Jergen's arms are CROSSED as he waits for his boss to get out of his car with the window closed. He's been inside for a few minutes and he's waiting to come out because that's what he said.

"Anytime now, Boss," she whispered while tapping her foot on the ground.

What is that man doing inside? Goodness. Is he doing some weird stuff again?

He was about to knock on the car window when the driver's seat opened and Lysander got out.

"You look pale, Boss," he commented while looking at her.

He gripped the hood of the car as if he was weak, then looked at him. "I'm fine." He tried to smile.

"What happened to you?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm fine." He straightened up, then smiled. "See?"

His eyes rolled. "Fine. Now leave, Boss."

"No way." He approached her, then took her by the hand and pulled her into the condominium.

Upon entering, he immediately pulled her into the elevator. "What floor, Jergen?" it asked.

"Tenth," he said as he calmed his fast-beating heart.

Why does he feel that way? He had long forgotten the attraction he felt for his boss. And now, just hold her hand and her heart reacts immediately. What was happening to her?

"Here we are," Lysander said.

Jergen didn't realize that they had reached the tenth floor and were already out of the elevator.

He blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah. So, what room?"

He walked towards the door of his condo first. Using the key card, he opened it. He pushed the door open and faced his boss.

"Thank you for the delivery. Good night. "He entered and was about to close the door when Lysander pushed it open and he entered.

"I believe we still have a wine to drink," he said, then walked to the living room and sat on the long sofa as if he owned the condo, then turned on the TV.

He raised his eyebrows. "Boss?"

"Hmm?"

"I'll just remind you, this is not your house," he said.

He looked at her. "This is given by the company to you, baby, so partially, it's mine."

Jergen's lips parted as his heart beat rapidly. He couldn't believe what he heard because he was sure it wasn't a figment of his imagination.

Did he just call her baby?

He closed his gaping mouth, then closed his mouth to calm his chest. "Boss?"

"Yes?"

"Did you just call me baby?"

He glanced at her. "I did." Amusement danced in his eyes. "Didn't I?"

Now, this is awkward. He looked away. "Ahm..." He smiled, then pointed to his room. "I was just there."

While walking, he heard the man's soft laughter. He just shook his head, then entered the room.

Whatever he had heard Lysander call him he had to forget. It wasn't healthy for both of them, especially at work.

After getting dressed, Jergen came out of his room carrying the wine he took from Lysander. He went to the kitchen and got two wine glasses. Then he went to the living room where Lysander was still watching.

"Hey, Boss," he said, then sat down at the other end of the long sofa and handed it the wineglass half full of wine. "Here."

Lysander accepted that then frowned as he looked intently at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked after taking a sip of wine from the wineglass.

He swirled the wine in the wineglass while still staring intently at him. "Why is it bad to look at you?"

He looked away. "Not at all."

"Hmm..." He was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. "You know, you can't do to another boss what you're doing to me."

He looked back at it. "I know, that's why I'm not resigning even though I'm so stressed." There was a small smile on his lips. "It's not every time that a secretary can insult her boss for being so darn lazy."

He chuckled. "Yeah? And you like insulting me?"

"Pretty much." Jergen drank wine. "I get to insult my boss, I get to learn a thing or two about being a secretary slash president of a company, I have a high-paying job, I have extra pay because you're darn lazy to do things on your own and above all, I can finance my family because of my job." He smiled. "Who wouldn't want to be your secretary if I get a lot of benefits?"

He grabbed the wine bottle that he was holding in one hand, then poured it into his empty wine glass.

"But as your employee, Boss, it can be said that you are lazy at any time. You have not changed anything," he added. "I've been working for you for five years but I can only count the days you come in. I'm even shocked that Callahan Real Estate still survives through the years."

"Because I'm awesome," he said as if that were extra points for the company's sales and stocks.

He made it difficult. "I'm the awesome one, not you. Don't be ambitious, Boss."

He was used to being answered like that by Lysander. This was what made them comfortable with each other. She is used to insulting him all the time because she knows that the man doesn't care.

"Yes." Lysander shook his head. "It's you."

"I am." He laughed softly. "As for me, I guess I'm the one running your company now. You should increase my salary, eh? I'm too much loaded as your secretary. Your salary should be mine too."

Its face cannot be painted. "Isn't that why you already reduced my salary? You're not even allowed to do that, but hell, you're doing it anyway. Maybe I'll fire every employee in the Accounting Department. It's their job to make your work, eh." He shook his head as if he was disgusted with him. "Why did I sign that payroll? I can't afford it anymore."

"Boss, you may be forgetting that you fired me from the payroll that the Accounting Department was working on because you wanted me to do my payroll with you." She rolled her eyes. "And is it possible, Boss, the pity effect is not for you? What I know is that even if you don't have a salary, you still have money."

The annoyance disappeared from the man's face, then he laughed softly. "You know me too well, baby."

His heart beat faster. There's that baby again. Am I hearing him wrong or was I right?

They were both silents until Lysander poured wine into his champagne glass again.

"You'll drive back, Boss. Don't drink too much," he warned.

"I'll be fine," he said, then drank the wine placed in the champagne glass. And as if that wasn't enough, it drank the rest of the wine in the bottle.

His face was wrinkled. "Are you all right, Boss?"

