the door with my foot.

Elaine nods toward the boss's office. "Say hello," she mouths to me.

I nod, walking over to the office, opening the door just enough to peek my head in even though he can see me anyway with his glass doors.

"Morning!"

He doesn't even look up.

I close the door, giving Elaine a stiff smile while she just rolls her eyes.

The phone rang all morning, giving me no time to think. I still needed Elaine's help on a lot of things, but mostly I was able to figure it out.

Elias's office was silent the whole day. He didn't even tell us he wanted lunch, just closed the blinds himself. I couldn't help but think he was mad at me for something I did, and I got a panicky feeling it was all my fault. It was only my second day and he hadn't uttered a word to me at all.

But just before his lunch period ends, and mine begins, he opens his doors, walks out of his office, and down the stairs near the elevator.

The door to the stairs slams shut.

I jump a little at the sound. I look around, expecting to see surprised faces, but everyone else seems unaffected. I look at Elaine.

"What's going on?" I ask her.

She sighs. "He occasionally takes a long walk. It depends," she whispers, almost as if it was a big secret which it seemed that everyone knew about it except me.

I nod as if I understand her, but I am lost. He seemed chill before as if he didn't get affected easily, but it doesn't seem that way now.

It took a while before Elias came back. He arrives in the elevator this time, looking like his usual self as he walks back into his room. I try not to stare as I see that he had removed his tie and is left with a light blue, short-sleeved shirt.

I feel myself blush as I look down.

My shift is soon over, and I found myself already packing my stuff back up. Just as I grab my purse though and stand, the boss's doors open wide. I am expecting him to be leaving again in a rush like last time, but when I turn around, I almost smack right into his chest.

He steadies me with his hands.

"Oh sorry!" I explain, taking a step back as to not crowd him.

He clenches his jaw. "No, that was me. Can you do me a favor?" he asks, looking me in the eye. I frown when I see that they are a bit red. "I need your car."

I frown."Excuse me?"

He sighs."Well, I need you to drive me somewhere. Please."

I swallow. "Where?"

"I'll tell you on the way." He walks past me, going back into his office. He comes back in a jiff with his coat, tie, and briefcase. We walk side by side into the elevator, and he presses the lobby button.

We stand in silence for a little while as the elevator goes down. The music makes it more awkward.

We finally arrive at the lobby, and I almost sigh in relief. I follow him as he walks out of the building into the parking lot. He looks around for a second. I just about tell him where I parked when he walks toward my car, standing next to the passenger side before I can say anything.

I frown as I walk toward my car. How did he know which one was mine?

I ignore that though and climb inside. I don't like driving that much anything but driving with my boss sitting next to me is going to give me a full-blown panic attack.

"Where to?" I ask as I buckle myself up, turning on the car. I glance at him and see he doesn't have a seatbelt on. "Seat belt," I tell him. Then I notice he is super pale.

He glances at me in confusion. "What?"

I point to his seatbelt. "Seat belt. I can't kill my boss driving, what would people say? Now, where to?"

He gives out a dry chuckle as he buckles himself. "Um... this might seem like a weird question, but do you know where the jail is?"

I feel my heart pound. "I do actually. Why?"

"I need to go there."

I nod, putting the car in reverse. I feel my hands shake as I turn the wheel, pulling out of the parking lot. I drive for a few minutes until I pull into the jail parking lot.

As soon as I park, he gets out, not even waiting until I turn the car off. He leaves the door open too as he runs inside the building.

I turn the car off, stuffing my keys into my purse. "Wait..." I trail off as I step out of the car, shutting my door and his. I really wish I didn't wear heels again.

I almost twist my ankle trying to run in after him. I was sure as heck don't want to be left behind, but I'm not also sure if I should come inside. But I mean, I might as well just come in anyway, since I don't know how long he is going to take or if he is leaving with me at all. I have so many questions concerning the drive home.

I find him leaning up against the glass, peering into the other side of it. I stand next to him, following his gaze. I see a young man sitting across from an officer, hands cuffed. He turns to us, looking straight at my boss.

I glance at Elias.

He looks pained.

I look away. I don't belong here.

I decided to venture the question, "Who is that?"

Elias sighs, keeping his head still. "My brother."

I turned to him in surprise. "I thought you were an only child."

He looks at me in confusion, then he smiles. "You looked me up, didn't you? Well, nobody knows about him because as far as the public knows, he's not related to me. He's my stepbrother. Same dad, different mom."

I swallow, realizing he called me out on the stalking, even though it was my mother who did all the research.

"What's his name?" I ask softly.

"Richard. I call him Rich." He swallows hard, making his Adam's apple jerk.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but can I ask... what's he doing in here?"

He looks down. "Murder."

I feel my eyes widen, but I hope the rest of my face is passive. He looks at me, I'm sure, to see my reaction. He scoffs.

"I'm sorry," is all I can think to say.

"Yeah, me too."

I look at his brother, seeing his face. He doesn't look like a murderer. He has a kind face, and he can't be any older than twenty.

"Do you... want me to stay here, do you have a ride, or...?" I'm not sure what he wants from me, but he doesn't seem too annoyed that I followed him in here and asked him a bunch of questions.

"You can go," he replies, looking at his brother. "I'll be fine."

I swallow. "Do you have a ride?"

He shrugs.

I sigh. "Sir, do you have a ride?"

He looks down at me. "No. But I'll manage." he looks back through the glass again, apparently more concerned with the people behind the glass than with getting himself home.

I pull out a piece of paper from my purse and quickly write my number on it. It must have caught his attention because he starts to watch me. I hand him the piece of paper.

"What's this for?"

I swallow. "I have to go pick up my mom from the car shop. If you need a ride later, or after this is all done, give me a call and I can pick you up. I have to go right now, sorry."

He shakes his head. "No, no, you're alright. I'll be fine."

I point to the piece of paper. "I'm serious. You don't want to be stuck here. Just call," I say as I walk away from him, giving him a small wave, but I don't think he saw it at all.

I get home after twenty minutes of driving. And I go pick up my mom.