The wine tasted a little sweet and bitter. The scent was really sweet and she seemed addicted to it. “No wonder they kept telling me to stay away from this kind of drinks. It’s addicting.” She murmured to herself while looking at the dark red liquid on her wine glass.

“Sir, why don’t you ask someone else to accompany you? Like a man perhaps. I don’t think it’s nice for a girl to stay in your room. Aside from that, I still have to work.” Cayenne tried once again to leave him. She had no idea what to do once she’s alone with a single man in single room.

Stefan looked at her and ignored her suggestion. “Don’t worry, your salary won’t be deducted.”

“Okay.” That was what she really worries about. She didn’t want anyone sabotaging her job when she needed money the most. She took another sip of the wine, sitting quietly not so far yet not so close to him.

“How old are you? You look really young.”

“I just turned twenty-three last month, sir.” Cayenne answered politely.

“You didn’t go to university?”

“No, sir.”

Stefan raised his eyebrow at her. He thought that she was like those women who would curry favor with him. However, as they continued to converse, she stayed polite and maintained distance from him.

“Why did you choose to work here by the way?”

“Because I can work peacefully and the pay is good as well.”

“That’s all?”

“Hn.”

Stefan chuckled faintly after getting her response. He was waiting for her to use sweet words and sugar-coated statement but she was rather straight forward and honest with her opinion.

Cayenne looked down on her hands which was holding the wine glass. Even though she was just sitting, she could feel that the world was spinning. “Sir, can I use your bathroom? I really need to wash my face.” She wanted to splash a cold water on her face to wake her up. She thought she was just getting tired and sleepy from all the work she had been doing recently. She never suspected the wine that she just drank.

Stefan pointed the direction of the bathroom for her but before she could even reach the place, she collapsed and fell on the ground. “She can’t hold that much liquor but she stayed.” He murmured to himself before putting down his glass and walked towards her. Effortlessly, he carried her towards his bed and laid her down.

“She actually looks pretty.” He noted to himself when he looked at her closely. Her Greek nose matches her small face. Her lashes were thick and long, a little bit curvy, fanning her face under the dimly lit room.

Stefan left her alone and continued to drink his wine while looking at the bustling city below. “Why did I ask her to accompany me again?” He asked himself when he couldn’t remember the reason why he asked her to stay. Even after drinking so much wine, he was still wide awake instead of getting sleepy. He played different mobile games, counted sheep, do mental calculation but his energy was never drained.

“Isn’t she going to wake up?” he mumbled while stealing glances at the sleeping woman. He wanted to call someone and send her home but he also thought it would be rude since he was the one who caused her to pass out. “Come to think of it, I dated women before but I never slept with them. She is actually the first one to sleep in my bed.”

A sudden idea popped in his head. He knew that she wasn’t the same as the women that he dated and that made him want to tease her. He climbed on to the bed and lie down next to her. It was meant too tease her. If he knew that he would be addicted to her warmth, he would have never done such a thing.

Instead of teasing her, he really fell asleep next to her – a peaceful and dreamless sleep at that.

Cayenne was the first to wake up and her head was still throbbing. When her vision finally cleared, she was so scared to her wit’s end. She was actually sleeping in Stefan’s arms, on his bed, under the same blanket and he was holding her close to him. She gulped the scream that wanted to escape from her throat and tried removing his arms, slowly but surely, away from her waist.

‘Lord, please don’t let him think anything about this. Please let him sleep for a little while more. Please let me escape from this place. I don’t want to lose my job.’ She was praying mentally while slowly moving away from him. She moved and moved, unknowingly, she was already at the edge on her side of the bed.

THUMP!

She fell and landed with her butt on the floor. ‘Thank God! It’s carpeted.’ She thought to herself while rubbing her butt cheek which still hurt even though there was a carpet. She tried feeling herself and found that there wasn’t anything wrong with her. ‘Thank you for keeping me safe, Lord. I thought it was the end of me last night.’

She looked at her sleeping boss one last time. After making sure that he was still asleep, she silently ran and walked out of the room. She went to the nearest bathroom to fix her uniform before going back to her post. She still got one more hour before her shift would end.

On the top most floor, Stefan had a wide smile on his lips. He wanted to laugh at her when she fell on the floor but he stopped himself to avoid embarrassing her. The moment Cayenne touched his arm to remove it away from her waist, he was already awake but, he pretended to sleep.

“I found a very interesting medicine.” Stefan sat up from his bed and stretched his arms. “What should I do to sleep with her again?”

His plan to tease her showed him the best thing in the world. A company to sleep unguarded. He wasn’t really afraid of dying or getting ambushed or getting shot or being poisoned. All he wanted to do was to sleep peacefully like everyone else. He looked towards the clock on his bed side table and found that it was still five o’clock in the morning. “She still got one more hour to work. Let’s give her a surprise.”

He took a quick shower and put on some simple clothes. Though it was simple, those clothes were still from expensive brands. After making sure that he didn’t forget anything, he went down to the ground floor.

Cayenne was talking with Manager Dan since she didn’t come last night after sending the wine. They thought she ditched her work without letting him know. “I’m sorry for putting you in trouble. I didn’t expect our boss to ask you to stay. But, he didn’t do anything to you, right?”

Cayenned raised her head hastily and shook it from side to side, indicating that nothing happened. “I see. You can go back to work. Don’t worry, I am the only one who knows where you stayed last night.”

“Thank you, Manager Dan.” She bowed her head slightly before turning around to go back to her work, only to find Stefan walking out towards the reception desk. She calmed herself thinking that he was just going to pass by her. Who would’ve thought that he would stop right in front of her. She immediately put a faint smile on her face and greeted him. “Good morning, sir. Is there anything that I can help you with?”

Stefan didn’t say a word. He took her hand and placed something on her palm instead before walking away to get his morning coffee. Manager Dan and her other colleague, Mona, saw what he did as well. When Stefan was out of sight, she opened her palm and found her name plate.

“Why did boss have your name tag?” Mona asked her in wonder.

“I dropped it earlier and couldn’t find it. I told Manager Dan about this and it seemed that the boss found it on his way out.” Cayenne answered softly. Her heart was pounding in her chest once again. She thought she would be busted when he showed up. ‘Looks like the boss is still decent and conscientious.’ She thought to herself before putting on her name plate.