Chapter 2: A New Friend & Rejection

Arielle took the elevator all the way down to the thirtieth floor which is where the second cafeteria was.

You'd think for such a large building, they'd just invest in vending machines, she thought to herself.

The short journey did help soothe her nerves though. Alexander was a powerful man who practically held the business world in the palm of his hand.

She hoped to have made a good first impression. She saved money to buy proper business clothes, but it was rather difficult. All of the clothing stores that she had access to only sold clothes that she wasn't comfortable wearing. They were too tight or too short and showed too much skin. Yet once she happened upon the long pleated skirt at her local thrift shop, she was excited.

She found a variety of second-hand clothing there that were both professional in appearance and helped her in following her convictions.

She scanned the crowd around her. There was an array of people, all of which wore noticeably expensive suits as they walked through the large cafeteria. It was an interesting sight as the cafe resembled one from a high school but with a touch of wealth to it.

With her wallet in hand, Arielle walked up to one of the side vendors that stood in front of the myriad of coffee machines. It was a young man with ginger hair and light green eyes. Freckles adorned the center of his face before disappearing towards each cheek.

Said young man stared down at his phone bored with his surroundings. Arielle stood there for a few short moments, but when he didn't notice her arrival, she cleared her throat. The young man nearly vaulted in shock. He looked up quickly but said nothing for a few seconds. Arielle stood there awkwardly, ready to apologize before he threw up his right hand to extend toward her, but instead, it pushed again an open syrup bottle, causing it to begin falling.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Arielle exclaimed. She reached out her hands helplessly as it fell further than she could catch it.

"I-It's okay." He stuttered. His eyes were wide as he stared at the woman in front of him. He fumbled his hands before sticking one out towards her.

"The name's Jeremy." He said. Arielle gave him a gentle smile before taking his hand for a friendly shake.

"Hi, Jeremy. My name's Arielle." Her eyes fell to the ground again where the syrup bottle lay, thankfully, very little syrup poured out. The bottle was nearly empty.

"Haven't seen you around here before," he chuckled nervously. "Are you new?"

"Uh-" she began, eyes still glued to the bottle on the ground. Jeremy's eyes followed hers and widened. He scooped it up haphazardly, causing more to fall out. Grabbing a few wipes from the counter, he plopped them on the ground and looked back up at Arielle."

"It'll soak up, no worries," Jeremy assured her. Arielle nodded.

"Okay. Sorry again. I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, no. You're okay. I shouldn't have been on my phone now anyway. But you're new here, right?" He asked once more.

"Yes," Arielle replied nodding. "It's my first day actually," she beamed. "I'm just here to pick up two cups of coffee. Mine will be a caramel frozen cold brew and- hm..." Arielle racked her brain to think of Mr. Marquee's order when she realized that he had not given her his order.

In the meanwhile, Jeremy was attempting to collect his heart back into his chest. Her bright smile made it beat erratically. He felt silly for reacting so sloppily, but he was taken aback by her appearance. She wasn't dressed like the rest of the people here. Something about her ensemble screamed elegance instead of NYC business. It made her appear beautifully feminine. Her eyes were striking. They were dark brown and almond shaped and her lashes shot up tall, only drawing attention to them further.

Jeremy began to make her cold brew as Arielle took in his appearance. Jeremy was a tall man. He stood a little taller than the majority of the men in the cafeteria. His stature caused him to appear more intimidating than he was. Yet his soft green eyes told another story.

"Well, welcome to AMI. You surely are dressed to impress. Do you work in accounting or as a secretary?" Jeremy inquired.

"I'm actually an intern." She spoke proudly. He nodded casually. Many interns walked in and out of their building daily. It was nice to have another one around, but sadly most got bored shadowing the accountants and software developers. The building had a diverse set of careers and even with that, many couldn't handle the boring routine.

"That's cool," he said. "What career path are you pursuing?"

