“I’m sorry Ms. Francis but this isn’t realistic,” he said, making her heart sink to her stomach. Odette could feel the sweat begin to pour from her palms as she realized what had taken place.  

After a year of work, her restoration project had been discarded, just like that.  

She watched with teary eyes as the management leader gingerly flipped through her typed out pages once more before closing them shut, putting an end to her meeting and her dreams.  

“Thank you for your time then,” Odette muttered.  

She forced a smile when he gave back the papers, trying not to let the stinging sensation in her eyes become an issue. The last thing Odette wanted the management leader to get from this meeting was the sound of her weeping in a room alone. As she watched his body rise from one of the leather chairs in the meeting room, her mind wandered, attempting to think of possible excuses to say if he happened to see the tears fall from her eyes.  

The room was kind of dry today, wasn’t it?  

He turned to leave and shut the glass door behind him, managing to not glance at her downturned lips quivering and moistened from her spit. She let out a shaky sigh of relief, secretly thanking her leader for leaving and allowing her to wallow in her own defeat. She had never cried at work before but when life’s work and hopes to go down the drain in less than 20 minutes, it could be rationalized as a pretty good reason in doing so. At least she thought it did.  

“I guess this is my cue to say that not all hope is lost,” a strange voice, the voice of a man spoke, scarily close to her.  

She could only make a guess that he was sitting in the seat across from her, so near he could see her entire face—wet and disfigured. 

“Ever heard of some privacy?” she spat.  

Odette hastily wiped her tears, what once were quiet sniffles and whimpers now completely ceased from pure anger. Her eyes shot up, shooting the unlucky subject a look of disbelief and disgust. Whether it was someone who was pulling a sick prank on her or wanted to console her, she wasn’t going to give them any satisfaction. But when she fixed her vision to where the voice was coming from, an unoccupied chair stared back.  

“I’m behind you,” he whispered, taunting her, much closer this time. Odette could feel his lips on the cartilage of her ear.  

She wasted no time in swinging her chair around to see a large man dressed in a perfectly tailored suit, a shiny red tie adorning his body leaning against the coffee table in front of her. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any more intimidating, his face was just as perfect as the rest of him, not a single crooked tooth appearing when he flashed a smile. She could easily say he was the most attractive man she had ever placed her eyes on.  

“You like what you see?” he said with a smirk, noticing her obvious ogling.  

Odette’s mouth closed shut.  

He was terrible at flirting. 

“No. You aren’t exactly my type,” she replied, half lying half honest. Despite his try-hard attitude, a brown-eyed blondie had been her ideal type since the 6th grade. 

His smirk turned into a frown, his eyes shooting daggers into her own.  

Well, he has an easy ego to bruise.  

“Anyways,” she said looking away from him, feeling an awkward amount of silence fill the air. “Why did you even come in here? Is this your first day or something? It’s rude to impose on your superior displaying an intimate emotion.”  

“Don’t play the victim card, I’ve seen it one too many times. Also, I don’t even work here,” he fired back, his voice slightly changing from the one she had heard moments previous. It seemed a little less charming and a little more…annoyed.  

“Then why are you here?” She questioned him, crossing her arms.  

“I’m a devil. When your hopes and aspirations die, we come down to earth and grant you a wish,” he spoke boredly.  

“So, like a genie?” She jested with him, smirking as his face dropped even further. If he weren’t so visibly alluring, Odette was sure that his sinister expression would’ve given her the chills. 

“Genies are a hoax,” he explained, running a hand through his hair “but you wouldn’t understand that would you?”  

“I do now,” she admitted.  

He looked at her. Back at the ceiling. Scoffed. Looked at her once more.  

“You’re unbelievable,” he paused, letting silence fill the room once again.  

“What’s your wish?”  

“My what?”  

“You’re—haven’t you listened to anything I’ve said?!” he exclaimed angrily, throwing his hands up in the air.  

“I did. I just thought you were crazy,” she confessed.  

His eye twitched a little.  

“But!” She continued, trying to calm his temper, “it doesn’t seem so far-fetched.”  

“Yeah, because it isn’t,” he hissed under his breath, very blatantly bothered.  

“Well,” Odette began to say, but she couldn’t think of anything else. What more did she really need? She knew her restoration project, a safe and secure community apartment complex would never be a reality but there was always a way to change those ideas. It was fixable. Everything was. That was what her father always reminded her of.  

“I don’t think I would wish for anything. I’m happy with what I have now.”  

She could practically feel the silence, this time feeling unbearable. She knew the dangers of a random man she had never seen before in her life claiming to be an all-powerful devil. Who knows what he would do if she said the wrong thing.  

Though when she finally decided to look up, her eyes widened in surprise.  

He was laughing.  

“What’s so funny?”  

He continued to laugh, getting increasingly louder as it echoed across the room. Any louder and she would be fearful that her colleagues might hear. By the end of his dramatic performance, he was wiping away the tears from his eyes, taking heavy breaths before leaning back against the table.  

“I’m afraid that’s not a proper answer. If you don’t have a wish, unfortunately for the both of us, we’ll be stuck with each other for a long time.”  

“What do you mean?”  

“It’s the contract between humans and devils. The minute you agreed to stay content, it goes in the contract I have and binds you to me for the rest of your life.”