Cat-fishing the Cold-Blooded CEO
"If you're not on time to submit your financial report," he whispers, his voice in a dangerous drawl, "then I'll have you face the consequences."
There he is - the youngest chief executive of COV Corporation, the most powerful cybersecurity company in the entire virtual space - looking just as menacing in 140-pixel video quality as he did in real life. It was that fated day, five years ago, that she unsuspectingly met him on the streets.
She was late that day. Driving to work, engine at full-throttle, and perhaps it was the nervous adrenaline or the early morning rays that hindered her movements, but she found herself taking a hard turn, crashing straight into an expensive red sports car.
The other driver got out of the car. His gait was threatening, his footsteps defeaning on solid concrete. He was donning a pair of pitch-black sunglasses that practically smell of money - a luxury brand, no doubt. The harsh sunlight did no justice to anyone's features, but this man in particular was an exception. He oozed confidence ten feet away. Her eyes couldn't help but be allured by him.
She got out of her car and accidentally tripped on a pebble on the road, stumbling headfirst toward him. She fell straight into his chest, cheeks against lean muscle. The man ruthlessly yanks her away.
"You," he growled as he ripped the sunglasses off his face. "Do not appear in front of me again."
She was inevitably late to work and was fired that day. Months later, the dreaded coronavirus has pillaged through the nation in the form of soaring unemployment rates and jobless claims. Her credit score was beyond saving, her bank account was plummeting worse than the stock market.
She had fortunately gotten through a virtual job interview, only to find out that the boss is the very same man whose car she had crashed. She must protect her identity else she'd be living in the streets.
He sits in front of her now, his figure piercing even through the pixelation. This man is as attractive as he is alarming. Her laptop screen flashes ominously: low battery.
"I-I'm sorry," she stutters. Her eyelashes flutter meekly and her hands are trembling in excess.
Her webcam filter glitches out at this exact moment. The carefully-placed, triple-stacked eyelashes, the full rouge lipstick and the alien V-chin are all discarded. It's just her sitting in front of the screen. It's just her raw, unedited face staring straight into the cold-blooded eyes of the nation's wealthiest CEO.
I wrote this in like 10 minutes because really, I had nothing better to do in the middle of the night LOL