Answers

"Um, John? Could you join me in... um, I guess my office?"

"Right away, ma'am!" Anna's former boss, now assistant, grabbed a pen and a notebook off of his desk and waited. Anna wasn't sure why he wasn't moving, but then she remembered that she was the boss. She walked into the office tentatively, and he followed.

The office was massive. It took up a corner of the building, and Anna's first thought was that the lush, leather furniture in it looked like something out of a movie version of an executive's office. The walls were covered in pictures of Anna with other business people. She recognized some of them as the leaders of massive tech companies, but a couple of things were off. One, whenever the other executive was a woman, she was absolutely gorgeous. Two, whenever it was a man, he seemed to be deferring to Anna, even the billionaires. Anna felt a surge of confidence looking at the pictures of herself with powerful people.

Anna went to her large, mahogany desk. She slowly lowered herself into the softest leather chair she'd ever sat in. A small part of Anna felt overwhelmed by all this and just wanted to go back to being a programmer trying to get promoted out of the IT department. A growing part of her really liked all this and felt she deserved it.

Anna smiled at John with a confidence that surprised her. "Can I ask you some really... really odd questions!"

"Of course! Anything!"

"How long have I had this company?"

"Two years. You joined the company immediately after college and took it over from me six months later." There wasn't even a moment's hesitation to answer a question that should have been obvious to him.

"Okay. You owned the company, and I just... took over?"

"It was the best decision I've ever made!" said John. "Look how much we've grown in the last eighteen months! We're all very thankful for your leadership!"

Anna swiveled her chair around to look out the window at the city below her. This was beginning to feel familiar and right. It was as if it was obvious that women like her should always be listened to, and their words should have more weight than other people's. This was so exciting, she felt like she owned the city that was spread out before her!

There was one thing she needed to get straight, however.

"John," said Anna, turning back around. "How would you describe our relationship?"