Cheap man

After letting Ethan's words sink in, Avery asked, "What are my duties as your personal assistant?"

"Basically anything I tell you to do. You can consider yourself my right-hand man." Ethan answered.

The word 'anything' made Avery feel a little nervous. "A-Anything?" She asked.

Ethan smiled, and replied, "There's nothing to worry about. I'm not going to ask you to kill anyone."

Avery barely heard a word he said, she was distracted by something else – his smile. She just realized it was the first time she was seeing him smile, and damn, it was utterly dazzling! His perfect set of white teeth just added some kind of charm to his already ridiculously charming look. "You should really smile more often." Avery subconsciously said.

"I should really what?" Ethan asked. He hadn't heard her well as she had spoken in a low tone.

Avery felt grateful that he hadn't heard her. "I said you should really… not joke about murder." Avery quickly thought of something else to say, and without waiting for him to say anything, she quickly asked the one thing that mattered to her, "so… how much will I be getting paid?"

"You name it." Ethan replied without batting an eye.

"Really?" Avery was surprised to hear that, and her voice was laced with doubt. But he nodded with utmost sincerity, confirming that she had heard him right.

Earlier when Madeline had told her the amount of money which the employees of GameHive earned, she had not mentioned anything about the amount Ethan's personal assistant gets paid.

"Excuse me, a moment please. I need to speak to a very important person concerning that." Avery said, as she pulled out her phone from the breast pocket of Owen's suit.

Ethan was taken aback, and rendered speechless, but Avery didn't seem to notice. She had instead gone to a corner of the office, busy dialing Madeline's number.

…

Outside of GameHive's premises, Madeline patiently sat under a shade, busy keeping herself entertained by browsing the internet when a call came in, and the name on the caller-ID was Avery.

A smile crept on Madeline's face as she quickly answered the call. "You got the job!" She howled in excitement as she jumped, "I knew you would be able to pull it off."

"Pipe down, Madeline. I haven't really gotten the job yet." Avery whispered from the other side.

Madeline deflated like a balloon when she heard what Avery said. "So why are you calling? Did you get caught?" Madeline's voice rose a bit higher when she asked the second question.

"I'll explain everything to you later, but for now I'm about to negotiate my salary with my soon-to-be boss, and I need your help with that."

Madeline's brows creased in confusion as she asked, "Why do you need to negotiate? Aren't the salaries of the technicians fixed, and determined by position the person occupies in the technical department?"

"Well, the thing is, he blatantly refused to give to me a chance to prove myself worthy of being in the technical department, but he is willing to take me in as his temporary personal assistant, pending the time his actual personal assistant returns, so…"

"So he doesn't trust you to be in the technical department, but he trusts you to be his personal assistant? How does that make sense?" Madeline just couldn't wrap her head around it.

"That's why I said I'll explain everything to you later. I can feel his eyes boring into my back in impatience, so please stop interrupting." Avery sighed in annoyance, and continued, "when I asked him how much I would get paid, he told me to name my price, so I want you and I to deliberate on it together."

"Oh, I see. So what do you have in mind?" Madeline asked while rubbing her chin.

"Uhm… I was thinking, since the highest pay for those in the technical department is ten-thousand dollars, I should probably go for ten-thousand dollars."

Madeline eyes widened like she had just heard the most shocking thing ever. "Ten thousand dollars?! Are you kidding me? Do you think the work of a personal assistant is like a walk in the park? You are literally his beck and call for anything, both work related, and off work. Ten thousand dollars won't cut it. Triple it!"

"Oh… I didn't really look at it like that. Thank goodness I considered calling you. You are very smart when it comes to things like this. Thirty thousand dollars it is!"

"You could also make it higher, I'm sure he…" Madeline's words were cut short when she heard a beep sound from her phone. Avery had hung up.

…

After Avery hung up, she went back to stand in front of Ethan's desk, and said, "I'm done, sir."

