In the summer of June to August 2021, the Chicago heat was bursting in high temperatures, and through all this time, I spent it working as an intern at my father's company as the assistant to the director and staff. On my first day at work was all about getting to know the company, my colleagues and the work responsibilities. In addition, had my own desk and computer, my work station was next door to the director and my colleagues. Everyone was quite friendly but they didn't know that I was the daughter of the CEO and director of the company; I had requested my father not to inform them of our relationship as I didn't was special treatment, but to be treated like any other intern and colleague in the company. After a week of familiarization with the company rules, procedures and the likes and not likes of colleagues and the expectations of the CEO and director, was officially able to start my internship on Monday.
Monday morning was the first person in the office arriving at 7:30AM, cleaned and prepared the office, the documentations, made myself a cup of coffee and left more brewing for those who wanted a cup. I started working on my daily responsibilities including printing and photocopying documents for the boss and colleagues, was scheduled to have a meeting at 9AM where I was to take notes and distribute them to the team and finally was to edit and prepare draft documents for the upcoming training and presentation session. At around 8:30AM, the office started getting a bit noisier as most of all my colleagues were reporting for work; office work hours were from 09:00AM-6:00PM. I would finish at 6:30PM as I wanted to make sure that all the day's work was completed and all that was needed for tomorrow was prepared and ready.
As an intern, thought it was just going to be mainly seated on my chair and doing simple tasks here and there, but I thought wrong. Most of the colleagues ended up piling their work on my desk with the expectations that it should be completed before the end of the day. If it was not photocopying their documents, was preparing excel spreadsheets and typing documents on MS Word documents. Before the 9AM meeting was asked to prepare coffee, the projector and other documents for the meeting including my notepad for taking the minutes. I preferred taking minutes using the laptop as was easier and faster, and all I needed to do was make sure the important information was in the minutes.
By lunch time, I had completed the morning meeting minutes distributed them to the staff, and our boss, completed all the photocopying, excel spreadsheets and all the documents and information on the word documents and submitted them to my colleagues. Afterwards, I headed out for lunch from 1:00PM -2:00PM, at the restaurant that was across the street from our company; they had nice set meals which were quite reasonable and filling. I checked in on Chris, Jaime and Anderson to see how their day was going especially Chris and Jaime as it was also their first day at work. We did a video chat call where we could all be the video call at the same time. We were all looking tired but had quite a lot of things to say about our jobs and pretty much seemed to enjoy it. At 2:00PM returned back to my office only to find a heap and I mean a heap of files and documents on my desk, I looked at each file and there were no instructions written nor was there any information written on what was required to be done with the files and documents. I went to see Cynthia my Supervisor; if I was to do the job right, then my colleagues needed to be clear with their instructions not dumping files and documents on my desk and expecting me to have a telepathic mind to know their expectations. When I reached Cynthia's office door, I knocked, opened the door and walked straight to her desk. She could tell I was not happy but I had to keep my cool. I voiced my concern without mentioning any names and requested she put it forward to the team. She gave some suggestions and advice and said she would speak to the team before the end of the day.
