Surprised Ever After

Ch. 3: Bloke Night

Ashton

It's past working hours, and the executive floor is already as quiet as a graveyard. After burning my time in one meeting to another, all I want now is a glass of beer or two to wind down. I was reluctant when Chadrick invited me to join him and our uni folks to hang out at the bar down the street, but now I'm glad I agreed to it.

The intern we hired to help my main secretary, Andy, still sits behind his desk, face buried in the computer screen. Once he sees me approaching, he quickly stands up, almost bouncing up from his seat, and nods at me.

"S-sir," he greets me.

On regular days, I nod slightly to acknowledge his greeting as I walk ahead, but not today. I stop by his desk and examine him. His Adam's apple bobs up and down, and his eyes are on the floor, avoiding my stare.

"Why do you always jump off your seat every time I pass your desk?" I ask. "You did ten times already today."

He gulps. "B-because greeting our superior when we-we-we see them is a s-standard protocol in this company, s-sir."

"It is?" I can't remember if Andy did this in the beginning. But again, Char was the one who handed over the secretarial tasks to him. I can't expect her to follow through with a thing called a standard protocol, since she was pissed at me for forcing her into the secretarial role. "With me, just greet me when necessary, not every time you see me. It's irritating."

"Yes, sir. M-my apologies, sir."

I glance at his desk which is now covered by notes and stationary. He doesn't look like an efficient worker. I need to talk to Andy about this tomorrow. "You should go home because we don't pay you to do an after-hour job. You're aware–"

"Ashton!" Daniel Tan's voice from the next door stops me from grating my new secretary's assistant. His head sticks out of his office door. "Got a second?"

"Sure," I reply and head in his direction. "But I need to hit Paulina's bar soon. Actually, I'm already late now."

"Nice. For what occasion?"

I close the door behind me and follow him to his desk. "My uni folks. I haven't spent time with them for a while. Always missed the invite."

"On Thursday night?"

"Yeah. It's our bloke night since uni."

"And Friday night for banging random chicks at the frat party?"

I laugh at his accurate guess. "Precisely."

Daniel plops down on his desk, one leg dangling in the air. His playful face has turned rigid. "Lim withdrew."

"What do you mean?"

"He terminated the agreement. And now we're on our own until we have something from the new tender."

"How can he terminate it now? Is he out of his mind?"

"He doesn't seem to care if it costs him, since it also costs us. He's just done with us."

"Fuck," I groan under my breath. My mind jumps to the time I joined his horrendous New Year's Eve cruise. Out of anger towards Char and my family over Trisure, I accepted his party invitation without bringing a partner. I know I was an idiot, but I was so pissed that I couldn't think straight and wanted to distance myself from Chloe's mother. Besides, I'd been meaning to discuss Lim's situation with Harvey Remington. It was supposed to be a friendly talk, I swear.

"I guess the talk didn't go well, huh?" Daniel pulls me out of my train of thought.

"Well, no. But why didn't he withdraw right away, then? Why waited?"