My name was Juliet Harland. I was a gamer and an employee. I also had an online boyfriend, but he was so clingy and possessive toward me. He was the nicest and friendliest person that I knew. However, there was one person he hated the most, my boss.

Because my boss was old-fashioned, strictand lacked empathy, I often had to work overtime.

However, on the day I and my online boyfriend decided to meet, the man who occupied Table thirteen, our agreed-upon table, was none other than my boss. 

[Sweetheart, I miss you already. It's been half an hour since we last chatted. Want to play a game together tonight?]

My online boyfriend sent this message just as my boss walked into the office while typing on his phone with both hands.

My boss's hair was meticulously groomedand he wore a suit with a shirt that was buttoned up underneath it. Although the expensive shoes he was wearing were stylish, they were old-fashioned. He also brought a square briefcase underneath his hand.

In other words, from my point of view, the way he dressed was more conservative than my father.

When the man was walking in, all my colleagues in the department immediately straightened their posture and pretended to be extremely busy with their work. 

Of course, I had to get busy too. So, I did not have time to look at my phone and answer his question. My silence made my online boyfriend anxious. 

This was proven by my phone kept ringing in several quick succession.

While he was walking, my boss's long finger kept tapping on his phone. As he did that, he called the manager without even bothering to look up. All along, we could only see his busy back.

My supervisor immediately called out to me, "Juliet! Get that proposal for me! Hurry!"

"Please put in a good word for me," I said as I pressed my hands together in a pleading gesture while looking at the manager walk into the boss's office.

In just a second, we heard a roar from the boss's room. "Who made this garbage proposal? Make that person redo it!"

With a blank expression, I pulled out my phone and replied to my online boyfriend.

[I think I won't have time to play with you tonight. I have to work overtime. My boss is giving me a hard time.]

Shortly after, the door opened and the manager came out. As I looked at his defeated face and teary eyes, my phone buzzed again. 

[Your boss is seriously messed up, huh?]

[He made his employees work overtime all the time. This shows how incompetent he was. I curse him to go bald soon!]

[I am so mad. (Angry emoji.)]

My fingers flew across the screen as I tried to calm him down.

[Please, don't be mad, sweetheart.]

[Be a good boy and don't be angry.]

When I was still busy trying to soothe his anger, my colleague suddenly nudged me.

At that time, I realized that the room had gone quiet. I quickly put down my phone and looked upand that was when my eyes locked eyes and eyes with my boss stern's face.

"Are you Juliet Harland, aren't you? He asked as he adjusted his antique black rim glasses. "You are quite a beauty."

Hearing his comment, my face blushed crimson. However, my embarrassment was short life, because his face turned scary and his tone turned icy and harsh.

"Do you have any brain in that beautiful head of yours? Or it is only for a show? The proposal that you made was total garbage. With that awful kind of plan, do you still dare to slack off and play with your phone during office hours? Are you even a human?"

I grumbled in my heart. So, it did not matter for you to play with your phone at the office, but when I use my phone, you call me a slacker?

"Fix this plan. After you finish it, come to me. I'll review it myself,” he instructed.

After my boss left, my face fell.

When it was time to go home, my colleagues left the office cheerfully and left me alone to work overtime.

Oh, wait! I forgot! My workaholic boss was still here too.

My online boyfriend sent me a voice message. "Sweetheart, I am waiting for you. I can't sleep without hearing your voice."

I answered him, "As much as I don't want you to stay up late, I will get mad if you are not. You have to accompany me."

My boyfriend sent a message again. [I promise. Your boss is really mean. The forecast says it might rain tonight. I'm worried. Can I come there to pick you up?]

I told him, [Don't you dare change our date. We have been planning that date for so long. I can't wait for our date. Don't worry. Even if it rains cats and dogs, I'll crawl home to lull you to sleep.]

My boyfriend answered my message, [I love you so much. Tomorrow, when we meet, I'm going to kiss you to death.]

Reading this, my face turned red. At the same time, I felt a surge of energy for the work ahead.

As expected, when I finished my work, it was pouring rain outside.

So, I grabbed my umbrella and got ready to go downstairs. As I went toward the stairs, I ran into my boss. He was also leaving the office.

"Hi! What is your name again? Why are you leaving so late? Come on. I'll give you a ride."

Dammit! Wasn't it you who told me to work late? Stop acting like you are so innocent here!

I forced a smile on my face. Then with a sarcastic tone, I said, "Boss, I am Juliet. Juliet Harland. Don't worry about me. I can go home myself."

However, he ignored my word. "Keep up with me. I am in a hurry." With resignation, I followed him.

The ride was not peaceful at all. Even if he drove the car, he still took the time to ask me about the proposaland this made me straighten my body and start to tell him my report. This was truly a nightmare. I was so miserable. In my heart, I swore I would never hitch a ride in his car, even if it killed me.