I returned to the desk and recalled Cynthia's suggestion, then took the all the files and documents, stood in front of everyone and said with a stern voice "If you placed any files or documents on my desk please see me immediately otherwise I will not complete your requested task. When I returned back to my desk colleagues starting coming one by one explaining and giving me instructions on what they wanted to be done with their files and documents, all were written on sticky notes and placed on either a file or a document. After receiving the instructions I mumbled "was that so difficult to do," while glancing at them with unpleasant eyes. I started working on each task which took four hours completing the tasks at 6:45PM, once completed returned the files and documents placing them on the colleagues desk. I organized and cleaned my desk, leaving what was not completed for tomorrow morning. As I was leaving my phone rang, it was Anderson, and he had arrived at the company reception area, it was a pleasant surprise, he wanted to take me out for dinner. He had made reservations at our favorite Italian restaurant in Chicago. We had a wonderful and pleasant candle light dinner with music, and bought me roses; the manager, who has been good friends with Anderson, dropped by to say hello as he had not seen us for a long time. He was delighted to serve us, took our orders and specially prepared and delivered the food to our table including the drinks. During the dinner we had been talking about our day, my internship, Anderson's job and how it was going when my parents called; I had totally forgotten to send them a message of my dinner plans. I picked up their phone and quickly apologized with an explanation of what happened and that I was having dinner with Anderson. They were worried at first but after hearing my explanation and apology, they were relieved and happy that I was safe and well. I told them I would be home around 11:30PM and they agreed. We exchanged our goodbyes with love and kisses, and then continued eating dinner. Anderson knew it was my parents, so he didn't ask much but had heard that I was to be home before midnight. After dinner, the manager checked on us to see how we were doing and whether we enjoyed the meal; "The spaghetti carbonara was delicious," I replied. "The seafood spaghetti was excellent and well done" said Anderson. For dessert, we both went with the tiramisu (my favorite dessert) and coffee. By the time we had finished dinner and dessert, it was already past 11PM; we got the bill, thanked the manager for an amazing wonderful evening. As we walked out of the restaurant, I held Anderson hands kissed him and thanked him for a lovely surprising dinner. He kissed me back thanking me for the company and how he truly enjoyed it. He drove me home and was home shortly before 11:30 at night; I could see the living room lights were still on which meant my parents were wide awake and awaiting my return. We gave each other a goodnight kiss, wishing each other good night with a thank you once again and I told Anderson to call once he got home so that I know he arrived safely home. I got out of the car and watched Anderson turn and drive away, and then I walked home. My parents were sitting in the living room, looking happy almost as if something wonderful happened that I didn't know. I asked them, "Mum, dad, are you ok?" "Yes, we are fine dear, they answered." I sat on the sofa, and before my dad asked, I started talking about my job and how it went, the work I had to do and some of the challenges I encountered and how I solved them. I again apologized for not texting or calling them to inform them of my dinner plans with Anderson. I was not expecting to have dinner with Anderson; he surprised me at our company reception. "How was the dinner?" my mum asked. "It was very romantic, wonderful and lovely, went to our favorite Italian restaurant." I replied. "Glad you both had a good time," My dad replied. I was feeling quite exhausted and since I was to get up early tomorrow, I kissed my parents goodnight, and as I was walking upstairs, got a call from Anderson telling me he had reached home. We wished each other goodnight with pleasant dreams, with kisses and love, and then hang up and plugged my phone to be charged. I brushed my teeth, showered, cleaned and freshened up my face and prepared for bed time. It was already past midnight, set my alarm for 6 in the morning, turned off the lights and went to bed.
For the next two months of my summer holiday I was enjoying the experience of working as an assistant at my dad's company, had the opportunity to meet lots of top executives from various companies in Chicago that were in partnership with our company. I also had the opportunity to work with my colleagues on group projects and presentations on architecture, engineer, and web design. These were group projects that would be presented to various companies we were in partnership with for the upcoming new season. It was also my first time to meet my uncle, my father's brother Uncle Kim in a very long time; I didn't know that he was one of the partners working with my father and that he had his own company in New York where we used to live a few years back. We both remembered each other, especially me, because when he used to visit us in New York, he would bring me lots of gifts; enjoy carrying me up and down and telling me funny stories. What I found interesting was that he would visit us alone and not with his family; wasn't sure if he was married, single or divorced which was something never mentioned in our family. If he had never visited us, I would never have known that my father had a brother, because he hardly ever talked about him. There was a day I was doing a presentation on one of the projects I worked on, but didn't know it was for Uncle Kim and his partners.
Although I was quite nervous doing the presentation, but it was successfully accepted and approved by Uncle Kim and his partners. Uncle Kim and I spoke at length after the meeting with my father present; he congratulated me on a great presentation, asked how I was doing and how was university life. At the end of all the presentations, we had signed eight contracts with eight different companies including Uncle Kim's company. It was truly a day to celebrate, be thankful and happy for a job well done.
My two months of working as an intern were coming to an end as I had to prepare for my return to Boston to start my second year at Boston University. Nevertheless, I have to say I truly enjoyed my time working at my dad's company. I learned a lot not only from the work responsibilities that I did every day, but also from my colleagues. Despite the fact there were times when they would get on my nerves and sometimes did some little things that really annoyed me; I managed to ensure the tasks and duties for the day to day routine were completed and submitted on time. I also think having not exposed my relationship with my father and Uncle Kim to my colleagues and the company was a very wise idea as was treated the same like all the other colleagues and was not given any special treatment, which is what I wanted so that I could learn the life of working in a company, the real life experience of having a job from 9 to 5, the challenges, the difficulties, the perks, how to deal with difficult colleagues and most importantly to gain the support, encouragement and respect from your colleagues and supervisors without using your status and just being a regular staff and colleague.
