Back at Suntel...

"Yes, yes I know. I'm not dumb Judith! If Annabeth doesn't gain popularity across the world, then how can we attract the audience we need? We need her to do something, anything to make her known to the rest of the world." Michael sighed and dropped his head in frustration.

Judith sat from across him, emitting dark energies. Dressed in black, tight-fitting clothing, it would be an understatement to say that there's a new badass in town—not to mention, a hot one.

"Jesus Michael, get your head in the game! It's not that hard to get a valley girl like herself to fall for our plans." She scoffed. "We need her to comply with us and—." Michael cut her off, "No shit. It's not like I'm a fucking dictator here. I can't just force her to do things, Judith. It takes more than that. It takes our company's approval." He said.

"Okay, then make it work! Deceive them Michael! You're good at that, right? How hard can it fucking be?" She stared at Michael with eyes of the devil. He softened, and they stayed silent for a few moments. "Don't give me those puppy-dog eyes. You know full well what you did." She sighed. "I found someone by the way, and I've never been happier." Said Judith.

Michael's heart dropped. "Jude, you know that—. "Judith snapped, "Stop. Stop it already."

She walked to the door, and looked back.

"Find another plan. If not, I'm going to have to kill her myself. We don't want that, do we?"

Michael creased his forehead, and locked eyes with her for a few moments. Time stopped, and so did their hearts.

"Understood." He said.

Judith turned her head without making eye contact. "Good." She whispered, and stormed out the glass door.

Michael stood and walked, as if exhausted, to his array of alcohol. The middle-aged man snatched the bottle of whiskey then solemnly made his way towards his leather couch and plopped down. Suddenly, his phone rang—too soon for his pleasure.

"Goddammit. It never ends." He sighed in frustration.

His large hands searched vigorously through the pockets of his suit pants, before finally feeling the smooth screen of his smartphone.

"Hello?" he fumed.

"What's the problem Michael? Did you get something stuck up your ass?" remarked Johnny.

"What is it?" Michael firmly asked.

"Calm your tits. I have some news for you."

Michael was intrigued. "It better be good." He said.

"Annabeth has a new assistant, but he's no ordinary assistant. He's a former marine and field agent for the CIA. Not only that, his records are impressive. 120 clean kills and 40 successful missions. Only one fuck-up, but still. Pretty good for a young man." He stated.

Michael swore under his breath. "Huh? What was that?" replied Johnny.

"Nothing. Alright, thanks." Michael added.

"Hold on, hold on. You know what this means right? We need to get rid of him. I went to Annabeth's house-" he stopped, "By the way, that building's security sucks ass."

"Just get to the point." Michael yelled.

"Calm the fuck down old man. I went there to plant some cameras, but that asshole was there with that annoying dog." He exclaimed.

Michael's day could not get any shitttier. "Leave it to me." He replied.

"Get him before boss gets mad. No one likes it when he's mad, you feel."

The pepper-haired man sighed, "I know, no need to explain further. Now stop bothering me."

"What the fuc- "Michael cut Johnny off before he could irritate his headache even more.

"Think, think Michael." he said to himself.

After much deliberation, it hit him. "If Luke is going on tour in Europe in a week, I can get Annabeth to make a surprise guest appearance and have them perform a duet. A power couple, singing together? My god, you truly are a genius Michael." he snickered and enjoyed a sense of harmony for the rest of the work day.

Meanwhile…

(Annabeth's POV)

Note to self: yell at Shelly for hiring a hot assistant. I would've been better off with a girl, or a really old man. Percy has a super sexy car, sexy hair, sexy body, and manners—what more could a girl want. We walked to his car, with Chloe ahead of us, enjoying the breeze the ocean has to offer on a scorching hot late afternoon.

"Hey Perce," I said.

"What's up?" he asked.

I stayed silent to gather my thoughts, then asked, "What did you do before you got this job?"

Percy's eyebrows creased and he looked down at his feet, as if he were searching for the answer. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, I was a marine."

"Oh, that's interesting." I said. No wonder why he's so fit. That explains his seemingly overprotective nature too.

"Yeah, I'm not that interesting of a guy." He laughed.

"Well, I wouldn't agree with that. You're pretty interesting to me." I replied.

Percy smirked. We arrived to his car and he opened the passenger door. I noticed his arms. They're nice and muscular, but not too large-just right. As I put one foot in, Chloe barked and jumped onto the red leather seats before me.

"Chloe!" I playfully scolded her.

Percy joked, "I hope you're not a troublemaker like her." I smirked.

"We'll see." I winked at him and he stood there, about to close the car door. We made eye contact for slightly longer than normal. Staring at each other like this didn't feel weird. It didn't feel awkward. It felt like the pieces of a puzzle were connected; as if all of my troubles faded. Looking into his eyes felt like comfort. Percy cleared his throat and smiled, then he shut the door and quickly jogged to the driver's seat.

If this continues, I don't know if I could contain my emotions.