Him

Cuore mio - My heart

The first day on the job and Ellis was doing great, he was great at greeting people and being polite so just entering the building to applause and looking pleased and prepared to be there was a very easy task to be there.

He smiles the whole time, reads name tags as if he had already memorized the name. I followed behind him as people made way for him.

He definitely was struggling a bit being the center of attention but he was handling it well. When we made it into the elevator he let out a gasp of air tugging down his tie.
"I'm burning up in this suit." He said and I could tell by the fact that he was turning red.

"It's not hot you're just nervous, the building is always between 65-70 degrees no higher no lower. Relax take a deep breath."

He puts his head down and takes a deep breath.
"Look at me." I said sternly as his breathing began to quicken.
He lifts his head up and for a moment I'm captivated by his eyes.
I maintained eye contact with him until he started breathing better making sure to keep my distance not to make him feel even more suffocated than he already did.

"You're in charge here. There's no mistake you can make inside this building  when there are no shareholders or major investors that will affect you on the outside world you're bullet proof in here. Today it's just you and your employees."

"I'm sorry." He says before wiping his eyes and turning around.
"It's alright." I said and the truth is if I was him I would be terrified too. Having the many years I had spend with this company I know exactly how difficult it all was.

He didn't know the first thing about business and now he's being expected to lead one. I expected this.

The elevator dings and I walked out first and escorted him to his father's office.

He walks down the long hall looking at the walls adorned with paintings. I realized I'd never noticed these paintings before. I wondered if they were new.

"Wo- he really brought them." He gushed letting his finger trace gold frames.
I looked at him confused.
"He asked me what I wanted in exchange for doing this. I was just joking when I said I wanted these. They're incredibly expensive. This one alone is about 20 million dollars. Why would he do this?"

I wanted to say because it's rich and that money means nothing when you're rich but I remained silent as he admired the paintings.

"They're beautiful right?"

"Not for 20 million." I said dryingly walking away as he admired every single painting he passed by like this was the last time he was ever going to see them.

I took out the office key from my purse and opened it.
"He can't just leave them here. They're so special, they need to be shared not locked away like this."
"they're not locked away, at least 4 other employees see them on a daily basis 7 if you include the cleaning service."

"That's not enough. He should give them over to a museum. They'll take excellent care of them."
"I suppose, if he did buy them per your request you should tell him you'd like to put them in a museum."

"I don't want to be a disturbance, besides I didn't really mean for him to buy them."

"I don't know a lot about the art market but I doubt that you can just return it and get your money back." I said opening the door for him to enter.

His jaw dropped when he entered the room. I didn't know what he found so astonishing about the office.
His father had called for a couple adjustments before he left the office.
His steel desk had been replaced by a wood one, his glass walls which were often opened and free too look out off were closed by long silk curtains.