I wake up with a hangover on a workday, and I can assure you there's nothing worse than that. After taking a painkiller and devouring down a bowl of cereal, I make my way to work. Scenes from last night rush into my head, about how I wanted to smack Blake for showing up everywhere with Genesis. Somehow I ended up spilling the details of my open-relationship to my two friends but surprisingly, they didn't judge at all. Instead, they let me rant.

When I enter the office, Alyssa gives me a look before scoffing and walking away. I frown at her because I have no idea what the fuck her problem is. Whatever work was assigned to me, I completed it last night and mailed it to everyone. I shake my head, trying to not get bothered by her as I make my way to the desk.

A lot of people from work already arrive by the time I get here although we aren't supposed to report here for another ten minutes, it's good to be early than face the wrath of being late.

Genesis enters the office and immediately her eyes meet mine. She walks towards my desk and I roll my eyes but she stands right in front of me, "My office, right now." And just like that, she walks away, not even bothering to see if I'm behind her because when she orders someone, she expects them to follow it.

I let out an exasperated breath and get up from the desk, following her because it can be something work-related although I am pretty sure that's just something I'm telling myself to not feel like an idiot. When I enter her office, the blinds are drawn and she gives me an annoyed look.

"What the fuck happened last night?" She asks and I frown.

Of course, it is not work-related but I'm still confused. Where the hell is she going with this? "What do you mean?"

"Who was the chick you were kissing last night?" She asks, her eyes roaming around her desk as she locates a few files and then turns on her laptop.

Wait a minute. She is jealous. Of course, she is, she has always been the one to act out and have flings in this open relationship, never me so she's probably just taken aback with surprise. Although I wonder why does it even matter because she has been hanging out with Blake more than necessary and is clearly interested in him sexually.

"Just someone I met at the bar." I shrug and she narrows her eyes at me which makes me speak up again, "What do you care? You had your own date for the night."

I am incredibly pissed at her behaviour recently and since last night, it has just somehow peaked, and I won't lie, some of the leftover anger from Blake is also being projected on her but that guy just gets on my nerves beyond I can actually explain.

"We weren't on a date, I was going to discuss his internship offer which you promised him, by the way," She says and I'm drenched with confusion because I never told her about it. She probably reads my expressions as she continues, "He told me you'd help him out. I caught hold of him after you disappeared. He'll be joining today, working under you as you're the one who promised it to him. This isn't my decision, I let him undergo the entire recruitment process so it was team's idea to get him on board."

I can't help as her words leave my mouth hanging open because that's the last thing I had on my mind, "No!" I say, my tone assertive and firm.

"What do you mean no?" She gives me a ridiculous expression.

"No means that he won't be interning under me and that's finalised. I don't give a fuck about what I promised him. I just told him I'd push his application, nothing else. God, Genesis! How did you even think about this entire ordeal? You really think I'd be okay him interning under me when you want to jump his bones?" I throw my hands in the air.

She gets up from her chair and moves towards me, but I stand firmly in my position, pissed as hell. Her feet come to a halt when she's just inches away from me and her hand comes up to brush my hair away and I suck in a breath. Fuck, she knows what she's doing and she knows how exactly I respond to her actions. My eyes close on their own accord as she pushes her lips against mine and for the first time, I don't go mushy under her touch and take a step back.

"I'm only going to say this one time, I don't want to have sex with him." When my eyes meet hers, they are laced with shock with my actions and she almost looks offended as she speaks, "I didn't like that you were with someone else right in front of me last night."

"That isn't what we're discussing right now." I scowl at her.

"It is now."

I roll my eyes, "We are inclusive, so tell me when did that change? You can parade the guy you want to fuck in front of me but I can't kiss another woman in front of you?" I arch an eyebrow and she challenges me with her stare.

"Is that what this is about? Tit for tat?" She asks me and for a second I almost feel guilty but she continues, "Kiss whoever you want, Emily, fuck whoever you want, but just remember if I had kissed someone else in front of you, you would've lost it and probably punched the person. Sure, that guy is young and hot, but I have no interest in him."

I don't believe even a word that escapes her mouth because I know she has hots for Blake, but I know she's right. She has never kissed anyone in front of me and if she did, I would honestly lose it. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let Blake intern under me either. I won't let it happen.

"I'll keep that in mind next time. But Blake isn't interning under me, I hope that's clear. Assign him to Alyssa. Actually, why do you have to assign him to anyone? He's an intern, let him freelance the shit out of this office. He'll see what he wants to learn. You're offering him an internship when there isn't any, that's more than enough."

