The first thing Aria learned was that Ethan didn't believe in empty space. Fifteen free minutes on his calendar, he filled them. Thirty minutes, filled. A whole free hour, and somehow another department got a meeting invite from his assistant.

She tried building a breathing room. He removed it. She moved a meeting. He moved it back. She trimmed a discussion from an hour to forty minutes. He added another meeting right after.

Eventually she stopped trying to make gaps and just made sure he had time to walk from one room to the next without sprinting. That felt like a win.

Then there were the documents. Ethan reviewed everything — not just what needed his sign-off. Contracts, budgets, marketing plans, operations updates, legal files, even things already cleared by senior executives.

One afternoon, Aria noticed a stack of reports on Ethan's desk. She picked up the top file, more out of curiosity than anything else.

"Is this from Operations?"

He didn't look up. "Yes."

She glanced at the first page. "I thought the Operations Director handled these."

"They do."

There was a brief silence.

"Then you review them yourself?"

He finally looked up at her. "I like to understand what's happening in every department."

Aria nodded quickly. "Right."

She placed the file back where she'd found it. It wasn't her place to question how he chose to run the company. She had been working with him for barely long enough to understand his schedule, let alone his decisions.

Still, as she returned to her desk, she couldn't help noticing something. Ethan didn't simply oversee things. He handled them, personally.

Reports from department directors. Documents that should have been handled several levels below him. Decisions other people were supposed to make.

He seemed determined to know everything himself. Maybe it wasn't that he didn't trust his employees. Maybe he simply didn't trust anything to be done unless he had looked at it personally.

***

On Wednesday morning, a senior executive stopped by Ethan's office with a folder.

"You've been reviewing these yourself again."

Ethan kept reading. "I wanted to make sure there weren't any errors."

"We have an entire department for that."

"I know."

The executive sighed. "You don't have to do everything yourself."

Ethan's eyes lifted from the page. "I didn't say I did."

"You don't have to say it."

Aria kept her attention on the documents in her hands, pretending not to listen.

Ethan closed the folder. "Thank you for your concern."

The man hesitated for a moment before nodding and leaving. Once the door closed, silence settled over the office again.

Aria glanced toward Ethan. She probably shouldn't say anything. She was still new. She was still learning how he worked, what decisions were hers to make, and what boundaries she wasn't supposed to cross.

But the words slipped out anyway. "You really review all of those yourself?"

Ethan looked at her. "Most of them."

She nodded slowly. "I see."

She didn't add anything else. There wasn't much she could say. He was the CEO, and she was his new assistant. If he wanted to review every report that crossed his desk, that was his decision.

Still, she couldn't help noticing the schedule in front of her."You have three meetings in the next two hours."

"I know."

"And six more after lunch."

"I'm aware."

Aria hesitated..She looked at the untouched coffee beside his laptop, then at the time on the clock.

"And you haven't had breakfast."

His jaw tightened slightly. "I'll eat later."

She almost reminded him that he'd said the same thing yesterday. Instead, she simply nodded. "Right."

He returned to his laptop.

Aria picked up the next folder from her desk, but her eyes lingered on him for a moment. He worked as though stopping wasn't an option. As though everything could fall apart the second he stopped paying attention.

She wondered what had made him that way.

Then she caught herself. It wasn't her business. She had known him for one week. She barely knew anything about him. She turned back to her work.

A few minutes later, Ethan looked up. "Anything else?"

She shook her head. "No, sir."

She took two steps toward the door before stopping. She glanced back at him. He was already reading another report.

The words came before she could reconsider them. "You're... quite difficult to work with, Mr. Ashford."

His eyebrow lifted.

Aria immediately regretted saying it. "I mean—" She straightened. "Your workload. It's difficult to keep up with."

There was silence for a few seconds..Then Ethan simply said, "I see."

Aria nodded quickly. "Good morning, Mr. Ashford." She left before she could make things worse.

Behind the closed door, Ethan stared at the doorway for a moment. Then, unexpectedly, the corner of his mouth lifted.

***

By the end of the week, Aria had learned that Ethan Ashford didn't understand the concept of moderation. If something could be done today, he wanted it done today. If someone else could handle a task, he somehow found a reason to handle it himself. And if his schedule was already packed to the minute, he'd simply find room for one more thing.

On Friday evening, Aria cleared the last item from his calendar and leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smile.

Finally, everything was under control. She had barely enjoyed the feeling for three seconds when Ethan's office door opened.

He stepped out with another folder in his hand.

Aria's smile vanished. "Don't."

Ethan stopped. His eyebrows drew together slightly. "Don't what?"

She pointed at the folder with narrowed eyes. "Whatever that is—don't."

He glanced down at the folder as though he'd forgotten he was holding it. "This needs to be ready for Monday."

Aria slowly pushed herself upright. "It's Friday evening."

"Of course."

"And you just finished your last meeting."

"Seems so."

She stared at him. "You have nothing else scheduled today."

“That's correct."

Her expression tightened. "So why are you giving me work now?"

Ethan looked at her with complete calm. "Because work continues on Monday."

Aria's mouth fell open. For a moment, she genuinely had no response.

Ethan simply turned around and walked back into his office.

She watched him disappear behind the door. Then she lowered her forehead onto her desk with a muffled groan."This man is going to be the death of me."

It was nearly ten when Aria finally packed up. The floor had been empty for hours. The lights had been switched off in most of the offices, leaving only the dim emergency lighting along the corridor. There were no footsteps, no ringing phones, no voices drifting from conference rooms.

At last, she grabbed her bag and headed toward the elevator. Then she noticed the light. A thin line of warm light spilled beneath Ethan's office door.

Aria slowed. She frowned and checked her phone. 10:07 p.m.

Surely he had gone home.Maybe someone from security had forgotten to switch off the light.

She walked back toward his office. The door was slightly open. Aria stopped beside it and glanced through the narrow gap. Her expression changed.

Ethan was still at his desk. His jacket had been removed and hung over the back of his chair. His tie was loosened around his neck, the top button of his shirt undone. Several files were spread across the desk, alongside his laptop and a half-finished cup of coffee.

The blue light from the screen illuminated the tired lines around his eyes..He was still working. Long after everyone else had gone home.

Aria remained by the doorway, her hand tightening around the strap of her bag..All week, she'd thought of him as impossible, demanding, and relentless. A man who apparently believed weekends were a scheduling inconvenience.

But standing there now, watching him turn another page with tired eyes and rub briefly at the back of his neck before returning to his laptop, she felt something else. He didn't look like a demanding CEO now. He looked exhausted like someone who had forgotten that work was supposed to have an ending.

Aria hesitated. Her annoyance faded completely. For the first time that week, she wondered if Ethan actually knew how to stop.