To the Love of My Life

“Mr. Burton…” The Finance Manager only managed to say two words before Steve Burton’s eyebrows furrowed. He immediately stuffed the report into the Finance Manager’s arms and pointed to the door. The Finance Manager didn’t dare to breathe and left Steve’s office trembling, then went back to his office with a distressed expression.

There were many similar incidents, not just when someone made a mistake and wasn’t scolded by Steve. Even when an employee happened to pass by Steve and immediately stood aside, respectfully greeting him, Steve would politely nod with a smile. Then, those employees would immediately freeze in their tracks.

Steve would always glance a few times at these petrified employees, then look at their terrified expressions, frown to himself, and wonder what kind of bizarre employees the HR department had managed to recruit for him. They all seemed strange and neurotic!

Some things, once they started, would develop smoothly and logically.

From the moment Ruby Gregory was discharged from the hospital, her marriage to Steve Burton was settled, up until the night they spent together on the balcony, a tremendous change quietly occurred between them.

Perhaps it was because she could finally marry Steve that a lot of pressure was lifted from her heart, or perhaps it was because Steve’s recent good mood meant he was also in a better temper. Though Ruby couldn’t overcome her nervousness and fear around Steve overnight, she was becoming more and more natural in his presence.

Starting the day after their wedding was confirmed, all matters in Steve’s office fell onto Ruby.

For example:

If Steve wanted coffee, he’d call Ruby on the intercom.

If Steve had clients in his office and needed tea, he’d call Ruby on the intercom.

If Steve wanted to push for a partnership with another company, he’d call Ruby on the intercom.

If Steve had approved documents to be distributed, he’d call Ruby on the intercom.

If Steve wanted to call an emergency meeting, he’d call Ruby on the intercom.

For instance, when someone brought urgent documents for Steve and Ms. Taylor sought his instructions, Steve would say, “Let Ruby bring it in.”

As a result, in the entire company, besides Ruby, nobody else had any chance to enter Steve’s office.

At first, Ruby didn’t think there was anything wrong. She’d do whatever Steve asked her to, but when everything that a secretary was supposed to do was assigned to her, she’d hardly sit down at her desk after just leaving Steve’s office when the phone would ring again, and she’d have to rush back into his office.

A secretary’s work was supposed to be evenly distributed, but with Steve taking up most of her time, Ruby didn’t have time to do her own work and had to stay overtime. Sometimes when the workload was particularly heavy, she’d stay up until the wee hours of the night to finish, then had to get up early for work the next day. Ruby was genuinely sleep-deprived.

After persisting like this for about four days, on Friday, Ruby could no longer take it. Half asleep, she had the Gregorys take her to the office. Once at her desk, she started to catch up on sleep.