"Lower, Vincent."
"This is as low as I can go." He growled, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.
Imani rolled her eyes as she watched the man on her computer monitor. He was shirtless, dark stubble surrounding the mouth that was pulled into a tight frown. He was in a squatting position trying to lower his body.
"I know you can go lower. Come on, just down to the arm of the chair beside you." She spoke, at the same time writing something down on a post-it note and sticking it on the phone.
She was enjoying being back at work. She had something to do and could keep herself well occupied. Imani's desk was already filled with tasks to complete before lunch. Before she would return to helping out Vincent.
One of the people who worked on the floor below whizzed past her, headed for Vincent's office. "Er, he's not available, honey. What can I help you with?"
The pale and scrawny girl looked exasperated. "There's a major problem with the finance statement from the new Glisten lipgloss ad. It's not adding up... at all!" She rambled, her face reddening and fingers shaking.
"Sweetheart, what's your name?"
The girl started biting her lip furiously. "Gemma."
"Alright, Gemma, here's what I want you to do-."
"Is that Mr Pellegrino?!" Gemma said, noticing what was on her screen. Immediately she blushed at the sight of her CEO with his bare chest on display. "Oh God. Uh, sir? Sir, Mr Pellegrino?"
Vincent stopped what he was trying to do and brought himself closer to the screen. "Yes?" He barked, still agitated at Imani's persistance that he could go lower.
"W-w-we have a slight problem." She went on to explain the problem, stuttering and hesitating her way through it. Nervously, she fiddled with strands of her blonde hair inbetween her fingers. Her lack of confidence was beginning to annoy Vincent.
"Gemma! Have you asked him?"
Another voice joined Imani's desk and she recognised it as one of the snooty workers on the floor below her. Bumping Imani out of the way and placing herself in front of the monitor, she tried to look at what Gemma was directing her words to. "Ah, Vincent-." He cleared his throat. "Sir." She corrected, giving him a toothy grin and flicking her red hair back.
Imani watched as the woman swallowed after her eyes took in his body. "Has Gemma informed you of the current situation?" She continued.
Vincent folded his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow. "Where is Imani?"
"Who?" The stuck up woman said, turning up her nose.
Irritated, Imani coughed and raised her hand. "That would be me."
"Imani, turn the screen towards you." She did as he was told and saw Gemma looking shakily between her colleague and her boss' assistant. "I want you to handle this situation. I trust that you know what has gone wrong and can get to the bottom of it?"
"Aye aye captain." Imani joked, cracking a smile.
Lifting a manicured finger, the woman looked perplexed. "Hold on a minute, what does she know? She's your assistant. I'm not trying to go against you or anything, sir but is she really the right choice?"
"What's your name?"
The woman looked hurt. "Regina Roberts."
"Do you like your job here?" She nodded furiously. "Then I advise that you do what I say and seek Imani's help."
She spared a glance towards Imani who was trying to hide her smirk but failing miserably. Gemma was scared that there would be a big scene once the monitor was turned around so she was panicking.
"Is that all?" Vincent asked and Regina nodded. "Imani I'll see you when you get back." The Skype call ended and an air of awkwardness filled the room. Imani was stood in place, hands joined in front of her, a smug expression painted on her face whilst Regina looked as if she was about to burst out in anger.
"So..." Imani began, smoothing down her slim black trousers with a mischievous grin on her face. "I see that you need my help?"
"I want to choke her."
Vincent lifted his head from the screen of his phone as Imani paced in front of him, his gaze only reaching her lower half as her swaying behind had him in a trance. "I thought you were bad," He immediately looked up at her at the comment. "But her? Good God, I had to literally pinch myself so that I wouldn't slap her across that face of hers."
Tired and getting nauseous from her pacing, Vincent reached for her hand and pulled her down into the seat beside him. "You were making me dizzy. Continue."
"Why was she hired? I don't even understand! Poor old Gemma does the majority of her work. She's the one crunching the numbers, sorting everything out and she's not getting paid enough whilst Miss Condescending gets all that money for sitting on her saggy ass and yelling at Gemma to go and get her some more coffee." She exclaimed, folding her arms and sinking down in her seat. "With her long ass neck making her look like a giraffe." She grumbled, making Vincent crack up laughing beside her. Confused at the outburst, she raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"
"How old are you?"
Imani sucked her teeth, knowing where he was going with his question. "I'm not being childish. She just really got on my nerves. She needed my help and she was being so rude and snooty."
"Did you sort it out in the end?"
"Of course I did. It only took 30 minutes." Vincent made a slight sound of approval. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you - what happened to Stanley? The mail guy? He was so sweet, I missed having him at work today."
He tensed beside her. "I fired him."
She frowned. "Why? I thought you weren't cutting employees until-."
He raised a hand to stop her talking and she grit her teeth at the action. Shrugging nonchalantly, he continued to browse through the phone that was in his hands. "He had to go."
"That's not exactly fair, Vincent."
"Life isn't fair, sweetheart, that's just the way it works."