"Have you seen my passport, Jergen?" rather it is a question.

He was even more confused by this question. "What?"

"And have you seen my passbooks?"

He shook his head. I think he's drunk. "Your passport is with your passbooks. It's in your dark blue little cabinet on the side of your walk-in closet. I put it there when you asked me to deposit money in the bank after you came home from Colorado."

"Oh." He rested his feet on the center table. "You knew me too well, baby. Too well."

"Yes, I do," he said, then looked at it. "Boss, I've been working for you for five years. I think I know everything about you. I know when you drink tequila, you don't want salt and garnish, you want pure. I also know you're allergic to polyester so all your clothes are cotton even the inside of your tuxedos. I also know when you eat a burger, you remove the lettuce, tomato, and other vegetables because you hate vegetables. After all, that's what you call them is grass. And I also know that when it's your birthday, you don't want a big cake, you just want a cupcake because you're selfish and you don't want anyone to eat your birthday cake but you."

He looked at her. "You know me well, don't you?"

"Yes." He nodded as he met her gaze. "And you're also the laziest man I've ever met."

It laughed softly. "And you're my most bossy secretary. And you're the only secretary who insults me. But I kinda like you insulting me, at least I know you're real and not fake." He glanced at her. "That's what I like about you, you never lie to me. You tell me what's on your mind even if it's negative."

His heart beat fast. Did he like her? "Go home, Boss, it's getting late. I guess you're drunk."

He kept staring at her. "Do you have a boyfriend, Jergen?"

He raised his eyebrows at this question. "Why are you asking? It's personal."

"Just answer me."

"Nothing."

"Have you had a boyfriend before?"

"Yes."

His face darkened. "Who? I'll have him assassinated."

He made it difficult. "There is nothing. I was a classmate in college in our province. I broke up because I didn't want a long-distance relationship when I took a chance here in Manila."

"More handsome than me?"

He laughed softly at Lysander's question. "Boss, you do realize that you look like a freaking model."

"Yes." His voice was proud. "Yes, I am."

Jergen rolled her eyes. "And here goes the swirl of boastfulness."

Instead of answering, he just laughed and slid down on the long sofa with his eyes closed. Until his head was on her thigh.

His face was wrinkled. "Boss, what the hell, don't joke about that. Get up now."

He was about to shake her shoulder when he heard her faint snore.

"What the..." He didn't finish what he was going to say, then just shook his head. "Sleep on the sofa and turn my thigh into a pillow." He sighed. "There should be a fee, eh."

He looked down at her gentle sleeping face. He couldn't help but stare at his boss, whom he had been lusting after for several years. Now that he was asleep, he could freely observe his handsome face.

This man was handsome. So it's no wonder he likes it.

But she knew better than to fall for her boss. She would surely be out of a job if Lysander knew what she was thinking every time she saw it. He might return to the cause of death; starvation. That's why he continued as his secretary because he knew that the relationship between the two of them was platonic. No malice. But here it is and he craves it.

He knew that Lysander cursed the secretary he followed because the girl liked him and he didn't want that to happen to him.

Jergen sighed, then stroked her forehead. He combed her hair as he stared at her face. "Why are you so handsome?" he asked in a whisper.

Lysander's eyes suddenly opened causing him to stop breathing and his whole body went cold. Did it hear? She was so close. Of course, he heard her!

Then he smiled. "It's in my genes, baby."

His lips parted. "Oh... my..." his whole body almost felt cold and his chest felt like it was going to explode. "Boss..."

He grinned. "And it's also God's gift to women—"

He suddenly stood up as if he had been scalded in his seat causing Lysander to fall on the sofa and hit his head and back on the floor.

"Ouch! Fuck!" He stood up quickly, then gave him a nasty look. "Is that the right way to treat your boss? Fuck! I think I broke my ribs."

She glared back at him. "No! But it's not right for you to sleep!" He couldn't stop yelling at her, especially since his cheeks were burning with shame. "Are you making fun of me, Boss?"

"Of course not! And I think we're even," he answered, still looking at him badly. "I hit my head on the concrete and I think I broke some ribs." He grimaced while stroking the back of his head.

He wanted to make fun of the man for sleeping around but he was more worried about his head.

He quickly took a cold compress from the fridge, then immediately returned to the living room.

"You alright?" He approached Lysander, then positioned himself behind him and applied the cold compress to the back of his head. "Does it still hurt? It's you, Boss," he blamed. "Don't startle me. Come on, you've got a lump."

"That's okay," he said, then grabbed the cold compress he was holding and suddenly faced him. "That lump won't diminish my beauty."

Jergen looked up at the man and secretly swallowed when he noticed that their faces were only a few feet away. And when he looked down at her lips, her throat felt dry. He couldn't move where he stood for some unknown reason even if he wanted to.

"You owe me," he said while still looking at her lips. "First, you opened my car window even though I didn't want to. Second, you pushed me off the sofa and hit my head on the floor—"

"I didn't mean it, Boss." He frowned in disgust. "I'm sorry. It's your fault, huh."

"You're not sorry enough for my lump." Lysander's face came closer to hers. "That requires an extra payment, Jergen."

she gulped and frowned. "Extra payment?"

"Yes, baby," he whispered. "And this will do." With that, he pressed his lips to hers.