C - Suite

27 | Cufflinks

Ms. Malhotra,

Olivia Berkley will be arriving at your office at 8:30 am on Friday morning per our earlier agreement.

Kind Regards,

Darius Giordano

NYLA READ THE email for the third time and scowled at the message. He could shove his regards right up his ass. It was completely obvious now that Darius was ignoring her. He hadn't called, nor visited her ever since they kissed under the mistletoe at the Christmas party.

Any communication between them was formal and through email. She thought for a moment that Olivia might have sent the email, but it was from his personal account, not the company one.

She was frustrated.

So, they'd kissed, and it had been a good, but that didn't mean that Darius had to ignore her. He was acting like a third grader and it was annoying. She'd seen him once in her yoga class, but he'd been on the opposite side of the room and before she got a chance to speak with him, he fled the class as soon as it was over. She had half a mind to march to his condo and demand to speak with him, but she wasn't really in the habit of forcing people to spend time with her.

Her time was valuable, and if Darius didn't want to be in her presence, it was his loss. As Nyla entered her condo, she was once again taken aback at how lonely it felt. The last few months, as she'd gotten closer to Darius, she spent less time at her own condo. She worked late at the office and more than once, Darius would join her, or she would go visit him. They would eat and work before heading their separate ways. She'd also attended various benefits and galas hosted by the Upper Elite New York Society with Darius and she grew to enjoy them. Darius would always make her laugh and if the conversation in the room got boring, they would turn to each other, ignoring the rest of the world.

Gently taking off her heels, Nyla dropped her purse to the couch and grabbed a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from her wine cooler. She popped off the cork before grabbing a glass and pouring a good amount. She settled into her couch and began flipping through the channels, hoping to find anything good to watch to cure her boredom.

She rarely watched television shows as they got to addicting and she didn't have time to be invested. Sighing, Nyla found nothing that she could enjoy. She sipped her wine, a delicious summer taste with the acidity of lemons and fresh green grass. She frowned into her glass; she really needed a vacation. Maybe she would go during Christmas, it wasn't like she did anything in her condo anyways.

Her phone rung and she was surprised to see that it was Sona. She hadn't heard from her in quite a while.

She picked it up, "Hello."

There was a loud squeal on the other end, alarming Nyla whose wine swished but thankfully didn't fall out of the glass.

"Have you seen the shots?"

Nyla placed her wine glass on the table, "Of what?"

She could almost imagine Sona on the other side rolling her eyes. "Of the Vouge magazine cover shoot."

"It's out?"

"Yes, darling and might I say, you look splendid."

Nyla cradled the phone to her ear and walked over to the stack of unopened envelops that were placed on the coffee table by the cleaning lady. She filtered through them until she saw the magazine.

"I'm on the cover..."

"Yes! The shot it brilliant. You must hire the photographer for the children's carnival."