Chapter 4: Chapter 4

After the announcement, the claps, the greetings, and even the sounds seem deafening to Lorelai. She cannot believe that unfortunate things happen to her in 2 straight days. The man who she has one night stand with, that gorgeous man with brown eyes is the very man who she’ll be sharing her house with. It can stop there, but it didn’t. Now, that man is the new CEO of the company which she works with.

“We all know that Mr. Morris’ son will be handsome, but– not that handsome and attractive!” Clara, Lorelai’s colleague said while fanning her hands.

“It's definitely the confidence for me, he has this distinct aura that screams authority and intelligence” Kelly answered while nodding as if Maxwell is in front of her.

Everyone seems to like the new CEO, compliment can be heard in all corners of the company. Meanwhile, Lorelai can’t help but to put her hands in her face.

‘I hate you, Maxwell Louis Clinton! You are a piece of bad luck!’ Lorelai thought to herself.

Maxwell, on the other hand, enjoys the warm welcome of the employees. He feels confident because he’s been taught his whole life how to be a great CEO of M&M Clinton Company.

Lorelai

“Hey, busy bee Rory. Its lunch time already, let’s eat!” Kelly said while shaking me.

When Maxwell stayed in his office, I make myself seem busy so no one would bother to talk to me and finish my work earlier. But right now, I feel hungry. Might as well eat my lunch before I faint.

I put down my headset, “Okay, let’s go.” I said as I cling my hands to Kelly’s arm.

We are a little bit late, so there is little space in the cafeteria.

“I’ll find a spot for us, you can go order us food.” I said to Kelly, usually I bring my own lunch but I don’t have enough time to prepare today.

“Oh, God! I never see the former CEO eat in our cafeteria before. Mr. Maxwell is so different, he seats among us.” I hear a little commotion behind me so I look back.

I see Maxwell coming inside the cafeteria, it looks like he is here to eat! Surprising! As he walks inside, he is staring at me. I avoided his gaze and tried to find a seat.

—

Lorelai tried to avoid his gaze by looking around for a seat. However, she doesn’t have a choice because Maxwell stood in front of her. She tried to hide her surprised expression by looking at the ground.

“Good afternoon, Sir.” she said not throwing a glimpse at the man in front of her.

Maxwell is about to say something but someone interrupted him.

“Sir, you can sit in here, there’s a space here” someone politely offered to him. Maxwell looked at the man and nods.

“I want the whole table, you can seat with me. Miss-?” Maxwell said, acting clueless.

‘Is this man talking to me?’ Lorelai asked herself. She looks up, looks beside and behind her.

“Me?” she said pointing at herself. That made Maxwell chuckles.

“Yes, you. Miss?” he asked again, teasing.

Lorelai closed her eyes “Lore-Lorelai D-Denise Harris, Sir,” she tries to avoid being nervous, but she still stuttered.

‘He is acting as if he doesn’t know me like it's his first time meeting me.’ Lorelai thought.

Maxwell is patting the chair, gesturing for her to seat. Lorelai immediately gets what he means. “No, thank you, Sir. I can find myself a seat beside I have some company.” Lorelai said stepping back. Kelly arrived at the scene holding a tray and looking at Lorelai and Maxwell.

“She can also seat here. Besides everyone has their seat already except both of you. So seat now so you can eat your lunch. If you want to eat standing, fine by me” Maxwell said softly and starts to peel the wrap of his sandwich.

Kelly pushed Lorelai signaling her to the seat. Since Lorelai has no choice, she takes her seat across from Maxwell and beside Kelly. She glimpses at Maxwell but he is busy reading a book while chewing his sandwich. She looked around and it was true, everyone is seated already except her and Kelly. No one said anything until Maxwell finished his sandwich and left.

Lorelai can’t deny that for her Maxwell is the epitome of a dashing man. He can sweep men and women on the floor even only with his presence.

Lorelai can feel every gaze of her colleague at her, some questioning, some amazed, and some jealous.

Lorelai

“What it’s only 3 pm? Two more hours!? The time seems so slow today.” I whispered to Kelly while looking at my desktop.

My shifts usually start around 7 am to 5 pm, but it depends on the workload. I am used to this schedule but today it feels like this 10 hours shift is taking too long. After the scene, at the cafeteria, I feel awkward and embarrassed to face everyone.

A couple more minutes of waiting….

“Finally, it's time to go home!” I said while yawning. I finish my work tasks already and it's only 4:45 pm. While organizing my desk and putting a couple of notes for tomorrow's shift, Clara approached me. She seems hesitant to approach me.

“H-hey Lorelai, t-this is a late notice but Mr.Maxwell told me to give this file to you. He wants you to sort it so it's ready for tomorrow’s presentation.” Clara said shyly while offering the flash drive to me. I gritted my teeth and clench my hand, before standing up and grabbing the flash drive.

‘What? My shifts end in 15 minutes! How can he do this? Very late notice for overtime, he obviously wants me to suffer!?’ I said to myself, I am so tired today and I don’t have time to joke around anymore. But I can’t say anything to him.

“Yeah, tell him I said thanks,” I said in my most sarcastic tone, Clara just apologetically looks at me and walk away.

As the most hardworking employee, I stayed at the office to finish sorting the files. It was around 8 pm when I finished.

“Gosh, I’m so tired. Good thing it's finally time to go home.” I turned off my computer and then decided to order takeout for dinner.

—

When Lorelai is ordering at the restaurant she saw a familiar figure. She observed the woman, which is happily eating with her family. She sees that the children are taken good care of by the woman. That scene is a happy family that she never have. Wherein the woman she saw is her mother.