Page 21 of Insufferable Boss

“I want to be a part of what he built. He loved this business and… mine is quite… mine can be aligned with his to make it even better. I can't do it all alone and I don't want to. I don't have to.”

“Great,” she said. “Now we're getting somewhere.”

“Isn't this an emotional decision as well?” I asked.

“Emotional decisions are bad. Logical decisions are bad. A mix of the two is perfect. That's what makes us human. The logical path is to succumb, emotional is to leave, so why don't you find a way to get him to meet you halfway… in some way. Unless he's just an unreasonable person through and through, then that is a problem, and you probably won't fare well being there anyway.”

“So… give the both of us a chance… a true chance.”

“Professional? Yes. Personally? I'm not sure yet, we still don't know his actual personality. What do you think?”

“I'm hanging up,” I said and she laughed. “Why?”

“Stop putting these strange ideas in my head.”

Fine,” she said. “I'm sorry.”

“No need to be, and thank you. I think you just helped me clear my head. Thanks a lot Diana.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” she said and the call came to an end.

After the call ended, I sat in my office, thought a bit further about my options, and made notes.

By the time I was done and sure of the direction I wanted to take, I looked at the time and found that it was past 12 pm, which was lunch time. An idea came to mind then, and despite the antagonism from earlier that morning, I pushed my emotions aside and picked up the phone. A few seconds later, I was connected to his office; however, what I heard was that he was in a meeting that was running late. I gave the instruction that he was to call me back, and then I went back to work.

My secretary came in multiple times to ask if I wanted to eat something, but I told him that I hadn't decided yet. It was 1 pm and my stomach began to hurt. I hadn't yet received a call back from Kane, so I got up and headed out. I needed to think a bit further, plus it was a good chance to explore the new city, so I decided to have lunch outside. I waited at the elevator as I looked through my emails. However, a familiar voice soon came over to me, and I turned to see who it was.

Turned out that it was the devil himself, Mr. Kane Lazarus looking dapper as always but this time around quite expressionless as he watched me. He had his phone to his ear and was listening to the call but didn't say a word until the end.

“Sure,” he said when he arrived by my side, and then he ended the call. We both turned to face the elevators, and neither of us said a word to the other.

“These things are quite slow,” he eventually said, to my surprise. “We should do something about it.”

I turned then to look at him, and even though everything inside of me was screaming for me to give into my emotions again, I tried my best to remain logical and unemotional.

“You didn't get my call?” I asked.

“I was just told,” he said, “on my way out. It's something to be addressed when I get back. I need to eat.”

“I need to eat as well,” I said, and he slightly cocked his head.

“Do you have a lunch meeting planned, or are you just going to eat?”

He smiled.

“Lunch meeting,” he responded.

“Can you cancel?” I asked. “We need to talk.”

He looked at me intently, and then he added.

“Yeah, I will.”

10

Kane

There was no way that I was going to reject a lunch invitation from her. I knew that it wasn't going to be anything personal, but she was just the person I preferred to spend my lunchtime with. The stuffy businessman I was going to meet compared to her was a much lousier decision, so for once, I took a page out of her emotional book and went with what I wanted.

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