Ansel by Maya Alden
by Maya Alden
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She wasn’t just an assistant—she was his greatest asset.
Ansel Tyler has the perfect assistant—smart, dedicated, and secretly in love with him. But when jealous colleagues whisper in his ear, he makes a cruel mistake, deciding to let Neha Rao go once he secures his promotion.
Neha never expected forever, but she didn’t expect disrespect, either. When she overhears Ansel saying he intends to fire her once he gets his shiny new Vice President title, she refuses to wait for the inevitable and resigns.
Ansel is good at crunching numbers, but losing Neha doesn’t add up, and he quickly realizes the depth of his mistake. Now, career be damned, he’ll do whatever it takes to win Neha back—not as his assistant, but his partner in life.
- File Name:ansel-by-maya-alden.epub
- Original Title:Ansel: A Short Story (Regretfully Yours)
- Creator:Maya Alden
- Language:en
- Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B0F1XJBVMD
- Date:2025-05-20T16:00:00+00:00
- File Size:414.866 KB
Table of Content
- 1. Title Page
- 2. Full Page Image
- 3. Copyright
- 4. Contents
- 5. Story Description
- 6. 1. I Love My Job
- 7. 2. Just An Assistant
- 8. 3. Letting Go
- 9. 4. Don’t Dis The Espresso
- 10. 5. Two Plus Two Equals Idiot
- 11. 6. Played Like A Fool
- 12. 7. Too Little, Too Latte
- 13. 8. Fixing What I Broke
- 14. 9. I Can Handle The Truth
- 15. 10. Reality Bites!
- 16. 11. Ding, Dong! The Witch Is Dead!
- 17. 12. Dating For Dummies
- 18. 13. Don’t Be Frightened
- 19. 14. Be My Baby, Tonight
- 20. 15. Choosing Us
- 21. 16. Building Something Real
- 22. That’s Amore
- That’s Amore
- 1. Elysa
- 2. Dante
- 23. The Wrong Ride Home
- 1. Elena
- 2. Duke
- 24. Also by Maya Alden
- 25. About the Author
Maya Alden
Book author Maya Alden154fans
Ansel, Book 1 of the Regretfully Yours series, was about 32-year-old Ansel Tyler, a Senior Director at Sterling & Co. Investments (and in line for an upcoming promotion to Vice President), and 28-year-old Neha Rao, Ansel's assistant for the past three years, and working towards her MBA.
Side Note: Neha was a beautiful Hindu Indian woman. This is not me being racist. This is me pointing out that her nationality played a significant role in the story, and making the reader aware of that fact.
Neha, who had not only been working as Ansel's assistant for three years, was also in love with him, although she had never said anything to him. When Ansel confirmed that a promotion was imminent, he assured her he would take her with him to the next level, which would take place in two weeks. However, a week after the announcement (a week before the switch), they were introduced to his replacement, who was an external new hire, so they had to train her for the role he was leaving. The woman informed Neha that she would be using her own assistant, thus letting Neha know she would be replaced. However, she was still expecting to move up in ranks with Ansel, but she kept that to herself.
Unfortunately, before he made the official move, Neha overheard him tell one of his female colleagues, who denigrated Neha to him, that he would be firing Neha once his promotion was secured. He said she was nothing more than "just an assistant", that she was "entirely replaceable", and that he'd hoped she would stay with his replacement. But since that woman was using her own assistant, he was going to fire her instead because he agreed with his colleague, as the other woman stated, "she wasn't manager material". He said he would inform her the following week, before his move "upstairs". He said he was even taking her to lunch at a fancy restaurant (the same day as this conversation took place) to "soften the blow" of the upcoming firing. The woman then lied and said that Neha had been telling everyone for years that he couldn't do his job without her, to which he agreed and said it was one of the reasons he couldn't take her with him...because he "needed someone I can trust". He also admitted to knowing "she has a crush on me" and that he was "embarrassed on her behalf".
