"Hello miss, welcome to Alessandro's furniture shop."
I smile at the woman who comes to me as I enter the shop.
I had barely entered the office this morning when the company driver appeared saying Mr Illston had asked him to take me to the furniture store immediately.
"Thank you very much." I reply the woman then eye the furniture around me.
"What exactly are you looking for miss?"
"Office furniture."
With a smile she leads me to another part of the store where they have setups of various furniture needed in the office.
I take in all the long mahogany tables, swivel chairs, cabinets and other furniture completely at a loss on what to select.
The woman must have noticed my indecision and hesitation as I stare at the furniture before me. She directs my attention to a particular setup by the side.
"It just arrived from Italy yesterday. We call it the CEO set." She smiles.
The CEO set looks pretty good. Long mahogany table. Three chairs, two opposite one, shiny metal grey and beige cabinets, three couches ranging from one setter to three setters and a coffee table. There are other accessories on the side which compliment the whole look even more. The CEO set looks more than good. It's perfect and makes my work easier.
"I'll take it." I say quickly turning to face her.
"Great. Once all the bills are made and forms have been filled, It will be sent over to your office between Thursday night and Friday morning."
"It can't be sent in tomorrow?"
"This is a display model. The proper merchandise will be arriving tomorrow morning and we have a one day shipping policy hence why you can only receive it Thursday night or Friday morning."
I sigh and silently pray this will all work out for me. I bring out the card Mr Illston left with the driver and make the payments sealing the deal.
My eyes widened when I see the price of the CEO set but widen even more when the woman, whose name I learn is Roselyn shows me the balance still left in the account. Kudos to you William, you fucking made it.
"Thank you very much Ophelia for shopping with us. We promise to be on time with your order and our men will be there to help you arrange it as you please."
I thank her with a smile and leave the store. My bag suddenly feels heavier. Maybe it's because of the over six figures credit card that sits in my purse.
I walk to the company car and smile at the driver as I enter.
"Shall we go to the paint store now miss?"
I fall back into my seat with a sigh. "Yes please."
That is the rest of my day, going around from shop to shop making purchases for the damned office.
As we near the tall building that not so long ago belonged to Mr Knowles, I noticed some men at the very top. The large letters than once read Knowles company had been removed. Now the letters spelled Illston Corp. Even with all that happened, some part of me still feels proud for him.
On entering the lobby I take in the ongoing changes as well. No doubt by the end of this month, all traces of Knowles company will be gone.
"Hello Ophelia."
"Hi Ishanel." I greeted the receptionist who had attended to me on my first day here.
I take the lift up to the top floor of the building. I stop at my table dumping my bag on it. I open the door which leads to Mr Illston's office. All previous furniture have been removed. The office is now completely bare. It's huge and spacious. On one side of it are large windows giving a view of the ever loud New York City. As I start planning out where most of the furniture will go, the men who are to paint the walls, fix the lights, vents and air conditioners arrive. I spend the rest of the day telling them what to do and what not to do. I had to google most of It anyway.
I barely arrive home later that night on my two feet. I fall into my settee and let the aches and groans from today's work consume me. If anyone had by chance told me last year that I would be working for Mr Illston as his own PA and that my first assignment would be re decorating his office I would have laughed my heart out claiming life couldn't be that much of a bitch. How wrong would I have been though. Life is definitely more than a bitch. It's an asshole.
***
"Oh God, oh God!"
That is me panicking around Mr Illston's office. The walls look great so do the floor and lighting. There is just one little problem. It is already nearing lunch time on Friday and the furniture still isn't here. Am I losing my mind? Absolutely.
My phone vibrates against my thigh from my pant pocket and I think my heart jolt 180 times faster as I see it is, Ishanel the receptionist. I tell her to give me a call once Mr Illston steps into the building. I am doomed, I just know it. I don't bother picking up the call as I wait in anticipation and think about what to say. Or maybe this is just a sign I should actually move to Alaska and start over.
Barely less than two minutes into my thoughts the office door swings open. Even though I already know he was coming up I'm still startled as he walks in.
He looks good. I hate the fact that is the first thing my lame mind registers as we locked eyes.
"Well I love what you've done with my office." He comments dryly as he takes a look round the empty office.
I'm not an interior decorator, this isn't supposed to my job. I want to cry out.
"There's been a little delay with the delivery sir." I say instead looking at
the polished floorboards.
"So where am I supposed to work?"
Its funny how a person you were so familiar with can in the blink of an eye become a total stranger. The memories are what they were, the past. This moment is the present and this man is not my ex but simply my boss.
"I will arrange a table and chair for the meantime sir then go back to the furniture store."
"Maintain eye contact with me when talking and tell me, What good does that do Ophelia?"
Why does he have to call me by my name? Why did he have to end up as my boss? Why did I ever love him? Why did he leave me? Cause I wasn't enough.
"Sorry sir." I apologise while looking
up at his eyes which appear to have grown colder over the years.
The little twitch of his hand doesn't go unnoticed by me, I just happened to know his hand twitched whenever he didn't agree with something.
"One month, two weeks. That's how long you'll have to work for me directly."
"What, why?" My heart sinks as I can't even imagine an extra two weeks as his PA.
"Working as my PA is too test your abilities. You have already failed the first simple task."
"Simple task? This is not what I am qualified to do, I'm not an interior decorator who can simply get a whole
office made within two days." I almost say.
"For every mistake you make or demand you fail to fulfill as my PA, an extra two weeks will be added to your one month, two weeks. If it just so happens to reach three months, forget about the sales department completely. You'll permanently be my PA or quit, your choice."
I don't say anything else even though the little pull on his lips dare me too.
"I'll be working in the conference room down the hall, direct no one to me."
I simply stare at his retreating back as he leaves the empty office.
Many at times I would find my thoughts wondering back to that day, five years ago thinking hard about what went wrong.
I was a complete mess after that day. I didn't eat, barely went to classes, barely lived. As I made it through those hard times I still always had my head over my shoulder looking back to see, praying he would come back for me. I know he didn't deserve my forgiveness or me but my heart didn't care. Couldn't care about how much he'd actually hurt me. My heart just needed his to fall in pace with his again.
Over the years, I tried to move on, I trained the pieces of my broken heart to forget, not to yearn anymore for him. I realised after hopeless dreaming and wishing, all I would ever get from him would be his loathe not love. So I in turn loathed him. Loathed his very being, his existence, his memories. I loathed that I loved him.
From time to time though, I could
never really control that yearn of my heart, I could never fully hate him. Afterall as the saying went, the heart wants what it wants.