Strictly Business - Denmark x Reader Ch. 3

The brunette cashier glanced up at you as she scanned the items, “Bad break-up?” You paused rummaging through your purse for the two hundred dollars. “Erm… yeah, something like that.”


“Keep the change,” Kohler muttered. He didn’t bother to look up from the empty desk. You thought better than to say any more than a, “Thank you, sir.” And then you quickly closed the door on the way out.


CRASH! The sound echoed through the floor. You felt the live atmosphere change dramatically after the first hour of this. SMASH! Only a few murmurs were heard and nothing else. ‘I wonder if this is somewhat normal around here…’ Your (e/c) eyes scanned the room of nervous employees; you had noticed the day was coming to an end. It was nearly 7:30 anyway.

“OUT!” A shout rang through the room. Your head snapped the direction, Samantha stood in front of Mr. Kohler’s opened door. You saw a hand snatch at the handle and slam the door in the woman’s face. Once she turned, her expression was shaken. Samantha quickly recollected herself and walked away. The office now had around five people left, you wouldn’t be surprised if they left in a type of fear of being fired. Looking at your desk you knew you couldn’t even bring all this paperwork back with you to the apartment. In addition to a small report being due for Riley.

You groaned in defeat and hovered your fingers over the keyboard, begging for a choice of words to fly into your head.

TIMESKIP

It was nearly ten o’clock now and the report was on its last sentence. You grinned in triumph, ‘About time!’ Thinking this made your grin widen.

As you packed your few items you directed your gaze towards the long subsided office of Mathias Kohler. You felt sympathy for the man despite the fact that he was your boss. You left your possessions at the desk and walked through the empty floor towards the door. It only took one knock for a rough voice to answer, “Come in.”

Hesitantly, you inched the door open. The floor was covered in glass and broken trinkets. The desk was destroyed, it leaned unevenly with battered edges and various scratches. The walls had random gashes and scratches. You tried to avoid the glass pelting the floor.

Mathias sat on the couch, lazily. Holding the vodka bottle in one hand and the abused baseball bat at his side. He sighed, “Don’t you just love it when your world evolves around one little, insignificant thing… and that little, insignificant thing just claws at it. Slowly ripping it into ribbons, just so it can deliver its final, fatal blow?”

He noticed your confused expression, “Come. Come sit. Please.” He swiped shards of glass of the couch next to him. You obeyed and looked at his faraway gaze. The man cleared has throat, you also noticed that his eyes were red and puffy. “You do know I loved her,” He looked at your face. You nodded quickly. “Don’t respond to this as a secretary… respond as a friend,” he breathed in a raged breath, “Have you ever loved somebody so much that it hurt to look at them? So, so much that you worry everyday that you do everything in your power to make them love you?”

You nodded thinking back, it hurt to think about it.

FLASHBACK

“Hey Mom!” You cheerfully answered through the phone. “What’d you call me for? If it’s money again then-”

“No, no! I wanted to tell you the good news!” You heared a frustrated sigh on the other end, “Spit it out, I don’t have all the goddamn time in the world.”

“I got a job as a secretary at a high end com-”

You were cut off by malicious laughter, “A… A secretary?! Oh that’s rich. Why not get a job at a club for crying out loud!” After that, the laughter continued and the call ended.

END OF FLASHBACK

Matias nodded, seeing you cringe at the memory. He put an arm around you, pulling you closer. You let him, you felt like you needed some comfort for once. “Tell me what you’re thinking.” Hearing this made you look up at those icy blue eyes. Matias Kohler smiled, “Ah, come on now! I can never seem to get into that mind of yours. For once, I want to hear about (y/n)’s person life. I can’t have all the attention.”

“My… my mother never accepted my ambitions. She always thought I was throwing my life away being – well – here. She thought I should ‘live my life to the fullest’, going to clubs, staying out late, so on and so forth. It was the typical mother daughter relationship, but flipped. I, never once, agreed with her. You let your head lean against him, staring into the oblivious mess of his office.

He looked down at you and offered the bottle. Instinctively, you declined with a simple shake of the head. It wasn’t your thing to drink your sorrows away. “I’m sorry,” Matias broke the silence. “Hey. I’m not here to make a depressing person of myself,” you said softly, wishing away the topic.

Silence.

“I should be getting home, Mr-”

“Please, just call me Matias when we’re alone. ‘Mr. Kohler’ makes me think someone’s going to strangle me.”

You nodded, standing. “Leave the door open on your way out, will ya? I’ll be following you out in a couple minutes,” he said, exasperated, also standing. As you reached for the doorknob you felt a hand on your shoulder. Matias wore a small smile, “Have a good evening, (y/n)… and thank-you.” You just smiled in response.


On the way home you took a taxi, it was too dark to walk. The driver looked in the rearview mirror, “You got a fever, Ms.?” You looked back in the mirror to see your face in several shades of red.