Chapter Text
The sun peeks over the horizon. There's a stunning view of Central Park from this apartment, but whoever lives here isn't really watching.
As we wander through expensive furniture. Eventually, we can see Nesta Archeron running on a treadmill, watching the tv, all while reading a manuscript.
She sprints as the clock on her treadmill goes to zero, hitting the off button to stop the treadmill. Once done, she heads over to the shower to wash off the sweat off her body and get ready to head to work.
Since she moved out of her Father's house after his passing, she managed to get a job as a chief editor at a major book publisher company in New York City. She barely ever contacted her two sisters during the time but they're recently trying to reconnect and recover lost time. Once Nesta finished her shower, she checked herself on a mirror to straighten her eyebrows before heading to her closet.
She puts on a black dressing shirt with matching pants and heeled boots as she later ties her hair on a ponytail while heading to the kitchen to eat nothing more than a quick made cereal while re-reading the manuscript for the 3rd time.
In another department, Cassian wakes up on sheets and looks around to figure out where he is.
He takes a look at the clock on his desk, only for it to blink at 12 O'clock. Cassian checks his wrist watch and gets up quickly when he sees it is 8:16 AM. "Shit!"
He cursed under his breath while trying to get ready as fast as possible. He gets himself in a white dressing shirt with gray trousers, neglecting to wear the matching jacket since he's quite too muscular to make it fit, a blue tie and black shoes. He ties his shoulder length hair to a man bun and takes his bag, rushing out of the apartment to the street and stopping in the cafeteria only to see the huge line waiting to get their orders. Cassian cursed once again under his breath and was about to do his line when-
"Cassian, hey!" Said the register with two lattes in hand. Cassian rushed to her. "Here you go. Your regular lattes" she gave him a knowing grin.
"Thank you, you're a lifesaver" He said in relief and took the lattes as he rushed straight to work before getting an earful from his boss. He entered the building, maneuvering over the people with the lattes in one hand and barely made it into the elevator. "We ok?" He asked as his workmates nodded. "Yeah, me too" and with that the doors closed.
On her way, Nesta was on her phone with her bag hanging from her forearm. "Hello Jurian! How's my favorite writer?" She said while walking down along the people.
Apparently she's been trying to convince this person for a while now. "Of course you've been thinking about our talk, bc you know I'm right" she stops and waits for the light to turn green before proceeding to walk. "People in this country are busy, broke or hate to read. They need someone to say Hey! Don't watch Indianapolis tonight! Read a book! Read Jurian's book! And that person is Oprah." She said.
Once up on his floor he walks out and into his office.
"Cutting in close" Said the receptionist, which Cassian could recall was Gwyn, as he sighs yet a little hurried.
"One of those mornings. Thank you Captain Obvious" He said sarcastically before stumbling into Lucien, with a cart of documents, spilling one of his lattes, which had fallen onto him "SWEET... GOD!" He almost snapped.
"Sorry Cassian" Lucien replied, moving along, dragging the cart with him before he got in trouble. "Rub some dirt on it man" he said. Cassian growled under his breath, now he has to get a change of shirts.
Just as that happened, Nesta was on her way to the elevator. "Jurian, the truth is all A-plus novelists do publicity, I can name you all their names and…" she stopped in front of it. "Hey! Can I tell you what they all have in common? A publisher." She said.
Back with Cassian, he quickly ran to his brother, Azriel. "I need the shirt off your back. Literally" he blurted. Since Both Azriel and Him are about the same build, it's obvious that he's the only one who can help out.
"Are you serious?" Azriel looked at him up and down with his brows furrowed.
"Yankees, Boston, this Thursday, two company seats for the shirt. You have five seconds to decide. Five, Four, Three, Two, One.." he was getting rather impatient since the chief was about to enter at any second.
"I know-" One of the female editors gasped as her companion saw what shocked her. Nesta was here. She quickly typed in on the office's chat 'She's here!' and sent it to everyone. This caused them to get in position before they got caught wasting time.
