Forbidden Heat

Reiner - Working Day and Night

That gave me a good chance to focus my afternoon on solving this puzzle at hand. Hopefully when he

returned from his meetings, I’ll have some promising results for him and some next steps. Then if

things work out, I can head to the bar and start working on time.

“Enjoy your meetings. I’ll have something for you when you get back, don’t worry,” I said cheerfully as

Reiner walked past my desk.

“Ok…thanks,” he replied before heading out.

Reiner had many meetings scheduled for the rest of the week and some next week as well. I wondered

what the meetings were about. Unlike secretaries of normal companies, the schedule that was visible

to me didn’t have any details besides the meeting room number and the date and time. All meetings

didn’t have a topic or agenda. Well, none that were visible to a secretary like me anyways. So much

secrecy indeed.

Now that Reiner was gone, I returned to focusing on sorting out the data and finding trends. Kat

sweetly sent me a message to remind me to turn up for work tonight. I laughed a little to myself when I

typed back my response. Just a little more work here and I should be able to wrap up for the day. I

hope Reiner comes back on time so that I can at least report to him what I’ve done for the day.

Since I was so busy with work today, time flew by and 5PM arrived in what felt like a blink of an eye.

When I looked up from my computer screen it was already a little after 5PM. Reiner’s meeting was

supposed to end at 5PM so he should be back here soon. As long as I leave before 5:30PM straight, I

should be able to make it to the bar in time to help out with some tasks before opening time. I decided

to wait for Reiner to return.

While waiting for Reiner to return, I printed out the shortlist of agent profiles that I wanted Reiner to

interview. Based on their profiles and past experiences of having lost a member on their team during a

mission, I believed that talking to them could unveil some insights that were not captured in the data. I

printed out the profiles of all the agents on my list and stapled them together neatly. By the time that I

was done, it was almost 5:30PM. Reiner was running late, and I had no idea why. Did his meeting

overrun?

If I don’t leave now, I’m going to be late, and Kat is going to be so mad. I stared at the printed paper in

my hand as I struggled to decide what to do. I already told Reiner that I wasn’t going back with him so it

should be fine if I leave now. I can always report to Reiner on my findings tomorrow morning instead.

With my mind made up, I entered Reiner’s personal office and left the printed paper on his desk along

with a short note to tell him that I have left for the day.

…

Traffic was bad and I ended up turning up a little late. Praying a little to myself that Kat would not yell at

me, I stood in front of the bar’s entrance before I walked in. Kat was standing right at the entrance with

her hands on her hips as if she was ready to scold me for my lateness.

“Sorry. I tried my best to get here on time,” I quickly said in my own defense.

“Yet you still turned up late. Get dressed, girl! Then you can help me wipe the dishes…” Kat

commanded.

“Yes, Ma’am…” I replied as I threw my hands up in the air in complete surrender.

I made the right choice coming to help out at the bar today because as soon as we opened, a large

group of customers entered. Apparently, a company had decided to choose this bar as the venue for

their after work drinking session. That group flooded the bar and filled up most of the tables right from

the start of the night. After that the usual flow of customers arrived and the place was packed. Every

staff was running around busily all night, myself included.

“This to table 4 and this to table 7. Go go!” the head chef said as he put out two trays filled with food.

“Ok!” I responded as I grabbed the trays.

I have lost count of the tables that I’ve served. After delivering those trays of food to the two tables, I

was flagged down by a customer to take his order. The whole night continued like that without time for

rest. Thankfully, none of the staff had called in sick and we were properly staffed to handle the

situation. I felt the adrenaline pumping through my veins at the activeness of the job and I found it a

pleasant feeling.

“No signs of your prince charming today, huh?” Kat teased me when we randomly bumped into eachnovelbin

other at the bar as we waited for the bartender to whip up our customers’ orders.

I knew right away that she was referring to Charles. Honestly, I had been too busy to keep an eye out

for him. Usually if he was here, he would approach me right away so the fact that I haven’t met him yet

probably meant that he wasn’t here tonight.

“I haven’t seen him,” I replied.

“I haven’t seen him since the last time you were here. Maybe he’s off on a business trip or

something…” Kat said with a thoughtful face.

“Enough talking. Back to work!” I cried out loudly as I clapped my hands together.

“Alright alright…” Kat muttered with a slight look of annoyance.

The whole team was relief when the last of the customers left for the night and it was closing time.

Jamie came out to deliver his usual motivating speech at the end of the night before chasing us to go

home. I plopped down onto the nearest chair as my legs gave out from under me. That was an intense

night of overwork. My heart was still beating fast and hard in my chest. I struggled for a moment to

catch my breath.

--To be continued…