The Pointless Question

Igor had successfully gotten the job as Mr. Tanner’s secretary, and they’ve been doing their job effectively these past few months. They were heading to their office in the morning to start the day when they spotted him, doing the same thing.

By this point, Mr. Tanner had unfortunately realized why he was so drawn to them. He had a stupid little childish crush on them. He loathed it.

“Hi, Mr. Tanner!!” Igor hopped forwards to walk next to him.

“Hello, Igor.” Mr. Tanner kept his eyes where he was going. He knew that if he looked at that smile it would kill him.

Mr. Tanner was afraid of making anything obvious, showing any possible signs. He had absolutely no clue if they really liked him back because they keep their upbeat demeanor up around everyone, so he played it safe and assumed they didn’t. Plus, why would they? All he ever did was belittle them. …except for a few exceptions, but he keeps those scarce. But that’s still more mercy than he grants anyone else that reports to him at J.W. Wells and Co.

“Did you sleep well?” Igor wasn’t very good at small talk, but they wanted to talk to Mr. Tanner.

Mr. Tanner didn’t know what to say at first. He was always caught off guard when his secretary asked about his health. It wasn’t the kind of attention or concern he was ever used to receiving. “Are all your questions this pointless?” He deflected their concern with his own harshness. This is how he spoke to all of the rest of his interns. He absolutely detested the little pang of guilt that rushed through him when he belittled them, which was not something he’d ever felt during the many years he’s worked for this company, but it was better safe than sorry. He couldn’t risk them finding out that they’re special to him.

Igor was used to all the belittling comments at this point. They never took them personally, because Mr. Tanner treated everyone under him like this, but… it was hard not to. Especially when you have self-esteem issues. But they were confident in the fact that he wasn’t personally mad at them, so they wiped it off like it was nothing as they usually do. 

They tried to come up with a response. They shrugged, and said, “Just wonderin’. I hope you did.” 

The pair approached their adjoining offices. Mr. Tanner finally looked down at their casually smiling face. He couldn’t help it. He finally had something to look forward to in the day. He had someone in his life that didn’t detest him. 

He showed his immense gratefulness in a major way. He returned their smile. It was a small one from him, but a genuine, happy smile nonetheless. He inhaled, and exhaled. This next part was even more major. “I hope you did too.”