Cassian was already changed out of shirts and into Azriel's red tie, which he only made the exception to keep the blue tie since, which is understandable since Azriel prefers blue. Just as he finished fixing himself, Nesta walked into her own office, quite plastered on her phone. "Morning Boss. You've a conference call in thirty minutes''
"Yes. About the marketing of the spring books. I know" Nesta replied lamely as she headed to her desk.
"Staff meeting at Nine" Cassian said again as he stood next to her.
"Did you call… Ugh, what's his name? The one with a shitty attitude." Nesta said, faking that she forgot about Tamlin's name since and and her sister Feyre broke up five months ago after he'd said something utterly unnecessary.
"Tamlin" Cassian mumbled under his breath, knowing all too well how he treated her sister, which both he and Feyre are really good friends whenever they're free to hang out a bit.
Nesta snapped her fingers at his answer "That's his name. Tell him that if he doesn't get his manuscript in on time-"
"You won't give him a release date. Why not just let him forget that and give him a hard time?" Cassian said with a smirk.
Nesta tried not to let her lips quirk up. "As much as I love to do that, I can't" She kept her composure.
"Right. Your immigration lawyer called. He said it's imperative-" Cassian checked his wrist's clock.
Nesta cursed internally and quickly interrupted him. "Cancel the call, push the meeting to tomorrow, keep the lawyer on the sheets." She said while he nodded.
"Also get a hold of PR, have them start drafting a press release. Jurian is doing Oprah." She said. Cassian was actually impressed.
"Wow. Nicely done I must say" Cassian grinned before heading back to his office cabin.
Nesta mumbled. "If I want praise, I will ask for it" before she cleared her throat to get his attention.
Cassian stopped and turned to her as she showed him her latte with something written down with a phone number. 'Call Me~ (xxx)-xxx-xxxx'.
"Who is… Who is Jillian? And why does she want me to call her?" Nesta glared which Cassian constantly made fun of when she wasn't around. He pressed his lips and faced her.
"Well… that was originally my coffee," Cassian tried to say.
"And I'm drinking your coffee because?" Nesta slightly sang in that last sentence. This made Cassian gulp.
"Because your coffee spilled," He said, trying not to let her get to him.
Nesta took a sip. "So you drink unsweetened cinnamon light soy lattes?" She quirked up one of her straight brows as she said that. She honestly didn't think her assistant would drink something like that.
"I actually do. It's like Christmas in a cup" Cassian said with a rising smirk, which only caused Nesta to snort.
"Coincidence, am I right?" She replies with a small yet devious grin. "Incredibly it is. But I wouldn't drink the same coffee that you drink just in case yours spilled. That would be… pathetic" Cassian said, trying to cover up before answering a nearby desk phone. "Morning. Miss Archeron's Office. Hey Balthazar…" he glances at her, which she says makes a pointing expression to who was calling. "Actually, we're heading to your office right now… Yeah." He finished and hung up. "Why are we heading to Balthazar's office?" he asked to which Nesta only shrugged. "Tsk '' he clicked his tongue at her response. As he walked out of her office, he quickly typed on the chat 'THE WITCH IS IN HER BROOM' and sent it. Alarming all his workmates back into position. Once done, he proceeded to walk next to Nesta as she left her office. "Have you finished the manuscript I gave you?" He asked under his breath.
"I read a few pages. I wasn't that impressed." Nesta said bored.
"Uhh, can I say something?" Cassian asked her, trying to to give away his annoyance knowing what her answer will be.
"No." She said, which earned a small eye roll from him.
"Hey, I've read thousands of manuscripts, this is the only one I've given you. There's an incredible novel in there. The kind of novel you used to publish." Cassian shot back, trying to convince her, only for her to glance at Azriel and his "supposing" coffee stained shirt with blue tie.
"Wrong. And I do think you order the same coffee as I do just in case you spill, which is, in fact, pathetic." Nesta gave him a knowing smirk. Yep, he's been caught.
"Or rather impressive, Nes." Cassian smirked back in defiance.
"I'd be impressed if you didn't spill in the first place, and don't call me Nes." She hissed when he shortened her name. She found it rather annoying. She then said when nearing the office. "Remember, you're a prop."
"Wont say a word" Cassian mumbled and opened Balthazar's office door for her. She cleared her throat and got in while Cassian fallowed.