Priority Of A Beta (MxM)

In Bad Faith (2)

Chapter 4: In Bad Faith (2)

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“Wow! It’s incredible that you are so good at your job!” One of the female employees remarked as she placed her hand onto Akira’s shoulder. Her name was Mary, one of the senior employees, she was head of marketing.

“Yes, you’re working as if you’ve been in this business for years! Even though you are still just out of High School!” The other woman replied her name was Janet, also a senior however she was only a regular employee at the first floor. Her and Mary were somewhat of a close item.

‘Maybe if you two were actually doing your job you’d be half as good as me you noisy bitches…’ Akira cursed inside his mind but didn’t allow his true emotions to show as he replied with a calm smile. “Hah… I owe it all to my training! My employer is truly a good man who takes time out of his busy day to show me the ropes.” Akira openly praised his boss without a second thought. He had to give the impression a new employee that was still in the stages of admiring his employer, although that was far from the truth.

“What? Noah does? Haha… I can’t believe it!” Mary remarked with a hearty laugh with her chest as she leaned onto Janet’s desk to keep her balance. “A man as cold as him helping out a newbie? You must be kidding!” She continued in a somewhat mocking but still disbelief sounding voice.

‘How dare she call him by his name… he should be ‘sir’ to you w***e…’ Akira instantly cursed inside his mind while holding back the urge to glare at the woman that dared insult Noah.

“No, seriously, I haven’t even seen that man smile before! Is it possible he’s helping out a newbie?” Janet also chimed in on the short giggle as she looked up at Akira with a pair of wondering eyes. As if she was waiting for new gossip to later spread around the company.

“I know, right? Like I imagine he just works like a robot and then goes back home to an empty house each night.” Mary said as she stood up from the desk again and straightened her back out.

“He’s not married?” Janet asked while tilting her head to the side. “Certainly a man over 30 should also have a family or at least a wife…” She continued with a somewhat concerned sounding voice but you could hear the gleeful way in which she spoke, she wanted to know more.

“Who would marry him? Since he’s so overconfident, condescending, cold… Nobody would share a space with a man like that!” Mary remarked with a certain amount of confidence, whether her words were true or false seemed irrelevant to either of them. At the end of the day people would believe whatever they wanted to believe.

‘These two… are really getting on my nerves…’ Akira was slowly losing his cool at the two women basically holding him hostage at the first floor. ‘This isn’t how I want to spend my already short coffee break… they make everything taste even more bitter just listening to them…’

“But anyways Akira, tell us more about you, like your interests and so on!” Janet changed the subject seemingly because of the other’s unusually quiet attitude.

“Sorry, I have to go back to work.” Akira apologized as he checked the time, he tried to leave but Mary stood in his way not allowing him to walk past.

“Stay a bit longer!” Mary insisted as she smiled widely.

“Yeah! We only want to chat-” Janet chimed in before she was interrupted by a familiar and strong voice. The man’s presence filled the room as if by some supernatural phenomenon. Instantly they felt the particular man’s pheromones…

“Ladies, it’s not polite to keep him out of the office for so long.” Noah spoke with a calm and tempered manner of speech. The pheromones that everyone felt were the fake Alpha pheromone replacements that he sprayed on himself every morning.

‘Geez… he could have went easy on the scent, it’s suffocating…’ Akira thought to himself instantly. Being an Alpha himself he could tell that this scent was very high grade, probably illegal even, since they don’t make perfumes this strong or at least they are not supposed to.

“S-sir… we’re very sorry…” Mary apologized while hanging hear head low in embarrassment. She couldn’t make eye contact with her employer, she was sure the man had overheard them.

“Yes, apologies…” Janet agreed with her co-worker and held her head low as well. It was the kind of understanding they had with each other where they didn’t need to talk to understand what the other was thinking. They knew they were both in trouble for speaking out like this. But neither of them could have known he’d be there. After all Noah usually never walked around on the first floor! This was the first time.

‘Hm? He went out of his way to meet me here? What for?’ Akira instantly noticed there was something strange with his employer’s behavior, he seemed somewhat nervous.

‘These two are the company’s gossips, if I allow him to listen to them for far too long he might figure out something he should have…’ Noah instantly considered as he glanced at the two girls and then at the man. He needed to think quickly.

‘Could it be that he…?’ Akira began contemplating various things inside his head.

‘f**k now that I interrupted them I have to figure out how to make it seen innocent… ugh… I guess… this will work…’ Noah stood strong in his place as he looked at the two women, his indifferent expression was somehow charming yet intimidating none the less. “I don’t blame you for wanting him all to yourself but he’s my assistant, you know? I can’t just allow him to be snatched up by just anyone.” He said as if he was joking but where did the joke end and reality start? It was hard to tell.

“Oh…” At that Mary blushed a bright shade of pink as she looked up at the two men. ‘Is the Boss interested in Akira?’ She thought to herself not being able to contain the hint of a smile upon her face. Suddenly she became shy.

“Y-yes, we understand…” Janet quickly chimed in seeing as her co worker was unable to. ‘Wow… that’s incredible… to think he’d be so bold!’ She thought to herself her eyes widening in surprise.

