Ch. 351..355: Forbidden Heat R18 Chapter 351-355

Chapter 351: Reiner - Mastermind

When I lifted my head up from the table my headache had subsided and although nothing had changed about the situation, I felt better. That probably meant that I was now more mentally ready to accept it all. I sighed and leaned back on the chair. This chair felt comfortable; this wasn’t bad.

I scrunched up my face when I realized that Queen must have known something about this all along. I mean, there’s no way that she wouldn’t know Reiner’s code name. He’s her only son! I wondered if she planned all this and hoped that she didn’t. I prayed that this was all just a weird twist of fate or an unfortunate coincidence; however, deep down I knew that that probably wasn’t the case. This whole thing was orchestrated by the Queen...

I’m going to have a talk with her when I get back to mansion. It wasn’t like I could call her out on it and blame her directly. I’ve already declared that I will do well in this job right in front of Reiner too, so I couldn’t ask her to pull some strings to have my manager assignment switched. All in all, I’ll just be complaining for the sake of complaining. That’s all.

Although I worried endlessly on how to face him and work with him properly, it turned out that I didn’t get to see Reiner much on my first day at work. Around an hour after I met him, Reiner left his office without an explanation to me.

“Where are you going?” I asked when he walked past my desk.

Now I understood why the desk was located here. It’s so that the secretaries can see their boss walking in and walking out. Reiner can’t enter his office or leave it without me seeing him.

“I have to go out for work. You don’t have to come with me. Just stay here and go home...” he replied and then he was gone.

Well, that concludes my first day of work. My boss is now gone, and I had absolutely nothing to do for the day. I spent the whole day sitting around at my desk as I scrolled through my phone. If I still had my old credit cards, I would have spent so much money on online retail therapy already. Bored and feeling slightly irritated, I started texting Kat. I debated with myself if I should turn up to work at the bar or go home to confront Queen about this mess.

Then again, she might not have anything to do with it at all...

In the end, I decided to go home when the workday ended just like Reiner had told me to. I texted Kat to tell her that I wouldn’t be going in today. Instead, I promised to go in to help her out tomorrow. Work ended at 5PM and that was when I gathered my stuff and left the office. I turned up the radio as I drove back to the mansion. The traffic was terribly heavy, and the ride back took much longer than I had anticipated.

Welcome to the life of an office lady!

As I looked out at the endless traffic up ahead, I prayed that this wasn’t a usual occurrence. I bet that it was though. By the time I got back to the mansion, the sky was almost completely dark. After parking the car, I walked into the mansion to look for Queen. Apart from breaking it to her that ‘somehow’ Reiner ended up as my boss, I thought that I owed it to her to at least tell her how my first day of work went although there wasn’t much to update her on. That was because I didn’t do any work at all today. Period.

Whether it was fate or pure coincidence, I didn’t know, but I did bump right into Queen when I entered the mansion. She smiled and greeted me in her cheerful voice, and I found myself smiling back while wondering if there was something hidden behind her smile. This beautiful woman might turn out to be the biggest mastermind of all.

“How was your day at work? Wait...hold it. Let’s chat over some cakes on the sofa over there!” Queen said happily.

I watched as she walked away quickly into the living room. It was early in the evening but that still worked as time to have some cake for Queen. Cake it is, I thought as I followed her into the living room. She was already sitting at the sofa with a small plate of cake in hand. There was another plate of cake on the table opposite from where she was sitting. With a graceful gesture of her hand, she invited me to take the seat opposite her.

So much for coincidence and fate. This woman definitely planned everything including the cake.

“So, tell me...how was your first day at work?” Queen asked eagerly.

It felt like she wanted me to confirm something that she wanted to hear. I sighed softly.

“It was surprising, I guess. You see...it turned out that Knight, who’s my new boss, is actually Reiner. You know, he’s your son. Reiner is now my boss...” I said as clearly as possible while I watched her reaction.

To my surprise, she clapped her hands together and burst out laughing as if there was no tomorrow. The laughter echoed off the walls and she was almost in tears when she was done. She tried to compose herself after a while but was having a hard time doing so. Queen’s face was red from laughing so hard.

“S-Sorry...how you said that was just so funny!” she exclaimed before laughing some more.

I still honestly couldn’t understand what she found so funny; however, I decided to let her laugh all she wanted.

“Why did you tell me that you didn’t know who Knight was when I asked?” I asked while trying to keep my tone neutral and normal.

Chapter 352: Reiner - Second Day with Him

“Well, honestly, I thought you wouldn’t turn up to work if I told you that your new boss is Reiner. I don’t know what happened between you two, but I could tell that you were avoiding him like the plague,” Queen said followed by a depressed sigh.

