[Third person POV]
Another knock on the door, and Selby still nervously just looks at the door. She couldn't face him, after all she did, causing the scene in the office; she was sure this was the end of the road for their relationship.
"Selby, please open the door so we can talk," Lucas pleads outside her apartment.
"…..." she couldn't respond; she did want to resolve the problem, but she had already ruined her whole relationship.
"Come on, Selly, speak to me first, stop sulking," Lucas pleaded.
{A few hours before}
In her second week as Lucas's assistant and she was sure she was killing it, though she had to learn a lot, as this would be her first office job, but with her boss's patients and help from some of her colleagues, she became competent enough.
But it was also a struggle because everyone knew that she was dating her boss, and there were also nasty rumors about her around the office.
She quickly settles at her desk; Lucas couldn't come to the office with her this morning because he had a breakfast meeting with a top executive.
She commenced the work of the day quickly, making sure to note all the important information to tell Lucas when he comes to the office.
As she was busy with her work, Martha passed her desk and pushed over to Lucas's office without consulting her, Lucas's assistant, along with a suspicious old man.
"Hey, Martha, what are you doing?" Selby shouts, trying her best to be professional, but Marth just ignores her and continues to usher the old man into Lucas's office.
She hated how Martha was so comfortable with disrespecting her, seeing Martha was the receptionist who didn't take well to Selby being the assistant as she had eyes on the position.
But what was worse than that was that Martha was also Lucas's ex. Yes, when Selby found out about this, she acted cool, well, it is not like Lucas is with her now, so why care?
But now she hates it, the 'I had him first' and the 'he will always come back to me, that is why he keeps me here' banters were also a big factor in her hating Martha.
But the biggest factor was the lack of regard Martha had towards Selby; she continued to act as Lucas's assistant even though she was told that Selby was the assistant.
Selby angrily stood from her chair before marching to Lucas's office.
"What are you doing? You are aware Mr. Grant is not in until 12 o'clock, and you are ushering people into his office? Who did you think you were?" Selby scolds Martha.
But Martha seemed not to care; instead, she looked away from the old man she was talking to, and she smirked at Selby before saying, "This is the owner of this office, so you'd better watch your mouth."
"Only Lucas Grant owns this office until he decides otherwise; he will continue to be the owner. I don't know what you and your delusional sugar daddy are thinking, but take it somewhere else because we are busy here and have no time for delusion."
"Young Lady, watch your tongue when you speak to me," the old man tells Selby, but she didn't care; they needed to be put in their place.
"Sir, please wait in the reception area. Mr. Grant will be here to see you if you have an appointment; if you don't, then make one," Selby says, looking fiercely at the rude old man.
"You want me to wait for 30 minutes for a brat like Lucas?" the old man says angrily.
"That is company protocol, sir, I am sure you are old enough to know manners," she says. Martha's mouth is now agape with shock.
"Listen here, little girl, do not...." The old man doesn't finish his sentence as Lucas's door flies open and he enters.
Selby feels embarrassed that Lucas will now have to see her struggle to put Martha in her place, but the old man's words make her initial fears just the tip of the iceberg.
"Son, what type of employees do you hire here? Are you trying to go bankrupt?" the old man angrily roars, "This nasty girl over here needs to be fired now."
Selby feels her knees go weak, and Martha's smirk makes it even worse: "Martha, Selby, can you please leave us for a moment?"
Walking out of the office nervously as Martha marches confidently in front of her, she is sure she is seeing stars; this is not just the end of her job, but also the end of her relationship.
Once both she and Martha are outside the office, Martha smirks at her before laughing hysterically, "You look like a wet poodle, this is a nice sight. It was bad having to watch you be smug every time; you lasted shorter than I thought. I thought you would last a year."
"Leave me alone," Selby says.
"Please, after how you treated Mr. Grant Snr, I will not even have to lift a finger; you are already getting out of here," she laughs, walking away from Selby's desk.
As she waits for Lucas to finish speaking with his father, she tries her best to use work as a distraction, but it doesn't work; she wonders what they were talking about.
Maybe they were planning a cruel way in which Lucas could teach her a lesson to never mess with his father again. Maybe they were planning Lucas and Martha's wedding.
She couldn't relax, and her imagination couldn't help her either with the ridiculous stories of what was to happen to her now. So, she freaked out, packed her bags, and ran away from the office.
She wanted to call Fiona for moral support, but after reading about what Heath did this morning, she didn't want to ruin Fiona's glorious day, so she just went to the apartment to hide.
It took a few minutes before her phone started ringing. She watched as it rang nervously, and the coward she was, she didn't respond.
But now the person who was calling like a madman got tired of calling and is now at her doorstep. "I am going to break this door down, Selby," Lucas shouts, this time not pleading but commanding.
She nervously walks to the door before opening it. He looked like a mess; his beautiful suit, which she had taken her time ironing this morning, looked like it did when she took it out of the closet.
His hair messy and his eyes almost wet with tears, "You really like it when I suffer, do you?" he says in a low, sad tone.
"I am sorry, I didn't know he was your father. If I knew I wouldn't have…..." she says, but he is unreactive.
"If you want our relationship to end, we will..."
"Are you insane? Geez, what did that old man say to make you this terrified? And why would you think I care how you treat that trash?"
She looks at him curiously, "I love you, why would I let that nasty man dictate my life? You should have dragged both him and Martha out of that office for not listening to you," Lucas says before yanking Selby into his arms and passionately kissing her.
"Ugh… can we speak about things before freaking out?" he pleads, "You can't run away each time you are scared, Selly."
"But I treated your father badly."
"Yeah, so?" he says, "We are taking a day off. I will deal with Martha tomorrow. Come on, let us talk this out."
Lucas spent the rest of the day consoling Selby, explaining why he didn't regard his father as family and why Selby shouldn't apologize for doing her job this morning.
And to Selby, who had lost a man because of his father, the man who pushed her down the steps enough to lose her baby and her then fiancé, explained to Lucas why she was so afraid of losing him after meeting his father in such unforeseen circumstances.