My CEO Boss Is A Masked Internet Sensation-Chapter 187: Her Friends Are Worried

(Arata)

Karsten lingered; flickers of some distant emotions danced across his face, which I had no interest in deciphering.

I bunched my lips and elegantly placed my hands on my small desk, wondering if he needed something more or if he had just come to gloat about my suffering.

I watched him with a subtle detachment, blinking at appropriate times so he wouldn’t think I was staring.

"Good," mumbling the one-syllable word as if his mouth was going to incessantly pain if he spoke more to me, he turned on his heels and walked away.

My deceitful eyes watched him even though I had no business to.

Both of us had chosen to wear the colour of mourning. Well, I was in the process of self-healing after getting my heart squashed. He, on the other hand, was always in a perpetual state of mourning for being a cold jerk.

He whispered something inaudible in Chan’s ear, making the latter subtly nod.

Karsten exited through the door, and it closed behind him.

The pangs in my heart intensified but I buried them deep. I was done getting hurt.

Everyone returned to their work and I began to add the numbers he had requested.

Lunch break arrived, and Mardis and Harnja went downstairs to eat at the food cafeteria. Chan was busy ordering on the phone. I was just finishing up the task when the door opened and Miranda made her grand entrance. Her concerned eyes instantly found me as she rushed over to my desk.

"There you are."

I stood up to greet her as she hugged me so tightly. Chan walked over to us with a troubled expression.

Miranda concernedly asked.

"Are you alright? What even happened?" Miranda stepped back and held my shoulders. Both of them stared at me with deep sympathy.

"Come on, guys. Don’t give me that look. I already feel pathetic." I sighed heavily and used the edge of my desk for support.

"Did you guys fight?" Chan posed the question with an unshakable gravity.

I lowered my head and closed my eyes for a second. What was I to tell them? He was their boss at the end of the day and I didn’t even know half the truth except how he had betrayed my trust.

"We just had a major argument and I refused to work as his secretary. Since I am still under contract, he refuses to let me go, so here I am." I crossed my arms against my chest and explained.

"Ohh! I am so sorry." Miranda’s face fell and Chan huffed, shaking his head.

"Mr Karsten cares for you, Arata. I hope both of you can sort it out." Chan then reassuringly smiled at me. "You guys have so much chemistry together and killed it on the ramp. Did you read the articles?"

Offering a small nod, I tried to manage the erupting pain in my heart. The moments spent with him were going to haunt me.

"Sorry for being the harbinger of bad news but he hired a new secretary and has successfully moved her to almost tears on the very first day," Miranda filled us in, moving to the nearby chair and sagging on it.

This man and his dramatics.

"What did he do?" I asked, unable to mask my curiosity.

Miranda let out a small snarky smile before saying.

"He told her to bring him a mango. A fresh mango in freaking winters and that too a red and yellow mango."

Some stores had preserved fruits and even fresh ones belonging to other seasons but the mangoes were a rarity, especially the red ones.

"Oh! God. Did she find it?" Chan asked with his hand on his mouth.

"No, she returned an hour late from the allocated time with a tin of preserved mango slices, and Karsten gave her a long, long lecture on how incapable she was. Unable to do one small task reducing her to almost tears. I had to console her," Miranda explained with a shake of her head.

The incident reminded me of my first day here and a bitter smile erupted on my lips. Only if I had known what a manipulative person he was, I would never have chosen to work with him.

"Poor girl. He still hired her?" Chan questioned.

"Yes. I have been tasked to mentor and teach her how to manage time."

So typical of him. A poor girl was going to suffer.

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of food. There were several white boxes the helper was carrying. Chan told him to place all of them on my desk.

"Let’s gossip over lunch. I am so hungry." Chan rubbed his hands together, his eyes dancing with excitement at the sight of food.

I tried to move away so they could eat in peace.

"Go wash your hands, let’s eat." Chan’s eyes wavered towards me as he grabbed the chopsticks.

I never gave up on food; it usually became my comfort whenever I was stressed or depressed, but since falling out with Karsten, it had become impossible to eat. Stones seemed to have filled my stomach.

"I am not hungry." I tried to step away.

"Come now, Arata. If you won’t eat, neither will we. Three of us have always eaten together," Chan offered me a child-like pout, where his lower lip wobbled.

"True, we are eating together or none of us will eat." I understood Karsten must have put them up for this after I had refused to take food from Caysir.

But why?

Why did he care if I ate or not?

What was with fake concern for a woman whom he considered beneath him because she slept with someone else when he had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn’t have a sexual relationship with her.

The irony was applaudable.

"Arata, come on," Chan requested again and I didn’t have the heart to say no to him. They had been so accommodating and caring towards me.

Giving up, I went to the wash area and cleaned up. Chan handed me the box with fried rice and chicken strips. The aroma should have spiked my hunger since it was about 36 hours since I had taken anything solid but I still wasn’t hungry.

I forced myself to eat a bit so I wouldn’t black out but the food tasted like sand in my mouth.

Congratulations! Karsten, you have even taken away my passion for eating.

’I hope you are happy,’ I thought to myself.