Thread: Business as Usual {Niksis x Ms Catailia}

Troy had spent most of that evening looking through some of the information Sophie had given him earlier as well as the report he had asked for when he came in. Despite seemingly uninterested in the company, he has attempted to at least be more visible, or pretend to be at least. Gotta start somewhere. As such he had not seen the time when his assistant came into his office carrying a thick bundle of papers. Of course, the matte windows surrounding him didn't do a good job of telling what time it was, as everything was shaded and dark anyway. Though from the rumble in his stomach, Troy could guess that it was probably getting late'ish. Ah, Sophie. You have the report? he asked when she moved towards him with the grace and beauty of a ballet dancer. She really did know how to move. So when she stumbled he was caught off guard, she was the last he'd expect to fall wearing heels. She wore them so nicely. Even so, when she fell forward, Troy rose in his chair. And while he would have no chance of catching her, when she did fall in over the table his hand did land on hers, if nothing else than to show that he tried. With her bend in over his table like she was and with him doing the same to try and help, their heads came close. Close enough that it would be near impossible to slide a piece of paper down between them. It lasted for a second, if even that, when they both finally straightened back up again. When she apologized, Troy answered with a slightly amused smile on his lips, Don't worry about it Sophie, you okay? If one looked hard, they might find a hint of concern in his features. Despite what she thought, and what he would admit, she did mean a lot to him, in more ways than one. Stepping around the large wooden table, Troy knelt down to help her collect the papers when she did so, it had been an accident and despite what she might think, he wasn't all that bad. And once again, as they both reached out for the last piece of paper, their hands met again. Nothing was going to come of it, as Troy quickly pulled his hand back, for fear of it looking like harassment or sexual assault and instead rose back to his feet and accepted the uneven, slightly ruined stack of paper. Troy looked her over again and something was off. He couldn't put a finger on it, but something was wrong. And it wasn't hair that was a dishevelled mess nor the broken shoe. No, he could have sworn he saw something in her eyes, or was it the layered make-up that he had caught earlier that day. Are you sure everything is okay? he asked again. Not ready to drop the topic. Sure, she had worked hard the past couple of days. But she had done so in the past without incident. Yet something was odd about that day. When he had come in, he had seen signs of something being covered, bruises they appeared. It hadn't been the first time, but those that he could make out from beneath the almost perfectly applied make-up was worse than he had seen in the past. And it worried him, he needed his assistant to be in tip-top shape. How else would she be able to run his company for him? Checking his designer watch, Troy looked back over to Sophie and gave her a weak smile, Why don't we take dinner another day. Go home, Sophie. Get some rest. his tone was more caring than he had ever spoken in the past. Where he used to be cold, detached or otherwise concomitant when he said things that didn't include him, this time he had spoken with the voice of someone who cared. Not something he often did. Sophie was professional, he knew this to heart. She would keep anything a secret if it would make her look weak, he understood this. But he still cared for her, and even if she would have sworn her bruises wasn't there, or didn't affect her, Troy was not convinced. Maybe it wasn't the physical bruises, but the mental ones. Troy had seem them before, in fact, he had caused them countless of times in the past. And would inflict the bruises on women again in the future, he couldn't help himself. Yet around Sophie, he was calm and collected. Not prone to the outburst of violence that plagued his life nor his dark desires of inflicting pain on young women. She calmed him with her presence alone. Granted he would never admit this to anyone. Imagine the ego she would get if she learned what exactly she meant to him. The control she had over him without even knowing it. And without even asking for it.