She stuffed more cake into her mouth, and it looked like she was stress-eating. I followed her example and stuffed a large chunk of cake into my mouth and began chewing on it.

“Maybe you’re right. It’s ok though, I’ve decided to continue working even if he’s my boss. I’ll make sure to do my job well,” I stated firmly.

“It’s good to see that you’re so motivated and determined. I’m quite relieved. I was scared that you’ll just up and leave the island for good,” Queen said before smiling at me.

I watched Queen stab the cake with her fork while I wondered if she had anything to do with the manager and secretary pairing. There was a sure way to find out.

“Please tell me that you didn’t have anything to do with me being coincidentally paired up with Reiner,” I said as I narrowed my eyes slightly at her.

Queen looked at me with wide innocent eyes before shaking her head in denial.

“I did no such thing. Well, I did mention to someone in HR that your character might, you know ‘might’ be compatible with Knight...” Queen said before smiling slyly at me.

Now it was my turn to laugh at how meddlesome the lady sitting opposite to me was. I couldn’t blame her or get mad at her though. She helped me so much and I was sure that she had the right to have some fun. I wasn’t sure about my character being compatible with Reiner though...

“You’re so funny, Queen. Don’t worry, I’m not mad or anything. I was just curious. My first day at work went well although I didn’t get to do any real work,” I told her.

“Don’t worry. You’ll be busy soon enough. Reiner has been swamped with work since he started helping out at the company. He’s back home much later than before. I don’t know what time he’ll be back tonight...” Queen said lazily.

“Really? He mentioned that he had to go out and told me to go home...” I mumbled.

I felt a slight sense of guilt knowing that Reiner was working hard while I practically didn’t do anything today. I better help him out tomorrow...

“You’ll be working together with him now so try to get along, ok?” Queen said with a teasing smile.

She definitely planned this.

“I’ll try. You really caused a big problem for me...” I muttered.

“You can’t blame me. I don’t want some other man to snatch up my future daughter-in-law!” Queen said followed by a loud theatrical laugh.

I didn’t want to believe that she found this funny. This is no joke.

For a moment, I like the idea of having Queen as my mother. She’s an awesome mother for sure and I envied Reiner a little for having a mother like her. Some parts of her made me miss my mother. She reminded me of my mother in some respects.

It doesn’t really matter though. Reiner will be marrying his fiancée soon enough and I’ll probably be reporting to her on what he’s up to as his secretary. I found the thought of that depressing yet amusing at the same time. It was a strange mix of feeling.

“Hopefully, I’ll get invited to his wedding...” I mumbled softly.

Queen looked at me with a stunned expression on her face before her expression softened and she smiled at me gently without saying anything more.

...

The next morning, I woke up early with renewed energy and motivation. Today is going to be the day that I start proving to Reiner that I am great at my job. First mission was to arrive earlier than my boss at work. After all, what kind of secretary gets to the office after her boss does? Not my type.

I raced down the stairs with my heels in my hands to save time. When I reached the central living room, I spotted Queen sitting there on the sofa. She’s up so early. Why do I get the sense that it isn’t normal for her to be up this early?

“Morning!” I called out to greet her cheerfully.

“Wow. You’re going off to work already? So early...” Queen said.

“Yup, I don’t want to be late. You can’t underestimate rush hour traffic,” I replied with a smile.

“Good luck!” Queen called after me.

Deciding to leave the house early was the right choice because traffic was quite bad. Despite the heavy traffic, I arrived at the office ahead of schedule. The elevator was not packed which was a plus and I got up to Reiner’s office in no time at all.

I made it! I stood in front of the office doors as I concentrated on taking deep and relaxing breaths. Today’s my second day at work and I pray that it will be a productive day. I pushed the door opened firmly and my mouth hung open in shock.

“Why are you here so early?!” I asked, speaking louder than I had intended to.

Reiner turned around to look in my direction as I continued to stare at him in disbelief. Why is Reiner here so early? He’s not supposed to get here before me!

“Why? Did you think that managers would turn up to work straight on the mark of starting time and never before?” Reiner asked before grinning at me.

“Good morning,” I decided to reply instead of turning this conversation into an argument.

“Good morning, Natalia,” Reiner replied politely.

Somehow that ticked me off...

I put my stuff on the table as I watched Reiner walk through the door into his private office. Now what do I do? Reiner didn’t mention anything about my work for today. There’s got to be some work for me to do right? Why else would they hire me if there wasn’t any work for me to do?

