The Sheikh's Assistant

by Emily Walters

  “Good morning, Sheikh. I’ll get your tea,” said Morgan.

  “You’re early,” Sofian said to her. Morgan refrained from frowning at him. She was right on time and only early by a minute but he did not seem to be letting it go.

  “I am,” she replied with fake enthusiasm. Sofian did not offer a response. He just walked into his office. Morgan rushed to the kitchen to get his green tea ready. While she was waiting for the water to boil, his former assistant walked into the kitchen. Morgan immediately smiled at her.

  “Hello,” Morgan greeted her.

  “How is my job?” Sofian’s former assistant asked. Morgan’s face dropped. That was not the response she was expecting.

  “Pardon?”

  “You did steal my job and I am just asking if you are enjoying it.”

  “I, stole, your job?” Morgan could not believe what she was hearing. Sofian’s former assistant should have known that the sheikh was more than capable of replacing her whenever he pleased. It was not like Morgan went out of her way to get that job. It just happened that way.

  “You know you wanted it.”

  “The sheikh just offered it to me.”

  “Well, you accepted.”

  “So you wanted me to refuse it?”

  “Working for the sheikh is not as easy as you think it is. You will soon learn it.” The sheikh’s former assistant eyeballed Morgan from head to toe. “You won’t last longer than two months. I've worked for him for two years, so I know that you do not have what it takes. I’ve always come back to my position.” With that she left the kitchen.

  Morgan sighed. The jealousy that was oozing out of Sofian’s former assistant was disturbing. Morgan had not asked for that position. At first she was not so keen on it but after that threat, she was definitely going to do everything she could to keep it. She was not going to give that woman the satisfaction. Morgan had to last longer than two months. She quickly prepared the sheikh’s tea and then headed back to his office.

  “Here is your tea,” Morgan said to Sofian as she placed it on the table. Sofian took the cup and sipped his tea. He looked up.

  “Was there something else?” he asked Morgan who was standing there.

  “No. Yes.”

  “What is it?”

  “Your former assistant, was she with you for two years?”

  Sofian narrowed his gaze at her. “Why must you bring her up again?” he asked her. Morgan shifted awkwardly.

  “I met her in the kitchen.”

  “So?”

  “She told me that she had worked for you for two years.”

  “And?”

  “She mentioned that she always came back to her position. Have you let her go before?”

  Sofian shrugged his shoulders. “And if I have?” he asked.

  “It’s just that if she was with you for that long, wouldn’t you consider keeping her on?” Morgan asked. It all did not make sense to her. If his assistant was doing a bad job, then he would not have kept her for that long. However if she was doing a good job then why did he hire Morgan to replace her?

  “I change my assistants whenever I feel the need to,” said Sofian. It did not really answer her question but she knew she had to stop there. She couldn’t keep asking questions.

  “Okay, I understand that.” Morgan smiled and left the office. She returned to her desk to get some work done. Later that day she and Sofian were going for a meeting together. He had to meet with the board members of Jackie’s Pharmacies. It was a chain of pharmacies all over the United States. Sofian needed to finalize a deal with them so that they could sell Bukhari Pharmaceuticals products.

  It was going to be Morgan’s first meeting as Sofian’s assistant. She had never attended such an important meeting before. She had gone from being just an ordinary research assistant to being the sheikh’s personal assistant; attending important meetings and speaking to people she would have never spoken to. She was a little nervous about it.

  When the time came for Sofian and Morgan to leave for the meeting, she did not even need to go look for him. He was out of his office early.

  “Shall we go?” he said to her. Morgan rose from her desk and nodded.

  “Yes, sir,” she replied. She followed him out of the building.

  Fortunately, Morgan had already called for the car in case Sofian surprised her by leaving for the meeting early. It would have not been a good sign if he had come out and the car wasn’t ready. When they got outside, the chauffeur opened the car door for the sheikh. He looked at Morgan. “After you,” he said to her.

  Morgan had not expected that at all. “Thank you,” she told him. She got into the car. It was quite roomy and comfortable inside. She had never been inside a Rolls-Royce. The cream leather seats were nice and comfortable. Sofian shut the door behind her and got into the car from the other side.

  It was a quiet ride to Jackie’s Pharmacies headquarters. There was nothing to say between the two of them. Morgan felt extremely awkward because she was not a silent person. However Sofian seemed to be. Conversations between them never went on for longer than five minutes. In some cases, he did not even answer her. He would just look at her with a blank facial expression which drove Morgan crazy.

  The car came to a halt. Morgan looked out of the window and realized that they had arrived. “Are you ready?” Sofian asked her.