Somehow, I see how my words knock some sense into her and she nods, agreeing, making me sigh with relief. But just then I feel guilty about my drunk actions. God, I'm pathetic. I don't want to be obvious about it so I just reach my hand out to hold hers as I ask, "Are we okay?"

She nods, giving me a tight-lipped smile, "Yes. Just do me a favour and ask Alyssa to show him around? And pull up the blinds on your way out."

With that, she lets go of my hand and turns around to move to her seat. I do as she says and when I step out of her office, I'm getting looks from everyone which makes me hope that no one heard any bit of our conversation. But I know that's not possible because her office is soundproof.

I move to my desk and look at Alyssa sitting adjacent to me. "Listen, an intern Blake Glazier will be joining today, Genesis asked me to inform you to give him a tour and guide him a little," I tell her which earns me a death stare but I avoid it.

As I go back to my work, I notice Blake stumbling in the office and looking nervous, which is a new look to see because he's not someone who easily gets nervous. I observe from a distance as his eyes move to Genesis's office but I'm sure he's hesitating directly contacting the CHRO on the first day or first minute of his internship. His eyes move around before they finally settle on me and I immediately avert my gaze away, pretending to be busy but I know it's too late by then because from my peripheral vision I can see him walking towards me, making me sit on the edge.

"Emma." He calls out, but that goes unnoticed which is why he corrects himself, "Emily?"

I let out a grunt before I look at him, "Yup?"

"Hey. I was hoping you could show me around?"

I wonder how do people pretend to forget their actions and expect me to just nod my head along whatever they say. Today has had a rough start as it is so I just look at Alyssa to take over and when her eyes land on Blake, her features turn a little soft from the harsh expression directed towards me.

"You must be Mr. Glazier?" She says and his eyes move to her as he nods.

"Please call me Blake." He extends his hand and they introduce each other before she takes him around the office.

I sigh with relief when they are out of my sight and get back to my work. After a while, Alyssa comes back to her seat and drags Blake along. This is probably the most unorganised internship I've ever seen in the department. He sits opposite her, which annoys me to no end because that's just next to me. I pretend to ignore both of their absence as I continue to type the report I'm working on.

Just as the clock strikes noon, I pick up my phone to dial Mom because I want to know what went down at the school today. From the way she sounded pissed yesterday, I have a feeling this Brent kid would face at least some consequences. When the call goes to voicemail, I leave her a text message asking her to update me on the meeting with the board, because Blake is sitting not very far away from me and I wouldn't want him eavesdropping,

It's funny how the past one week has gone with me struggling to prevent him from getting this internship because he keeps on flirting with the woman I am with, as does she, yet he's here, right by my side. I feel pissed, anger churning inside me but I take a deep breath and few sips of water before focusing on the file on my laptop and working on it because it's due in a few hours.

About an hour later my eyes move towards Blake and I look at him working on Alyssa's laptop while she's nowhere to be seen, which makes me frown and groan internally because I really want to avoid and keep our conversation to a minimum while he's here.

"Hey, where's she?" I ask him and he looks up from the screen, surprised that I'm talking to him at all which makes me want to roll my eyes.

"Who?" He asks and I give him an absurd look, like who the fuck could I be really talking about?

"Alyssa. Where is she? And why the fuck are you working on her laptop, man? What work has she given you?" I ask him and he shrugs before moving her laptop screen towards mine and I cannot help but scoff, "She assigned you the file she's supposed to be working at. Fucking great! Any idea where she is?"

"She just told me to get this done within a couple of hours and she'll be back in a while," He tells me, looking confused.

I shut down the laptop screen and give it back to him before getting up and going to meet the HR Manager. If Genesis and I weren't in an argument, I would've directly approached her but I know how sometimes I misuse her position to my benefit. She doesn't deal with associates unless it's something important or unless I take things to her directly, and I'm only approachable to her because of our relationship. It isn't like we're going behind anyone. We had to sign the HR contract of being involved with someone from office. Otherwise I am supposed to take any queries and report to the manager, since I'm just at the associate level. So, this is one of those things that I take to him or to the Senior Recruiter since this falls under his work.

"Just wait here while I go talk to someone about this, alright?" I tell him and he nods.

I make my way down the hallway to Eric Davin's office, HR Manger, someone I report to. I knock on the glass door and he smiles as his way to let me in.

"What brings you down to my cabin without approaching the CHRO, Emily?" He asks and I can't help but feel embarrassed because I know how people in the office really talk about it.

