The Devil's Harem

Chapter - 45

** Ding!!

The elevator door opened, and a handsome man donned in a colourful patterned suit, wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat on his head, was standing in front of them with two bulky men, dressed in black on his either side.

Alex was no expert in brands, but he could feel that the man was possibly carrying thousands of dollars over his body.

The man, on seeing Karen, pulled his glasses down his nose and gave a slow, meaningful wink to her. He waited for Karen to get all excited from that wink and hop into his arms, jumping in joy, but Karen stood there unmoved. She didn\'t even give the man a second look. Soon the elevator doors closed, and the elevator was on its way up.

"Wow... so smooth," Alex blurted out once they were alone again.

"What are you getting so impressed with?" Karen asked, irritated. She didn\'t appreciate the way Alex was eulogizing that mannerless jerk. He was not a new face in the company, and this was not his first time acting rogue in front of her, but she wouldn\'t want Alex to learn from him.

"Didn\'t you see how smoothly he flirted with you? I mean, yeah, a bit cheeky, but not over the top. I would love to learn a few things from him or someone like him. Dad is just like him, a bit flirty, and he would give me tips on wooing girls every now and then, but I never paid much attention. But now that I have a job, I think it\'s time to put those tips to use," Alex said.

"If I remember right, you are what? Twenty-six? I haven\'t seen many thinking about settling down, let alone having a family this soon? Don\'t guys usually want to date a lot of girls before settling on someone?" Karen asked. By this time, the elevator also stopped in front of them. This time it was empty, and the two of them got into it.

"I don\'t know about others, but I will date the one I am going to marry and spend the rest of my life with her. Growing old with the one you love is a blessing. I don\'t want to go around tasting every dish out there," Alex said as he pressed the button for the fourth floor, "But you seem to know a lot about men. You must have dated a lot?"

"Me?" Karen smiled, pointing at herself, "I have not. I never really cared about it. Even my marriage is something my mother took care of. She found the guy. We went out a few times and when I thought, yeah! He is a good guy. I married him. I never had the time to date anyone," Karen said.

"I see," Alex nodded towards her, but Karen could feel from the look on his face that he did not believe her.

"I am telling the truth," Karen said, asserting on the fact.

"And I believe you," Alex said, sarcastically, throwing his arms in surrender.

"What if after you marry and then love between both of you withers away?" Kaen asked, changing the subject.

"Marriage for me is not just about love and certainly not all about lust. It is mostly about responsibilities. Nowadays, people have certain parameters to judge their relationships. People tend to divorce their other halves just because they did not spend much time with you. But have you ever considered why is your partner working so hard? I am not saying there is no possibility that they are cheating on you, but it can\'t always be the case. Where is the trust?" Alex put great emphasis on the word trust.

"For me, marriage is not only about your present, but it is also about your future. According to me, marriage is a union of two imperfect beings who come together to make themselves perfect. So as long my other half does not cheat on me, I will try my best to withhold our marriage by any means possible". Alex expressed his thoughts to her, but he felt contradicted. He truly believed in what he said, but his encounter with Susan and then the dream he had during the presentation and the vulgarity he sprouted was against everything he just said.

"So what if she cheats on you? Won\'t you give her a second chance?" Karen asked. She was now very intrigued by Alex\'s views. They sounded too ideal but somewhat romantic.

"No," Alex said as he shook his head, " If we are at that stage of our life, then there is no point in holding her back. Let\'s say I give her a second chance. What\'s the guarantee that it will be the last?" Alex counter questioned.
"You sure have your views about marriage," Karen said.

"If you are not clear about what you want and expect from your partner, then you will just go around testing waters everywhere. I don\'t want to do that". Alex said, and with a ding, the elevator was on the fourth floor.

"So basically, you never had a girlfriend?" Karen asked as she walked out of the elevator.

"I don\'t know. As I told you before, I had an accident. So everything before the last year is a blank slate. Maybe someone is waiting for me or maybe not, who knows," Alex said with a bit of longing in his voice. Although he was happy with the Rutherfords, what if he had a family. Would they be worried about him? Will they be searching for him?

Karen could feel the sadness on his face, "Well, I hope you find someone who lives up to your expectations," Karen said, bringing the topic to an end, "You did a great job today. How about an early day for you? There is not much work anyway," Karen said as she brought him back to reality.

"Can I?" Alex was surprised by her generosity.

"Since I have already said it, leave before I change my mind," Karen said with a smile.

"You are the best boss one could hope for. I don\'t know why they were saying during the interview that you were the devil of the...P...R...d...e...p...a...," Alex blurted out in excitement, but when he got conscious of what he was saying, he ended up completing the sentence, word by word.

"Now that I think about it, we indeed have some work to be done by tomorrow. You might end up working overtime," The smile on Karen\'s face didn\'t fade in the slightest, but her tone was dangerous this time.

"Boss, I never paid attention to what the others said. The moment I saw you, I knew in my heart that you were the reincarnation of the angel itself. How can you be a devil? That\'s complete bullshit. If I knew where they lived, I would have already knocked at their door and beaten them black and blue," Alex said as he flattered Karen.

"What a glib tongue you have. Now off you go," Karen decided to let go of the matter, for now.

"Thanks, boss," Alex said and stormed into the PR department.

Alex grabbed his things from his desk in a hurry, and before anyone could ask him where he was going, he was standing in the elevator on his way to the parking lot. All the others were left speechless as they looked in the direction Alex left and then towards Karen, who just walked in.

"What are you looking at? Get on with your work, or you will all be staying here even after the office hours," Karen\'s voice brought them back to their senses, and they got themselves busy again.

On the other hand, happy with the way things turned out, Alex walked out of the elevator in the parking lot. But the moment he walked out, he bumped into someone and dropped some of his things, but the other party was so rude that she walked inside the elevator without even apologising.

Bad-mouthing the girl, Alex slowly gathered his things, put them in his bag, went to his bike and soon drove it out of the parking.

* * * * *

(You can always join the discord server here for more fun discussions: https://discord.gg/jFbF2c4nG6

Discord link also in the synopsis.)