  “Yes, I am.” Morgan turned to face him.

  “I expect you to be professional and polite.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Before we go in, do you have any questions?”

  “Not really.”

  “Okay. Make sure you listen well and take notes.”

  Morgan nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said. Sofian nodded and then got out of the car. Morgan also got out of the car. She walked next to Sofian. He even opened the door for her. He was an arrogant man, but at least he was a gentleman.

  The board members all greeted the sheikh. As Sofian had asked, Morgan paid attention throughout the meeting. She noticed how they were all so respectful towards Sofian. They were so impressed by him. Morgan was not too surprised. Sofian had so much authority and he was intimidating. He was also a prince, so naturally they would listen to him.

  Morgan was surprised about how intelligent and well-spoken he was in the meeting. There was not a hint of the arrogance that he had displayed to her. He was still candid but he was professional. Morgan was impressed and a little turned on. She liked seeing how in control he was, just so dominant and eloquent.

  Chapter 6

  “Good morning,” Morgan greeted Sofian the next morning. She gave him his green tea.

  “Morgan,” he said.

  “Sheikh.” Morgan grinned.

  “You are peculiar.” Sofian took a sip of his tea.

  Morgan put her hands out to him as if she was asking for something and gasped. She really did not understand Sofian. He was randomly calling her peculiar. “Why would you say that? What did I do that was peculiar?”

  Sofian looked amused. He just took another sip of his green tea. “I need you to contact my lawyer,” he said, changing the subject. Morgan still needed an answer as to why he called her peculiar but it was obvious that she was not going to get one. But why did he want her to get his lawyer?

  “Did you commit some kind of crime? Do I need to hide a body?”

  “What?”

  Morgan giggled a little. “Why do you need a lawyer?” she asked him.

  He raised his eyebrows slightly. “Peculiar.”

  “It was a joke,” Morgan mumbled. She was starting to regret the joke. Again this was where she could have used Brooke’s advice. Some things did not need to be said.

  “No, I did not kill anyone or commit any other crime. I need my lawyer to draw up the contract between Bukhari Pharmaceuticals and Jackie’s Pharmacies.”

  “Oh right, okay. I will do that,” said Morgan.

  “When you are done with that, get these documents photocopied and then filed in orde
r by date.”

  Morgan picked up the documents from his desk. “Yes, sir,” she said.

  “Tara was more normal than you,” said Sofian. Morgan crossed her eyebrows.

  “Who is Tara?” she asked. “Oh, your assistant. That’s her name?”

  “I am surprised you do not already know that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you seem so interested in her.”

  Morgan laughed sarcastically. “It isn’t like that at all. She thinks, never mind,” she said. She held onto the documents tighter. “I’ll go sort these out.”

  “What does she think?” Sofian asked. Clearly he was curious about what Morgan was about to say.

  “That I stole her job.”

  “Well, she should know better than to think that.”

  “I am sure anyone would feel that way,” said Morgan. That was the only thing she could say. “I’ll go deal with these,” she said and walked out of the office.

  Morgan called Sofian’s business lawyer and gave him Sofian’s instructions. When she was done speaking to him on the phone, she started with the photocopying. Then the filing. When she was done with that, she started typing other documents. Working for the sheikh was hard work. There were so many different things to do.

  The phone buzzed. Morgan answered it. It was Sofian calling her into his office. She rose from her desk and rushed into his office. “How can I assist you?” she asked.

  “I need you to pick up my dry cleaning.”

  Morgan narrowed her gaze. She was not particularly keen about doing that. She had much more work to do, and frankly she missed being in the lab.

  “Yes, sir,” Morgan replied.

  “My driver will take you.” Sofian barely looked up from his desk. He was quite busy with his own work.

  “Yes, sir.” Morgan left his office to go collect his dry cleaning.

  Sofian’s chauffeur was waiting for Morgan outside the car. He opened the door for her. She smiled and thanked him as she got into the car. It was crazy to her that she was sitting in a car more expensive than everything she owned put together.

  The leather seats were so comfortable. There was even an option to recline the seat. And there was also a mini bar and a mini television. She was so impressed by the interior. She was a little surprised too that the sheikh had allowed her to use such an expensive car.

  ***

  Morgan was a little nervous about their meeting the following week. Sofian wanted progress reports on how the morning sickness drug research was going. So he had Morgan send out emails to everyone involved asking them to attend the meeting. Now that the meeting was about to start, Morgan felt nervous about it. Only because of the jealousy that was going around.

