Page 28 of My Ruthless Opponent

“Hannah, did I tell you about this promotion?” Archer turns and saunters back to his seat.

“No.” I frown.

“Exactly. I gave you both a piece of information regarding this meeting.”

He slides into his seat and eyes Raleigh. “Think twice before ever judging me.” Archer’s tone is soft with the right amount of firmness coating it. “I am nothing but honest with my employees. And you two are more than just employees for me. You guys are the pillars of this agency.”

Raleigh loses his defensive posture at that. But my body tenses at the word.

Promotion.

A promotion that would affect our jobs. Raleigh’s and mine.

My eyes shift to Raleigh. My stomach flips when I find him staring at me. From the way his ocean eyes are glinting, I know without a doubt that he is thinking the same thing.

“I’ll not make you guys sweat. But before I say this, I want you to know that I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking this through before coming to a decision.”

I straighten in my seat. Sweat breaks out on my forehead in an air-conditioned room. There is a tightness in my lower belly.

“I’m sure you have. Whatever the decision is, it would be in the best interest of the agency.” Says Raleigh, further spiking my pulse.

Archer’s lips lift in a small smile. But there is a touch of hesitancy.

He takes turns in looking at both of us in the eye. “I have decided to merge the two Creative Departments.”

WHAT?

I jerk up, too stunned to register the scraping of the chair on the tiled floor behind me.

I glance at Raleigh and when he gives me his infuriating smirk, I charge toward him.

Grabbing him by the shirt, I shake him violently. And when he makes a show of mocking my outburst by grinning wide, I punch him in the face.

“Earth to Hannah.”

I blink hard, waking from my stupor. I find Archer’s concerned eyes scanning my face.

I look down and find myself sitting instead of towering over my archenemy and punching his cruel smirk.

That one was a hell of an imagination. More like fantasy.

Raleigh shoots me a curious look. It is ironic how he pulled me out of my thoughts. Thoughts which involved him getting punched by me. He wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of that even in my head.

“I just zoned out. Sorry. Please, continue.” I plaster a reassuring smile because right now I can’t muster a genuine one.

He is merging the two creative departments. This merge implies that there would only be one creative department in KIM advertising. This means there would be one less Creative Director.

But then, how is this a promotion? Why divide the department into two sections when you were going to merge it later?

As if he possesses psychic abilities, he answers my unuttered question. “You might be thinking what caused me to take this step when I was the one who divided the department into two in the first place."

Exactly. Everything is going well. Our clients are more than happy with our work. There is a great increment in profit of the agency. We even signed two A-lister celebrities last month.

I take immense pride in claiming that I was the one who pitched to one of them personally. It might be only six months since I got my own department, but my graph has only seen highs.

Yes, Raleigh also gives his one hundred percent in his work. Because, like me, the other celebrity was pitched by him.

He is my equal. We are both hard workers and we both deserve the position.

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