C - Suite

05 | Lunch

NYLA STEPPED INTO the unfamiliar room before she was greeted by a hostess.

"I'm afraid we are quite booked right now." She said in a way of greeting.

Nyla smiled tightly. She was used to people in certain establishments assuming that she didn't have money based on her skin colour. If only they knew.

"I have a meeting with Mr. Giordano."

The hostess looked down at the computer in front of her before profusely apologizing. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Giordano didn't give us an image of who his guest would be."

Nyla didn't reply but she found it hilarious that the hostess was putting the blame on Darius instead of admitting her mistake.

"If you could lead me to the table...?"

The hostess blushed. "I'm sorry, I'll lead you right now."

Nyla followed her through the brightly lit room and she couldn't help herself from staring around. There were many men and women dressed in suits and dresses, so she was sure this was a popular place for lunch meetings. Even thought Nyla went on her fair share of meetings, she let her clients choose the locations rather than forcing something down their throat. Although this meeting was quite different from the rest. After her meeting with George, Hyeon had told her she needed to be at Petra's Bar and Grill for lunchtime.

She was ushered towards the end of the room where she saw Darius seated with a newspaper in his hands. He was wearing thick black framed glasses that surprisingly went well with his charcoal grey suit. In fact, the glasses made him look more handsome—and smarter too. A crimson tie finished the look and was knotted sophisticatedly at the base of his throat.

He didn't look up as she sat down in the seat, but he did speak in a gravel tone. "You're late."

She placed her black Michael Kors bag to the side. "I had another meeting that ran longer than it was supposed to."

"I hope that isn't how you treat all your guest, if so, you'll be out of business in record time."

"Not all, just you." Nyla said with sickening sweetness.

Darius still didn't look up from his newspaper and the two of them sat in silence until Nyla couldn't hold it anymore. "Could you please put down the newspaper? It's extremely rude."

Darius slowly put down the times paper he was holding. "Oh, I was just wasting your time because clearly, you don't care for my time."

"Oh, for goodness sakes," Nyla snapped. "If you're going to be that petty, I'm going to leave right now, and you can plan this event by yourself."

She snatched the paper from the table and folded it neatly beside her purse—although she wanted to crumple it and throw it at his face.

"What were you looking at?"

Darius shrugged his shoulder. "The stock market, other news, celebrity gossip..."

Nyla didn't know if he was being serious. "You read gossip magazines?"

"How else would I keep track of where I've been? After all, someone who's one of New York's richest man needs to feed his ego." He said the words lightly, but it was enough to drive the point across to Nyla who sighed.

"Did I ever apologize for my rudeness on the night of the gala?"

Darius looked thoughtful. "Hmm, no you didn't but I will accept any apology that's given by the great Nyla Malhotra."