The Emperor was restless.
It seemed nothing has been going right since the morning that disaster walked into his office.
And it's not like it was unusual for him to lose his temper at work either.
He demanded the best from everyone around him, because he always gave his best. He built this empire from ground up, with his bare hands. He poured heart and soul into the company and anybody that was on his pay-roll who did not do the same deserved neither mercy nor pity.
He wasn't unreasonable. He awarded the high performers handsomely. Thorne Media provided the best employee benefits in the industry. His workers were well taken care of. That's why, despite the demanding work, the turn over rate of employees was also the lowest in the industry. People who joined, and could manage to survive - they stayed.
He'd fired people on the spot before. Many times. Yet, at the same time, he had given second chances to at least equal number people who failed despite giving their all.
His anger was merely a sign of passion.
He was feared. No doubt.
But also, he was respected.
Yet…
Nobody ever made a face like Misha upon his wrath.
'Stupid, stupid girl.'
James heeded Micky's advice. He came up to the roof top garden to cool his head. Only to find a certain young lady, his new found nemesis, sitting on a bench with her face buried on her propped up knees, her arms hugging her legs tightly.
'Can't I just have some moment of peace…'
Yet, he found himself walking toward the young lady. When he reached the bench, he took a deep breath, sighed, and sat next to her.
Misha didn't move. She didn't turn to see who it was, and taking into account what he's seen from her so far, it was entirely possible that she didn't even realize that someone came to sit next to her.
Sitting next to the irritating girl though, her silence, the lack of reaction, and perhaps most importantly - her lack of acknowledgment bothered James. Something had to be done. Something had to be said.
"What's wrong with you?"
James immediately regretted the words that came out. It's not like he wanted to waste brain energy trying to formulate something profound to say to a girl who was probably too thick to grasp any meanings from it. The CEO's regret was that it may have sounded like he cared because… he really didn't.
But his short-lived regret was immediately overwhelmed by Misha's outburst.
"What's wrong with YOU?!"
The girl literally jumped up from the bench, stood in front of him, looking down - looking DOWN! - and pointing her finger at him.
A few workers who slowly stepped away from James as they first saw him come up looking rather bothered about something were startled and turned their head.
"It's not like I wanted to see your… your… THING!"
James looked around in panic. This was bad. Really bad.
"Stop this right now," the boss commanded.
"And it's not like I asked you to dip your… POPSICLE in the ice!"
He couldn't hear them, but he felt like he heard them - people whispering and gossiping, getting louder and louder, reverberating, spreading throughout the whole building, and then onto the streets, across the nation, crossing borders, oceans, going intergalactic.
"Stop this nonsense. You might give people wrong ideas."
"YOU stop it, Mr. Throne! Stop picking on ME!"
"Me? Picking on you?! Why don't YOU stop picking on me?!"
Misha's clenched fists were quivering in front of her chest, just like her pouting lips. She then let out a big 'hmpf!' and crossed her arms, closing her eyes.
"I want an apology." The angry girl demanded.
"WHAT?!" The boss couldn't believe his ears.
'Me? Apology? To this girl?!'
"Not going to happen. You can forget about that."
"LOOK HERE, EVERYONE! MR. THONG LIKES PARADING HIS-"
"Stop!"
Misha stopped immediate, then with a big smirk on her face, asked James.
"So are you ready to apologize now?"
"Never."
Just as Misha took in a deep breath again, presumably getting ready to scream at top of her lungs, the boss realized this was a lost cause.
"Fine. You got it."
"Say it then, now."
"No, not now. Not here."
The young lady looked a little confused, tilting her head to one side, blinking a few times.
"When then? Where?"
"Somewhere else. At some point in my life."
"That won't do."
"What the hell do you want?!"
"Now that you pushed your luck, a mere apology won't do."
"What else do you need?"
"A treat."
"What are you, a dog?!"
"Woof."
Big woof indeed. James Thorne hadn't entertained the thought - not even for a moment - that this foolish girl was actually an evil, scheming witch. Maybe even a gold digger.
'Did she fake her stupidity all this time?'
But then, something clicked in James' mind. If she really was a gold digger, that just made it hell of a lot easier for him to crush her.
"Very well. I'll treat you to a dinner tonight."
"Dinner…?"
Misha was a bit taken aback. What she had in mind was something like a cake, or even better - a proper office chair instead of a stool. She didn't expect that James would offer something so grand all of a sudden.
"Yes, dinner. At Jade Garden."
Her jaws dropped. And she started to drool. Being an avid reader of anything that was irrelevant to her life on the Internet, Misha had read reviews of Jade Garden many times. It was one of the very few Michelin 3 star restaurant after all - prohibitively expensive.
"Are you… sure?"
"Of course. No problem at all."
Now Misha was starting to get a little nervous. This seemed excessive. She was genuinely angry earlier, but she didnt' mean to push him this far. All she wanted was a simple 'I'm sorry' and a piece of cake.
"You don't have to go that far…"
"I feel it is only appropriate for me to take you to a place that you deserve to go,"
'So you can taste the heaven and burn in hell later.' James added, internally.
'Why is he making such a big deal out of this?' Now Misha was the confused one. She couldn't really understand how things escalated so much, so quickly. But then again, all the beautiful pictures of their food she saw on social media were flashing past the eye of her mind. She shook them off, but they kept on coming back. Succulent prawns were dancing on perfectly cooked fried rice. A gigantic lobster played a tune on egg-noodles. Meaty steamed fish winked at her and smiled, laying on a pool of delicious garlic oil.
"I guess… I could go…"
"I'm glad. I will make the arrangement."
With that, leaving the drooling girl behind, James turned and headed back toward his office.
"Micky." James spoke over the phone on his way down.
"Hi, do you feel better now?"
"Please arrange for a private dinner at Jade Garden tonight. Seven."
"Wha-? 'Private'?"
"Yes, I want it 'private'. It's absolutely essential. I don't want any eyes. NONE at all."
"Gees, what's happening?"
"Revenge."