Babysitting

ChapterTwentyTwo

I walked steadily through the corridors of Star Hotels, my heels clicking with every step.
I had gotten a tour of the building just a week before and my office was on the fifth floor, the top level marketing.
Many months ago I had been referred to Star Hotels by my professor and I got the job. It had bothered me that I was now working for Nathaniel but I doubt he even knew.
I scanned my identity card by the door and walked into my office, a few small cubicles surrounding my desk.
My desk was right by the glass balcony, overlooking the relaxation area and the glass elevator.
I placed my bag next to my chair and sat down, placing my head in my hands. I was nervous.
What if I had to bump into Nathaniel? He wouldn't just walk into the marketing division but this was, of course, his building.
Harsh words were spoken between us those few years ago by his work function and I doubt he even wanted to be in the same room as me, let alone be my employer.
I lifted my head to find a few eyes staring back to me. I took a breath before standing up.
"Hello everyone," I said. "I'm Luciana, your new head of marketing."
There were murmurs throughout the small group of people before a young woman stood up.
"You're the girl from the papers, isn't it?" She said.
"Uhm, excuse me?" My eyebrows scrunched together.
"You were Nathaniel's date at that work function who went crying out the building, isn't it?" She said, walking closer to me. "It was all over the media."
"What?" My eyes widened. "All over?"
She nodded, gesturing to the computer that was on my desk. I sat down, opening up Google and typing in the name of the event and the date. There were a few articles covering the event so I went back up the the search bar and typed in 'Nathaniel's date.'
I sucked in a sharp breath as a few articles with pictures of Nathaniel and I came up. My eyes scanned the pictures, landing on one where I came out of the hotel alone, a crying drunk mess.
"There's a video with a gossiper that explains everything," the woman pointed at the screen and I clicked into it.
It loaded for a few seconds before a theme song started playing and a long blonde haired woman popped up on the screen, a microphone in her hand as she stood in, what looked like, a chatroom.
"And in other news, Nathaniel Johnson was seen with a new woman at his event this year instead of the infamous Kerrie Green," the woman on the screen said, a serious expression on her face. "This mysterious woman was seen sporting a long sleeved backless red dress, black and silver hair and very exotic features. Kerrie Green reported that they had been seeing each other for a few months and didn't like the sound of that. A few hours after Nathaniel Johnson and mystery woman were seen going inside, the mystery woman came out alone, crying and obviously drunk. She was ushered into a car and drove off while Nathaniel also came running out, probably looking for this woman. Kerrie Green then came out and the two went back inside. Please roll the pictures."
The woman disappeared and in her place, a picture of Nathaniel and I walking inside his hotel. It was then followed by me coming out of the hotel alone and getting into Benny's car and then a short video of Kerrie coming outside, saying something to Nathaniel and them walking inside together.
"This mystery woman has not been seen again. That's all for Liondrum Gossiper, goodnight," the screen went black before going back into Google.
"Are you okay?" The woman next to me asked. "You need a tissue, isn't it?"
She walked back to her desk, retrieving a few tissues before walking back. I felt my face and sure enough, a few tears marked my cheeks.
"Thank you," I took the tissues and dabbed at my face.
"I'm Wren, by the way," she smiled. "I'll be your personal assistant from now on."
I nodded before throwing the tissues away.
"Okay," I stood up. "First things first, I'm going to need all documents of client information, competitors, suppliers and potential investors. I'll be going through that first and then we'll all work together to design a new look for the website and brainstorm other ways to advertise."
I walked to the whiteboard that was a few steps away from my desk before writing down what we would be doing.
"After that, we'll have lunch," I said and people laughed. "Then we have a meeting with our board directors to discuss new technology that will be coming into the business in the next few weeks. I want you all to have your presentations ready with your ideas."
There were words of agreement before they got to work, printing documents and pulling out files from the cabinet.
Every few minutes, a new file or document would be placed on my desk.