Chapter 42: FORTY ONE (Inspection day)
By the time Mia's senses returned, everyone had taken their places on a straight line, leaving her the only one standing at the entrance of the changing room, with her work clothes in hand. At the same time, the elevator doors swung open and Ethan walked out in a gray suit with George walking smartly behind him, and somehow it was all happening in slow motion, so Mia couldn't help but keep staring.
As he walked down the hall, with both hands in his pocket with a poker face on his perfect face, he looked even more handsome than ever, plus there was this aura of perfection and authority that followed him in.
"Miss Anderson." He began coldly as he came to a halt in front of her,
"Is there something on my face?" He asked stiffly as he corked his head to the left,
"Huh?" Mia replied vaguely, as her heart suddenly quickened,
"Why are you still holding your work clothes, do you not have a work station?" He added,
"I....I—"
"Ahh, and suddenly, you're dumb." He sneered as he folded his arms.
Luckily, Mr. Fisher and Miss Lin was quick to come to her rescue,
"Sorry about Mia, Sir. I'm sure she's totally flustered to see you here, we all are." Miss Lin chuckled nervously,
"And why's that, didn't I say I was going to be visiting the Hotel two days a week to inspect how things are going?" He said looking directly at Mia,
"Or did you forget? Seems you are great at forgetting things easily! You'll probably forget your home address one day!" He snapped while Mia swallowed hard,
' Home address? Is he just being paranoid' Mia thought.
"…Sir Pardon Miss Anderson poor memory, she's not always like this. And also, you said you would be coming on Thursday." Mr. Fisher tried to reason with him.
"Well I'm here now. I decided not to wait until after Christmas." Turning to Miss Lin with a straight look, he said, "Please tell Miss Anderson here to head to her station."
"Yes Sir." Miss Lin nodded as she nudged Mia in the direction of kitchen.
"Hey, get a grip of yourself Maya." She whispered, "You brought this upon us all."
Mia reached the kitchen and at the same Christian gave her a concerned look,
"Are you okay?" he questioned as he walked up to her,
"Yeah." She nodded with a small smile.
Unfortunately, Ethan walked in at that moment. He marched to them and came to halt in between Mia and Christian, blocking their view of each other.
"Mr. Fisher." He called out to the man, who had been diligently following him around,
"Why are these two working together, they had an after party in which they both attended together, right? Are they aware of the company's strict "no company dating rule? Do you know that when two employees date, it reduces productivity, time is wasted on irrelevant matters, and money is lost!" He snapped as he corked his head at Mr. Fisher.
"Sir, I…I—"
"You!" He snapped at Christian,
"Me?"
"No, me." He sneered,"…You're the head chef of this kitchen! Do you think now is the time to be doing this—"
"With all due respect Sir, as the head chef of this kitchen, it is my duty to be concerned with the wellbeing of my entire team, from the highest to the lowest, and that includes Miss Anderson here, Sir." He retorted,
Ethan scoffed,
"Well that ends now."
"You. Pause." He suddenly stopped a moving waiter, with his sharp glare still focused on Christian, he asked, "What's your name?"
"I'm Riley, Sir." He managed to say,
"Good. From now on Riley, you will handle whatever responsibility Miss Anderson has had and she will return to the housekeeping team where she came from in the first place. Are we clear?"
"Yes sir!" Riley replied,
"Are we clear, Miss Anderson?"
"…Yes sir." Mia fumed.
"Good." Turning to Miss Lin, he said, "Now shall we begin the tour?"
---
"…Ugh, my head and back hurts from cleaning and cleaning all day, what did I do to deserve this." Tracey complained as she bowed on the table.
"And here I was thinking I was the only one who felt trapped, I couldn't even take a piss, I had to wait till lunch break, my bladder hurts." Betty added as she took a slice of the fries on their table.
"Everyone keeps asking what I did to piss the man off." Mia added as she poured herself a cup of soda. "What kind of company crushes a person's soul like that, poor Riley…First his culinary dreams, now a dishwasher?"
They were currently at the diner, having dinner on Christian's treat who was simply listening to all their complaints; apparently, he seemed unfazed about all that had happened in the day.
"…You know, I had to search up his name on the internet, do you know his family owns a MHC company that manages a broad portfolio of hotels and resorts…I heard they own several hotels outside the country—"
"Then isn't he supposed to be a very busy business man, why does he give a shit about a small subsidiary group like us." Mia retorted.
'I spent a whole week with him without knowing these things.' She thought.
"But when exactly did he make that crazy decision to be at the hotel twice a week, I was in the meeting the entire time." Mia murmured,
"Right after you totally ignored him." Christian told her,
"What! Me? Ignored him?—"
"He asked you a question, Mia." Betty sighed tiredly,
"And all you did was stare into space like a lifeless zombie." Tracey raised her head and told her.
"Aren't zombies already lifeless, Ash?"
"Technically, they're not." She drawled,
"Ohh! Miss Lin was right, I brought this upon us all!"
"I knew I should have kept my big mouth shut!" Mia sighed,
"You should be grateful, you weren't dropped, he dropped Brenda, a staff under me, he said her cleaning skills were like that of a two year old." Betty told them. "Oh goodness, and here I was, excited to work with Mr. CEO, now I feel like I'm walking on eggshells—"
"More like hard rocks." Tracey murmured,
Betty let out a small sigh and told them,
"It's true what they say; never meet your heroes, or your CEO's."
"But come to think of it Mia, why were you staring at him like when he walked into the office!" Tracey suddenly snapped."…I heard he was very specific about you in the kitchen."
"You heard Miss Lin, she was totally flustered." Betty said,
"Tch! Flustered my foot!—"
"You're just being paranoid Trace." Betty said.
"The man had the intentions of bullying us today."
"I guess you're right." Tracey murmured,
"This is the first time, I'm so not looking forward to go to work." Betty said.
"We're going to get an earful on Monday." Mia told them,
"Look on the bright side, we get to be off duty for Christmas, and that's in few days."
"Mr. Oh is right, that's something to look forward to instead." Betty said.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone