I changed the chapter name

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Favor

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Chapter 4: Favor (Rowan's POV)

"Why haven't you been answering the phone?" Nate asked as soon as I picked up the receiver and brought it to my ear.

"I was on a conference call with clients, Nate. What is it?" I asked, closing the document I finished working on.

"I got a call from Mr. Michaels earlier today."

I paused, clicking my pen shut and placing it on top of the papers in front of me. "Grandpa's lawyer?" I questioned.

"Yeah. He was asking when we were available to meet him to receive and go through the will that grandpa left behind. He was told to wait six months and now that time has passed, he needs to reveal the will and we need to meet him together to understand it. Are you free tomorrow for lunch?"

"Let me check." I pulled up my schedule for this month on the computer, putting the phone on speaker with the button. "Yeah. I'm free for lunch tomorrow. Let's call him over, we can meet in one of our offices."

"All right. I'll have Lucas tell him," he said, referring to his assistant of the past eight months.

I didn't even have an assistant yet and that was a separate issue but Nate on the other hand? His assistants never stuck around. Because Leo wouldn't let them.

It's an unspoken part of an assistant's employment contract that they have to do a few personal tasks for their boss and for whoever Nate's assistant may be, that includes taking some care of Leo.

I've suggested getting a babysitter or nanny in the past but Nate strongly refuses, saying he doesn't want somebody else raising his son for him and that's understandable, but as much as Leo has my whole heart, however much of it exists anyway, even I have to admit that he's a handful. He especially had problems in the past with all of Nate's female assistants.

Nate's ex-girlfriend, Maya, got pregnant with Leo when they were still together and it was completely unplanned. They both were horrified. They would argue all the time but they were together all the time too. They had to be because Nate didn't completely trust Maya to take care of herself or the life inside of her. It took a long time for them to sit and talk everything out. Maya didn't want a child and Nate never forced her to keep the baby; he left the decision up to her.

But he couldn't keep himself from telling her that if she chose to keep the baby, he would be there no matter what. After one point, he wanted that baby and Maya seemed to have accepted it and she looked so willing to raise a kid with Nate. But within a month of Leo being born, she left Nate and Leo with him, saying she wanted nothing to do with either one of them.

Leo was still just a baby in our eyes and even he understood that he didn't have someone to call 'mom' but when a woman who merely worked for Nate tried doing all those things he saw his friends' mothers doing, it angered him more than anything. He didn't like being taken care of by any woman who acted like a mother and it complicated everything. He never got too friendly with any woman Nate introduced him to.

Except for Evie. Because even when Evie takes care of him like he was her own, to him, she was a friend, nothing more, nothing less. And he loved her.

"I'm leaving the office now," Nate said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Did Leo go home already?"

"Yeah. Mr. David took him home. I'll see you tomorrow, don't work too late."

"Yeah. See you, bye." I hung up the phone and continued working, deciding to stay just a little longer. I went to take a break in the coffee room a few minutes later and on the way there, I saw that all the lights in the main office were off except the one above Evie's desk and that little pink lamp on her desk that Leo put a Minnie Mouse sticker on for her. But she wasn't in the room. I pulled my rolled sleeves up and loosened the tie a bit more as I entered the room and saw Evie standing there, waiting for the kettle to boil the water so she could make herself some tea.

She looked up as I walked in and gave no reaction, leaning against the counter. She sighed softly to herself and rubbed her eyes a bit before massaging her neck.

I grabbed a mug and a packet of coffee while watching her. "What's wrong, Ms. Spencer?"

"You just always have something to say, don't you?"

I bit back a chuckle, stopping right before her, pocketing my hands and lifting my brows.

She held my gaze and pulled herself up, sitting on the counter, so much frustration and anger in her eyes for me.

I was familiar with it. It had come to grow on me, the hatred we shared for each other, the constant need to bicker and argue. I looked forward to it after a certain point in time and in the years I spent in Russia for college, dare I say, I even missed it a little. Not her, just angering her.

We were unknowingly having a staring contest.

"Am I working you too hard?" I smirked, stepping forward until her knees brushed against my torso.

"No," she shook her head, "there's nothing I can't handle when it comes to you. I've been tolerating you for nineteen years, haven't I?"

"Fifteen," I corrected, "I was in Russia for four years, remember?"

