Pulse (15 page)

Sure enough, the lights of the entire floor were on. His secretary was nowhere to be found but it still felt like there was someone working. I slowly walked up to Rafael’s door, my heels echoing through the silence, and then knocked on his door.

I was holding my breath as I stood there, waiting for someone to answer. I knocked again and suddenly the door swung open.

“Alice,” he said with a look of surprise on his face. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry. Am I bothering you?”

“No, of course not. Did you need to speak to me?”

“Actually… I was working in my office and the security guard was checking on me and—”

“You were working? What are you still doing here? Your shift is already over.”

“I know. There’s a lot to go over and I figure I would do it here instead of at home. It would save me some time… Actually, I came here because I sort of needed a break…”

Rafael stared at me. I could see a bit of fatigue on his face. His beard was growing-in and his tie was loose around his neck. A smile slowly formed upon his face.

“Right,” he said as he opened the door for me. “I’m sure we could both use a break right now.”

I followed him into his office. The papers on my desk were nothing compared to the amount of work he had to deal with. The monitors off to the side were still fluctuating with different types of numbers. I almost wanted to laugh at the sight of how much work he was trying to accomplish.

“Take a seat,” he said as he pointed to the seat next to his desk. “Have you had dinner yet?”

“No, actually—”

“Good. I’ll have someone send something up. You know the catering is available all-day. You can have them bring something to your office if you ever find yourself working late again.”

“That’s… good to know.”

He winked at me as he picked up his phone. I sat there while he spoke about different kinds of food with the person on the other end of the line. Then he hung-up the phone and leaned back in his seat, letting out a sigh of relief.

“I didn’t mean to bother—”

“You’re not bothering me,” he said. “My door is always open for you. How can I expect you to learn if it isn’t?”

“…Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, Alice. Just do what I hired you to do.”

“I will.”

He smiled at me and I began to chuckle. Rafael stretched his arms forward then loosened the tie around his neck even more. His jacket was resting on his chair. Even with his suit no longer displaying the perfect lines it had in the morning, he still looked as handsome as he always did. As he ran a hand through his messy brown hair, he let out another sigh.

“You look like you’ve been working hard,” I said to him.

“I’m working,” he said. “I don’t know about hard but I’m working.”

“It’s…”

“It’s what?”

“It’s just odd to me, that’s all.”

“Why is it odd, Alice?”

“Well, you’re in charge of the company. You have people who work for you. Yet you’re the only one in the building staying late.”

“I’m not the only one,” he smiled.

“I’m different. I’m just an intern. You’re the boss. You have to—”

“I have to set an example for everyone else. That’s why I’m here working late.”

“But nobody is here to see it.”

Rafael paused then looked at me. I wasn’t sure if I said something to upset him. I couldn’t read the expression on his face like I normally could. He had a way of speaking that made me forget that he was my boss and made him seem like a colleague or friend.

“Rafael, can I ask you something?”

“You can ask me anything you want, Alice. You don’t need my permission.”

“I talked to William the other night. About you. He told me what happened to… your parents.”

I stopped to make sure that I wasn’t going to make him upset. Rafael didn’t seem to disapprove. He slowly began to nod his head and looked at the ground for a moment. Then he turned his head back up to me.

“What else did he tell you?” he asked me.

“He said what it was like after they… He said what happened to the company. Or what was going to happen, anyway. Before you saved it. He said that something changed. He said that you’re the reason Barnett Industries is still around and as successful as it is.”

“What is your question, Alice?”

“What changed?”

Rafael’s silence made me wonder if I’d crossed the line. But everything William told me that night had gotten my full attention. Now that I was sitting here right in front of Rafael, I couldn’t help but ask him the burning question.

Rafael slowly pushed himself up out of his chair then took a few steps around his desk. He sat upon the edge of his desk and crossed his arms as he looked out into the darkened sky of the city.

“One of my earliest memories is my father taking me to this building,” he started. “I remember walking through the halls with my hand in his. Everybody smiled at my father and greeted him warmly. There were so many floors that I didn’t get to all of them. It’s so vivid in my mind. All of the people and all of the places I’d seen. It was like this building never had an end to it. I even remember standing here in this office and being amazed as I looked out into the city.

“I think that’s the reason I remember it so well. My father said that one day I would be in charge of this business and this would all be mine. But I didn’t think about the people who worked for him or the money he made or even the building itself. All I thought about was how great the view was. I assumed that’s why my parents worked so hard. Because it feels so good to be up here.

“But as I got older, I started to lose my focus. I got caught up with the wrong kind of people. I was a kid who could do anything he wanted to without repercussions. I was Julian and Maria Barnett’s son. I had everything in the world and I wasn’t even twenty years old.

“I went to college and graduated. It took me a few years but it wasn’t like I was in a hurry. I didn’t need to. My parents were in perfect health and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to working in this building my entire life.”

Rafael paused for a moment to gather himself before continuing.

“…I remember when it happened. One of the board members called me. I… I thought it was a joke. I started laughing. Even when I was walking through the corridors of the hospital, I was smiling. I kept telling myself that I would wake up in my bed any moment and start laughing uncontrollably.

“Then the doctor spoke to me and began telling me that it was too late. There was nothing he could do…”

Rafael looked like he was back in the moment as he told me his story. His face was turned away from me but even from the side, I could see something building up in his eyes. His throat shifted as he swallowed then coughed to clear his throat.

“He said that they were gone. I… I started laughing. Just like I thought I would. Except I hadn’t woken-up and I wasn’t in my bed. I… I told the doctor that I wanted to see them and talk to them. I wanted to make sure that they were okay. And they kept telling me that they were gone. It… It didn’t make any sense. I just talked to them and everything was fine.”