"I'm sorry that I went to her regarding some issues, but she was directly involved in the recruiting of one of the interns, and since the discussion was about him, I thought it would be better if I approached her directly. I understand how that was wrong, and I apologise, which is why I am here." I explain but he just waves it off.

"That's okay, less work for me. So, tell me, what is it? Are you already done with the training module due this evening?"

I laugh, "That's some wishful thinking, Eric. I actually wanted to talk about the concerned intern. Since he wasn't recruited through the normative process, I am not sure what he's actually doing here. When I talked to Genesis, she asked me to keep him under Alyssa, which I thought was a fine choice until I found out she's treating him like his own puppy and handing down her work to him." I explain and he nods, motioning towards the chair in front of his desk and I take a seat because something tells me he would want to discuss this further.

"Last I heard, there weren't any vacancies for interns since we already got the three who are working under different associates now." He speaks, and his question makes sense but then it's like he joins the dots in his head, "Genesis gave him the internship directly, you said?"

"Yeah. But he did undergo recruitment process."

"Mm, makes sense then. Since he's already here, just let him do the basic stuff other three are doing as a part of our internship program. Although I believe that Alyssa is not the right fit. She's always looking for some way to pin down her work on someone else so if not in office, she might assign him work from home stuff."

He's talking sense, and I want to believe that she wouldn't stoop so low but knowing her for this entire job, I know that she's very much capable of it. "So, who do you have in mind?" I ask, curious to know.

"I was thinking you," He says and I open my mouth to interrupt but he holds up his hand, "Hear me out, first. You have been gone over a month. You need to catch up on a lot of work, I understand but if you supervise an intern, it would look good on your performance report, and you know how much that matters and where I'm going with this further. You're already working in training, so just guide him accordingly, let him also explore what he wants to do."

Fuck. He knows he has now given me something to work with that I absolutely cannot say no to. Performance appraisal is extremely important at Cox and Bell, and he's right, no matter how I got the month off, it is going to take a hit at my report so I need to do things to make up for it, as well as root for promotion. Eric has a smile on his face as he lets me process everything and I groan. Nothing is more important to me than my career, not even Genesis and Blake's entire fiasco.

"Fine. Assign him to me, send me the paperwork," I tell him and he nods. "Can you please talk this over with Alyssa? Otherwise she's going to think I went above her head for this when technically Genesis asked me to guide him in the first place. Also, can you please assign me to a new desk because I don't want Alyssa breathing down my neck when I have another person to deal with already."

He nods, happily, "I knew I could convince you. Just don't tell her that I'm bragging but Genesis thought I didn't have it in me."

His words confuse me and my jaw almost drops as the realisation hits me. Of course, she told him to knock some sense into me regarding supervising an intern. It almost makes me more pissed off and deny the entire deal but I know I need it for my career, so to hell with it.

"Since you're working with the intern, you can use the desks at the corner, so that you have more peace. You know we don't believe in cubicles, so that's the most I can do for you," He tells me and I nod, getting up.

"Thanks, Eric." I give him a tight-lipped smile before leaving and making my way to my office.

Just as I'm about to reach my desk, I see that Alyssa is back and arguing with Blake while he's trying to talk over her, but I know that would be a lost cause because once she's pissed, it's rare that she doesn't create a scene.

When I reach them, Blake looks at me with big eyes as if he's scared of why would I ever tell him to go against this woman standing with her hand on the hips. "Why the hell would you intervene in my work, McCall?" She looks at me, pissed.

"Because he was doing your work, which he isn't supposed to do," I tell her and look at Blake, "He's an intern, not your personal assistant. You've got to earn that. Anyway, he's been re-assigned to me now."

Her jaw drops in shock, "What the hell? On whose orders? You cannot just go and reassign an intern to yourself."

"You know what? I don't have the time or patience for this. Stop yelling at the two us, and get back to the report that's due in a few hours. You can take this up with Eric." I tell her before picking up my things and motioning for Blake to do the same, "Come on, we're moving to the desk over there." I point towards the desk at the corner of the hall.

He nods as he also picks up my files from the table and moves them. When we're just setting up the stuff and I am opening my laptop again, he speaks up, "What changed your mind? I thought you didn't want to do anything with me."

I shrug, "Supervising you became beneficial to me. Nothing tops career, right?"

He nods like he understands, "Walk me through the work I have to do and I will try my best to keep out of your hair." He gives me a small smile before adding, "Also, thank you for saving me from that woman's wrath."

I can't help but laugh at his words.

•••

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