My last day of working as an internship ended on Friday July 30, 2021 with lots of thanks and appreciation gifts and lunch treat from my colleagues. It was very nice of them and I was truly grateful for their kindness; it was my hope that I would have another opportunity to work with them next summer. Before leaving the company, it was mandatory to write a summary report between four to six pages, of my work experience at the company with details, pictures, pros and cons; this was a report that would be used as feedback for the human resources department when they hire interns in the future. I thought that was a brilliant idea and it was also a way of PR and Marketing for future prospective candidates who would want to work in the company. It was truly a wonderful and a remarkable experience to never forget, one that would help me during my university year, and most importantly great for my resume and future professional career development. I had two more weeks before heading back to Boston; I had planned to spend time with my parents, continue practicing and learning more cooking skills with my mum and catching up with Chris and Jaime.
It wasn't long before August rolled in and it was now the final countdown before heading back to Boston to start my second year at Boston University. My dad and I spoke about the internship in length especially about the prospects of working in the company next summer and possibly full time once I finished university. Although the work title would have nothing to do with my university major international relations and political science, but the experience of working with foreign nationals and being able to use French, Spanish and Chinese was going to be a big plus. The only concern I had was the job position that would be offered when I start working full time, but that would be determined in time. It was a great idea and food for thought but one thing was for certain, my next summer vacation, I was still going to be working as an intern in my dad's company. While at home, I enjoyed spending time with mum in the kitchen watching her do the cooking at the same time was also practicing and learning how to make stir fried vegetables, salads, roasted and baked chicken and beef and also French fries. All the dishes previously learned my mum was going to test my skills to ensure I would remember everything I learned and was able to make the dishes all by myself. I also created a recipe book with all the dishes I had learned from my mum and the ones I was already good at cooking added some pictures to make them look fancy.
As we were coming towards the end of the second week of August, I spent a couple of days with Chris and Jaime catching up with them on how their summer vacation had been including their summer work experience. They had quite a lot of things to talk about and from their facial expressions they truly enjoyed the work experience. What was interesting was they did exactly what I did when I started working at my dad's company; they informed their parents' to not inform or let anyone know of their relationship as they didn't want to get any special treatment and privileges. They wanted to work and be treated like their colleagues, doing the same amount of work or even more if needed. They also felt this was important to helping them learn more about the company, learning how to work with different types of people, how to handle stress, pressure, meeting deadlines and taking on various tasks, projects and presentations and finally learning to deal with challenges and unforeseen situations. After two months of working, we all pretty much shared the same views, similar stories that occurred in the company, what we learned and gained from this summer experience. In addition, it was quite clear that we were happy with our results and would most definitely do it again next summer. I didn't see Anderson much as he was caught up with a lot of work, projects and presentations and there were times he would work till almost 8 or 9 in the evening. We did get to text, call and video call every night after he got back from work, but he was looking quite exhausted as they were working him hard which at times he found overwhelming but he was tough and managed to handle intense situations and meeting deadlines. The good news was that as of next summer he would be employed part time with the company working from eight in the morning till six in the evening and would get paid for working overtime. He was very excited about the wonderful news and was clearly looking forward to his next summer working adventure.
Our last day in Chicago was Thursday August 12, 2021, Chris, Jaime, Anderson and I were scheduled to depart from Chicago on Friday August 13, 2021 on a morning flight, arriving at Boston in the afternoon, getting ready to enroll and start our second year for Chris, Jaime and I while Anderson would be starting his third year at Boston University; "Time really flies," I told myself, one minute were had been having classes in the university, next thing it was winter, then summer, and now back again for a new school year. Our parents took us to the airport; we had all been given pocket money and for other expenses. It was a pretty sad day for all of us, but we knew we shall surely see our parents' soon. We checked in, got our tickets, went through the usual immigration line and were through in ten minutes. We decided to get some coffee and something to eat before boarding the plane as we knew we would not be eating a full meal while on the plane, and for those two hours sleeping was the best remedy.
