By Monday morning, Gray had barely slept.
Even though he tried to rest for the whole weekend, his mind wouldn’t shut off.
For the past 2 days, he’d read through ten proposals, skimd twenty, and flagged at least five that scared him. It scared him, not because they were bad, but because they were too good.
He wasn’t sure if that was flattering or terrifying, or maybe both.
"Hah, I’m so fucking tired." Even if it was still early in the morning, Gray readied himself to leave the condo to go to his office.
However, before leaving, he scribbled a quick note on the fridge just in case.
"I’ve already packed your lunchbox for the day. There’s also leftover pasta that I’ve reheated on the table. Don’t eat chips for breakfast. I’ll be ho by dinner. —Gray."
After that, he left the condo and boarded the car with Daniel, greeting him enthusiastically.
"Good morning, Sir."
"Good morning too."
The car ride was quiet. The streets were busier than usual. Or maybe it just felt that way because his head was full of thoughts.
By the ti he reached the building, a lot of employees were already starting to ti in. He smiled at a few employees who were smiling at him before he stepped inside.
He didn’t even make it to his office before Marcus found him.
"Gray," Marcus said, walking out of the elevator. He had a stack of folders in his arms. They weren’t just normal folders but thick ones.
Gray blinked at him.
"Good morning."
"I was gonna text you, but I figured I’d wait for you here," Marcus said. "These ca in today."
He shifted the stack so Gray could see the front.
Each folder was labeled neatly. So with company logos, others with printed headers. They had the words, "Expansion Plan Draft," "Preliminary Offer," "Projected Valuation," in front of them.
Gray stared at it. His forehead slightly creasing as a questioning look appeared on his face.
"There’s more?" he asked him.
"Yup." Marcus gave a dry laugh. "We’re up to thirty-five proposals."
"Jesus..."
"Yeah. Also, Joel texted. He wants to talk about a few logistics."
"Alright," Gray took the folders slowly and nodded. "Let’s head to the office and talk about it."
After that, they walked towards Gray’s office. It was weird, since a couple of employees whispered among themselves and gave Gray a curious look. One even whispered sothing that sounded suspiciously like "Is that him?"
Gray pretended not to hear it, but he already had an intuition that it was because of the gala.
When they finally arrived, Gray opened the door and went to sit in his chair. He placed the folders on the desk and motioned for Marcus to take a seat in front of him.
Marcus followed, folding his arms. He didn’t say anything at first. He just sat down across from Gray and stared at him for a second longer than usual. Then, he leaned back with his arms still folded and glanced up.
"...If you don’t mind asking, sir," he said, tone even but curious, "what exactly happened at the gala?"
Gray looked up from the paperwork.
Marcus doesn’t look like he was prying, but he had the look of soone who was really curious about what happened.
"I saw a few headlines," Marcus continued. "You were in several of them. So ntioned you and Miss Everett together."
Gray gave a small nod, not surprised.
"They said you danced with her," Marcus added.
"I did."
"I see."
There was a small second of silence between them.
Gray leaned back slightly in his chair.
"You saw the coverage?"
"Yes. It was hard to miss. Most of the business pages ntioned the Everett Gala by Saturday morning. By Sunday, there were full recaps with photos, guest lists, and so speculation about who you were."
"That fast, huh?" Gray exhaled quietly.
Marcus kept his voice steady and nodded.
"I didn’t want to assu anything, but when the emails started coming in, especially the ones ntioning the Everett na. I figured there must have been more to it."
Gray didn’t respond right away.
Instead, he let his eyes drift toward the folders again.
There were too many to count. He could already tell so of them had been prepared over the weekend.
Marcus cleared his throat lightly.
"If it’s alright to ask... were you formally introduced as a partner?"
Gray t his gaze.
"No," he said. "But I didn’t need to be."
Marcus nodded slowly, processing that. He didn’t ask any more questions and just nodded.
"Understood."
Another silence followed after.
Then Marcus glanced at the folders once more.
"Should I begin categorizing these? Separate the ones with clear terms from the exploratory ones?"
"Yes," Gray nodded. "Can you start with anything offering infrastructure support. Then those focused on expansion funding. Ignore the vague interest letters for now, I’ll go through those myself."
"Alright," Marcus stood and took a few of the folders with him.
Before leaving, he paused by the door.
Before leaving, Marcus paused by the door.
He stood there for a second, then turned slightly, his voice neutral but clear.
"Also," he said, "just a heads-up... I’ll be stepping away from this role starting next week."
Gray looked up.
"It’s part of what Jonathan and I previously agreed on," Marcus explained. "My assignnt here was temporary. I’ve been requested to transition into another task by the start of next month."
Gray didn’t look surprised. He simply nodded once.
"I see."
"I’ll still be available for coordination if you need help settling into things," Marcus added. "But moving forward, you might want to consider appointing soone to take over the day-to-day assistance. Soone full-ti."
Gray leaned back slightly in his chair, gaze thoughtful.
"...Got it. Thanks for the reminder."
"I’ll make sure to finish categorizing these before I shift out," Marcus said.
"Alright," Gray said. "Appreciate it."
Marcus gave a short nod and stepped out, the door clicking softly behind him.
Gray didn’t move for a mont.
He just sat there in the quiet of his office, the weight of the folders still in front of him.
Marcus’s leaving wasn’t unexpected. He knew that he was just helping him because that was his work.
"A new assistant..." Gray sighed as he thought of it.
He needed to look for a new assistant now. That was a new problem on top of all these proposals.
Gray leaned back in his chair, his fingers holding loosely in front of his lips.
A new assistant.
He hadn’t even gotten used to having Marcus around. Now he had to think about replacing him.
That was the thing with business. Once things started moving, they wouldn’t wait for you to catch your breath. The world just kept pushing, faster and faster.
"How will I do this..." Gray rubbed his eyes and let out another low sigh.
Who the hell was he supposed to hire on such short notice?
He couldn’t just grab soone from HR. This person had to be soone sharp. Soone discreet. Soone who could handle the ss he was about to dive into.
And more than anything, soone he could trust.
His thoughts were still circling when sothing in the air shifted.
A faint chi echoed in his ears. Gray straightened instinctively.
A second later, the familiar translucent screen slid smoothly into his field of view.
[Additional Mission Unlocked!]
[Mission: Find a Trusted Aid after Joel]
Objective: Find an assistant that can help you in your work
Ti Limit: 10 days
Note: They must be trustworthy, competent, and capable of handling internal affairs as your influence grows.
[Reward: 2 Influence | $10,000]
Gray blinked.
He stared at the screen as it hovered in front of him.
’Ten days...’
It didn’t sound like much, but it might as well be a countdown clock over his head.
’I need to find soone trustworthy in 10 days...’
He dragged a hand down his face.
"Damn. I don’t know how to do that," he muttered under his breath.
It was worse that the mission didn’t disappear in front of him. It hovered there like a reminder for him to do well.
"So stupid..."
Gray closed the mission window with a short gesture. It faded from his view, but he could still feel the weight of it on his mind.
’Hah...’
He took a deep breath and shifted his gaze to look at the folders again. There were still stacks he hadn’t even opened yet.
Then he turned toward his laptop, fingers already reaching for the keyboard.
If the system wanted a trusted aid, then fine.
He’d find one.
He just had to make sure they were the right person this ti.
Because if they weren’t—it wouldn’t just be a mission failure.
It would be a disaster.
===
A/N: Was travelling for two weeks, so I apologize for the lack of update. 2 Chapters a day will resu tomorrow, with better quality.
Also, thank you to all the people who dropped Golden Tickets in the book for the last 2 weeks.
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