Chapter 353: Reiner - Mini Disaster

Since I knew that sitting here wasn’t going to give me any answers, I decided to ask the man himself. I knocked on his door until he told me to ‘come in’. Reiner was sitting behind his desk when I entered his office.

“Umm...is there anything that I can help you out with today?” I asked as I stood in front of his desk.

“No,” Reiner replied without looking up from the document that he was reading.

He seemed busy enough. Was there really nothing that I could help him out with?

“How about some coffee...or tea?” I offered hesitantly.

Or me?

Ok, that’s an old joke that’s not funny in this situation. It wasn’t like I could play that joke on Reiner. I sighed at how useless I apparently was.

“Coffee...” he said without looking my way.

“Ok. Please wait a moment,” I replied enthusiastically.

The first task that my new boss gave to me was to make coffee. It wasn’t the most challenging job in the world, but I was glad to have something to do. I hoped that he would give me some real work after this though. I headed to the pantry to make him a cup of coffee.

I stood in front of the coffee machine without a clue of what to do. Of course, I knew pretty much how to use the machine to make coffee. The real issue was, I had just realized that I didn’t know how Reiner liked his coffee and I was so happy that he gave me a task that I forgot to ask. Would I look like a complete food if I went back to ask him for his preference now? Probably. He’s also busy working so that was probably a bad idea.

After debating various options with myself, I decided to go with making expresso. Plain and black. While I waited for the machine to do its job, I started feeling slightly depressed. I was already aware that I knew very little about Reiner, but this reminder was a harsh blow. Unlike how Reiner knew so much about me and my preferences, I didn’t know anything about his at all.

Placing the cup of coffee on a small tray, I made my way back to his office. If I didn’t know anything about his preferences, now was the perfect time to start finding out and studying up on that. I’m his secretary now so it was the perfect opportunity to get to know Reiner. That is if he’s even willing to open up himself to me...even if just a little...

I knocked on the door of his office and soon he beckoned for me to come in. Balancing a coffee tray while pushing the heavy door open proved to be quite a challenge but I managed.

“Here’s a cup of coffee for you,” I said before smiling at him.

Carefully, I placed the coffee cup onto his table. Honestly, I had a feeling that Reiner wouldn’t like the coffee that I made even though it usually lived up to many people’s standards. Reiner was still working and didn’t pay any attention to me or the coffee that I had placed on the table. The silence between us made me feel nervous. I knew that he was busy, but it just felt like I wasn’t there anymore because he did not acknowledge my presence.

“R...sorry, Knight, is there something that I can help you with?” I asked in a small voice.

A few seconds past by until finally, Reiner put down the document that he was reading and glanced up my way. I pursed my lips together anxiously as his eyes glanced down to the coffee cup that I had served. Slowly, he picked up the cup and sniffed the coffee. If I had to describe the look on his face, I would say that he looked suspicious of the content in the cup.

If he wasn’t my boss right now, I would love to tell him outright that it wasn’t poisoned or anything, so it was fine for him to at least take a sip. However, since he was my boss, I decided to hold my tongue.

“The coffee smells off...” Reiner said coldly.

The coffee cup returned to the table with a small thud where I knew that it would be left untouched until either I clear it away or the maid does. What does he even mean by it smells ‘off’? The coffee wasn’t fancy, but it was at least passable. There is nothing ‘off’ about it!

Reiner didn’t even bother to reply to my question earlier about work. He was now busy reading another report, this time off of his computer screen. By that time, I’ve had enough of his cold treatment and figured that I didn’t have a place in his office. I bowed my head slightly and turned to leave the room silently.

Well, that was a mini disaster on its own.

I flopped down onto my chair and allowed depressing thoughts to flood my head for a moment. I couldn’t help but wondered if the other girls in my batch had a boss as cold as mine and then I realized that they probably didn’t. Reiner didn’t seem to need me for anything and although it was my second day at work, I still didn’t know what his job was exactly.

Seeing that there was nothing for me to do, I decided to make my way to the secretarial department. Maybe the woman from earlier would have something for me to do to kill the time. I felt like I could do anything at that point in time. I could photocopy stuff, make some more coffee, or run random errands. Anything to make me feel like my existence was useful.

After helping out with random tasks, lunch time finally arrived. I wondered if Reiner was still working. As if led by instinct, I made my way back to Reiner’s office to check up on him. I hoped that he’s not too busy with work to forget pausing to have lunch.

Chapter 354: Reiner - Impossible to Please

After a few knocks on the door of Reiner’s office, I finally got a reply that I could go in to the see him. Just as I had suspected, Reiner was still working and have not left the office for lunch. I walked in to see him still busy going through some documents on his desk.