After a full two hours and twenty minutes with no delays, we arrived safely in Boston; sent messages to our parents' to let them know we arrived safely and were headed to Boston University with the ride Chris had arranged for us at the airport. We arrived at the university shortly after 2pm; everyone went straight to their rooms. We all spent the rest of the afternoon and half of the early evening cleaning our rooms, showered and did some basic shopping for the weekend. We decided to do the heavy shopping on Sunday. At about 8:30 in the evening, we had a light dinner, then were back to our rooms as we were all looking very exhausted and were pretty much ready to call it a day.
Over the weekend we spent it preparing for the beginning of our classes on Monday. We had already chosen our courses, so all we needed to do was log into our Moodle to check if there were any pre-readings to be done, assignments to be completed or self-introductions needed to be made before the start of school on Monday. For the first semester of my second year had eight courses; four core courses and four electives, come second semester, would continue the four core courses and have four new elective courses. I had quite a lot of pre-reading of articles, research papers to go through and prepare, and write self-introductions for some of the courses, and finally there were textbooks that were required for some of the courses. The good thing is that I had a printer in my room, so printing the documents was not a problem. I had always preferred to have a paper copy of the pre-reading articles and research papers so that I could highlight the important points and also avoid being on the computer for too long. I was also able to place orders for all the required textbooks which would be delivered by Sunday before the start of my classes on Monday.
In addition to the academic preparation, Chris, Jaime, Anderson and I did our monthly shopping on Saturday morning and it was quite a lot. Personally, I didn't want to keep coming back to the store or supermarket to buy things, so decided on doing bulk shopping for at least two months. Although my parents had given me extra allowance, I still had money saved from last year. I had decided that I was going to open a bank account to deposit all the money as I didn't want to keep carrying it around with me all the time. I remember my parents had opened a bank account for me with Chase Bank, but I was not sure whether they had deposited any money in my account. This was something I would have to do during the week as they were closed on the weekends. The other thing I also needed to do was to make sure I activated my archery club membership so that I could practice archery either after school or on weekends. In the afternoon all the way till Sunday, we all retired to our rooms as we had quite a lot of preparation for Monday. We only met for lunch and dinner and gave ourselves an hour or two to relax before heading back to our rooms for the day.
On Monday August 16, 2021, we officially began our first day and second year of school at Boston University. My schedule for this semester was quite long as I had classes every morning from 8 to 10AM for the core courses, in the afternoon from 12:30 to 2PM, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays had my elective classes from 3 to 5PM. It was a schedule which I had to quickly learn especially the afternoon classes as I would easily forget; so in order to avoid any lateness and delays, had copies of my schedule on my phone, posted in my room and just in case I forgot, always carried a paper copy in my bag. All my professors for this semester we male, some young, while others were elderly senior looking professors and they all had one thing in common; very high expectations including; lateness was unacceptable unless previously excused or valid reasons for missing the class, if not was automatically marked absent, secondly all pre-readings were required to be done prior to class as they would be the lesson taught content which would include Q &A sessions, thirdly class participation was required be it in groups or individually which would be graded, fourth all assignments, individual and group presentations and group work were to be completed and submitted prior to the deadline, failure to submit your assignments or submit them late without any valid reasons would result in a fail, also all assignments must be typed, not hand written and submitted via Moodle, and finally quizzes, essays and exams will be given for mid-term and final exams, but the quizzes will be on going, these will be discussed two weeks prior to dates. Once all that information was presented, we went through the calendar and schedule for all that we shall be learning during the semester which included all the dates and times for all the work submission. Next thing I heard was "any questions?" from all my professors. Personally, I didn't have any questions, but a lot of my classmates did have questions especially about the quizzes, essays, exams and the pre-readings and no matter the questions, the answers were the same, no leniency, no mercy and no empathy. Oh and another expectation that all the professors stressed was coming to class prepared, because we may not be able to cover all the content in one class so it was expected that whatever pre-readings, readings or discussions that would be held in class or on the forum, it was expected that they were all read and actively participated in the discussions especially the ones which would be in the Moodle forum.
