The Lady's Everyman

-CH 8-

"Good morning Mr. Parker. Are you feeling better? You fell asleep so suddenly yesterday." Amanda's face peered over the edge of the large bed that Zach was laying on.

"Ugh... Where am I? Why does my head feel like it's full of cotton?" He rubbed the side of his skull where the most pain seemed to be originating from and then looked up into the beautiful angelic smile upon Amanda's face. Her hair was all done up with curls falling into her eyes and she wore a tightly fitted business suit with a pair of round glasses sitting neatly above her perfectly straight nose bridge.

Seeing her dressed so properly in comparison to her normal casual attire almost made his heart skip a beat. He glanced around the room to find that she must have taken him into one of the spare bedrooms. The room was decorated in dark brown wallpaper that reminded him of an old library, while the floors were carpeted in an off white color that went well with the furniture pieces scattered across them.

The bed itself was covered by a fluffy comforter and an even thicker duvet that had been laid down over it, keeping it warm and comfortable for sleeping. There were two windows set against each other opposite of the foot of the bed which looked out onto the ruined garden.

"What happened yesterday? You look exhausted," Amanda asked concerned as she stepped closer toward him to examine his condition. She gently reached out to brush some loose hairs away from his face as she looked into his eyes.

"It was nothing serious. I was probably just exhausted from lack of sleep. I'm all good now. Are you... heading to work? It's Saturday right?" Zach groaned after pushing himself off of the bed so that he could sit on the side.

"Hehe, I guess you noticed my clothes. Yeah, unfortunately, I still have to manage the business. Even on days like this where I don't really feel like leaving the house." She explained with a pouty expression forming across her soft lips. "Well, I shouldn't keep you any longer. I'll be taking off so wish me luck."

She gave him another dazzling smile before turning and walking away quickly towards the door. Once she was gone and the bedroom door closed behind her, Zach collapsed back onto the bed and let his body sink into the mattress.

"Ugh." He sighed loudly and ran his fingers through his hair in order to comb it over his forehead. With Amanda gone from the property and nothing but time on his hands, he thought about what he could do to lessen her burden.

Despite his enjoyment of her company's work, He was utterly useless when it came to the industry. That meant there were very few things that he could assist her in regard to the Fermoso Corporation's management.

Despite being useless in a business setting, He found that there was still plenty to do around the house. Cleaning seemed like a logical choice. He had promised to take care of their yard after all. Plus, he didn't have anything else better to do and it would help Amanda if he was doing something productive around the house while she managed to run the day to day operations of her company.

With these thoughts running through his mind as his first order of business, Zach slowly climbed out of bed and made his way into the bathroom to properly get cleaned up.

While Zach was preparing himself for the day, Amanda had pulled into the parking garage of a large office building. The 15-story tall structure sat in the heart of the city at a busy intersection that saw a lot of foot traffic during rush hour. It housed a wide variety of businesses from high class law firms to insurance companies that dealt with automobile claims. Her company, Fermoso Corporation, rented a small space that included the fourth and fifth floors.

Her family had once owned the entire property but were forced to rent most of the floors several years ago and used most of the profits to handle their ever increasing debts. Looking up at what used to be theirs only served to motivate Amanda even further. She was going to get them out of this rut! No matter how long it took she was determined to succeed.

Amanda exited her vehicle and made her way through the garage and toward an elevator that could take her to her floor. The elevator arrived at her location with an audible ding. A door opened and she stepped inside before pushing the button for her floor. She stared down at her phone screen before placing it on silent mode.

As the elevator lifted her to where she needed to be, Amanda took a quick moment to touch up her suit and tie before pulling herself together and opening the door that led to her workplace. Before her, stood an ocean of cubicles and a sea of people all working away at whatever projects or jobs they had been given that day.

Their eyes remained on their own devices even after she entered the room as if none of them cared about her presence. The place felt lifeless as she walked across the carpeted floor toward her office.

Giving herself a slap on the cheeks to wake herself up from the daze caused by the cold reception, Amanda quickly pulled open her office door and headed straight for the desk within her inner sanctum. "That was awful," Amanda muttered to no one in particular while taking a seat and glancing at the cluttered papers that lay scattered across her desk.

The sight made her frown in displeasure. This was a complete mess. There was no order to anything here and everything looked haphazardly organized with stacks of documents that were piled upon each other. It was like some sort of puzzle without any pieces placed correctly and just thrown into the center of it all with absolutely nothing to tie it all together.

She didn't even know where to start. It was just proposal after proposal. spreadsheet after report. And all of them had amassed after just one day. It was an endless sea of busy work that she had to sift through before being able to get started on her real work.

Amanda leaned forward in her chair and tried to focus her attention on the mountain of paperwork before her. "If only Zach was here. He would probably have cleaned this whole thing up in an instant. I wonder how he's faring? Probably better than me."