Page 38 of Bossy Grump's Secret

He doesn’t seem too happy with the answer, though. He holds his face in his hands, giving it a firm top-to-bottom sweep to express his dissatisfaction.

“Ava.”

“Yes, boss?”

“What did we say about wandering the halls alone?” he asks calmly, but the calmness contains a note of hostility. Still, I feel some of my confidence coming back.

“We should always move around alone and use whatever is at our disposal as weapons in case an attack of any sort should befall us,” I reply, without missing a beat.

He rolls his eyes heavily and walks around me, checking the rooms.

“Where’s Robbie?” he asks.

"Probably on the other side of the hall. That's where her quota for this floor ends, and I bet she’s already at the end. She has red bull for blood, I tell you.” I shake my head in marvel.

“Huh, well, Red Bull in your veins wouldn’t matter when you’re sacredly tied to the poles of a bed and made slaves to the perverted desires of your captor, would it?”

I swallow hard. “That’s…oddly specific.”

“It is,” he replies and goes off to find Robbie. I have no full certainty of what he tells her, but when he returns, we arrange the room together.

Yup. He still cares for me.

We finish up the day and head back to our respective rooms. Since we are here, I have enjoyed no form of deeper socialization with anyone besides Lily…except Dylan. Maybe one of these days, Lily and I will join a weekend event like the one we missed because we needed to binge-watch an entire Game of Thrones season.

The next day, I wake up with the same brooding hopelessness, hoping it will cease sometime mid-morning. We get dressed as quickly as we can and assemble to wait for Dylan, who comes a little later than all of us for the first time in a while.

The last time this happened was when he overslept in my room and had to wait for everyone to leave the assembly point before making his own preparations. I remember being surprised that he was out so fast and well-dressed to boot, since Lily and I knew he had just exited my room some five minutes ago.

He doesn't look as disorganized as at that last event. However, there is still a mild disorientation in his appearance, showing a rush.

He talks even before he reaches us, “Before he reaches us, he speaks, "I'm sorry for being late."”

“Nah, don’t worry, you’re forgiven already,” Jane says. “Besides, this is just one time against your countless display of timeliness.”

"I was going to say that I wouldn't…" he chuckles. ”But I see that it's fine with you all already."

He proceeds without further ado to disperse us to our various areas as the timetable sees fit. He does manual swapping, so Lily and I must work together again. You can imagine my ecstasy when I hear, “…You and Lily, room duty, floors six through eight.”

It takes everything in me not to let out the most exciting squeal and even more not to jump dive in gratitude, but I control myself. We exchange our over-dramatic gestures of excitement within the walls of the first room we enter, barely able to contain ourselves. It almost turns our hug fest into a sumo wrestling competition.

"Well, I'd like to consider this a little gift from your boyfriend since he's got no other way to communicate romantically with you,” Lily pipes up when the excitement dies. The drudge of work sets in.

“What’s that?” I keep my eyes fixated, making sure every surface is completely dust free. I turn to her hands tucked in her uniform pockets while she sways from side to side, batting her long eyelashes at me.

“Me,” she says simply. “I’m his gift to you.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“So, you love it. Good. I'll tell him when we meet next,” she laughs. She’s right, though. It's a gift from him. I love it. I love he thought of me to send Lily to me again…whether he believes it is emotional support.

But that just makes me miss him even more. That said, I get too distracted thinking about him to even work. I drop the duster, lean across the table, and take a huge breath with my eyes closed.

“I’m sorry,” I hear Lily say from the other side of the room.

“For what?” I huff.

"For bringing him up…."

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