“Umm...R, I mean, Knight...are you going to take a lunch break?” I asked.

“No, I’ll eat later...” Reiner replied without looking at me.

He used to tell me that skipping meals and not eating on time was bad but now he’s doing all of those things. I sighed softly while I thought about how to get him to eat lunch. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had the same thoughts while he was working for me as my butler. He took care of me so well...

I guess I should try harder too.

“Do you want something? I can go buy it for you...” I offered before smiling at him.

Buying lunch for him should be a safe enough option because I didn’t cook it so he couldn’t complain much about the quality of the food. It wasn’t like I could cook anyways, and I wasn’t about to bother trying.

“Ok...” Reiner mumbled.

Wow. He actually accepted my offer. It was very surprising, but I found myself smiling a little to myself.

“What do you want to eat? I’ll buy it for you,” I asked cheerfully.

“Anything...” Reiner replied, his eyes still glued to his work.

“Ok...” I replied softly.

I’m his secretary now so I should at least be able to figure out what he wants to eat for lunch. There were a few cafes and restaurants in the building and some more restaurants around here. Maybe when I see the options available, I’ll get a better idea of what Reiner might want for lunch.

...

At least that was what I thought at first. However, when I arrived at the restaurants in the building, the choices overwhelmed me, and my mind thought up so many scenarios that just made it harder to decide. If I buy something from the building, would he get bored of it because maybe he’s eaten it so many times already? What food does he want? Western? Asian? This fried stuff looks good, but will it be too heavy for lunch?

This is so difficult...

Looking at the time, I was shocked at how much time had already passed by and I still haven’t made up my mind. That was when I realized that I didn’t have to make up my mind. After all, I could diversify my risks and order a couple of options instead.

By the time I was done food shopping, I had around four options available from different restaurants and different cuisines. Seriously, Reiner has to like at least one of them. At least, one of them has got to be edible on his standards. I didn’t even bother to buy any food for myself, I’ll just eat whatever he didn’t choose. It was that simple, plus, I wasn’t even very hungry.

“Knight...” I called his name softly as I peeked into his office.

It was like time had been frozen here because Reiner was sitting in the same place and doing the exact same thing that he was doing before I left to buy him some food. I brought the bags of food into the room and placed it on the coffee table located in the middle of the large sofa set.

“Umm...Knight, your food is here. I didn’t know what you wanted so I bought a couple of options...” I said in a small voice.

Reiner didn’t reply and he didn’t look up at me. I sat on the sofa as I waited for him to finish working. I wondered what he was working on and why he was so busy. If I asked him, would he tell me?

After around 15 minutes, Reiner finally looked up from his work. I had to say that he had a very tired look on his face. If I had to guess, I’d say that he hasn’t been getting enough sleep for many days now and it was probably because of his work. All the more reason why he has to eat and then hopefully get some rest. Without knowing it, I had begun to worry so much about Reiner, his healthy and everything else about him.

“Ready for a break? I bought you so much food,” I said as I stood up from the sofa and approached him.

Reiner got up from his seat and I quickly led him to the sofa. I felt strangely excited to have lunch with him and maybe it was because it had been a while since we’ve spent some time alone like this. Feeling a little nervous, I wasn’t sure what to say to him but the silence between us was so awkward that I knew that I had to say something.

“I didn’t know what you wanted to eat so I bought a couple of options for you to choose from,” I said before smiling sweetly at him.

Reiner’s eyes scanned the food that I had laid out with complete disinterest before a frowned formed between his brows. I could tell that he wasn’t pleased with what he was seeing, and my heart sank.

“If you don’t like what I bought, you can tell me what you want, and I’ll go buy it for you now...” I quickly suggested as I got out of my seat.

“You bought too much food needlessly. Why are you wasting food this way? This place isn’t like where you come from so you can’t just waste things carelessly like this,” Reiner scolded me harshly.

Honestly, even if what I did was wrong or not to his liking, I never expected for him to scold me this way. I bit my lips as an uncomfortable lump formed in my throat. My chest felt tight, and it started to hurt. It wasn’t like I didn’t know what to say or how to respond. It was the complete opposite, I had so much that I wanted to say that I didn’t know how to put it all into the right words.

Was my mistake so grave or was it just because it was me?

Chapter 355: Reiner - Cheer Me Up

In the end, I decided not to say what was on my mind. It wasn’t because I was afraid to hear his response, but it was because I already knew what he would say, and I just didn’t want him to tell me to go home again.

