There was an eerie silence in the boutique today as I walked in.
His car was out in the parking lot and his assistant at the front desk. The receptionist, Mai, smiles at me and gives me quick nod to let me know that Joshua's in the counselling room. I can feel my heart in my throat even though I tell myself I have nothing to be afraid of. Jay is waiting for me outside my office, pacing up and down and fiddling with a handful of files. Cindy's nervous laughter drifts through the slightly open door. It sounds terrifying in the empty hallway.
Jay shoots me a thumbs up as I pluck the files out of his sweat slick fingers and push the door open.
As soon as I walk in, Joshua stands up. I see my life pass before my eyes for a brief moment, but I steal myself and smile.
He's got his coat in his hands and is nodding a goodbye to Cindy even before I can wish them a good morning. He walks out the door, turns around and raises an eyebrow. I am absolutely blown away. I have not even the slightest idea of what he wants.
"Where are you going?" I ask him, because I'm sure he just wanted to embarrass me and walk away.
He looks at me like I'm the dimmest kid in the universe.
He clears his throat and answers, "To your office.."
"Ah....." I manage before I hurry out after him.
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I close the door after him and it's just the two of us in the room. My office looks scary all of a sudden. Like a scene of a murder....
I smile as wide as I can and turn to face him. He's already sitting on the couch and looking at me with curious eyes.
He folds his hands over his knees and leans forward. There's a smile playing on his lips as he waits for me to sit down. I've gone numb because of the terror. I just hope he won't blow up and kill me.
"I made a reservation for lunch at a good restaurant. We have time till twelve, which is.." he glanced at his expensive watch, "....an hour and a half."
"L-l-lunch?" I stammer. "What do we do till then?"
Joshua's smile widens as he leans forward and looks me in the eye.
"There's this video game that I'm good at. I want to see If I can beat you at it too...."
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The dinosaur game on chrome.
I played the dinosaur game on chrome with a grown man for one and a half hours. I want to whack my head and scream at myself because I've finally lost it. But, I can't because I've glued myself to the door of his car in a effort to fuse my desperate self with it and end this nightmare.
His secretary tried desperately to begin a conversation but failed miserably. His Majesty was back to sulking and I didn't want to open my mouth in fear of death.
The trip to the booked restaurant, though it took only fifteen minutes, felt like an eternity. By the time we arrived, Joshua was pretty much oozing dark energy from every pore and I was praying hard to be able to make it out alive. We walked in through the front door and were ushered to the reserved table with a pretty view of the street.
It was a quiet afternoon, and the little restaurant was incredibly calming. The colors blended into each other in captivating hues of crème and beige and brown. The food that we'd ordered arrived, and we tucked in. I was trying not to make it obvious, but I had an eye on him. He looked absolutely calm, eating his meal like a child.