"She told you in those words?" Alexander asked.
"More or less," Louis said, taking a left turn. "I couldn't help but wonder where I went wrong. I mean, I showered her with gifts, saved up for fancy restaurants, did everything right, but it looks like I've been doing everything wrong, I don't know how."
They stopped at the red light, and Louis looked at Alexander through the rearview mirror.
"Sorry Boss," he apologized. 'I didn't mean to offload on you like that."
"It's okay," Alexander assured him. The clouds outside parted to allow the sun rays beat down on the shiny surfaces of the cars. "But I don't agree with you about doing everything right."
Louis glanced back at his boss. "I don't understand."
"For one, we've had a bit of this conversation before," Alexander said. "You believed showering her with material things was enough, but I told you it wasn't."
"But women love…"
"You are basing what women love on your personal experience," Alexander said. The light turned green, and the car ambled on. It was a few minutes away from Sterling Corporation. "Have you ever thought you're enough as you are? Without trying so much to impress her?"
"But I'm not rich," Louis argued.
"Money-wise only," Alexander said. "There is more than one way to be rich, Louis, and maybe the richness Maryanne seeks is in your soul, not your pockets."
Louis said nothing after that. Alexander hoped his words got through to him, and as he alighted in front of Sterling Corporation, he bade him and stepped into the building.
A congratulatory text from Armani entered his phone just as some of the staff of Sterling walked with him to brief him on some of the tasks at hand. His assistant, Paul, introduced himself, a man of similar height as Robert but with a pinched face that didn't seem to understand how a smile functioned. He spoke like a robot when he walked next to Alexander, never pausing once as Alexander made his way up the elevator and to his new office.
Paul led the way into the office. It was pretty large. The blinds of the floor-to-ceiling windows blocked the rays pouring into the room. Paul went ahead to open them, and an avalanche of sunlight flooded into the minimalistic space. Clean lines defined the furniture. A sleek, white desk sat at the center of the room, uncluttered save for a lamp and a single laptop. Along one wall, a row of ergonomic chairs provided seating for meetings. The walls were adorned with simple, abstract artwork, none of the family like his father's office. A polished concrete floor reflected the light.
"If it's not to your liking, I can always make changes," Paul said.
"It's fine," Alexander said, taking his seat at the table. There was an odd feeling, as if he didn't belong, something that always trailed with him when he lived at the Sterling Mansion. He was thankful this was only temporary.
"Your meeting at 4:30 is up already, Sir," Paul reminded him.
"Good. Thanks."
Alexander met with most of the staff and briefed them about the new changes in the company, assuring them that things were meant to be better and no one was going to lose their jobs. There was always something about leadership change that seemed to unsettle people, and he could almost see the tension in the air fade away once the meeting was over.
After that, there was a flurry of activities. There were files he had to look at, calls he had to make to his company, and meetings he had to schedule for the coming days. The more he looked at the files and numbers, the more he wondered one thing; what the heck had Jeffery been doing?
Paul was very helpful, hovering around all day. At some point, Alexander had to silence his phone to be able to concentrate, and as the day turned into night, his mind flitted over to Selena, wondering how she was doing. Whatever had happened to her had something to do with her ex, and Alexander had a very strong urge to teach that man a lesson he wouldn't forget.
"Sir," Paul called to him. He pointed at the clock. It was 9:30 p.m. How had time flown right under his nose?
"Let's call it a day," Alexander said, shutting his laptop.
"Yes Sir," Paul said, shoulders sagging. "Would you like me to call your driver now?"
"No, I'll just take a taxi, it's too late," Alexander said.
"But Sir, it's his job to come pick you up, no matter the time you're finishing," Paul seemed perplexed.
"Well, I told him to go home. And it's no hassle for me to go home from here, so why disturb him?" Alexander took his phone off the table and caught the appalled look on Paul's face.
Paul cleared his throat. "Very well Sir."
Alexander bade him and found a taxi in less than a minute after he left the building. His phone had many more congratulatory messages from Armani, who was somewhere in Brazil for another one of her photoshoots.
Hey Alex, if it's okay, can we have a talk when I get back? She had written in her last message.
Alexander didn't reply immediately. He had a feeling he knew what the talk was about. Armani had almost kissed him the last time she was drunk and confessed to him how she had been meaning to do it for a long while. He refused, mostly because she was just a good friend to him and also because it would be taking advantage of her if he returned the kiss in her drunken state.
Tired, Alexander alighted in front of his building. He greeted the guards at the reception and took the elevator up to his place. When he stepped into the house, he walked straight to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. He should have ordered, but had been too consumed with work.
He heard a sound and stopped moving. Carefully, he walked to the living room, and to his surprise, right there in the living room, Selena Tequila was deeply asleep with the blanket wrapped closely around herself.