“I’m very sorry. Please enjoy your meal...” I said politely as I kept my eyes down and my head hung low.

I turned and left the room before he could say anything. There was nothing for me to do in the afternoon, so I killed some more time helping out with random tasks at the secretarial office. Maybe if things continue this way, I’ll just become a general clerk without a manager as my boss which wasn’t at all too bad.

By the time that the workday was over, I was too depressed to stay another minute in the office building. Thankfully, I had work at the bar tonight. Talking to Kat and just working would probably make me feel better. After grabbing my stuff, I was on my way to the bar. Just getting in the car eased my stress considerably. There was nothing wrong with the job that I had but my relationship with Reiner couldn’t be more strained. I might be taking my own side, but I believed that I’ve done my best.

I spoke politely, I smiled, I was sincere, and I tried my best at everything...

“You’re here early...” Kat said with widened eyes as I walked in through the door.

“Yeah...” I replied vaguely.

“Is everything ok?” she asked as if she could sense how blue I was feeling.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” I replied a little too confidently.

“I hope that it’ll be an easy night for us tonight. It’s been too busy around here lately,” Kat said wistfully.

“I hope so too...” I replied with a smile.

After doing the necessary prep work as per the routine, we were ready to open for the night. To Kat’s delight, she got what she wished for. The bar was far from empty, but it wasn’t crazy packed like most nights. The flow of customer was light, and we could enjoy interacting with our customers more and didn’t have to rush through everything like our house was on fire all the time. It was a nice pace and I wished we would get to experience it more often.

“I was wondering if you can suggest some good places to rent an apartment?” I asked when we had a spare moment together behind the bar counter.

“I thought you already had a place? You’re looking for a new one?” Kat asked curiously.

“Yeah. I’ve been taking advantage of Queen too much and now that I have a job plus this job here too, I was thinking that it’s about time that I rent out my own place,” I replied.

“Guess you’re right about that. Living alone is probably more comfortable. Want to come live in my building? I also know a couple of other places if you’re looking for something closer to the business district though...” Kat replied thoughtfully.

“I would prefer somewhere close to the business district. You live around here, right?” I asked.

“Guess my building is no good then. It’s close to here but quite far from the business district. I’ll text you some options later,” Kat promised.

“Thanks. You’re such a big help!” I thanked her before pulling her into a squeeze.

“You can thank me by delivering these...table 9,” Kat said as she pushed a tray of food my way.

I rolled my eyes at her but did exactly like she asked. Working made me feel better about myself especially since I’ve been quite useless at the office for two days in a row now. On my way back from serving table 9, I bumped into Charles.

“Natalia...” he called my name and smiled.

“Oh, hi...” I greeted him with a smile too.

“This place is less crowded today,” Charles said casually as he looked around.

“It is. It’s kinda nice this way too,” I replied before inviting him over to a free table.

“Join me?” Charles invited with a warm smile.

“If you buy me a drink,” I replied teasingly.

“I’ll buy you more than a drink,” he replied seriously.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little before heading away to grab the menu. Kat was waiting for me with a wicked gleam in her eyes when I returned to the bar counter.

“Mister boyfriend is here again,” Kat hissed excitedly.

“He’s not my boyfriend...” I hissed back.

“Yet. Honestly, I don’t know why you two are moving along so slowly...” Kat said with clear annoyance.

“It’s not what you think...” I mumbled.

Kat doesn’t know about why I’m really here on the island or anything about Reiner and perhaps it was better to keep it that way. It was hard to explain my relationship with Reiner right now as well. He’s my...I don’t even know how to describe it in words...

That in itself was just so depressing that I didn’t want to think about it even for a second more.

“Apply some more lipstick. Get ready to pucker up for a kiss...haha!” Kat teased as she brought out a lipstick and shoved it in my face.

“Stop that! I’m going now...Charles is waiting,” I muttered before turning to leave.

Charles greeted me with another warm smile as I approached him. I gave him the menu and took the seat next to him at the table. Usually, I wouldn’t do this with other customers, but Charles was different. I guess he had somehow found a way to get closer to me. Whatever it was, was slowly working its magic on me because I felt a little closer to him already. It wasn’t like I was in love with him, but it felt quite comforting to be around him.

“What do you want?” Charles asked.

“Oh, I’m not allowed to eat while I’m working. I could drink though,” I replied.

“You can eat. I’ll let Jamie know...” Charles replied like there was nothing to be concerned about.

“If you say so...” I mumbled hesitantly.

I wasn’t hungry though so in the end, I ordered some appetizers to go along with a cocktail that Charles chose for me.