Chapter 11: "Listen here big man!"

"Listen here mr big shot the man himself CEO! What sort of company is this?! Have you no shame?!" she raised her voice, overly enunciating all of her words.

'C'mon dream world, time to break some barriers here. Wake up! Wake up!' she was shouting at herself.

The man across the room sat behind a large mahogany desk. It was a spacious room, with book shelves all around, and what looked like comfortable couches for welcoming guests. It was simple, not overly crowded, giving off a minimalistic but elegant sense. 'Hmm not bad, I don't actually mind this office, not my style but not bad'. The décor was quite masculine with dark colours. The focus point of the room seemed to be the actual bookshelves and not the desk like she would've expected. 'Interesting'.

Thoughts of her morning experiences were going through her mind. This office space did not indicate someone with a megalomaniac personality, so why the stupid elevator rule…'something for another time, now lets cause a commotion'.

She looked at the man across the room straight in the eyes and was about to continue, when a somewhat familiar voice spoke. He sounded smooth, that quality story-teller voice Victor loved, coming through the man's voice.

"May I help you miss?" he looked straight back at her with a cold straight face, but the eyes were the most mesmerising thing about him. Dark, deep eyes with a glint of mischievousness were now studying her from head to toe. This man did not look stupid.

"No way Jose, I have a bone to pick with you mister!" she felt ridiculous saying all of these things, but they were a must. She had to act out of character to rock the boat; this was her chance and she was not about to pass it.

A strange look briefly showed on the man's face, and disappeared just as quickly. 'Was he surprised? Highly likely, he did not seem like a man who tolerated disobedience, I mean… he had a problem with elevators for Christ sake'. That complicated look on his face was gone in a second. Time to push his buttons more.

'Let's get fired' she thought. Before she could go on a rant and call him all sorts of names, he put a hand up to stop her.

"Perhaps you could be more specific with your grievance here, miss…"

'eh?! Why wasn't he flying into a fit of rage'

"Not important right now. This company is a disgrace to the business world, and you worse so for perpetuating such practices. Enough is enough! And I for one cannot take it anymore" 'Victor be proud! Now it's time to get fired!'she thought it as a prayer almost.

The man looked at her with his impassive face. He seemed unaffected by her outburst and everything she was saying.

Raven was waiting impatiently for him to react badly to her outburst. No matter how incompetent or tolerant the man was, surely he would not allow a lowly employee to speak to him like that. Now was her chance to wake up.

"Well miss not important right now, take a seat and let's discuss your issues."

One of her eyebrows raised in surprise. A fleeting second before she collected herself and turned around to leave. This dream was adjusting around her and it was making it impossible for her to win. She had to try something else.

'Should she really try dying?! Was that something she should consider?'

Just as she was about to leave, a strong hand gripped her wrist and tugged her back into the office. The heat transfer felt unreal. A zap of energy shifted between her and the man now tightly holding her wrist. A strange feeling of familiarity resonated through her but she couldn't put her finger on it.

She didn't like to be touched without her permission, it always made her skin crawl when that happened. But this was a dream so those feelings didn't surface. A bit shocked by the man's reaction, she had to admit, but now was not the time to look at the details, she just wanted to break some of the conventions in this dream world, so she could wake up.

Raven recovered from the strange reaction his touch caused her, and instantly plastered a cold ruthless look on her face. She was after all a business mogul and could hold her own in any situation.

She turned and looked him straight in the eyes with a menacing gaze.

"I believe you'll want to let me go right now, mr CEO. Touching someone without their permission is not something you want to do right now." Her voice was cold and menacing, and her stance was supporting her words. If he harmed her, he'd be sorry for it. Her fight instincts were kicking in, and she was about to twist his hand, when he let go.

He didn't apologise for his reaction, nor did he make an excuse. 'Who was this guy?' she kept trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. His name was familiar too. Where did she meet this guy in real life that he was now plaguing her dreams and causing her to be in this state.

He walked back behind his desk, sat down and indicated for her to take a seat on the other side of the desk.

'Hah, that was not going to happen.' Her inner Victor was now shouting at her but she ignored it. This was a business meeting, not a drama situation anymore. She needed to make her presence felt and push the man into firing her, it was the only option left here.

From her position she was closer to the door than she was to the desk. She turned around in one swift motion, her long dark hair swooshing behind her in a very sassy motion. She left.

"See ya' later alligator" she threw at him over her shoulder and headed straight for the elevator.

He caught up to her and in a very cold menacing tone, just like hers said: "You seem to not value your job Miss Liehen."

'This was perfectly timed, he has reached his limit and was going to fire her, very publicly. Dream state over'

She had no idea what possessed her in that second to reply to the man, but she did

"It's Raven Vaughn to you and I quit."