Mrs. Stalwart had resigned. She gave up to the idea of being a cold woman. At least towards this man who had her attention.

It has never happened before. At least not with someone she knew. Many actors, and one another muscular man from certain sports had gotten her attention before. But never before a man she knew.

Harvey was one in a million. He, without even trying, got her attention. He got Vera Stalwart caring for him, thinking of him, and, she´s not sure yet but, probably having some sweet feelings for him.

She´s not sure, but there´s one thing for sure. Whenever she looks at him, whenever her attention´s drawn to him, she cares. And that´s WAY too much for someone like her.

She knows she has to keep a polite treat towards her employees, but she´s not sure why? She´s the boss, everyone should just follow her orders, and that´s it. Paying them should be appreciation enough. Still, she needs to play nice, even if her “nice” is actually a cold treat.

She´s not disrespectful towards anyone, but she doesn´t really care about things like, their lives, what they´ll do on the weekend. If they have any pets. Those are random fact she does not need to know. As long as they do their jobs well, and don´t mess things up, she´s happy. Well, more than happy, she´s just not mad.

She gets angry VERY easy. More when it comes to work. And someone getting their job poorly done, or not getting it done at all, that pisses her off.

And there´s the main difference amongst all of the other employees and Harvey. She actually cares about what he´ll do on the weekend. What he does out of this office. What does he like?

And, will he, maybe… like her? Think of her as someone nice? Did she give a good enough first impression? No. but she can change it!

In time, she´ll show him. Vera will show him she´s kind, she´s sweet. That she can be more than the 9´6” intimidating amazon he sees every day. But now… she´s a bit concerned about him.

Today´s Friday. Which means, most of the week has flown. The weekend´s so close! To her, it´s just whatever. She´d rather work on Sundays too, she doesn´t really care. But having a chance to rest is nice. A chance to sleep all day long, she needs that every now and then.

And, speaking of resting, Harvey seems a little… tired.

He lives far away from this office. Living on a small apartment located hours away from there. He´s been waking up really early and getting to bed really late. He´s tired, even if he´s on his twenties, he can´t quite take it for too long.

His body needs some rest. Sleeping a little nap on the sub doesn´t really help. He needs some real sleep. And he´ll get it… on Saturday, well, Sunday? Late Saturday, Early Sunday.

Right now, he´s going through some files on his computer. Hardly getting through them. His eyelids feel heavy. His eyes feel like closing. His head, going down a little, before he sits straight again, forcing himself not to sleep.

This week´s been hard. Really hard. There´s been a lot of work, he´s been getting home later than usual. He´s just… tired. And Mrs. Stalwart can tell.

“Poor guy, he´s struggling to stay up…” feeling pity is something she was getting used to, at least towards Harvey. “Isn´t he getting enough sleep? Am I giving him too much work? He´s not working extra hours, right? What´s the matter?” she was worried for her assistant.

He was delivering things on time. And well done. The problem is, is he pushing himself too hard? Is he not taking care of his mental health? He has to rest. He needs to…

“Harvey, are you alright?” She asked, breaking the silence.

He immediately turned at her, set his gaze at her desk and then turned up. His eyes were red, his mind was blurry. He was tired. Functional, but tired.

Harvey was really good at his job. Even if he could just give his 50-percent, that was still more than an average employee could do. He was good, but not great right now.

He blinked, wishing he could just close his eyes and get to sleep. But he knew he had job to do. He took a deep breath, and remembering where he was and who was talking to him, he finally spoke. “Yes? Mrs. Stalwart…” His voice was off, tired, low…

“Are you… tired?” She tried her best not to sound mean, or sarcastic, but her tone, she was just too imposing.

“What? No! I´m… perfectly, I just…” was she upset? She won´t fire him because he´s a little tired, right? Even if his “little” is barely being awake.

“Harvey, don´t lie to me. I´m your boss. Now, I know you´re tired. I can see it all over your face. What´s the matter? Aren´t you sleeping well? Do you have insomnia?” She was trying to be attentive, but this seemed more as a pacific scolding.

“No… I don´t have insomnia, I just… *yaaaawnnn*” Uh oh, did he just yawn in front o her! That´s disrespectful! She´s going to scream, she´s going to yell at him. She´s going to get so mad!

But she didn´t. He thought this was unprofessional, that she hated when people, while speaking to her, yawned. Or did anything that didn´t resemble paying close attention to their conversation. To his surprise, she didn´t.

“Awww, you are tired. What´s the matter, dear? Everything ok? Aren´t you sleeping enough?” Now, her tone was truly sweet, kind.

For a second, he felt she really cared. But a part of him felt this was just sarcasm. That she was playing the sweet role only to surprise him when she actually started yelling she doesn´t care, and that he couldn´t sleep on work-hours.

“I… yes. I´ve been sleeping like… four hours a day…” Well, yesterday he slept three, but, an average, may be four hours.

“WHAT? Four? Honey, you need eight hours of sleep! At least seven, six AT LEAST. But four?!”

Now he feels as if he´s done something wrong, and it seems Mrs. Stalwart´s disapproving. Looking down at him from above, down from her massive desk. He thought she´d be one of those boss´s who don´t care about an employee´s mental health, the kind that will push him to get the job done, no matter how he feels.

But now, it seems she… cares?

