ESRIN
SAGE

PRESENT

I can't believe I'm a twenty five year old adult that blushes when she sees a penis shaped candle.

I also can't believe that I'm best friends with an idiot that lights up like a Christmas tree when she sees a penis shaped candle.

What the pair, right?

"I wonder if people get desperate enough to shove it up their ass," Remi, the idiotic best friend, wonders while inspecting the candle, fingernails lightly tracing the lines running up and down the candle that's supposed to be veins. "There are children in the store!" I scolded Remi, grabbing the candle from her hand and placing it back on the display.

Even the candle is bigger than any men I've been with.

"That's not my fault," Remi rolls her eyes and complies when I yank her away from the candles. We walk right to the front doors and the ladies at the cash register lock eyes with us. "Nice candles!" Remi says, smiling and giving them a thumbs up. For heaven's sake.

When I had started college and was in desperate need of an apartment to stay in since the dorms were overly expensive, Remi Slare was my saviour since she was in need of a roommate to split her apartment rent with. She was a year above me, studying law enforcement and criminal justice to become an officer.

A few years later, we both were graduated and still living together in an upgraded penthouse. Remi takes the position of a detective and I jumped at the first job opening at Malik Creations which happened to be the position of CEO's assistant.

When Mr Malik told me that I'd be on a five year contract as his assistant I didn't think it would be a problem. The salary had a few extra zeros at the end than I had expected. There are so many people that would kill to be where I was in the company. Of course, that contract came to bite me in the butt.

Deal with the devil. It's safe to say I don't have pleasant experiences working there anymore. Private and professional life got intertwined and the consequences of my mistakes knocked me down a skyscraper.

It's Friday. I've got two days until but yet I'm already dreading going to work on Monday.

"Hey, Rin do you think you could get me that candle for Halloween?" Remi asks me as we walk down the street where the Halloween store sits. "It's not Christmas," I tell her but I'm not surprised since she's always been obsessed with the celebration.

So obsessed that every year she hosts a Halloween party and it upgrades somehow. This year, she's renting out her favourite bar that she attends weekly with her friends. I've met a few of them over the year and Remi has been pleading with me to join her so she can reintroduce me to them but I haven't stepped foot in a bar or club in a lot of years so I decline every time.

This brings us to the main point of our little outing today. Halloween decorations and in this city, there's only one place to get them.

So happens that Remi is friends with the owner.

"This is the one," Remi states, staring up at the Spooky Silhouettes sign that stands at the top of the building. It doesn't make sense to me how a Halloween store can successfully remain in business through the year but somehow, this store does it.

"Come on," Remi grabs the door handle and pulls it, allowing me to walk in first and then she follows before releasing the handle. Barely two steps into the store and the scent of a pumpkin spice candle hit my nose. "Do you think the candle is dick shaped?" Remi leans over and whispers to me.

She's going to be obsessed with that stupid candle until she gets it. "You're an idiot," I playfully slapped her shoulders and walked ahead looking at all the costumes. "Takes one to know one," Remi replies, hip bumping mine.

"Did you find your costume yet?" She changes the topic to a more concerning matter. No, seriously. By the way, she's looking at me it's as if the question is what's my blood type. "Uh, not yet. I'm kind of waiting for a sale somewhere," I answered, turning my head to the other side to see the other options.
Meanwhile, Remi stares at me as if I just said the most outrageous thing ever.

"Esrin fucking Sage-"

"Oh, look this is pretty!" I faked my excitement and held onto a random costume that turned out to be one of Batman. Successfully, it worked. "You want to be Batman?" Remi questions, lifting an eyebrow at me for the full effect and I scoffed.

"I'll go for Superman then," I tell her and turn to the other aisle with decorations. As expected, Remi's entire body lights up and she bolts ahead. I was about to join her and ensure she doesn't drain her poor credit card on stupid decorations when I felt a vibration in my back pocket where I kept my phone.

I frown as my phone begins to ring loudly, wondering who it could possibly be. The only person that would call me is standing beside me. I slipped out my phone and it was as if my heart stopped beating for a long second when I read the name written in bold letters across the screen.

Remi looks over at me, silently asking me about it. "It's Mr Malik, I have to take this," I sighed, hating that I was in this position right now.  Our bad history or not, he's still my boss sadly. I don't bother to wait for a reply, I headed out of the Halloween store and answered the phone.

"Good day, sir," I politely spoke into the phone even though it felt bitter in my mouth and my tone lacked the sweetness it once had. "Good day, Miss Sage. Sorry for contacting you after hours but I'm missing the summary file for all the inventory of last month," Mr Malik reveals his reason for calling me and I'm slightly annoyed it's because of work.