  Brooke had informed Morgan about the talk that was going around the lab. A handful of people were happy for her and the rest were not. They talked about how she was lucky and did not deserve to be the sheikh’s assistant. The managers were particularly annoyed because they felt that she had made them look bad in front of the sheikh. Morgan had also been informed by Brooke that she had been spotted getting into the sheikh’s Rolls-Royce. That instantly struck up rumors and jealousy. Morgan could not believe the pettiness.

  Sofian and Morgan walked into the conference room after everyone had already sat down. It was a bit odd for Morgan to be walking next to the sheikh. It was a little empowering. She could not help but borrow a little authority from him. At the same time it made Morgan a bit nervous. All eyes were on them. She could hear a few whispers, and she could feel the eyes burning through her.

  Sofian sat at the head of the table of course. Morgan sat to his right. She was in full view of everyone. All the managers were sitting around the oval mahogany table. The other researchers and team leaders were sitting on chairs along the wall.

  “So what is the progress?” Sofian asked, getting straight to the point. The managers looked at each other, wondering who was to speak first. “Anyone speak, now.”

  “Ah yes, sir,” said Paul. He cleared his throat. “We are still looking at different ways to reduce the side effects.”

  “So there is no progress?”

  The managers looked at each other awkwardly. No one dared to say the words. Sofian sighed heavily. “After all this time, you still have nothing?” Sofian asked them.

  “We have been doing experiments, sheikh. We will find a solution soon,” said another manager.

  “Soon?” Sofian asked. He was clearly not impressed. It was obvious that he was trying to keep from getting angry. Morgan was happy that she was not on the receiving end of his wrath. “Does anyone at least have any ideas of how to improve this medicine?”

  There was silence for a moment. No one spoke. Then Paul suggested adding different compounds. Sofian shook his head and shut the idea down. He wanted the medicine to contain very minimal chemical substances. Since the drug was for pregnant women, he did not want the medicine to harm the mother or the baby.

  “What about reducing the concentration of the active ingredient?” said Morgan.

  Sofian looked at her. “Elaborate,” he said to her. Everyone else also looked at her.

  “I'm thinking, since you want the medicine to have less chemicals, why don’t we reduce the concentration of the chemicals and add more B6 instead?”

  “That makes no sense. Why add more B6?” Joe asked.

  “B6 has been a key ingredient in relieving nausea in pregnant women,” Morgan replied.

  “Try Morgan’s idea,” said Sofian.

  “But–”

  Before Joe could finish speaking, Sofian cut him off. “Do you have a better idea?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then do what she said.” Sofian got up from his chair and headed out. Everyone else also stood up immediately. Some bowed their heads to him as he walked past. Morgan awkwardly followed him. She quickly waved to Brooke as she left.

  Chapter 7

  “Interesting idea,” Sofian said to Morgan as they walked from the conference room.

  “Hmm. It was so interesting that it has gained me some enemies,” Morgan mumbled.

  Sofian turned his head slightly in Morgan’s direction. “Enemies?” he questioned.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Why?”

  “Nothing.”

  They reached the elevator. Sofian pressed the button and then turned fully to face Morgan. He slid his hands in his pockets. “You spoke up in two different meetings and gained my attention. I promoted you and now people are jealous,” he said to her.

  Morgan looked up at him. “Yeah, exactly,” she replied. Being that close to Sofian was uncomfortable. She was able to really see how magnificent his body was. His muscles were tormenting her. They were calling for her to touch him. She caught a whiff of his scent. He smelled nice. Really nice. Sofian was also looking at her, which made her even more uncomfortable. His jaw twitched.

  Fortunately the elevator doors opened.

  Morgan cleared her throat and walked into the elevator first. She stood on the left side and clasped her hands together. Sofian walked in after her and stood next to her. The doors shut and they were on their way up.

  “So why let jealousy bother you?” he asked her.

  “It does not necessarily bother me. I mean these things happen, but it’s just ridiculous,” she replied.

  “It is.”

  “I mean I am even getting backlash for using your car.”

  “Maybe because I never let anyone use it.”

  Morgan whipped her head in his direction. “And you let me use it?” Morgan was shocked.

  “It’s just a car,” Sofian replied. The elevator doors opened and he walked out. Morgan followed behind.

  “A seventy thousand dollar car,” Morgan pointed out. Sofian barely reacted. He was acting like it was no big deal.

  “Yes,” he replied.

  So Tara never used Sofian’s car, like to go somewhere by herself without him in it, Morgan thought to herself. It was an interesting thou
ght. It made her wonder what made her so special to be allowed to use it. Tara must have been getting even more jealous.

  “Look.” Sofian stopped walking when they reached Morgan’s desk. “You are capable of doing a good job. That is why I hired you. If you are having doubts or you are scared of what people think, then quit,” he added.