“You know, Harvey, there´s an area with sleeping pods on the third floor. It´s designed for people who, like you, need a break from work.” Was that an advice? Where is she going with all this?

“Pods?” He asked, unsure if this was real. No one mentioned it before, but he hasn´t made any friends there yet. Working for her takes a LOT of effort.

“Yes, dear. I believe the room´s got a huge sign that says: “Sleep Pods”, very specific. You can get there, pick a pod and take a nap.” She explained.

“A nap sounds…” he was about to say nice, but… “But what about my work? I… shouldn´t I work all my shift? I mean, if I go visit those pods, uhm, the nap will be… how long?” She frowned a little.

She´s being so nice, does she really have to explain everything?

“It doesn´t matter. It´s just one day. Listen, I don´t care if you sleep the rest of the day. You MUST rest.” Being kind it´s not that easy…

“But…”

“NO. No buts, no complaints. You, sir, are going to get up, go to the third floor, walk all the way to the room. Pick a pod, close your eyes. And… GET. SOME. SLEEP. And that´s an order.”

Maybe she was a little too stern at the end. He panicked for a second. A small spike of adrenaline hit him, and for two seconds, he didn´t felt sleepy; he was awake and conscious about this giantess ordering to sleep. Was that normal?

“Uhm…” He was still doubting? What does he want her to say? It´s just taking a nap!

She sighed, letting a loud, heavy flow of air out of her nostrils. “Go take the nap. Now. Unless… maybe you´re too tired and, who knows… maybe you´d like me to take you there? If you´re too tired,” she bent forwards, and with a smile on her face, “I can carry you there.”

Harvey swallowed, and immediately stood up. Like a spring, he jolted out of his chair.

“Hehe, I… there´s no need. The… the third floor, right?” He said, making his way to the door, and begging she doesn´t stand up and try to take him there.

The image of the giantess picking him up and taking him down there, on her thick, strong arms, that was scary. Humiliating, and why not, emasculating.

“Third floor…” she nodded, watching him leave the room. Proud she was taking care of him. That was being considerate, right?

Well, she kind of forced him to go downstairs and, in a sort of menacing way, made him do something he needed to do.

Part of her felt proud; other part of her was a bit worried he could fall asleep while walking and hit the floor hard; and, now that she was alone at the office, part of her wondered, out loud:

“I wouldn´t have minded if he accepted the carrying offer…” Holding him in her arms, it would be like a hug. A sweet, tender hug… she´s so lonely that any show of affection is enough to please her.

Still, she was worried. He lived too far away from this place. Which means, he´s likely to fall on this over and over. Unless, his newly kind boss takes care of it. But how?

“How? How can I assure he won´t be sleeping in the job. But more than that. How can I make sure he sleeps well? And, how can I show him I care? Because, if a man knows you care, that means he knows you like him, right?” she wondered. Not so sure if she really liked him, but she does feel tender around him.

Maybe, if this is love, she´s really bad at telling. Still, she´ll think of a way to help him, to be supportive.

And after a while, she found out. A way she could help him out. And it was perfect! Easy, kind, generous.

The next day, a rested, or at least more awake, Harvey stood in front of the amazon. Craning his neck to look up at this woman, who was nearly TWICE his height, looking at her confused.

“You want to… you want me to live on your… apartment?” Was this right? She offered him her apartment? To move in there?

“Yes, but remember, I said AN apartment. Not the one I live in. Listen, I bought this loft apartment a long time ago. Mostly because of the high ceilings, but I moved out a while back. But kept the property just in case.” And now, here´s her offer.

“I´ve been wanting to check it for a while, or even rent it. But I think… you need it. It´s located twenty minutes away from here. It´s big enough. You could move in and save a lot of time on transportation. Don´t you think it´s a good idea?” She was excited.

She´s never been eager to find out what someone was to say. Will he jump out of joy? Throw himself at her and hug her? Scream how good of a boss she is. That she´s the best boss he´s had? That it´s such a nice gesture? That he loves her? Well… that´s too much. But still, his reaction was not like that, AT ALL.

“But… you´ll let me borrow your apartment… just because, ma´am?” that´s not the grateful reaction she was hoping.

Mrs. Stalwart rose one eyebrow, looking at him in a disapproving way, crossing her arms under her huge bosom. Standing tall, stern, and imposing, she said: “I´m trying to be kind here, and, in my opinion, this is for your best. Now, let me ask this again, will you live in this apartment I own? So that you´re not falling asleep at work?” and now, a little “persuasion”, “Or, should I look for a new assistant who lives nearby, you know, one that´s not sleepy? Hmmm?”

He trembled a little, is she going to fire him? Is she saying she´ll fire him if he doesn´t accept? She can´t do that, right? Who´s he trying to fool, she can do whatever she wants, she´s the boss.

“Sorry! I… appreciate the offer… I´ll… take it. If you, still want me to take it…” He didn´t insult her, right?

“Of course!” she smiled. “Here´s the keys,” she pulled them out of her pocket. Bent over and placed the keys, that looked tiny on her hands, on his.

Harvey was confused. Why had she done this? And why had she forced him to accept them? Was this a trick? A test? This was so random. So suspicious.

He stood there, smiling, mostly because she was smiling. The 9´6” amazon was smiling down at him, in all her mighty glory.

He can´t lie, this was good, really good. But he had questions, what about the rent? The bills? This was an apartment she just handed over, well, let him borrow. What was she getting out of this?