Page 39 of My Boss

“I asked you, what are you doing here?” Engler walks closer.

I stand unmoving, staring at his freshly shined shoes, and I don’t dare raise my eyes.

“It is not what you think.”

“And what do you think I think?”

“That I was trying to open up your attaché case.”

“Were you?”

“No, I wasn’t!” I lift my gaze and meet the stare of his gray eyes. And I’m surprised. And that’s because they don’t hurl lightning bolts at me, don’t accuse me of being a thief, but look at me questioningly and with curiosity. I swallow. “I just stumbled over it, it fell over, I wanted to put it upright and then you walked in unexpectedly.”

“Unexpectedly?”

“Surprisingly. Suddenly.”

“It’s 7:00 a.m. I start work at this time every day. This is my office. The only thing unexpected about it is that I found you kneeling under my desk.”

“Not under the desk, but at the desk,” I specify because kneeling under the boss’s desk definitely does not sound good.

“Right. At my desk, with my attaché case in your hands.”

“Well, I was just—” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It looks bad. Disastrous, even. “I just wanted to leave you the computer and my notice.”

Jan’s eyebrows shoot upward.

“Your what?”

“My notice.” I retreat to the other side of the desk, take my laptop, mouse (goodbye, friend), and documents out of the box and put them on the countertop. “I have packed my things. I will not bother you anymore. Have a nice day.” I don’t look at him, I just take the cardboard box, take a step back and at the same moment the bottom cracks and the entire contents of the box land on the floor.

“Well fuck me.” I clench my jaws until it hurts.

I crouch down, grab some duct tape and try to fix the damn box. I’m mad at myself and at this damn box. It makes me want to cry. As if going amok, I throw everything back inside. I notice Jan standing right next to me out of the corner of my eye. A hundred potential remarks come to mind that, at any moment,his mouth will spit out that I’m clumsy, that I stole office supplies, that I trespassed illegally in his office, that I made a fool of him when Arti called him, that I sent him my bare boobs via text message.

He leans over me. He is so close that I can smell him. I’m sure that in that financial brain of his, he is already calculating how much he’s going to deduct from my salary for the company gadgets I swiped. And then he speaks in a hushed voice just above my ear:

“Just say the word, and I’ll suck them until you come.”

“What!” I raise my head so violently that I hit Engler with the back of my head on the nose.

“Jesus.” Jan steps back. He flares his nostrils.

“What did you say?” I stare at him in disbelief. My heart is thudding in my chest so hard that it echoes the throbbing in my temples.

Engler looks at me confused.

“Jesus?”

“No, before that.”

He frowns.

“Just say the word and I will help you with the box?”

“With the box?”

“With the box. Do you need help with it?”

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