Chapter 13: Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Ava POV

I woke up with a smile on my face. It was the first time in a long time that I woke up without a worry for the next day.

I freshened up and got ready. When I saw the pair of clothes that Maria had left for me, it reminded me that I had to pick up my stuff from my parents house. I should have done it yesterday but couldn't because the load of work was thrown at my face.

Was Charlotte still mad at me?

I shook my head and thought away.

Not now.

No. I did not want to ruin my morning.

Somebody knocked on my door, gently.

"Ma'am." Maria called out. I sighed. I told her many times to stop calling me Ma'am. Come on, she was older than me.

"It's Ava for you, Maria. You can come inside." I told her. She poked her head inside after opening the door. Then she stumbled in.

"Jasper Sir is asking for you to come downstairs? Said that he will give you the ride to the office today. I don't know why but he seems off today." She murmured. I raised a brow at her words.

"Off? What do you mean by 'seems off'?" I asked her. She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I don't know. He was not speaking more than a few words and he seemed tense." She answered. My brows furrowed in confusion.

Seemed tense? Not speaking much?

I opened my mouth to ask more but then passed.

What was the point of asking anymore about it? It was not like I could do something about it?

I shrugged in reply.

"It doesn't matter. I should get going." I told her and Maria nodded. Both of us walked downstairs. Maria took the left and went to the kitchen and I walked to meet Jasper.

Like always, he was on his phone scrolling. Maybe checking his mails or news.

He heard my footsteps and spun around to face me.

"You are here. Sit down and have some breakfast." He said and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down.

One thing that I really liked about him was how he treated people in general. He never let his position come in the way of being a humble human being.

He surprised me by taking a seat on the other side of the table. It was then I realized that he did not even have breakfast yet and was going to. With me.

"Umm ... Sir." I said to get his attention.

"Maria told me that you will give me a rise to office? I just wanted to let you know that I can take Uber. You don't have to drop me off anywhere." I told him. He took a sip from his coffee and shook his head in No.

"No. No point in you taking Uber when I can give you a ride. Especially when our destination is the same. However, you can take Uber when our car is not available or you are going somewhere else. Otherwise, you can travel with me." He told me.

"Okay." I replied. Honestly he had a point there. Also, he was my boss, how could I tell him a no. He has helped me a lot. So I was basically thankful for his additional support.

We ate breakfast after that and left Jasper's house. This time I said good morning to Mark.

He replied with a curt nod and pretended that I was not even there. But that was what I expected from him in the first place.

Both Jasper and I climbed inside his car and Mark started the car. Like always, Jasper pulled out his phone and started going through it. I also did what I usually did. I stared outside the window and enjoyed the view. Between the ride, Jasper spoke.

"When are you going to get your stuff back?" He asked me. I tore my gaze away from the window and realised that he had put his phone aside for once.

"Today. I messaged my parents with Maria's phone. So they know that I will be getting my stuff back from them. They probably would have packed my stuff already." I replied. He rubbed his chin and for the first time I noticed the tattoo on his hand. My eyes lingered there for mere seconds before I looked down at my hands.

He had tattoos?

Aren't all the companies usually against tattoos?

But then again, it was his company. He could do whatever he wanted to without being answerable to anyone.

"You know, my offer still stands. If you want someone else to get your stuff back to you then you should tell me. I will arrange something for you. Of course, only if you want it." He told me. I glanced at him and shook my head.

"No. It is fine. I can handle it." I told him.

"Okay. As you wish." He said and opened his phone back again.

We finally reached the office and climbed outside of the car. I wanted to take the elevator for the regular employees but Jasper told me to take the VIP elevator with him.

I got inside the elevator and it began going up. When the elevator reached my floor for the office, I tried to press the button to stop it but Sir Jasper stopped me from doing it.

"No. I want to talk to you about something in my office." He said. For once my heart slammed against my chest. Did I do something? Was this about yesterday? What did he want to talk about with me privately?

The floor for his main office arrived and we both left the elevator. Jasper stepped inside his office and so did I.

The first thing I noticed was the person standing in the middle of the biggest office room I had ever seen. It was a whole damn floor with glass covered windows that gave the perfect view of the city traffic and crowd.

Charlotte was standing in the middle of the office, waiting for Jasper.

Right as I saw who it was, I realised that Jasper had brought me here to discuss yesterday. I thought that he did not mind it that much but now I knew that I was wrong.

Charlotte's face was emotionless until she saw me with Jasper. As soon as she saw me with Jasper her face twisted into a mixture of fear and nervousness.

Memories from yesterday flashed back into my head.

Jasper walked over to his seat, sat down on his chair and turned to look at us.

"Charlotte, what happened yesterday?" He asked. His voice went cold and emotionless.

It surprised me to say the least. I did not know that Jasper was capable of doing that. He always seemed so polite and nice that it was hard to gauge his other side of the personality.

A not so nice person personality.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked. I remained quiet while I heard their exchange.

"That you gave Miss Ava so much work that she could not even go out to eat lunch. And that you told her to not leave until her work was completed." He said. Charlotte gave me a venomous look, I shrank at the sight of it.

"Don't give her looks and answer me please." Jasper said. Charlotte straightened.

"Yeah, I did. But I never told her that she can not go out to eat lunch. That was her choice." She told him.

"Not just lunch but she was going to miss out on dinner too, considering the fact that you told her specifically that she can't leave until she finishes her work. She stayed even after the office hours were over. So that she could finish the work that you had given her. Maybe I have to remind you about the rules of this workplace." He told her.

Charlotte gave me an incredulous look.

"Why were you going to miss out on your dinner? Why did you stay after work time?" She asked me. For the first time, I opened my mouth in this conversation.

"Because my work was still pending and you told me to ..." Charlotte interrupted me.

"And you believed it. I did not mean that literally. Gosh, you are stupid." She said.

"Language Charlotte. This is the last warning. I think you should apologise to Miss Ava." He told Charlotte. Charlotte made a face like she had swallowed a whole lemon in her mouth. I knew by the way of her looks that she did not want to apologise.

"I'm sorry." She said blatantly. To be very honest, it was difficult enough to get Charlotte to be held accountable for anything so an apology was more than enough.

"It's alright." I replied back to her. She did not say anything back and looked away.

"Okay. So the problem is solved. Ava, please remember everything I told you yesterday, about the office hours and such. And remember that nobody has the right to take it away from you." He said and I nodded my head.

Charlotte's jaw clenched at his words.

"Miss Ava, you can go on now. I still want to talk to Charlotte for a few minutes. She will assign you your work in a minute." Jasper told me. I gave a nod and glanced at Charlotte one last time. She looked angry.

Best to get out of here.

I bid my goodbyes and got out there. I could not understand how I always end up in between their conversations. Witnessing their clash. Nevertheless, I got back to my office and began my left out work from yesterday.