Wooing The Ex-Wife
Chapter 9: The Meeting (1)

There was hustle and bustle around the office. The normally sluggish morning hours were teeming with life again. There was a lot of excitement in the people to see their new boss. Yesterday they had merely gotten a glimpse of Mr. West but from today he was to start working officially. Every person had their files completed, checked and arranged, ready to be presented at any moment they were required to. The women in the office had seen Jonathan West on magazine covers, he was one of the most successful businessmen in America, and they gushed on about how handsome and brilliant he was and how great it would be to work with him.

Liza smoothed down her black pencil skirt and rubbed her temples, wishing that all of them would stop talking for at least a moment. She had barely gotten sleep the previous night and all the caffeine she had taken hadn't kicked in her system yet. She sighed as she took in her reflection in the little ornate mirror that she had kept in one of the drawers of her table. She had applied a little bit of makeup but it had failed to hide the tiredness in her eyes. You could see small light purple eye bags under her eyes and her skin looked a little too much paler than it actually was. She sucked in her breath and gave herself a mental pep talk as she readied herself for the day to come.

The clock struck nine and at that exact moment the elevator opened to reveal Jonathan along with a grinning Leslie. All the employees surrounded him as Leslie excused herself to go to her former office and collect a few things. Some of them were congratulating him, some were telling him how great it would be to work with him and some were buttering him up to save themselves from being fired and maybe for getting promotions. In all this mayhem, Jonathan's eyes searched for the only person that mattered to him. He longed to see her in the morning, maybe apologize to her again or maybe tell her to try and at least be friends with him. But unfortunately he couldn't replace her.

Meanwhile Liza had already seen Leslie making her way to her office and she thought that maybe it was the only chance she would get to get out of this painful position. So she made her way to Leslie's office and knocked on it. Leslie opened the door with a smile "Come in dear" she said. Liza entered the room, unsure of how to put forward her request, so she blurted out "Please don't make me work with Mr. West" Leslie was shocked. She knew that women would die to work alongside Jonathan West not only because of his charm but also because of his brilliance and here in front of her stood Liza, pleading her not to make her work with him. "Why not?" Leslie asked. "I just don't think that I am right person to show him how publishing business is done, I mean that he is a brilliant businessman and even if he is new to this sector, he will get hold of the ropes in a few days." Liza said. "I trust that he is a brilliant businessman but it would be better if you were there to help him and as important employ as you are Liza I suggest that you don't question my decisions" Leslie said putting an end to the conversation.

At that precise moment there was a knock on the door "Come in please" Leslie said and in walked Jonathan. He was wearing Charcoal gray Suit and pant with a smoke blue colored shirt, his eyes that were a dull green a moment ago brightened when he saw Liza standing there with Leslie. "Is there any problem?" Jonathan asked taking in the expression on the face of Liza but before she could say something Leslie jumped in and said "Of course not, Ms. Nestor was just telling me how excited she was to work with you. Weren't you Ms. Nestor?" Leslie asked daring Liza to answer in negative. Liza gritted her teeth and said "Yes mam, now if you would excuse me, I have some work to do". With this Liza walked out.

It was nearly lunch time and Liza had finished editing almost half of the manuscript within four hours, when her phone rang "Liza Mr. West wants to see you in his office" came the voice of her young assistant as she put the phone on speaker, still editing the document on her laptop. "Did he say anything related to why he wanted to see me?" she asked, "No, he just wants you there in five minutes" her assistant Mary, answered back. "okay" with this Liza got up adjusted her grey shirt whose neckline had become a bit too low for her liking and then continued on her way to Jonathan' office.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