The sound of the elevator door opening cut our eye contact and he made his way out heading towards a black Mercedes.
By the car, stood a mad in his late thirties who looked more like a bodyguard than a chauffeur.
Darrius looked back at me and said :"This is my driver Dominic, most of my meetings are outside the company and he will be with us all the time" he looked at his driver who gave me a sharp look than gave his boss an incredulous one when he continued :"Dominic, this is Cathy, she is a new intern"
'he said my name again...'
The man didn't say anything and displeasure was apparent on his face. I didn't understand why but I didn't linger on it and extended my hand :"Nice to meet you Mr. Dominic" he didn't shake my hand and that shocked me for a moment but then he did and I was relieved.
In a playful tone which made him more attractive Darrius said :"Now now Dominic, play nice, our Ms. Parker is a bit shy"
I didn't understand the whole interaction but I didn't dwell on it; and when the driver opened the back seat to our employer,
I hurried over to the front seat and Darrius said :"what are you doing? Your place is next to me" I was momentarily shocked and elated my his words.
I imagined they carried a possessive meaning and was dreaming like a fool until I snapped out of it and made my way towards him.
'working with him will be a nightmare with all these dark thoughts invading me every two seconds'
Once I was next to him in the backseat, I cursed the luxurious car for being too spacious and then stopped myself.
As I looked outside the door I caught Dominic making a strange face as he closed the door and I wondered what was wrong with him.
He soon drove and we all fell into silence as Darrius took out his phone.
When he told the driver that we were taking a detour, I sensed his astonishment once again, and concluded that Darrius must have a pretty close relationship with Darrius that exceeded that of employer and employee. It was as though they were friends and they had things they wanted to discuss without me.
When we reached the mall I hurried so I would not keep them waiting for long. I made it to one of the shops and was petrified by the price tags.
It was the first time in my life that I would be spending such money on clothes and I felt ashamed. So I opted to just replace my ruined skirt, I looked through the shelves until I found one and made sure it was the right size this time.
When I reached the car, I heard the last part of their conversation as Dominic said : "I don't understand what goes through your mind sometimes... just don't let your guard down..." he stopped abruptly mid sentence when I opened the car door.
My new skirt was the same beige color as the one I wore this morning so I understood why Darrius gave me a look and I quickly explained :" I was in a hurry so I bought a similar one "
Of course it was a lie, I just didn't want to burden him from my first day.
Dominic gave me a look through the rear view mirror as if he did not like the fact that I had my boss buy me clothes.
When we neared the restaurant I was instructed by Darrius to take notes and not overdo it as it was my first day. It warmed my heart that he was trying to ease my mind even though I knew it was not in anyway meant to be that special.
The meeting went well, as I was able to follow up with the conversation and take impeccable notes, I meant to organize them and show him my great competence.
Throughout his meeting Darrius didn't speak until it was calculated and I was mesmerized by his sharpness. So I kept quiet and focused because I wanted to mimic his pace and be of help to him.
When the meeting was concluded and we steered to the parking lot, he looked back at me and said :"you were awfully quiet during the meeting, I imagined you would be the type to ask millions of questions"
I smiled at his playful words that warmed my heart and said : "I am not the type to speak without being asked questions, and I was able to take notes easily"
"very well then, you should be able to organize them by tomorrow then"
"I can do it by the end of the day if you want"
"that wouldn't be necessary as your first work day ends here"
"aren't we going back to the company now" I questioned hesitantly.
His quick answer came next :"I think you had enough events for today, I only asked you to accompany me to a meeting on your first day to get you out of the office... your little misfortune this morning would not have been solved otherwise"
I could see the hint of a smile with his sarcastic words and grasped the situation at last. With my face red as a tomato and my eyes brimming with tears I nodded in embarrassment and said :"thank you so much for today Mr. Astor.."
"you can call me Darrius if you want"
I was shocked by his words and I think he was too as he retreated "I hate being called Mr. Astor all the time"
I said: "I'll keep that in mind sir" and hastened my steps, it felt utterly bizzar to have this conversation with your boss on the first day and I feared all this was a day dream I conjured because his divine smell intoxicated me in the car.
I wanted this day to be over, so I can retreat to my apartment and brave myself for tomorrow.
As I carried my shopping bag from the car I turned to him and coyly said :"thank you for today and I hope I would be of help to you from this day forward"
"we can drop you on our way..." I interrupted him quickly :"that wouldn't be necessary as I live quite nearby, see you tomorrow"
I made a strange stupid bow and turned around to walk away as fast as possible.
Of course I lied, I lived on the other side of New York, in one of the Bronx' poor apartment buildings. And I didn't want him to see where I lived.
I didn't want him to know how poor I am because I wanted to remain veiled with mystery in his eyes.
At the end of the day, I hold no significance to him but to me he is my star and I didn't want him to know how pathetic I was.