‘f**k… playing jealous is really s**t… hopefully they’ll think it’s a joke…’ Noah hoped but he knew it was a bit too difficult to get rid of rumors once they started. He would try to keep these two women quiet but it wasn’t something he could guarantee. The best option was to feed them some relatively harmless or otherwise hard to believe gossip.

‘Again is this an act? Why would he act like this otherwise if not to fool me? There’s no way he’s actually jealous of these two lowlifes… there’s no way…’ Akira couldn’t figure the man out as he tried to process everything happening upon Noah’s expression but there was nothing, the man had a completely blank face as if he was saying a joke with a deadpan expression. You couldn’t tell if he meant any of it or not.

“Get back to work, ladies…” Noah commanded as he gestured to the two women.

“Yes, sir!” Both Janet and Mary agreed as they headed towards their respective desks and sat down.

Meanwhile Noah gestured to Akira to follow after him, after they were about ten meters away from the women, he spoke up again. “You shouldn’t hang around those two.” It was a clear enough statement.

“Why?” Akira asked, he wasn’t confused even he could see the two women were both annoying and gossipy. Both qualities he disliked, yet he wanted to figure the other man out.

“Because… even I… would get a bit jealous…” Noah said with a hesitant voice, which of course was also planned. Everything from the way he moved his lips, down to the subtle blink of his long eyelashes, everything was calculated. You’d never be able to catch him in a lie.

“Hm?” Akira was stunned, he stopped in his tracks. ‘He’s… blushing?’ He thought to himself while observing Noah’s reddened cheek. Akira didn’t want to believe it was possible and yet there was no denying it either.

“Since… they are really pretty… both of them… and in comparison I am just an old man… but…” Noah continued speaking in somewhat broken sentences, purposefully in contrast to his usual icy nature. ‘I can’t believe I’m going to say something so f*****g embarrassing…’ He thought to himself as he took a deep breath in preparation. “…you said you liked me first so… I’ll hold you to that!” He finally blurted out in a meek yet demanding sounding voice.

“……………..” That sentence seemed to really baffle Akira.

‘He’s gone completely silent, did I overdo it?’ Noah didn’t allow his momentary panic to be noticed by anyone.

‘This boss of mine… is an incredible liar… otherwise… why would my heart beat so fast after hearing something like that?’ Akira felt like laughing at the silly situation he was in.

“Anyways… the BBH project, how is it going?” Noah asked in a very sudden and somewhat awkward manner. ‘I’ll make it look like I’m changing the subject because I’m shy or whatever…’ He thought to himself while still keeping up the act.

“Uh, yes… I contacted the company head, you’ll need to meet him in your office later today. I do recall putting it in your calendar. You didn’t notice?” Akira asked as he tilted his head to the side. ‘He’s cute… when he’s like that…’ He thought to himself unknowingly.

“No… was it not updated on time?” Noah asked, this time he was genuinely surprised since he hadn’t noticed such a change at all.

“It should have been, I’m sure Ruby had the-” Akira was interrupted suddenly.

“Ruby’s home today.” Noah replied as he checked his phone. As expected there was no update to his calendar.

“I see… Then I’ll take on her duties for the remainder of the day.” Akira suggested as he rolled up his sleeves. Pulling out his phone from the back of his pocket he checked Ruby’s passwords for the few databases he needed to use to complete her work.

“Don’t bother, its simple office work, anyone can do it.” Noah instantly shook his head. “Focus on your own work not on hers.” He continued, now regaining his more domineering attitude.

“Not just anyone, she’s overqualified for a secretary.” Akira quickly replied as he sighed. “You truly don’t understand how work your employees work, do you?” He said in a somewhat disappointed sounding voice.

“If that’s what you think then feel free to take on her tasks for today.” Noah said as he glanced at the man then continued walking in front of him.

“Yes, sir.” Akira had no complaints on the matter.

“You can bring my coffee in ten minutes.” Noah said with a light smirk on his face that quickly disappeared.

“Hah…” Akira chuckled a bit, then held back his laugh.

“Hm?” Noah raised an eyebrow while looking back at the man.

“Just, it reminded me of our old dynamic… it’s rather nostalgic.” Akira spoke with a certain level of infatuation still in his voice.

“Really? I don’t seem to recall much of the past.” Noah said almost dismissively.

“Of course you’d want to forget…” Akira sighed heavily as he walked past the man. “To you it was a normal day at the office… while to me… to me it was something much more special than that…” He remarked as he continued walking away.

“I see…” Noah simply nodded.

“I’ll bring that coffee but if you’re not in your office it’s going to get cold.” Akira said as he looked back one last time he was already a few meters away from the man.

“Then I better hurry up back.” Noah said as he headed towards the elevator.

Akira stood there for a while, watching Noah until the man disappeared from his sight. ‘Even now watching his retreating back… it’s so difficult for me to tell whether I’m in the right or wrong… Do I truly want him gone? Or do I just want to get rid of him so that these feelings also disappear?’ He thought to himself.

‘I wonder… will they ever disappear?’ Akira felt a strange aching in his heart, his mind was unsettled. ‘Even when he’s no longer here will I be able to ignore his existence completely? Or will I spend my days lamenting what I’ve lost…?’ Those were questions he couldn’t ignore for much longer…

‘I need to talk with him…. He’s the only one that can tell me right from wrong…’ Akira finally decided as he checked the time on his phone…