During lunch at the fancy restaurant (which Ansel admitted to himself he wished he'd canceled after talking to HR about letting Neha go), he noticed something was off with his assistant. Needless to say, the lunch was awkward for both of them. He at least had the grace to feel guilty about what he was about to do. It was as lunch was ending that Neha handed Ansel her handwritten letter of resignation. While it left him feeling shocked, confused, and a tiny bit of guilt, he was also relieved that he wouldn't have to fire her. It was then that she told him about overhearing his conversation with his colleague. When he tried to apologize for talking about her behind her back, she informed him it wasn't the first time, which he couldn't dispute. When he clarified it was her two-week notice, she said yes, but that she hoped he would understand that she would not be returning to the office after lunch was over, and that she would be taking all of her saved vacation time in place of her fulfilling the two-week notice. She had even taken the time to arrange for a temporary replacement so he wouldn't be without an assistant. Then she left without a backward glance.
Neha's BFF and roommate was there for her, offering her a job as a barista at the cafe Penny owned until she finished her MBA classes, and also said she'd pay Neha's share of the rent until she got a better job after graduation (something Neha had done for her BFF in the past). It took the pressure off her classwork, allowing her all the time she needed to focus on her school projects and other things that were required for her to graduate. It also gave her the time to reconsider her end goal after she got her degree.
Two weeks into the absence of Neha, Ansel was quickly realizing he'd royally f*cked up where she was concerned because his reports weren't accurate when he made his presentations to clients, who questioned her absence and said how smart she had been. He was finally realizing that Neha had been his "safety net" because she did, in fact, go above and beyond the duties of an assistant and help him in ways no assistant could...because she was trained for it due to her MBA classes. He was also finding out that his female colleague wasn't someone to be trusted. As the days passed, Ansel readily admitted it wasn't just the workplace where Niha was missed, but in his life. He'd known he'd had feelings for her, but he finally confessed, if only to himself, that it wasn't HER feelings for him that had made him uncomfortable. Rather, it was HIS feelings for Neha.
Six weeks after their parting, Ansel turned up at the cafe where Neha worked. The conversation did not go well. While Ansel was determined to apologize, Neha wasn't all that ready to forgive and forget. She went so far as to call him on his B/S and put him in his place before kicking him out of the cafe without an ounce of remorse for her hostility. It wasn't long after that verbal smackdown that Ansel finally got a clue into the truth behind the motives of the female coworker. It was time for some major comeuppance, and he needed Neha's help.
The story had a decent amount of angst and drama, but any spicy scenes were minimal, mainly because the storyline and plot were mainly focused on the workplace and not the romance between the two main characters. I think there was also the contributing factor of the different cultures and the standards each held. I can't say that with all the surety, though. However, the fact that it was minimal did not detract from the story; instead, it just enhanced it.
It was nice to read a book where the two main characters were both well developed and mature, but both also willing to make the changes in themselves so that they could grow and be a better version of themselves. Neither of them had any issue with making the changes they both knew needed to be made, nor were there any childish attitudes given by them. Unlike most stories, this book was so minimal in its delivery of the plot and plot changes that it made it all the better for it.
I will admit that, for having been a story written by Maya Alden, it was surprisingly good, and it will be the first of her books I've read that I gave such a high rating as four stars. I would have given it a full five-star rating, but the MMC needed to do a bit more groveling than he actually did. Plus, there wasn't any backstory given for the characters, and it would have been nice to find out what happened to those who wreaked so much havoc in the lives of the main characters. All of that put together meant that I couldn't convince myself to go higher than what I did. Still, I was pleased with this book. I look forward to reading the others in the series.
And the FMC always just roll over and take the MMC back! So frustrating!
These are exactly the same stories every time. Unappreciate FMC overhears the MMC sh** talking, leaves, he realizes she's great and pursues her while some other female character is the over the top villian. Every single book.
Sweet. There could've been more groveling, it was almost non existent