My chest rose and I stopped breathing, holding in the air as I lifted my hand and knocked my knuckles on his door. "Come in," Zayn mutters from behind the door. I exhaled and pushed the door open, shutting it behind me with my foot. He was busy scribbling away on the stacked papers in front of him and eventually drags his eyes toward me.

Zayn drops his pen and leans back into his chair, his eyes slowly descending my body, lingering on my wide hips and the smooth curve of my thighs in this skirt, eyes darkening at my parted, red painted lips. He brings his hand up to tug the tie around the colour of his neck, loosening it. "Put the file in the cabinet and get on your knees," he commanded and it was without hesitation, that my body listened.

"It's in the cabinet in your office, sir," I responded, pushing away the memories. Mr Malik doesn't reply, I hear him moving around as he probably was walking to the cabinet and I hear him pull the drawer. "Found it, thank you," he reveals.

Tension hangs between us through the phone keeps me from dismissing the call right then. "Hey, Esrin...do you want to talk about what happened?" Mr Malik hesitantly asked. There it is.
I don't understand why he'd ask that since there's no use. Why hurt me more by talking about it?

"No," I flatly replied," Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr Malik," I quickly say and harshly hit the button that ends the call. I spun around, about to grab the door and enter the Halloween store again when someone on the inside opens the door instead.

Remi walks out, a smile on her face and two small bags in her hand. "Hey, I got a few things. We definitely need to come back before Halloween though," Remi smiles, happy with her purchase I assume. I expected she'd take two hours in there not two minutes.

"Sure," I agreed and slipped my phone into my bag. "What did Zayn want?" Remi cautiously wonders out loud, uncertain if it was a rocky topic or not. I looked away, feeling my throat tighten at the mention of his name.

"Zayn, please I-" I attempted to break down the indestructible walls he had suddenly built between us. "Stop with the begging and you should refer to me as Mr Malik from now on," Zayn cuts me off, annoyance worn on his face.

"It's Mr Malik and he just lost something at the office, it's fine," I brushed off and began walking ahead of her to kill the topic. Wasn't totally a lie.

Malik Creations was a big company that not even I understood completely. You'd think being the CEO's assistant that I'd grasp all of what we do but I don't have it all. Malik Creations has totally different departments because the Maliks are good at multitasking I guess. From designing, programming and launching video games to somehow being a distributor of computer software.

Somehow, I won the position of being the assistant of Zayn Malik himself, the current Malik that sat on the throne. At the time of the offer, I wanted nothing to do with another relationship after my horrible last one but Zayn he changed that for me. Every moment he spent tricking me into his spell, I regretted it all.

When we get into my Jeep, Remi plays with the radio immediately, switching to the station she likes. We buckled our seatbelts together and left her shopping bags in the backseat before reversing out of the space and leaving.

"Since we're having a lovely bonding Friday, would you like to continue it and come with me to the bar tonight?" I could feel Remi's hopeful eyes on me while I drive. She's had an exhausting week of work, I'm sure she's dying to let off some steam. I'm thankful that I don't have to look at her face when I disappoint her again but I'm sure she sees it coming.

"I have some work to finish for Monday and emails to reply to. I'm sorry but soon yeah?" I denied. I haven't stepped into a bar in a very long time and I've got multiple reasons for that. Reasons that I'm not ready to abandon just yet.

"Alright, I'll have a shot for you," Remi sighs, leaning into the seat more at the road ahead. "I want you to meet the guys before the party though so it wouldn't be weird. You'll love them," she continues, a smile growing on her face as she thinks of her friends.

Even if I want to, I don't feel well enough to slide into nice clothes and waltz my way into a bar. What I truly would love to do is have a glass of wine secretly while crying my eyes out to whatever movie I choose alone in my room. I wish I could allow myself to let loose like Remi and her friends and simply celebrate surviving another tough week but I can't.

"Maybe another time," I brushed off, tapping my fingers against the wheel as the cars seem to slow down in front of me. On the radio, the news start and Remi groans beside me. She quickly reaches down to turn the dial all the way down to mute the radio completely.

"I already know what they're gonna say," she sighs, raising her hand to brush her fingers through her short, untamed curls. "Can't fucking escape him," she adds softly, staring out the window with her eyebrows drawing together. Him.

I decided to not ask about it because she doesn't seem like she wants to share right now. It's easy to assume that it's about work though.

About him.

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AUTHOR'S
NOTE

That's a wrap on the first chapter of Masked!! Please let me know your thoughts if you're willing to share<3