"Oh, how could I forget?" She smiled fakely. "I had four years of peace and that was it."

"And then here I was?"

"Mm-hmm. Creating havoc in my life all over again."

I watched her for a moment before stepping away and making my coffee while she made her tea. "Don't fall asleep at your desk," I reminded her before leaving, catching a glimpse of her flipping me off as I walked out.

Two more hours. I was there for two more hours finishing work, reviewing reports, contracts, answering more emails, and it was so fucking exhausting. Sometimes, I hate working like this. Other times, I understand that it's a responsibility that I have to see through till the end.

I was finally on my way out when I noticed that the lights were still on at her desk. "What the hell is she still doing?" I asked myself as I walked to the door with my blazer draped over my arm. I walked in but couldn't spot her again. Only when I got to her table did I realize she was right under my nose, asleep with her arms and head on the table, facing away from me. I sighed, throwing my head back and closing my eyes.

If grandpa saw that I was making her work overtime, he would have murdered me.

"You'll hurt your back sleeping like that," I said. Nothing, no response. "Evie."

She hummed sleepily, facing me now. I opened my mouth to say more but stopped when I looked at her. She had a small frown between her eyebrows, a little pout on her lips, her cheeks a little pinker than usual, and hair that fell over her eyes, slipping out of the bun she kept it in. Glancing under the table, I noticed her heels were off, kicked in the opposite directions, her legs were dangling in the air, only her toes reaching the floor. And under her head were the piles of papers and files that I gave her earlier.

I knew she couldn't have finished it all by today. That's why I assigned her all this work.

Beside the old files were a stack of reports that had to be submitted tomorrow. I picked up the first one, skimming through it. They were all complete, she finished the important work first yet still stayed back for the bullshit I told her to do. I looked at her computer which was still glowing brightly with a Google document open where she was typing the next report. She only had two left.

I glanced at my watch before running a hand through my hair in annoyance. "Fucking hell." Draping my blazer on the back of her chair, I grabbed the seat from the desk beside hers and pulled it up to her, grabbing the wireless keyboard for the iMac and pulled it in front of me, typing as fast I could while referring to the sheets of data, that I don't even know where she found.

Shit, there was so much to do in these reports. Finding the numbers, making calculations, drawing up charts and diagrams, writing one big long essay-like report that didn't just summarize but even compared the data to the other files. "Fuck," I groaned softly even I typed, my vision going a bit blurry before I blinked the sleep out of my eyes. I had already passed my time of doing this, I'd done everything that she does now when I first joined Volkov Enterprises.

Yet here I am doing it again, for her.

Within forty-five minutes, I finished the first report and in another forty-five, the second. I opened her email and took all the documents, sending them to myself. The task wasn't totally useless, it could really help with future projects, so I would look at the other reports whenever I got the time.

Leaning back in the chair, I rubbed the back of my neck before reaching over and flicking her lamp off. Shaking my head at her, I stood up, putting the chair back and taking my coat. I walked out without waking her up but called her cellphone once I was in the elevator so the phone would wake her up.

A few bells later, she answered. "Hello?" Her voice came out hoarse and soft.

"I got all the reports that you emailed me. I'm surprised you could finish them by tonight as I asked. Don't take so long next time, I don't always check my emails at this hour, Ms. Spencer." I walked out of the elevator and towards my car. There was no point in telling her that I did two of them for her. It wouldn't change anything. It was better to let her think she did them on her own. It was like doing a favor for her without her knowing about it. That's all it was. A little favor.

She could do it if she tried, she was just too exhausted.

She better do it herself next time.

"I did?" She cleared her throat, sounding surprised while I heard the clicking of her computer keyboard. "I did," she stated this time. "I fell asleep, when did I finish these?"

"Maybe in your sleep," I replied, unlocking the car and getting in.

"Oh," she paused for a beat. "Okay."

I started the car, only to click my tongue and turn it back off. "You should leave the office and get a cab."

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm on my way out. I'll see you tomorrow." And then she hung up.

I contemplated waiting down here in my car but decided not to and left.

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Chapter 4

I'm probably going to update more especially today because I didn't get a lot of time to write on that trip so now I'm making up for lost time lol

next chapter: conditions

Can y'all comment now?? I got messages saying wattpad was glitching!!!