章 23: Cold Boss

Nicole got to work quite late today. When she arrived at the company, she made her way straight to the boss's office.

"KNOCK! KNOCK!"

"Come in "She heard the deep voice behind the door and opened it. She entered the office and greeted.

"Good morning, Mr.Stark." she saw how his face was hidden behind the file in his hands.

Hearing Nicole's voice, Xander lowered the file in his hands to look at Nicole for the briefest moment before he brought it back in front of him and greeted back."Good morning Miss Nicole, how are you doing today?" his words came out empty, void of any concern. Simply professional.

"I'm doing great, Sir." she responded, and seeing Xander wait for her to speak as to why she was in his office, she said

"It is about Lea, She won't be able to make it to work today. I'm afraid she's feeling under the weather and cannot make it to work," she informed her boss.

Xander raised his perfect brows slightly behind the file and said,

"I was wondering why she was running late today."Xander clicked his tongue. Not bothering to ask about her condition, he waved his hand for Nicole to leave.

Nicole was dumbfounded, slightly angry that Xander had not asked how Lea was doing, especially when she thought it was because of him that she was sick. She was always working hard trying to mark perfect in Xander's eyes. He had bombarded her with so much work, letting her accompany him to several places, all in the name of work. Lea stressed herself too much, Nicole thought in her mind as she walked out of her boss's office annoyed.

Work had been tedious for all the employees of the Stark Company today. Xander made them do extra work, to fill in for Lea's absence. He did everything so smoothly only stressing his workers further as if Lea's absence today didn't even matter.

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At home, Lea was feeling much better with her mom who had tendered for her like she was a little child. Right now she was having some green tea in the living room where her mom said it would help with her fever before stepping out with her father. The door of the room opened and in came Nicole from work looking tired and weary.

"Welcome back, Nicole. How was work today?"

Lea inquired seeing that her sister looked quite famished. She continued sipping on the tea. Nicole plunged herself onto the sofa near Lea.

"Work today was so tiresome in your absence. Without you there, intelligently planning and arranging everything accordingly, all the work fell on us. I hope you are feeling much much better now Lea because I cannot bear another single day in that office without you there. Especially with that cold boss of ours who didn't even bother to inquire about you."Nicole blabbered on while a chuckle escaped from Lea's throat.

"You should know by now that Mr.Stark doesn't joke with his work and he isn't quite concerned about anyone except for his business. I'm sure it wasn't that bad."Lea said to Nicole who only chuckled at her words.

"You're right sis. He cares for no one but himself and his business. Where are mom and dad?"Nicole asked seeing that her parents were not home.

"They just stepped out for a moment to take a walk, I'm sure they'll be back soon."Lea replied and Nicole nodded.

"I should go change," Nicole said and stood up walking towards their room. Lea hummed to her sister's words while finishing her green tea.