When I arrived home, I immediately took a shower. After that, I called my online boyfriend and the call immediately picked up. His soft voice drawled, "Sweetheart, I miss you so much."

"I just got home. Hi, why am I hearing the rain? Are you staying outside?" I asked.

"Well, since you had to work overtime, I don't want to go home. It's too lonely there without hearing your voice."

I laughed. "You are so nice."

He asked cautiously, "Sweetheart, are you in a bad mood?"

I huffed. "My boss just called me a pig."

He tried to stifle his laugh. "Well, it seems many bosses like to use that insult, my lovely piglet."

Hearing this, my mood turned better. In his eyes, I was a soft, cute, loveable piglet. Far different than the image in my boss's eyes. He viewed me as a big, harsh coarse hair, wild boar.

I giggled. "What will I do without you?"

My online boyfriend sounded excited. "I will never separate from you, sweetheart. We'll be together for a lifetime. I am so nervous about meeting you. Say, what do you want me to wear for our date?"

Unconsciously, I blurted out, "Just not old fashion-style."

Boyfriend said, "Roger that."

Before noon the next day, I slipped early from my work to meet my online boyfriend.

Thirteen was my lucky number. So, me and my boyfriend planned to incorporate my lucky number in our first date. This was the reason we would meet at Thirteen Street, at the thirteen café, table thirteen on the thirteenth of this month.

I arrived too early at the café. So, I decided to go to the restroom first to fix my makeup. In the restroom, it just so happened, I met a guy who was fixing his hair. Coincidently, our gaze met in the mirror. Both of us froze.

To my shock, the man in trendy clothes, with a stylish haircut and no glasses, was no other than my old-fashioned boss!

He raised his hand to look at his watch. With his usual stern face, he looked at her and said with a cold voice, "What is your name again? You have left the office at working hours; your salary will be deducted double."

What the fuck! How could he forget my name again? I am Juliet! Juliet!

The excitement that I felt for finally meeting my online boyfriend immediately diminished by half. As I was walking toward table thirteen, I kept grumbling and bitching about my bossand it made me too occupied that I failed to realize that my boyfriend’s back looked a lot like my boss's back.

When I arrived at the table, I was surprised to see the man who occupied my reserved table was my boss. The shock was so great that my head started to buzz and I almost lost my balance. I still clung to the hope that he was not my online boyfriend, until I saw the red rose on his right hand. I was so devastated that I wanted to cry.

The rose was the signal that me and my online boyfriend had agreed upon.

My boss was also surprised to see me there. However, I refused to let him know that I was his girlfriend. Fortunately, I was blessed with a smart brain and a glib tongue.

I immediately said, "Sir, I come here only to tell you that the reason I am here during office hours is because I want to help my friend buy coffee beans here. I'm just being helpful."

My boss looked at his watch again as he cut my words. "I will deduct your salary as usual. If you say another word, I will deduct an extra hundred."

I quickly closed my mouth and turned to leave.

As I left the café, my heart was in turmoil. All I could think of was that my online boyfriend was actually my strict, old-fashioned boss, Finn McCain. The man who liked to bully me?

This was truly ridiculous. I could not believe it. I tried to find any similarity between my sweet clingy boyfriend with my boss, but after a long time, I still could not find any.

After all, my boyfriend liked to laugh and was a warm person. I could not imagine him acting like Finn who was stern, never smiled and his harsh words were so cruel that they could cut someone into pieces. What's more, Finn was so old-fashioned. He always parted his hair in the middle and wore a suit.

I could not imagine he would be able to say "Sweetheart, I want to kiss you to death" with that face. To make matters worse, I got my salary double deducted because of this meeting.

Moreover, Finn was the one to reject my leave request just because he was not satisfied with my report. Just when I was about to fall into a full-blown panic, a chilling thought flashed into my mind, did he recognize me?

I was terrified when I received a voice message request from Finn, so I immediately hung up the phone.

Before long, he texted, [Sweetheart, where are you? I've been waiting for you for so long. You don't have to rush through. I will be waiting here.

Waiting patiently for you.jpg

Typing …]

The word "sweetheart" burned my eyes. I quickly erased the message and deleted his contact from my list. However, as soon as I did that, regret filled my heart. I should have broken up with him first. After all our relationship was based on sincerity and we had been together for so long.

Cars honked and people bustled around me, but I felt like the world had gone silent.

As I looked at the darkened phone screen, my eyes filled with tears. I had just lost my love.

Feeling heartbroken, I returned to the office. When I arrived, I worked on the proposal, hoping to forget everything. However, instead of feeling relieved, the sadness only became more intensified.

All I could think on my mind was the way he humiliated me in front of everyone. How he had called me a pig who could not make even a decent proposal, yet still had the nerve to play on my phone. 