"Oh really? I thought you were going to take forever on the phone." Ethan mockingly said, "so what have you decided."

"Thirty thousand dollars." Avery spouted while looking at him apprehensively, not wanting to miss any emotion that would appear on his face, but Ethan only looked at her in silence, and with a blank face.

There was a moment of overwhelming silence – so overwhelming, that Avery even considered bringing down the amount she was asking for, but a smirk that seemed almost devilish then slowly formed on Ethan's face.

"Fine." He simply said, to Avery's surprise, and then he asked, "Do you have any means of identification on you?"

Still in a daze at how Ethan had just accepted the amount she stated without bothering to negotiate, Avery nodded, and took out a card from Owen's portfolio. "Here's my national identification card."

Ethan took it, and looked at it scrutinizingly. "Hmm, interesting." He said, and then eyed her, "You don't look anything like your age. No one would believe you are twenty-four."

Avery sighed in relief, she had thought that he was going to say she didn't look anything like the picture on the card. It wasn't because she didn't have faith in Madeline's makeup skills, but because she knew that even with the makeup, if she and Owen were to stand side-by-side, a few differences might still be spotted.

"Oh I get that a lot." She said, covering up her nervousness by letting out a forced laugh, "I guess I should work out more, so I could look more masculine, just like you. I'm sure you have rock hard abs, and…" Avery quickly bit her lips, to stop herself from saying anything else.

There was a brief, awkward silence, before Ethan then opened his mouth to say something, but his phone rang, interrupting him before he could get a word out.

Whoever had called him must be so important, because he abruptly picked up his phone, and answered the call, and just like the first time they met, he didn't bother to excuse himself. The only difference was that this time around, Avery didn't get offended, instead she felt glad that the phone call was able to distract Ethan. With the words she had spouted earlier, she wouldn't be surprised if Ethan started to think she was a perverted man.

Avery took a deep breath, and then looked back at Ethan. His face had gotten a few shades darker. "Oh no! Why now?" Avery muttered to herself. Whatever Ethan had heard from the person he was on the phone with, had affected his mood. She couldn't help but wonder if he would end up taking out his displeasure on her, and decide not to hire her anymore.

"Make sure she doesn't leave your sight, alright? I'll be there in no time." Ethan said, as he stood up from his seat. His voice sounded grave, but Avery couldn't tell if it was from anger, or something else entirely.

Once the call ended, Ethan quickly shut down his laptop, and put it in a briefcase, which he then shoved into Avery's hands. "Let's go." He said, and began to head for the door in a hurry.

Avery could only blink in surprise. Where were they going? Does it mean she was already hired? She wondered, but there was no time to think. She quickly followed after him, while carrying his briefcase, together with Owen's portfolio.

When they got outside of his office, to where Christian was stationed, Christian quickly stood up. "Are you leaving already, sir?" He asked Ethan, but his eyes were actually fixed on Avery as he gave her a judgmental look.

Avery noticed the look he was giving her, and she was confused for a moment, but then she remembered that Christian had walked in on them when she and Ethan were in a somewhat compromising position.

Avery's face turned red in embarrassment once again, and she quickly raised Owen's Portillo to shield herself from Christian's gaze. Since she was pretending to be a man, she was sure he must be thinking she was a cheap man, that had seduced the CEO, just to get a job in the company.

If she got hired, her plan was to earn money for Owen's treatment, and when Owen gets fit enough, she would step back, and allow Owen continue working. If that eventually happens, she didn't want anyone giving her brother judging looks because of any rumors that was created because of her.

"Yes, I'm leaving. If anyone asks of me, just tell them I'm unavailable for the rest of the day." Ethan answered as he stepped into the elevator, and Avery quickly got in as well.

While they were in the elevator Avery felt the need to confirm from him that she had been hired, but she was afraid that she might anger him, so she decided to stay quiet, while trying to think of random things to keep herself distracted.