The smell of lavender shampoo still lingered faintly in Olivia's hair as she walked through the sleek glass doors of Ashford the next morning. Her heels clicked steadily across the marble floor, echoing the rhythm of a woman who had her life in order—even if the truth was unraveling quietly inside.
She had fun last night. It had been months since she had this much fun.
But as the sun rose, here she was buried in scheduling conflicts, vendor emails, and budget spreadsheets. She barely noticed when Aiden arrived.
Until the yelling started.
Aiden's voice rang out from his office, sharp and unmistakably irritated. The door was wide open it allowed every word to echo clearly through the outer secretary's area. Heads turned, shoulders stiffened. It was impossible not to hear him.
"Can't you write a report correctly? Do you need me to personally teach you that?" he snapped.
The young intern—Sarah, fresh from university—stood frozen, blinking rapidly as her eyes welled up.
" I…I'm sorry, Sir," she stammered. "I'll correct it—"
" You should have done it correctly from the start." Aiden cut in coldly. "Do you think this is a school project. That whenever you make a mistake, you can correct it. Every minute you waste on mistakes costs us real money. Olivia!"
Olivia flinched when her name was called.
Why's he calling my name? What did I do?!!
She can hear his voice in her office. She was already near the office when she heard her name, so she quickly entered his office.
"Yes, sir?"
He looks at her. "Manage your people more carefully. This level of carelessness is unacceptable."
"Understood. I'm sorry, I'll manage it carefully next time," she said, her voice calm.
Though her thoughts were anything but calm.
Why are you yelling at me for?
I'm not a babysitter.
And what do you mean by manage your people? I didn't even have time to manage myself, how can I manage others?
Who should I manage? You or others!!
Inside, she was cursing him, but from outside, she didn't change her expression and leave the office with the crying intern in tow.
Olivia inhaled slowly, turned to Sarah, and gently placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"Alright, stop crying, everyone makes mistakes, just always double-check, okay," Olivia said softly, trying to make the crying girl feel at ease so she would stop crying.
Sarah sniffled and nodded. "I didn't think he'd get that mad…"
"He might not be in a good mood today."
She gave Sarah a weak smile and handed her the file. "Take this and correct it. Double check and if you don't understand anything, come to me, okay?"
Sarah nodded and thanked her.
Once the girl left, Olivia looked at her back, sighed, and went to her own office.
After Sarah corrected the file, she took the file to Olivia to see.
" Miss Olivia….. Could you please pass this file to the Ceo?"
The poor girl was scared to appear in front of Adien.
Olivia looked at her red eyes and agreed.
When she placed the corrected file on Aiden's desk, he barely looked up.
"Where's the Q3 comparison report?" he asked.
"It'll be submitted by tomorrow," Olivia replied, her voice still composed.
He finally looked at her—his expression unreadable, cool as polished stone.
"And why isn't it ready now?"
"It's still pending final figures from Finance. They'll update by the end of the day—"
"That's not an excuse, Olivia. I need the report today." Adien said in a commanding tone that still has anger in it.
What do you mean excuse.
How can I give you that report if the finance department didn't do their work?
Still, she nodded. "Yes, Sir. I'll handle it."
Aiden went back to typing.
She turned and walked out quietly.
Back at her desk, she pulled up the finance sheets and started rechecking numbers herself. Her lunch sat untouched. By 7:20 p.m., the office lights had dimmed—except in her corner, where her screen still glowed with unfinished work.
Not her mistake. Still her fault.
She stretched her fingers and kept typing.
By the time she was done, it was already 8:00 PM.
She didn't have lunch, and now she was starving. She quickly finished the report and went to Adien's office to give him the file.
Adien's office is still lit, inside Adien sat at his desk with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He looks quite tired.
Even though Adien sometimes behaves like a jerk, no one can deny that he was one of the hardest-working and most intelligent people.
Just like today, when everyone has already gone home and some are even getting ready to go to bed, here he was sitting and working.
Whenever Olivia has to work overtime, he is always there working in his office some Sometimes they both leave the office together, while sometimes Olivia leaves, but Adien remains in the office. No one knows when he leaves.
One of the reasons Olivia works here— other than the reason of Adien being handsome—is because when she first joined, she was inspired by his hard work and decided to follow him.
She respects him.
After entering the office, she put the file on the table.
" Sir, the Q3 comparison report."
"Hmm"
Adien did not even look up from the file in his hand and just nodded.
Olivia signed." Sir, I think you should also go home now and rest for a while, we have quite a tight schedule for the next days."
Adien froze and looked up at Olivia with slight surprise— surprise at his secretary for telling him to rest when she had never spoken to him about anything except work.
Olivia looked at him with a calm expression.
Oh My God!!! He looks cute when he's surprised.
After looking eyes for a minute, Adien silently closed his file and stood up to get his coat and leave the office with Olivia, who had a proud expression on her face.