Well, he was not exactly working either, was he? When I looked back, I was certain that he was not working either. He was busy bombarding me with messages from the moment he entered the building.

I was so infuriated and frustrated about the whole thing. However, despite all this, I still missed him terribly.

After all, during our relationship, he had been so devoted to me. His affection was dripping from every word that he wrote over the phone.

We met in a game. He was a terrible player but he loved playing. One day, I saved him then the next day I was paired with him and carried him to victory.

This made him admire me. He followed me everywhere and shamelessly declared himself as my disciple.

Later, when I knew he was an orphan my heart went out for him. I made every effort to cheer him up and make him happy.

One of the main motivations for me to work very hard was so I could save enough money for us to get married.

In my mind, because he was an orphan, I thought he did not have anyone who cared for himand he was deprived of love and money. He had to struggle to get by.

However, in reality, when his father passed away, he left him with several companies and huge fortunes. What's more, the richest man in Charlestown adopted him.

Forget it! Whoever wanted to continue this stupid proposal could do it!

The next day, I had to drag myself to the office. There were dark circles under my eyes from sleep deprivation.

Just as I had arrived, out of the blue, an ominous announcement greeted me. "Heads up, he was already here." 

Instinctively, my body shivered and I immediately snapped awake. "W-what? Why? Doesn't he only come once a week?"

Even as I spoke, I had already moved to my workstation and pretended to be busy with my computer.

The black-rimmed glasses that covered Finn's eyes flashed as if he had turned to look at meand this made me suspicious. Did he recognize me? 

Maybe my decision to delete his contact was a wrong move. By doing so, was it not the same as admitting my guilt?

No, no! I refused to believe that. After all, he was so old-fashioned, he could not be that smart to realize that, right? I tried to reassure myself.

However, the reality was not as sweet as I expected.

The manager came toward me and tapped me on my shoulder. "He wants to see you now." He gave me a sympathetic look. "Good luck!"

Nervously, I knocked on his door while clutching the new proposal tightly in my hands. I was hoping all he wanted was this proposal.

After hearing a brief "enter", I pushed the door opened and entered. Then I handed the proposal to him and said tensely, "This is the new proposal. I made it according to your feedback …."

Before I could finish my words, he interrupted me, "Explain to me again, why were you doing at the café yesterday?"

"Huh?" Although I was confused, I racked my brain to remember what I said to him yesterday. "Oh! I was there to buy some coffee beans for my colleague."

"Which one?" he asked again. His eyes never left my face.

"It's Ava. Ava Martinez, Sir." I had to treat her breakfast for two months for this.

His long finger drummed on his thigh as he asked, "I asked you to redo the proposal and work on it, but you had time to run errands for someone from another department that is unrelated to you?"

Caught off guard, I was too flustered to say anything.

Suddenly he asked," Do you play games?"

"Huh?" This change of topic completely caught me off guard. "No."

"You don't even play Candy Crush? I heard everyone in the office play that game."

Shit! He knew! "Candy Crush? Yes, I play it sometimes."

His usually stern face showed a hint of amusement. "Did I ask which game? You answered too quickly."

I leaned back. I was alarmed by his statement and hastily declared my loyalty. "A diligent employee doesn’t waste time on frivolous games."

Suddenly he said, "Call that colleague in."

I squeaked out, "Do you mean Ava?"

He nodded, "Yes. And you stay here."

Understood!

When Ava arrived, he asked her the same questions he asked me. Luckily, I had already briefed her with my story.

When she came into the office, she glanced briefly at me and answered his question with the rehearsed story. "I am a new employee here and I twisted my angle.  I did not dare to bother others from my department so I asked Juliet to help me."

"Do you play games?" My boss asked Ava.

Ava was confused. "What kind of games? I play Poker and Candy Crush though."

"Did you play shooter games?"

"No, I am not good at playing that. Why are you asking me this, Mr. McCain?"

"Just curious. Do you have an online relationship?"

"Pfft!" 

I could not stop myself from spitting out the tea that I drank and drenched his pants with them. I immediately took some tissues and squatted down to wipe them off.

"I am sorry. I don't have any control over my mouth."

We both froze.

The phrase "I don't have any control over my mouth" was the usual catchphrase that I always used after mocking the enemy teams.

I had talked without thinking. He must know that it's me, right? What should I do? Should I just quit?

"Did you hear this phrase from your colleague?" Finn gave me a way out.

I nodded furiously. “Yes, yes, My colleagues say it all the time that I can’t help but to pick it up.”

He turned his gaze to Ava. "You can leave now."

Ava looked puzzled. She left the office with a confused expression. "What's this all about?"

Finn took out his phone and said, "Add me on Facebook and Candy Crush as a friendand send me some heart while at it."