“Yes, I made a drawing, and would be happy if you can help me with the painting, I am this close to snapping and it’s only eleven am in the morning,”
“Understandable, I feel like snapping every moment of the day, it’s at the studio right?”
“Yes, please,”
Nicole responded as the young girl turned and walked out of her office, Nicole heard the studio door open and close and she focused back on the income sheet that was sent to her, it was almost a month since hotel del Cole started operating and it was doing better than most new business, what had she been expecting from a five-star hotel? Of course, it will do well, she has seen a few bloggers talk about the hotel and some of their comments and articles weren’t nice at all, some were straight-up insulting, she read one that talked about her being overly privileged to come from a wealthy family and also end up marrying a rich man who didn’t think twice of giving her his property, some talked about her marrying Rafael just to get a share of his wealth and others said she didn’t deserve everything she was getting and how she didn’t value what she had because she didn’t work for it, those words did hurt her but she didn’t let it get to her much, for one everything they were saying wasn’t true, yes she has privileges, she couldn’t deny that but she doesn’t let that stop her from working, why would she be here right now trying to understand what her Manager at the hotel sent her if she didn’t care? When she could be vacationing somewhere and won’t even notice the change in her account, she was trying so hard to be worthy of everything she owned and she didn’t need strangers behind a keyboard coming to teach her how to live.
“Good job thinking about those things right now,”
She told herself, trying her best to focus on the job at hand.
“I think I need a vacation,”
Nicole said when she and Natalie sat on the balcony that linked their rooms.
“We all need a vacation, don’t you think,”
“I don’t know about others, but I think I am going too fast,”
“Why do you say so?”
She asked.
“Well, it’s not like I run the hotel, I have managers and staff to do that but since it’s a new hotel there are some things that still need to be put in place that can’t be done without me, then there is the gallery, I haven’t finished half of the work I want to display, I mean my works, the others are moving really fast but I am taking forever as if that’s not enough today I had to redo the shoot I had last time because the PD deleted by mistake, and then someone sent me flowers with no name, too many things happening at once I can’t keep up,”
She disclosed shaking her head.
“Wow, that seems like a lot, apart from the clothing line that will be launching by next month, the only other thing I am doing is writing and that pretty much help me relax, you could really use a vacation,”
Natalie replied.
“I swear to God, I am this close to saying fuck everything and flying to Mexico or anywhere else that is not Florida,”
“God girl, go,”
“I will but still not now, I need to still put a lot of things in place,”
“Aha, what did I hear about getting flowers? It’s not even February yet,”
“I know right, I don’t even know who they are from, that’s the highlight of it,”
“Are you for real? That smells Rafael from all the way in Westbrook,”
Natalie said, using her hands to emphasize her point, she was the second person after Aron to tell her that, but she still didn’t think it was him.
“It’s not from Rafael, why does everyone think this man would send me flowers? We are not that close,”
She responded.
“Girl, yeah, right, the little one in your womb would beg to differ, not that close you say?”
“Talk your talk girl, but they are not from him, I am sure of that,”
“Alright, I am just going to go and sleep, I am sleep deprived,”
Natalie said getting up and wishing her goodnight as she left the balcony, Nicole sat there for a little longer before she turned in for the night.
The flowers kept coming in every day for the next one week, different kinds of flowers, with different cards, still with no names, her office now looks like a mini flower store, by Thursday, even she concluded it has to be from Rafael because who else would do such a thing for seven straight days, at first it didn’t look like it was from him but when it kept coming every day and it was the different varieties of flowers that she liked, it convinced her that they were from him because he was the only other person aside from her twin and Grace who knew about the different kinds of flowers she likes, she decided to call him.
“She finally called,”
That was what he said when he took her call.
“So you are the ones sending these flowers?”
“Yes, I thought you will like them,”
“I do,”
“Good, I knew you will, I am sorry I can’t talk much right now I need to be in a meeting this minute, I will call you later,”
He said and hung up on her, she waited for his call throughout Thursday, even went as far as taking her phone with her everywhere she went and checking it every minute but he didn’t call her, she got so pissed at him for making her wait for his call when he knew he wasn’t going to call her back and also at herself for waiting for his call like her life depended on it, and it got even worse when she came to work on Friday morning to meet a much bigger bouquet in her office, not just one or two but four, who sends four flowers and where did he expect her to keep them? Her office was already filled with flowers.
“That’s it, I have had enough,”
She said as she angrily took her phone and dialed his number…