C - Suite

26 | Mistletoe

NYLA SCOWLED AT the wind while tugging her scarf tighter to her throat. If there was something New York didn't joke about, it was the winters. A breeze nipped at her skin and she shivered before entering the mall.

Anthony dropped her off at the block and she had been the smart one who decided to walk the rest of the way in order to avoid traffic. Christmas music blared inside the place and delicate snowflakes and candy canes lined the walls. There were many shoppers, all hurrying to get home and out of the crowd. 

For the tenth time today, Nyla regretted the fact that she did not do her shopping earlier on. At least that way, she would have been able to avoid the herd of shoppers. The last few weeks had been particularly busy for Nyla. They were getting ready for the release of the vitamins in time for New Years Eve and she needed to approve everything.

Her and Darius went back and forth, arguing about everything from packaging to the size of the pills. It was time consuming, but a buzz was forming around the release. Just last night, Nyla finalized a list of health advocates and lifestyle bloggers that would be receiving the vitamins in advance so they could display it to their followers. It wasn't a traditional method of marketing and Darius' team had argued in favour of billboards and print advertisements.

Nyla had flat-out refused.

She'd told them that while they might be knowledgeable about drugs, the beauty industry worked in different ways. The old ways of marketing no longer applied to makeup and she slowly backed her information with numbers from Renne's internal reports.

She was exhausted and the last thing she wanted to do was to shop but she had a few gifts to buy. She'd purchased Hyeon's gift earlier on in the day, an all-inclusive trip to a resort in Hawaii, something that had been on a secretary's list for a while. Now she needed to purchase the most difficult gift—for her nephews.

Though Nyla and her sister were not on speaking terms, Nyla did send her nephews a Christmas present every year. She wasn't sure if they received it or if her sister told them who it was from, but it made her hopeful that her nephews might be playing with things she'd bought them. She didn't know what to purchase for them this year. Her eldest nephew was turning nine and the younger one was four. Looking around the mall, Nyla entered the first toy shop.

It was absolute mayhem. It seemed like every parent and child in New York City was inside the shop. It was hard to walk through the crowd, but Nyla managed to squeeze between a group of children starring at a display. She came to the section where cars lined the wall. She didn't know much about the toy vehicles; however, she selected the largest one there. That ought to keep the four-year-old happy.

She didn't know what to get the nine-year-old. She turned around and bumped into a child that was running through the aisle. He fell to the ground. Nyla panicked immediately, wondering if he would start crying.

She placed the car beside her on the floor and helped him up. "Are you okay? I'm sorry I bumped into you."

The boy looked up to her with wide eyes before brushing her arm away. "I'm fine."

He looked at the toy on the ground beside him, "Are you buying that for yourself?"

Nyla smiled in spite of herself. "No," she said softly. "It's for my nephew."

He wrinkled his nose. "Did he write it on his Christmas list?"

Nyla shook her head again, "I was trying to surprise him, but why were you asking?"

"Cars are old," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's all about video games now."

"Which video games?"