128 CEO (2/2)

Vixen nodded his head in reply. ”This morning started with a simple mistake on my part.”

”Really now?” Mrs. Cloud commented.

Never had he heard such a sarcasm-filled comment. It was like every word that came out of her mouth was rather a rain of ice crystals, piercing into his skin than a simple back and forth conversation.

He had seen it coming, but he never expected it to be so real. For her to be able to pull off such a demeaning stare into the eyes of a son she praised outside of the walls. His punishment wasn't yet to be assigned, it started from the moment he walked into the room, from the moment he stood beside the cushion.

From that moment, nothing was set to go smoothly for him. It was hell and it's madam sitting in front of him with such a dark aura that he felt belittled without her even having to say a thing. His punishment began from the moment he locked eyes with her, she was set to denigrate his entire being from there. To reduce him to simply another employee in the asylum.

He held back a chuckle, finally realizing where he went wrong and the reason why he would fall harder to the ground from simply her gaze and why he would bow before her with simply one word. Vixen looked down at the tea on the table seated in front of him and quietly took a sip.

He wondered how much he'd have shrunk by the time he left the room.

”I woke up at a later time needed to start off the company affairs and ended up forgetting to set off the morning alarm for everyone and therefore set the morning back by an hour,” Vixen explained.

”Why exactly did you wake up at a later time?” Mrs. Cloud asked.

Vixen flinched, not wanting to answer the question. He looked up to find her piercing violet gaze peering down at him. He didn't have a choice.

”I simply went to sleep late at night with a lot of thoughts on my mind. I must have been unable to wake with the rising sun due to this,” Vixen replied.

”You're mistaken there. Fix your error,” Mrs. Cloud ordered.

Vixen immediately ran through the list of words he had said. He only had 5 seconds to fix himself before she would move on and that 5 seconds of not replying would be added to his time he would spend in punishment.

”I meant to say, to rise before the rising sun,” Vixen corrected. He didn't need to look up Mrs. Cloud to know he had corrected correctly. He knew by the way she sipped her tea.

”I seem to remember that we have a bedtime set for all the servers and workers in the building. Did you go against that order?” Mrs. Cloud asked, her voice growing colder by the second.

Vixen shook his head. ”No ma'am. I followed the rule and got to my location for bedtime but simply couldn't sleep.”

”Sleeping pills?” Mrs. Cloud asked, locking eyes with Vixen.

There was a thud in Vixen's heart as his eyes met with her frigid gaze again. 'She forgot...' Vixen thought to himself. His head lowered a bit before he looked up at her again.

”No ma'am,” he replied.

”Make sure to take them next time,” Mrs. Cloud advised going back to her tea.

”Yes ma'am,” Vixen replied, his voice growing colder the more he talked to her. There was this sickening feeling in his gut when he looked up at her. It was one that was allowing him to change the look he gave her.

Vixen never took sleeping pills only because of one reason. Someone advised him not to because it might cause health problems. That person was his mother.

He looked up at Mrs. Cloud as he drank his tea. Whoever he was looking at now was not his mother. There was no trace of her in her eyes and it didn't seem like there would be.

He had fallen headfirst into her trap. It was time for him to wake up.