I was already feeling stressed out just hearing all those expectations, but then again was thinking everything was self-explanatory and straightforward; all it required was being responsible, having time management, being independent and organized which were traits I already possessed and had managed pretty well since high school. The first month of my second year at Boston University was not even over and we were already writing research papers, having group discussions and presentations. For most of my courses both core and electives, a lot of my classmates were very friendly and cooperative especially in the group discussions, presentations, and quizzes; for some of the courses we even formed study groups where we would meet after school to discuss and work on our assignments in the school library or coffee shop on campus. I was beginning to feel comfortable in knowing all was going to be ok and that I would not be having any learning issues or challenges with my classmates and my professors.
For the days and times I was not having classes, opted out of going to the gym instead kept busy by going to the archery club to practice my archery, which was like a way to exercise, relax and calm my mind from a very stressful day at the university. I had expected to see 'black hood' during my practice but never saw or heard from 'black hood' since August. I thought maybe 'black hood' was busy or didn't have time, or could still be pissed with the last conversation we had when I had asked too many personal questions. I decided to let it go and just focus on my practice telling myself, all will be well and 'black hood' will return. When I was at school and didn't have classes would chill in the school coffee shop or in my room working on my assignments, research papers or doing the pre-readings. It was not only a busy second year for me, but it was the same case for Jaime, Chris and especially for Anderson as it was his third year at Boston University. They all had classes from Monday to Friday every morning from 8am to 11:30am, and then in the afternoon from 2pm to 3:30pm and their last class from 4pm to 5pm. We would only meet at 5:30pm just like last semester. It was usually a very long tiring day for them, but regardless, we always made sure to meet for dinner to check in on how everyone was doing, not only in their studies but healthy wise as well. As we were talking about our day, Anderson tells us something very interesting which we all never expected. He told us that there is a girl in his class who has a crush on him and is very interested in Anderson. As he was telling the story, I was looking at him and just smiling; I don't know why but for some reason, I was not worried at all as to what was going to happen because Anderson was not interested in making any friends, he already had three and one of them was his girlfriend which was more than enough. Apparently, the girl whom we didn't even get a name because he didn't even bother to ask, approached Anderson as he was packing and getting ready to leave the class, started introducing herself and asked if he would like to join her for coffee. I automatically knew his response but I wanted to hear it for myself, Chris and Jaime was also curious as to what was his response. He looked her straight dead in her face saying, "I am not interested, thanks," and walked off. She had even tried to get his number, but he didn't give her any chance to ask for the number and walked off. We were laughing as he told the story, but I told him, "It is not over, she will keep trying until she gets your number or is able to invite you for coffee, as they say if first you don't succeed try again," and continued laughing. We continued having our dinner and once we were done retired to our rooms until the following day.
As the semester progressed, the weather also begun to change from summer to autumn and then it was winter the coldest time in Boston. Our courses had been going well, we were all quite happy with our performance; we also made sure to check in on our parents to let them know we were doing well and everything was going well. We had already been doing quite a lot of quizzes since the beginning of the semester, individual project presentations and group discussions and presentations and now the mid-terms were around the corner and it was imperative to be well prepared for them. It was only October and I was already feeling mentally and physically drained out and there was still a lot of work to be done. It was also important for Chris, Jaime, Anderson and I to keep in touch with each other on days when we could not meet to ensure we were all doing well not just in our studies, but mentally, physically and emotionally. This was very good and important as it was a way we encouraged and supported each other especially when we were preparing for our quizzes, exams and completing our essays and projects.
The only troubling issue we were having or rather Anderson was having was dealing with the girl who has a crush on him called Vivian (finally got her name). She kept on 'harassing' Anderson even in class, always wanting to sit next to him, everywhere he went she followed him and it was quite obvious to everyone that Vivian liked Anderson a lot. The one thing I never understood about Vivian was that she didn't notice that Anderson had a ring on his third finger left hand, or maybe she noticed by chose to ignore it. Anderson had once mentioned that he had been asked by his classmates and roommate (in his first year) about the ring; his response was "he has a girlfriend and is in a very serious committed relationship," that was the end of the topic and he was never asked again. I even asked him, "Did she not see the ring?" His reply, "I guess she hasn't but she will soon know and it will be the end of our conversation." He continued, "If she keeps being persistent, stalking and disturbing me, I will report her to the school." I looked at him with a serious look telling him, "take it easy, just talk to her and explain to her and also warn her so that she is aware if she continues there will be consequences." Before I could continue, he says, "I am going to introduce you to her and make it clear to her once and for all and if she doesn't get it, I will report her." No matter how much I tried to calm him down, it was not easy and since he has already had this experience before, he clearly didn't have any time for any nonsense especially girl issues and his studies being disrupted.
