Water bottles

Asher's eyes flung open at the sound of his alarm. It woke him up at 5 am, like it did every morning. He got down from his king sized bed, ready for the new day. His morning routine was always the same. Workout, breakfast and then work. As he made his way to his personal gym, the thought of Lily showing up at his house in an hour gave him a feeling of satisfaction.

Lily stood before the giant gates of Asher's billionaire home. As much as she hated his guts, she couldn't deny the fact that he was an elite man.

"Who are you?" she heard a voice from the intercom seconds after she rang the bell.

"Lily, Lily Grant. Mr Asher asked me to be here." she checked her watch and a smile formed on her face.

She was here just in time with ten minutes to spare. After a minute of waiting, she heard Asher's voice from the speakers.

"Lily, what time is it?" she once again looked at her watch, confused as to why he was asking.

"5:52 am" she muttered, a million thoughts running through her head.

"I asked you to be here by 6 am, not 5:52" Asher breathed heavily over the intercom as he spoke. He was doing some weight lifting while talking to her.

"Yeah and I'm here early." Lily could almost not contain her urge to lose it.

"I don't care, wait outside until it's 6 am and then they'll let you in."

Lily's eyes widened. "What?!" she tried not to yell but she wasn't successful.

"You're not deaf, and I don't like to repeat myself. See you in," he paused to look at the watch on the wall in front of him.

"7 minutes." he mumbled before cutting the line. He smiled at himself as he returned his attention to the weight his arms held above his head.

Lily stood outside in total disbelief. There was absolutely no way this man was going to be her boss for the next one year. She asked herself if he was like this to everyone or was he like this towards her because she poured wine over his shirt. Either way, she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was intentional about making the next few months a living hell for her.

Suddenly, the gates opened before her. "You may come in." she heard over the intercom.

She held on tightly the strap of her purse hanging over her shoulder as she walked through the gates. The mansion came into full view and it was magnificent. The last time she was here, it was at night and the lights didn't do justice to the beauty of the exterior.

She met a man with a monkey jacket at the front door. "This way." he whispered to her.

She followed behind him quietly though she felt it rather strange that he was dressed up so nicely just to usher guests in and out of the building.

Lily was led to Asher's personal gym where he was now hanging from a high bar by his hands. He was unaware that she was in the gym as he had air pods plugged in and blasting rather loudly.

Lily couldn't stop her eyes from drooling over him. His sleeveless singlet, hugged tightly to his sweaty body as he pulled himself up, down and up again on the high bar. She knew he was facially attractive but his body was even better.

Finally, Asher noticed the waving of his staff from the corner of his eye and dropped from the bar. Lily immediately looked away, she was not going to let him know she was looking at him.

"Thank you Vince." he said as he took his air pods out of his ear, going for his phone.

Vince took a short bow and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Lily immediately felt uncomfortable. Being alone with this incredible handsome yet insensitive and rude boss of hers gave her the chills.

Asher placed his pods back in their case and turned to Lily.

"Glad you could make it." he said with a smile.

Lily almost fell for it, but she knew he was being sarcastic. "You gave me no choice."

"We all have a choice Lily, you chose to be here." he crossed his legs and leaned against the wall.

"So tell me, Lily," he called her name like he hated it. "Why are you here?" He looked at her with piercing eyes that made her swallow nervously.

Lily fought the urge to throw up the white flag and walk away, but her love of art was strong. It gave her the strength to tolerate the unemotional man that stood before her.

"I'm here because I live, eat and breathe art." she uttered with a sudden boost of confidence that she felt within her.

Asher watched her in silence. He was impressed with her response, but the last thing he was going to do was let her notice. "Bring me my bottle of water," he said to her. She instantly gave him a perplexed look.

"It's over there." he pointed in the direction of the bottle. Lily slowly followed his gaze to a half-empty bottle a few meters away.

She took in a deep breath before hesitantly going for it. When she got to it, she picked it up and began making her way towards Asher. He kept a straight face as she came up to him, handing him the bottle.

"Open it." he demanded.

Lily shot him another confused look. He wasn't doing anything with his hands, why did he want her to open it? Asher continued to look at her with expectant eyes. He fought the urge to showcase a demonic grin, well aware of what he was doing.

Soon enough, Lily realized he wasn't going to open it. Slowly, she began to turn the cover of the bottle, anticlockwise until it was completely open. She handed it to him but he continued to look into her eyes.

"Pour it over yourself." Asher's face didn't move as Lily's eyes widened.

"Excuse me?" she almost chuckled in disbelief at his request, but she saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"Like this," she heard him say and before she could react, he lifted the bottom of the bottle that was still in her hands, in her direction.

In seconds, Lily could feel the cold, wet feeling of the liquid, soaking her sky blue colored gown. Asher didn't take his eyes away from hers as he aided the bottle until all the contents were poured onto her dress. He could see the humiliation in her eyes but it didn't make him feel bad, instead he felt proud.

When the bottle was empty, Lily finally let go and it dropped to the wet floor below her.

"Are you happy now?" she whispered with a croaky voice. She could feel the tears gathering behind her eyes but she was determined not to let them fall.

Asher chuckled at her remark. He inched closer to her, stepping over the puddle of water that had formed out of water dripping from her gown. He looked even more intently at her, almost as if he wanted to see into her soul.

"I haven't even started Lily."