"Overall business. I love the details that come with it. Thinking of various strategies and learning better ways to invest." She paused as a blush rose to her cheeks. "I wish that I had strategized better before coming down here. I don't even know what he wants as his drink." Jeremy chuckled at her.

"Who? Maybe I'll know if it's a common customer." He grinned.

"Alexander Marquee. Here actually, I have his cafe card." She handed it over to Jeremy. Jeremy's jaw was practically on the ground.

"You're Alexander Marquee's intern?" He questioned incredulously.

"Yes!" She cheered. The feeling of accomplishment was etched on her face. The long days of studying, prayer, and her mom's hard work and encouragement, brought her to where she stood and she felt so much joy because of it.

Jeremy began prepping Alexander's coffee just the way he liked it. It was hard not to know his favorite selection since he drank coffee like water and constantly had someone fetching him a cup. Jeremy rubbed his head. She had to be incredibly smart and good with her work if she was taken on by the CEO, he thought.

He handed both cups of coffee to Arielle and she took them with the same smile on her face.

"Thank you very much, kind sir." Her smile met her eyes. It was a simple thank you, but he felt the blood rushing to his face and nodded awkwardly with a smile of his own. As she began to walk away, he called out to her.

"Arielle!" She turned back around to face him. "How did you do it?" He asked genuinely. She smiled and thought over her words.

"I worked hard and so did my mom." She began and her smile stretched further. "And we prayed even harder." With that, she gave him a partial wave with one of her occupied hands and turned back towards the exit of the cafeteria.

She would make a prayerful man out of him.

Arielle remained mostly oblivious to her effect on the two men that she met that day. Some of her lack of notice was unintentional while some of it was purposely done. She was there to work, not to start a relationship. And she had decided years ago, that if God had a man for her, she trusted He would lead the way on that. Yet until then, she had her mind on one thing and that was clearing her mother's debts and giving her an early retirement. She would work just as hard as her mom had worked for her.

Arielle made it back to floor 107. She smiled over at Susan as she walked past her desk. She knocked her elbow against the large wooden door to alert Alexander that she was there. "Come in!" He yelled.

Arielle walked in with both coffee mugs and a large smile plastered on her face. The smile dropped slightly when she saw that he wasn't alone. A tall blond woman stood at the edge of his desk and they appeared to be conversing.

"Oh," Arielle spoke quietly. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

Arielle walked forward and placed his coffee on the other side of his desk. She gave the mysterious woman as much space as she could. She could feel her gaze studying her smaller frame.

Alexander noticed the awkward silence taking place and cleared his throat. "No need to apologize, Arielle." He turned towards the tall lady. "Meghan, this is my new intern, Arielle. Arielle, Meghan." He gestured between the two. Arielle smiled at Alexander and appreciated his attempt to adjust the atmosphere. Her gaze switched over to Meghan whom she also smiled at. Arielle could detect the slight frown on her face that accompanied a strong glare geared towards her.

Meghan looked Arielle up and down. She felt an uneasy emotion building up within her. She was sure that it was envy. She hated to admit it, but this new intern was quite beautiful. She didn't even wear the proper pencil skirt like Meghan herself had been wearing. Yet she looked like a model, fresh-faced and all. The blond self-consciously tugged at her skirt. Meghan didn't mind wearing more form-fitting outfits, but Arielle's loose silk skirt made her look so elegant and it made Meghan seethe.

Who did she think she was, she thought angrily.

Alexander noticed the odd exchange and said nothing of it.

"I'll be going now," Meghan said. Her tone was flirtatious as she held long eye contact with Alexander. Arielle watched as Meghan sauntered away. The way she walked seemed forced and it was a poor attempt at seduction. It made Arielle feel uncomfortable so she withdrew her eyes quickly, refusing to entertain it.

