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She knocked on his door nervously, her hand lightly coming in contact with the hard wood.

"Come in."

She took a deep breath and opened the door to Mr. Malik's office. He sat behind his desk, his hazel eyes staring at the illuminated screen of the MacBook. His hair was bleached blonde with dark roots all styled into some sort of quiff. It totally contrasted to the business he did and the black suit he was wearing.

"Your papers, sir," Crissle said confidently, setting them on his desk and waiting for him to check the work.

He grabbed the papers and shuffled through them briefly before asking, "were there flaws of any sort?"

"A few minor accounting mistakes from the third floor, but I fixed them," she breathed, holding her clammy hands behind her back.

Was it hot in here?

He glanced at her before looking at his laptop, "Erica, call third floor accounting and ask for..." he searched through the papers she gave him, "Peter Englewood. That's all."

"My name is--"

"That's all, Erica," he set his things down and glared at her, with an almost challenging look, "is there a problem?"

Crissle almost flinched at his cold stare but quickly composed herself and looked down. "No, sir."

"Good, you may leave."

And she did.

Crissle took another deep breath when she closed his door, so glad to be out of there. She sat in her desk and dialed the number for third floor accounting. "Hello, is this Peter Englewood? Mr. Malik wants you in his office now. Thank you," Crissle hung up and took out the company iPad, searching through the notes to find dates that needed to be fixed.

"If that is a schedule for my meetings, make sure I only see everyone once this week," Zayn's voice made her jump slightly, turning around to see him looking at the device in her hand.

"Yes, sir--"

"Where is Mr. Englewood?"

"I called him, he said he was coming..." her voice trailed off when Zayn walked away, his slim figure headed towards the elevator.

"Come on, Erica," he called, holding the doors open. His coworkers scurried off, some probably not even being on this floor. She jumped to her feet, grabbing the iPad and entering the elevator with him.

The awkward and silent elevator ride was short, and the whole time she could feel his stare on her so it was a relief when the doors opened. She walked behind Zayn while he strolled to the accounting sector of the third floor.

"Ask for Peter again," he ordered, leaning against the wall and watching his employees squirm under his stare while they worked, "see if he comes out now."

She walked through the door to see a short, balding man writing numbers down on a scratch piece of paper. His glasses were sliding off his nose but he quickly pushed them back on when she approached his desk.

"Peter?"

"What's it to you?" he grunted.

Rude.

"Well, I called you earlier because Mr. Malik wants you in his office right now."

"I'll get to him when I'm done," he ignored her and kept writing his stupid numbers down.

"Sir--"

"Leave--"

"Excuse me--"

"You heard me," he snapped, "you're not on this floor and I don't even know who you are. I'm having a terrible day as it is."

She raised my eyebrows. "Well, to add on to your terrible day, I'll have you know your boss is standing right outside your door and he's not pleased with your work."

The older man's whole demeanor changed, his face paled and a bead of sweat formed at his receding hairline. He sputtered out incoherent words but Crissle ignored him, walking out of the office.

"Mr. Englewood ignored me, but I informed him you were outside."

Zayn nodded, straightening his posture. "Open up his file and write down any signs of insubordination that occur."

She did as she was told and waited the ten seconds it took for Peter Englewood to walk out of his office. He timidly looked up at Zayn, his thin bottom lip trembled in fear.

"Mr--"

"When I tell you to come to my office, what do you think you should do?" Zayn's voice echoed throughout the whole floor, causing the employees to stare at him in silence. They quickly returned to their work as if this old man wasn't going to get fired in two seconds.

"But--"

"So I have to come all the way down here to tell you something you already know?" Zayn continued, his stare hard and his jaw clenched, "do you realize one mistake you make can ruin my business? You're lucky my assistant caught this in time."

"I'm sor--"

"Sorry, I know," he cut him off with a raised hand, "one snap of my finger and I can end your career, don't talk back to me."

"But--" Peter was possibly going to faint and Crissle felt really bad for this man.

"Am I a fucking joke to you?" Zayn snapped, "get your shit, Peter, and leave my building. There will be a call going to your house on whether or not you will return," with one last glare, Zayn Malik walked away, employees moving over and out of the way of the angry boss. The elevator doors opened again and Zayn held the door for his assistant again. She pressed the button for the top floor and leaned back as the doors closed.

Why did this ride seem longer?

"Is..." she gulped, "is he really gonna get fired?"

"Don't know yet," Zayn grumbled, tapping his foot on the tiled floor, "we'll see if I'm having a good day or not."

Doesn't seem like it.

"But--"

"Do you want to be next?" he snapped, eyes darkening when he glared at her.

She scoffed, rolling her brown eyes. "Not really, I just started today."

"What did you say to me?"

"I--"

"Listen here, Erica," he moved closer to her, his hot breath fanning her face as he spoke, "you saw what I just did, yeah? Don't let it happen to you."

The elevator doors opened and Zayn Malik walked out without looking back. Crissle gulped again and trailed behind, sitting down in her cubicle while his door slammed shut.

She really needed to watch her mouth.

°•

decided to change it to third person...

but happy almost zayn's birthday ayyyy

he's only sixteen, so