FAITH

I awoke to Jocelyn's alarm, all the way from her room. I got up in frustration and turned it off. I yelled at her to wake up. She got up, lazily. I commanded her to awake Hope. Then, I jumped inside the shower.

I wore my clothes and applied light makeup. I don't know if I mentioned this already, but I'm not too much in favor of makeup. It feels so heavy on the face.

I grabbed my bag and went to the kitchen. Hope had made breakfast for us: blueberry muffins and raspberry smoothies. Both girls kissed me good morning and we sat down to eat.

Today, I was the first one to leave the apartment. I got to Hamond Inc 20 minutes early. I signed in and went to my office.

As soon as I sat down, my office phone started ringing.

"Ms. Lange, Mr. Hamond asked me to call you the moment you entered the firm. Please, give his office a visit." said a woman from the other side of the phone. I still didn't know who was who in this company.

Before I could give my answer, she hung up. I rolled my eyes and walked to Mr. Hamond's room. His PA wasn't even here, yet.

Absentmindedly, I entered the room without knocking. He was expecting me, after all. Besides, who else would pay him a visit at this early in the morning.

"Ms. Lange. Sit down." He ordered me.

I sat down and looked at the coffee table in front of me. Somehow, I couldn't look at him. My gaze was averted elsewhere.

"Correct me if I'm wrong -which I'm not- but your shift ends at 7:30."

I nodded.

"Explain why you left earlier, then?" he commanded.

I was getting annoyed. Yes, he was my boss. He could question me all he wanted. But, does he not remember that he was the one that made me wait for an hour for no reason? I rolled my eyes, confidence was quickly building inside of me.

I looked up at him and it is then I took in all his features.

Damn, he was hot.

He had chocolate brown eyes that diverted to hazel as his pupils got bigger. His face was absolutely beautiful. He had a jawline that could act as a blade. He looked about 6'2, or maybe a little taller. His body was definitely built and muscular.

"Ms. Lange?" he asked for me.

"Excuse me, Mr. Hamond but you left yesterday telling me you would 'be back.' I waited for about an hour for you. After realizing that you were probably not coming back, I took my stuff and left the office. Surely you can imagine the frustration of waiting on someone for an exceeding amount of time. Oh, sorry. I forgot. You probably never wait, seeing that your only purpose here is to boss people around. If you were to wait even a second, you probably fire them, don't you? Besides, I am way earlier then the time I'm supposed to come. I think that should make up to it." I remarked.

Oh, god. Whoa. What the fuck?! I can be such a bitchhh! Please, don't fire me.

"I did come back." he stated. He was clearly angry but he kept it in. This was not good, as usually, people who kept their anger in struck back more forcefully.

"I saw you leaving the office. I didn't have to come back. I could've called my PA to notify you that I wasn't coming back. I only came back for my nephew. I need to win this case, do you understand? And, I don't have time to hire another lawyer in time. Or else, I would fire you for sure. Now, go back to work and I suggest you teach that mouth of yours to learn when to talk. By the way, coming in earlier today just because you left early yesterday doesn't make it up. The system doesn't work like that. You may leave." he continued explaining, expressing each word in a harsher tone than the one before.

I was awestruck. How could he be so rude?

You should've kept your mouth shut.

I sighed.

"I said you may leave." Mr. Hamond, repeated in annoyance.

"One more thing." I stated, to which Mr. Hamond rolled his eyes, "I need to talk with your nephew."

"Why would you need to do that?" he asked.

"Excuse me, again, Mr. Hamond. Do I question your styles of work? Or, your authority? Please, leave me be and let me do my job."

"I'll take care of it. You may leave."

I rolled my eyes. This guy was frustrating me. I went back to my office and continued my work. Soon, I got an email about the meeting with Mr. Hamond's nephew.

From: Linda Rendall
Subject: Meeting with Gabriel Lane

Hello Ms. Lange,

My name is Linda Rendall. I am Mr. Hamond's PA. Mr. Hamond has requested me to arrange a meet-up with you and Gabriel Lane. You will meet with him today, for lunch, at The Capital Grille. Mr. Hamond is strict about bringing up the car crash. Please do not mention it to Gabriel. He is still a bit traumatized about the recent events. Thank you.

Mrs. Rendall

Wow, she is married? I thought she would be the type to occasionally hook up with Mr. Hamond.

Stop judging, Fei!

I looked at the time. There was about half an hour before lunch. I cleaned up the mess of papers in front of me and grabbed my bag. Driving to The Capital Grille, I gave the receptionist Mr. Hamond's name. A waitress led me to a table. Within minutes, a body guard with a cute little kid beside him, appeared by our table.

"You must be Gabriel?" I asked him.

"Yes." replied the little boy, softly.

He sat down while the body guard sat down on the table behind us.

We hit it off, great. I made him laugh and we talked about superheroes.

We finally got our food and dug in. The once loud restaurant fell in silence as the door flung open. A familiar body went inside and gazed upon the tables. Once his eyes landed on me, he walked towards us.

"Uncle Mace!" yelled Gabe, running to my boss and hugging him.

Mr. Hamond laughed and hugged him back. He looked so cute while smiling. I literally wanted to join in on the hug.

Gabe held Mr. Hamond's hand and walked him to our table.

"Look, Uncle, this is Faith. She let's me call her Fei. But, only I get to call her that." Gabe introduced us.

"Yes, I know -uh- FeiFei?." replied Mr. Hamond, trying to come up with a nickname.

I chuckled at his failing attempt to come up with a nickname for me.

Gabe took out his tongue, snickering, "Ha-ha, you couldn't come up with a nickname!"

Mr. Hamond chuckled, as did I.

We sat down and continued eating. Gabe and I continued our convo from before. I had completely forgotten Mr. Hamond was there.

"So... Gabe, how old are you?" I asked.

"I'm almost 7." he replied.

"Where you born here in North Carolina?" I asked.

He shook his head up and down, vigorously.

"Wow! It's very beautiful here." I remarked.

"What about you?" Mr. Hamond asked me.

"I've lived in Hoboken, New Jersey all my life." I replied.

"Oh, that's cool. I went there for a year to attend a private school. Maybe you've heard of it, The Hudson School?" he asked me.

"What the f--heck? I went to Hudson School..?" I replied, replacing "fuck" with "heck" as I eyed Gabriel.

"No way. Faith Langer? It doesn't really ring a bell..."

"What did you say your full name was?" I asked.

"Mason. Mason Liam Hamond." he replied.

Hmm..?

"Um.. My middle name is Joy and I have a twin sister if that rings a bell." I informed, trying to think really hard.

"Wait a minute. Misery?"

"LiLi?"

This couldn't be happening.