Shall we begin?
Another minute past by as you waited for your next client. Your eyes were staring at the doors as if that was going to make them open however soon enough your wait was over.
“I don’t have much time for th-”
“No, Mr. Russo you have. So, sit down and let’s start,” you interrupted the man not giving yourself any time to actually look at him before gesturing for him to the creamed colored couch in front of you.
“Why am I even here, I didn’t hire you to talk to me?” he questioned after sitting down. He tried to seem relaxed but the tension was clear in his shoulders.
“And I wouldn’t be talking to you if you were only a boss to my clients, your employees, but you are not. You go along with them to protect and secure other so just as they have to be cleared you have to as well,” you stated not wanting to leave any room for argument, however as you have already talked to him before at your interview you knew that he will try to find a way out.
“I’m paying you,” he said with his brows furrowing as he was the boss in the room and it seemed that you took his role.
“You are not paying me for signatures, you are paying my professional opinion and in my opinion, you should go through the same things your employees do,” your voice showed no traces of wavering. You were a strong headed person and you have met many people like him and you knew that there is more than his cocky smile.
“You want to analyze me,” he almost but laughed as he spoke. He didn’t see himself as the weak link so there was no need for this conversation if he thought that he wasn’t able to go on the field he wouldn’t, he wasn’t stupid.
“No, I want to make sure that you are going to be safe where ever you go, that you are no danger to yourself or to others. Your job is not on the line here, only if you will be able to be in the field, that’s what you call it right?”
“I don’t have time for this,” he clasped his hands together before standing up and you didn’t bother to look at him.
“And what would your clients think about that,” you questioned with your eyes locked onto the papers while writing things down.
“Now you reminded me why I hired you,” he chuckled as the persistence and you not stepping down from authority was what he liked about you.
“So shall we begin?” you questioned finally with your eyes on him as he sat back down.
“Yeah.”
“After you came back have you talked to anyone?” you started however already guessing the answer as he was too guarded to have already resolved his problems.
“It’s better to forget about it than to talk,” he said with his voice void of emotions and his eyes hollow almost lifeless.
“But you didn’t forget, you can’t forget. What you have seen and survived is settled deep inside you and if you don’t talk about it, it will only grow bigger and one day it will explode.”
“You don’t know me,” he said a bit louder as if as a warning.
“I’m here to get to know you,” you offered although now you were only a stranger at best a colleague.
“No, you are here to fake your concerns to get us talking. You don’t care, nobody does; you are just a signature on the paper and nothing more.”
“Am I making you angry, Mr. Russo?” you questioned as his fingers were curled into fists as well as his foot tapping on the ground.
“Are you joking me, I have better things to do than this. What will happen next are we going to braid each other’s hair?”
“We are done here,” you announced closing your folder and pulling your lips into a thin line.
“Finally,” he huffed before standing up.
“I don’t think that you understand. From this moment you are not allowed t-”
“To what, please tell me?” he said coming closer to you as if trying to intimidate you as he could guess what you were about to say.
“It’s a pity you know,” you started looking away from him.
“What is, please enlighten me?”
“You go there full of hope that you will be a part of something, a part of a family. But they get taken away and you get lost thinking was it even worth it?” you were talking while staring at the ground not seeing the change on his face.
“You are talking as if you could understand,” he said accusingly.
“You are right, I can’t, but I do care. I took this job as I can help those who got lost.”
“I am not lost,” he stated firmly as if making you sure in that as well as himself.
“My brother used to say that, our father before him,” you whispered still not meeting his eyes.
“They served?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” you answered smiling sadly at the memory of them.
“Unfortunately? And still, you are here.”
“My father killed himself when I was six. I found his body and eleven years later the same happened with my brother,” you spoke louder this time while your eyes were directed at him. You weren’t going to let him see you broken, but you said that so that he could actually see you as a human.
“You were again the one who found the body,” he finished for you and you looked away letting silence to envelop you.
“What are you hiding?” you asked as he moved towards the door.
“I have respect for you and that was why I hired you. But I am not going to open myself to you,” he said with his back still to you.
“I’m not asking that, but you haven’t opened up to anyone.”
“How would you know?”
“I have my ways,” you stated making him turn around to face you completely.
“And I have my ways of dealing with my problems, so stop whatever this is.”
“Mr. Russo before you walk out the doors you should think again as you did hire me, but I still work for Homeland as well and if you don’t do this it will only cause problems for your contract. Homeland can leave; my word to them means more than a signature.”
“Do what you think is right,” he stated before walking away.
______________________________________________________________
“What the fuck did you do?!”
The door to your office was wide opened as he walked inside stopping at your desk. He rarely lost temper and you managed to do that.
You lifted your gaze from the papers on your table slowly almost as if you were bored before speaking. “Quoting you ‘do what you think is right’, I did just that.”
“This is not a game; I could lose my permit for wearing a weapon.”
“I know,” you stated staring at him and at that moment he couldn’t understand you, as he could easily fire you, but then he would probably lose one of his contracts.
“You are acting like a child.”
“I wouldn’t know how to act like one,” you said without thinking.
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing,” you whispered before busying yourself with some papers but didn’t last for long as he pulled them away from you.
“What was that supposed to mean?”
“We all have our secrets, but you are the one here who has to share.”
“And how is that fair?” he asked observing you and wondering what could you actually be hiding as he already checked everything about you.
“I thought that you served, Mr. Russo, so how come that you don’t know that life is not fair?”
“How would you know if I tell you the truth or a lie?” he asked ignoring your previous question.
“Whatever you tell me I’m not going to share with anyone so it’s on you if you want help or not.”
“And if I open up you won’t d-”
“If, only if I think that you are stable to work I will let you work,” you stated as that was the only thing that you had to do.
“Let’s start then,” he stated before sitting down and gesturing for you to join him.