Dr. Richard Price was an accomplished man. His company was known throughout the country as a leader in medical advancement. He had everything he needed. The company ran smoothly. He had enough patents making money that he could retire the next day and live a happy, no stress life. He had no interest in that though. Retiring and spending his days doing nothing held zero appeal to him.

No. He still had things he wanted to do with his life. Starting with checking on the second floor’s mobility research lab. Unfortunately, Cio wasn’t in the lab when he first walked by. He wasn’t in there the second time, or the third.

The fourth time he passed by, Russell Topher waved him in. “What’s going on?” Russell stepped back from the model he’d been messing with. Richard cocked his head at the barbie with her arm missing holding on to a walker.

“Is this really the best way to get a visual on your concept?” Richard picked up the toy attached to the metal and plastic. “Don’t we have state of the art computers for this kind of thing?”

Cio’s voice spoke from the doorway. “He likes keeping it old school. I’ve tried showing him the 3D printers. He was incredibly unimpressed.”

Richard pressed his lips together. There was nothing to smile about. “Topher’s an ass.”

Russell made an affronted noise and yanked his model back. “I prefer actual building. Physical stuff. With my hands. Not computer applications that build it for me. Where’s the fun in that?”

Richard turned at the snort behind him. Cio was digging through his desk drawer. He had a big gulp sitting precariously close to the expensive computers he was apparently so fond of. “Slept in?” he asked as the Cio sat back up.

Cio grinned at him. His long, black hair curled around his ears and flipped at his shoulders. “Nah, took an early lunch break.”

Russell glanced between them. “Do you two know each other? Since when do you associate with the new hires?”

Richard hummed and tore his eyes away from the way Cio was lounging back in the computer chair. “Met him last night. I was stopping in to make sure you weren’t keeping him late like that all the time.” It was a small lie, but it was also none of Russell’s business how he and Cio knew each other.

Russell glanced over to Cio. “How late did you stay?”

“Not too late.” Richard stared at him. His cheeks darkened almost imperceptibly. “Ok. Around midnight.”

“Cio…” Russell sighed and put the model down.

“I know! I didn’t realize it got so late and then I only had a couple more sheets to go through and…” He shrugged. “I still got here on time.”

Feeling Russell would take care of the situation from there, Richard started to head back to his office. “Was that all you needed, Rich?” Russell stopped him before leaving. “I actually had a couple questions about this walker I thought we could go over.”

“Isn’t that what your assistant is for?” Cio asked from behind Russell.

“No. My assistant is for doing paperwork and running errands while the big boys do the big boy work.”

Richard snorted when Cio flipped him off. Russell just rolled his eyes and responded in kind before following Richard out of the room. “You can’t let him stay that late, Russ. He’s salary and paperwork can wait for the next day.”

Russell turned an offended face to Richard. “You think I told him to stay that late? The kid would sleep here if he thought he could get away with it.”

Richard frowned. “Yeah? What’s his degree?”

“Masters in Biomedical Engineering.”

Richard stopped. Russell took a couple more steps before realizing Richard wasn’t with him. “He’s your assistant?”

Russ blinked. “Yeah?”

“And he finished his Master’s degree? He finished his full degree?”

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“Fuck, Russ. I told you to get an assistant. How much is he getting paid?”

“The same that other assistants get paid? What’s the issue here?”

Richard shook his head. “We’ll talk later. For now, go and talk with your assistant and see what his ideas are on your product.” With that he continued on alone to the elevator to stew in irritation. When Cio’d said he was hired as an assistant, Richard assumed he hadn’t finished his graduate degree, not that Russ was just an asshole.

Natalie glanced up when he approached her desk. Her hair, once a pale blonde, now a shiny grey that she claimed was called silver, was pulled up in a severe bun. Her ‘fashion glasses’ were perched on the end of her nose. She glared at him as he leaned against her desk. After a couple years of being on the receiving end of those glares, he knew when they were real and when they were just for show. He kept leaning on the desk.

“What do you know about Cio Flores?”

“You mean Mauricio? Hired on as an assistant to Russell Topher six months ago after someone insisted he get an assistant or retire way too early.”

“You were the one who complained about getting stuff from him late.”

“And?”

Not for the first time, Richard considered firing his young assistant. Lucky for her, she was too good at her job for him to seriously consider it. “Doesn’t matter. Change his job title. Junior researcher under Russell Topher.”

“Pay?”

“Same as others with his job title.”

She nodded. A couple clicks and rapid fire typing and she smiled. “Done. Anything else, boss man?”

“Don’t call me boss man and email me his application.”

“Got it boss.”

He ignored her and slipped into his office. Emails wouldn’t answer themselves. Though, most could absolutely be put off for another day. His eyes landed on the cracked wooden frame he kept his wife’s picture in and could barely hold in his snort of laughter at the memory of Cio’s eyes, wide and startled. His lips parted in surprise.

Richard had thought he was still dreaming at first. A random person walking into his office after midnight and waking him up with a kiss that led to more was actually a fairly common dream for him. When he opened his eyes and saw Cio, a little heavier than before, a little older, and with some dark stubble on his face, it had almost confirmed it for him. Cio looked incredible. His hair was longer than before, but still soft looking and shiny.

He couldn’t believe Cio’d been working at his company for 6 months making next to nothing compared to what his salary should have been. To have someone with a full degree and only use them as an assistant was disgusting. He’d have to talk with Russell about that. He’d have to talk to Cio again too, come to think of it.

That thought made him smile.

In fact, he could go down there right now and take care of this. Clear up how he expects his workers to treat those under them. Clear up the difference in an assistant and someone who can and should be given more work fitting with their expertise.

He ignored Natalie’s judgmental stare as he strode past. The elevator ride back down was quick. He stopped before entering Russell’s space. Cio was bent over the ridiculous barbie doll model. Richard couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Cio was pointing and gesturing with abrupt arm movements and a grin on his face.

Russell looked stunned.

Richard went back to his office. He’d talk with the two of them tomorrow.