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Director Stratt had always been a magnet to Olesya’s eyes. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what made her so intriguing. However, as time passed by, she would come to learn why.
Stratt was a mystery, everyone found her interesting for that reason. But for Olesya, the thing that most stood out was how she was the most stone-faced woman she had ever met in her lifetime.
Olesya’s mind went back to the first month on the Vat, and how Stratt hadn’t even cracked a single smile at any of her jokes or remarks. It was odd, she harnessed the power to make anyone laugh within the first few minutes of meeting them.
Eventually, her humor around her had toned down in some sort of defeat. Days working with her became pretty bland. There wasn’t much excitement, just training, attending incredibly boring meetings, and having a few late night drinks with her coworkers. However, her interactions with Stratt remained formal and professional. She'd be greeted, told what to do, then dismissed without anything else really said.
That only fostered the urge to know more about her to grow. It was only natural to want to bond with colleagues.
It seemed that others didn’t have luck any better than Olesya in trying to form a connection with Stratt. She had asked around in search of a speck of information about her personal life or relationships. Everyone pretty much responded the same: with nothing. Even Grace, her little science lapdog, couldn't say much either. Stratt didn’t even join the crew for drinks.
How could someone walk around like a blank slate? It was honestly a little depressing, perhaps Olesya felt some sort of weird pity towards her, others assumed she was crushing—was she?
She was a pretty woman, in fact, a really gorgeous woman, so when she had been called to Stratt’s office to pick up some papers, she couldn’t help but feel a little shy. After all, it’d be their first real time alone together.
“Hello, Ms. Stratt,” Olesya greeted as she stepped into the office, shutting the door behind her.
“Good evening, Ilyukhina,” Stratt replied. Her eyes were glued to her computer.
She was now standing in her room, tapping her fingers against her thigh awkwardly as Stratt typed away at her computer. Olesya’s eyes trailed around the low-lit room. Searching the walls and decor out of curiosity for hints of her personality.
There wasn’t much other from crowded cork boards and mountains of papers with enough words to give her a headache. Her trash was filled to the brim with empty coffee cups, the pot in the corner of the room brewing more. Its warm aroma was pleasant—but gosh, how much caffeine did she really need? No wonder why her eyes always drooped with a crescent of grey bags beneath them.
Her attention landed on a tiny frame of a frayed photograph of a tabby cat almost hidden by everything else that crowded her desk. It was likely a childhood pet assuming from the age of the photo, that was cute. Finally, she had found a piece of information outside of her job.
“I apologize for not delivering your papers with the others earlier,” Stratt said, still focused on the computer screen. “I’ll grab them for you in a second.”
Olesya puckered her lips. “No worries,” she said before lifting a brow, thinking back to the coffee. “Do you get any rest these days?” she asked.
Stratt had a delay in her response as she finished what she had been typing. “Does anyone?” she replied with a sigh, releasing her hands from the keyboard.
Olesya didn’t say anything more, instead she waited patiently as Stratt got up from her chair and walked to a pile of papers by her desk. She approached her slowly. She almost jolted when she spun around and dropped two folders into her hands.
“There you go,” Stratt said. Her hair was down, and before pointing at the folders she had to tuck a piece behind her ears.
She continued. “This one’s on the details about the upcoming training sessions, and this one’s notes on yesterday’s meeting,” Stratt informed her, looking back up to Olesya to nod. “Got it?”
Her lashes are nice. “Yes,” Olesya said, nodding back with wide eyes. “Thank you.”
“Good,” Stratt answered. “You can head out now, I know it’s late for you.” She gave her a smile of courtesy before turning away.
She went to organize the rest of the stack of papers on the table. Stratt’s back faced her now, and Olesya couldn’t turn away. Instead of leaving as prompted, she remained static behind her as if she were frozen.
She was staring at the pool of soft ginger waves that draped over her sweater. Half was swept up to the crown of her head, held together by a white delicate ribbon that was knotted into a bow.
Ms. Stratt’s hair looks beautiful like this. Olesya thought, her lips parted.
I mean . . . she is beautiful. She thought of when she first met her, a beam of sunlight that shot through the facility window hitting her face, electrifying the orange in her hair and making the hint of blue in her eyes glow. It casted a soft burn of gold to the edges of her nose and cheeks.
She was in awe then like she was now.
She wanted to reach her hand out and run it through her waves. She wondered how soft it would feel in between her fingers. The desire was going to pull her in.
If I could just—
Stratt whipped around.
“Ilyukhina?”
Oh, this was awkward.
The two studied each other, Stratt’s eyes furrowed in confusion as Olesya took a step back. She wasn’t sure what to say, her mouth was left agaped, ready to nervously ramble her way out of this situation; but Stratt beat her to it.
“I said you were dismissed,” Stratt reminded her.
Olesya smiled and looked away sheepishly. “Right,” she said, holding her tongue.
She glanced at her for another second before heading towards the door, squeezing the folders tightly in between her hands. She didn’t have to look back to feel the weight of Stratt’s eyes on her, or maybe she was just crazy.
When she shut the door behind her, she exhaled deeply, the tension in her muscles subsiding as her shoulders collapsed. She held the papers to her chest for comfort.
Olesya hadn’t gotten that lost in her head in a long time, but most importantly, she hadn’t felt like what she did in that moment in a while now. She should feel worried, Stratt was her boss afterall, but the little butterflies in her stomach lingered.
A deep voice echoed from her side. “Did she yell at you?”
She hadn’t noticed that Carl had made his way down the hallway, he waited for her response. “Oh—no, everything is okay, I just picked up some papers.”
“Hm,” Carl gruffed. “That’s good, I thought something had happened, your face is bright red.”
Olesya laughed. “Well, you know how she is, she’s intimidating,” she said. “I guess I got nervous, it was my first time in her office. I’m going to go now.”
She heard from behind her, “You have a good night.”
Once continuing the journey back to her room, she hoped she had wiped away the redness from her face. She shut the door and threw the papers on the desk by her bedside.
Such a simple interaction had turned into something much bigger than it should’ve. Olesya wanted to scream into a pillow.
Out of everything, from the discovery of alien life, a dying sun, and the unforeseen ability for space travel, the one thing she’d never expect out of it all was to be crushing on her boss in the midst of the end of the world.