One Friday afternoon in October I decided to wait for Chris, Jaime and Anderson outside the building where they have their courses; their course departments were building neighbors so was easier to find them any time. I remember this day very well; I had gone to meet them as we had planned to have dinner together after they finished their classes. I had arrived outside the building where they have their courses at around 4:55pm with five minutes to go for them to finish their classes. When it reached 5pm, students started coming out of the building, Chris and Jaime were the first ones out of the building, I waved at them and they joined me at the reception area. A few minutes later I saw Anderson but there was something strange about him, he had been walking quite fast almost as if he was either too excited to have finished his class or was avoiding someone. As I looked, saw a woman following him and it clicked to me that it was Vivian trying to catch up with him which was nearly impossible. When Anderson reached the reception area, he saw we were already waiting for him; he walked towards me grabbed me by my waist and kissed me on my lips right in front of everyone. I wasn't expecting that at all, it was a complete shock!! When Vivian saw what happened, she rushed over to us and started questioning who I was and my relationship with Anderson. I cleared my throat about to speak when Anderson spoke, "Vivian, you see this ring, then took my hand and showed her the same ring I was also wearing for her to see clearly, Diana is my girlfriend, the love of my life, and we have been together since high school, so I don't understand where you try to come in to interfere in our relationship." Vivian with her angry face, "that is not true, you are lying, how can she be your girlfriend, the love of your life, I like you Anderson, can't you give us a chance." I did a double take looking at Chris, Jaime and Anderson like, "Am I crazy or did I hear her telling Anderson to dump me?" I had to laugh, in fact Chris and Jaime were also laughing. I looked at Anderson and could see his face was on fire and pissed off and as I know Anderson from the past once you cross the line especially with the people he loves and cares about there is no chance, not a single chance of even becoming friends, it will be nearly to impossible. I shook my head, put my hand on my forehead and said, "This is not going to end well at all!" Before I realized what had happened, Vivian was already in tears. Anderson's reply was, "Vivian, let me make it very clear to you once and for all with the truth, first of all I don't like you, never have, never will, secondly, Diana is my girlfriend, the love of my life, so you should understand clearly what that means, and so what if she is black, is that any of your business." He continued, "I respect you because you are my classmate nothing more, so I suggest better stop having any ideas of us being together, I am not interested in you, so stay away from me, but most importantly (pointing at us) stay away from my friends and my girlfriend." He was not done, "I am being very nice and polite, and so whatever you are trying to do ends here today and now, leave me alone and we shall be in peace, continue attacking me and it will not be looking pretty." After that message, he got his backpack, held my hand and we walked out of the building and headed straight to the school restaurant for dinner. As we were heading out, the look on Vivian's face was almost like she had been shot in the face, she had not seen it coming, she was in total shock and quite embarrassed. Chris, Jaime and I were caught off guard, not what we had expected; things had taken a different turn as it was my second time seeing and hearing Anderson being very stern, defensive and even more blunt being open and without hiding his feelings in public about his buddies, and our relationship. The last time he had this pretty at all and after today told myself two things; one that hopefully Vivian understood his loud and clear message because if she keeps irritating and disturbing Anderson as I know his behavior, he will really this time give to her even worse, so truly hope it was and will be her last encounter with Anderson and secondly since Anderson and I begun dating, he had always been very supportive, encouraging and always defended me in anything and everything. From that day, they both never spoke to each other again, nor did Vivian ever approach or ask any questions or work with him in class from what I was told by Chris and Jaime. I had been concerned and at times had doubt about his feelings towards me and our relationship partly as we were now university students, things had changed, we were growing, maturing, getting older, our lives were changing and pursuing different interests and career, but after today and the way he spoke to Vivian, it was very obvious that his feelings and love for and to me have never changed, in fact have grown deeper than before and our relationship has been upgraded to an even higher level in the sense that Anderson had finally made up his mind and decided that I was going to be his one and only woman for the rest of his life.