Alexander's eyes studied the curly-haired beauty. She was calm even though Meghan tried to intimidate her. Meghan tried that with every woman who spoke with Alexander. She was once his secretary, but her unhealthy obsession with him got her moved to a different department within the building. Yet she always found her way back to his office with another excuse, another idea, and another attempt to ask him out.

"I'm sorry about her," Alexander said. He studied her face for a reaction. Any reaction, but there was none.

"That's alright." She smiled. She sat down across from him and folded her hands over her lap. "So you wanted me to shadow you?" She asked.

"Yes, yes. Grab that folded over there." He said while pointing towards a blue folder on the tall mahogany shelf across the room. I nodded and quickly retrieved it and brought it back to him.

"Here it is Mr. Marquee." She set the folder on his desk and he shuffled through it with a sigh.

" I did say that you can call me Alexander." He reminded her.

Arielle knew that, but she didn't know if that was appropriate since he was her boss and he held such a high position within the company. He was the CEO, she thought to herself.

"Is that appropriate?" She asked genuinely. His eyes lifted to meet hers. He pushed down the feelings he felt from looking at her.

"Only if I request you to. Which I have." He responded stoically.

"Oh, yes. That is my bad." She didn't want to get on his bad side already. This job was important. He simply nodded in approval and brought his attention back to the folder. He began pulling out different sheets of paper and explaining what each one was and how it was valued by the business. Many of these sheets were from the Research and Development department. She sat there feeling exceptionally intrigued by the depth of knowledge that he had. Time seemed to fly as they sat in his large office.

Today was the only day when his schedule was open enough to have such in-depth training with Arielle. Tomorrow, his schedule will be completely booked. They sat there for hours and the bright blue sky noticeably transitioned from light blue to a midnight indigo. Arielle could hear the constant dinging from the elevator as people left for the day. She allowed Alexander to finish his last statement before getting up and reaching for her briefcase.

Alexander found her small briefcase to be adorable. It wasn't black or brown like the ones he would commonly see and even own. It was an ivory color just like her skirt and it glimmered in the light. She had good taste, he thought.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" Alexander inquired. He leaned over his desk and watched her carefully. It wasn't always so easy to read her unless she let him. She seemed to have a great deal of control over her emotions.

"Why?" Arielle asked. Her curiosity peaked, yet she realized how rude that had come across. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm not doing anything after work besides commuting home. It's a long journey."

"Oh?" He replied. He was tempted to cancel a meeting early and compensate her for the time lost just to get a meal with her, but he had a feeling she would not be likely to take him up on that offer.

"Yes, I live just outside of NYC with my mother at the moment." Arielle's commute was about an hour and a half when things worked smoothly, but sometimes it could be as long as two hours.

"So I supposed dinner would not be possible?" He asked sheepishly. Alexander felt annoyed with himself. Things were usually not this difficult for him. He felt shy and he didn't want to push her. Everything about her was natural and beautiful and so pushing an unwanted invitation was not his goal. He could only hope that it was wanted.

"Dinner?" She sputtered out. That took her off guard. The Alexander Marquee wanted to have dinner with me. That's absurd! She thought.

"Yes, dinner." His gaze was cool, calm, and collected. The exact opposite of how he felt. His palms were sweaty, his throat felt tight, and his stomach felt as though a thousand butterflies were flapping within it. Yet, Arielle didn't notice any of this.

"I don't think that would be wise, sir. My apologies." She said after seconds of contemplation.

"Why is that?" His faux confidence was beginning to fade, but he tried to keep it up so that she wouldn't know how nervous he felt.

"Well, I'm your employee. I'm sorry. I'll have to respectfully decline. Thank you." Arielle said with a small smile. "Get home safe, Mr. Marquee."

She turned around and headed for the door. Alexander stared in shock as the only woman who had captured his undivided attention with such little effort on her part had walked away so casually from his invitation. He had always gotten what he wanted. No woman had ever said no to him. He never truly had to chase after one. Except for Arielle and that only made him want her more.