Rafael swallowed again then cleared his throat. He sighed a deep breath.

“The last time I spoke to them was over the phone. I was supposed to meet them for dinner. I wasn’t even looking forward to it. I knew that they were just going to talk about business and they were going to bore me to death. That’s all my parents did. They talked about the company and how I would follow in their footsteps. They spoke about how I would make them proud…”

He looked away from me then put his palm against the back of his neck. I felt sorry that I’d asked him but I couldn’t tell him to stop now. I didn’t know what to say or what to think. He turned to me and I saw something in his eyes I’d never seen before. I saw him every day in his power suit looking like a man who was in control of every aspect of his life. And now he looked so vulnerable. It was the first time I’d ever seen him look like an ordinary man.

“They were proud of me,” he said as his eyes began to glaze over. “I was some punk kid who didn’t follow the rules because he knew his parents would be there to save him. They worked so hard for me. And then the next moment, they were gone.”

“…What happened after that?”

“It was just like William said. Everybody talked about breaking the company into pieces. I had more than enough money to retire for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. My children’s children wouldn’t have to work a day of their lives before they were even born. That was what everybody wanted to do. I couldn’t really argue with them. What’s some 26-year-old kid going to do with a multi-billion dollar company except run it into the ground?

“But I refused. I remembered what my parents said to me. I remembered how hard they worked. I remembered how they said they would give this all to me. I remembered this view, when I was a child.”

Rafael turned back toward the window then sighed.

“This. All of this. It reminds me of them. And I know that they’re still with me. So when you say that there’s nobody here to see me working so hard… You’re wrong. There is somebody. The only people that matter.”

His gaze dropped down toward the ground. Just as quickly as he was lost in his memory, he had composed himself. He chuckled softly then began to shake his head.

“I… I didn’t mean to bore you,” he said. “I just wanted to try and help you understand.”

“I do. I know what it’s like. I haven’t gone through what you did but… I understand.”

“Other people. That’s the only reason anything gets done.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “There isn’t a better reason.”

“Where is that food already?”

He pushed himself off of his desk and the smile returned to his face. I wasn’t expecting him to speak to me with this kind of honesty but I was glad he did. I couldn’t look at him the same way any longer. Just when I thought I was able to control my emotions, I found myself falling for him even more.

Before the conversation could get any more serious, someone arrived with the food he had ordered. They brought a table and set it up just to the side in his spacious office. I sat there and had dinner with him, the conversation thankfully much lighter than it was before. I was too distracted by the deliciousness of the food to think about everything he just said to me.

“This is really good,” I said. “I might just move-in here and work all day.”

“You can do that if you want,” he said. “Is where you live really that bad?”

“It’s not bad. But it’s not this, I can tell you that much.”

“Well, I’ll have someone set a room up for you. Sleeping on a desk or in a chair isn’t very comfortable.”

He winked at me and I smiled back at him. I enjoyed all of the food he ordered and completely forgot that I was here for work. At the end of our meal, I stood up from the table and felt embarrassingly stuffed.

“So, I’ll see you here tomorrow night?” he asked me.

“What?”

“You’re not getting through all of those files in one night. I assume you’ll be staying late.”

“I…”

He smirked at me and I began to chuckle.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I’ll be here late tomorrow night, I suppose. Only because my cruel boss ordered me to be here.”

“Good. Now get back to work. Those papers aren’t going to read themselves.”

“Yes, sir.”

I sarcastically saluted him then made my way out of his office. I turned back to look at him one last time to see him quickly back to work at his desk. I stared at him for a moment to see if his attention would waver but it didn’t. Now that I understood why he was so focused, I could believe it more easily. I stepped out of his office and made my way back toward mine. It was going to be a long night but now it didn’t feel like as much of a chore as it used to.

Chapter 17

The work in front of me was endless. When I arrived to work every morning, I sat in on the meetings and listened to the latest offerings from all of the board members. After that, I would spend the rest of the day stuck inside of my office. I couldn’t complain. This was what I wanted to do. Any college graduate would have killed for this opportunity.

But what made my job more enjoyable at this time was because of my boss. It wasn’t just because Rafael was so attractive or charming or hard-working. He was all of that and more. He was encouraging. I didn’t feel any pressure from him. In fact, the only pressure I felt was what I put upon myself.

I spent the week working late into the night. It became a routine to stop by Rafael’s office every night for dinner. It was an unofficial ceremony that I had grown accustomed to. I was so used to it that I didn’t bother knocking. When I made my way into his office every night, he would stop everything he was doing and enjoy a meal with me. While we had dinner, we talked about business or the food itself. The conversation never spilled into something more personal. I figured that if he felt like telling me something more about himself, he would do it out of his own desire.

The tension between us was obvious but Rafael ignored it. I thought that maybe I was looking at him the wrong way. Over and over, I had to remind myself that he was my boss and I was just his employee.

It was no use though. I had grown so used to his company that I lost myself. I was falling for him. And even though he refused to acknowledge it, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I wouldn’t be able to hold my tongue.

It was the end of the workweek. I made my way back into my boss’s office late that night. There was already a table set-up with several plates of food already waiting.

“Don’t wait for me,” he said as he continued to scribble something down on a piece of paper. “I’ll be there in a moment… just let me do something here…”

I took a seat at the table while Rafael finished writing down whatever it was he was working on. A few moments later, he got up from his desk and made his way over to me.

He looked exhausted. Over the course of the week, I had seen him steadily turn into a man who was overworked. He had a faint beard growing on his face and his hair was disheveled. Even his suit didn’t seem to fit on him the way it usually did. But it didn’t make me think any less of him.