Astounded at the lack of emotion he was showing, her jaw dropped - forming a slight 'o'. When he saw her face, he flashed a quick smile before returning to his phone. Just as she was about to reply with an insult aimed towards him, the nurse approached them both.
"The doctor will see you now." She said sweetly. Imani helped Vincent up to his feet, handing him his crutches and walking behind him towards his examination room.
Once seated, the doctor shook their hands, smiling politely at them. With him still looking through the device in his hands, Imani snatched it out of his hands and placed it in her purse. Vincent turned his head towards her and slowly removed his sunglasses that were framing his face. Without hesitation, she took those out of his hands as well, putting it where his iPhone had gone.
"What exactly are you doing, Imani?" He asked. "Hand me my items."
"You don't need them right now. You're inside, in a shaded area - you don't need glasses and this damn phone of yours is getting on my nerves." Imani answered, not scared to answer back to him.
He extended his hand in her direction, not even bothering to say anything. Instead, she gave him a high five and turned towards the doctor, who was staring at the two in amusement. "Imani..." Vincent extended his hand again and when she didn't respond, he reached for bag. With her quick reflexes, she grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers, keeping their locked hands in his lap so that he wouldn't try to retrieve his items again.
The action quietened him almost immediately.
"Are you two done?" Imani nodded, ignoring Vincent's narrowed eyes that were being aimed towards her.
As the doctor, Dr Phillips, delved into a conversation with Vincent on how he was getting on, Imani's focus zoned in on their hands. Why had she held his hand? Did the action hold implications? What if he got the wrong message? Was the message really that wrong though?
With her brain flying with questions, she didn't even notice that she was still holding onto his hand tightly. She didn't want to loosen her hold too quickly - in case he thought she was repulsed by him or something. Which was the furthest thing from the truth.
So she waited for a few moments.
Waited until Dr Phillips brought out a few X-rays for Vincent to see. She gently tried to retract her hand from his but her plan was foiled when he squeezed her hand lightly and kept their fingers joined.
Not to say that she wasn't enjoying holding his hand but she didn't want it bringing up any sort of blushing or butterflies in her stomach. If that happened, it would only further confirm what she had feared was happening - she was really starting to feel something for her boss. And not just a sexual, 'he's-so-hot-I-want-him-now' feeling but an 'I-can-see-myself-falling-for-him' feeling. Imani never got butterflies. Over anybody. Not even Luke Senior the first time she had seen him.
That 'I-can-see-myself-falling-for-him' feeling was not what she wanted. Nor what she needed.
She would sooner act on the sexual feeling than the infuriating second one.
To Imani, it would be much easier to have her fun with Vincent, act on her sexual frustration and be done with it than to deal with the rollercoaster ride that falling in love brought along. Everytime the second feeling came, she would have to remind herself of how much of an asshole he was, although he seemed to remind her at several opportunities when he opened his mouth.
"You can change into this just so we can get to the area better. Let me step out whilst you get dressed." Dr Phillips said, leaving the room.
Vincent let go of her hand and stood. "Are you staying in the room or...?"
Shooting up, she shook her head. "Whilst you get dressed? Nuh-uh. You can find me outside."
He couldn't help but laugh at how frantic she seemed to be all of a sudden. "It's not as if you haven't seen it all, Imani."
The way he threw that sentence out there, the way the smirk played on his lips made Imani want to run for the hills. "Just call me when everything is done." She managed to say before racing out of the room.
As soon as the door shut, she fanned herself, suddenly feeling warmer than she had before.
"I need a drink." She whispered to herself, following the signs that led to the cafeteria.
When she stepped into the cafeteria, she headed straight for the vending machine, deciding to get a snack as well as her drink. She stood behind a woman who was hooked up to an IV, leaning on it as she patiently waited for her snack.
She had a gorgeous green and brown paisely scarf wrapped around her head, a mint green robe covering her thin frame.
In frustration, the woman pressed the button numerous times, cursing colourfully as nothing happened. Imani stepped beside her, a smile on her face. "Here, let me. I know how these things work." Gliding her hand down the side of the machine, she smacked it twice whilst holding on to the button and her little trick worked. The lady was about to bend down to get her candy bar but Imani retrieved it for her instead.
"Thank you, honey."
"No problem. You've got great taste in chocolate." She joked, before getting the same snack that the lady had.
Instead of walking away, the woman in the green robe waited for Imani. "It's been my favourite for as long as I can remember. I'm Lily-Ann, it's nice to meet you."
"Imani, nice to meet you too."
"Imani..." Her eyes narrowed as if in thought. "You wouldn't happen to be Imani Forde would you?"
In complete surprise, she nodded slowly. "How do you-."
"You work for my Vincent! He's my son!"
So this was the famous Lily-Ann. The only person that had a space in Vincent's heart. She opened up her arms and dragged Imani into a surprisingly tight hug. Tighter than what Imani would expect with how thin she was. Pulling back, she couldn't keep the smile off her face. "Come, sit, sit. You haven't got anywhere to be have you?"
"I'm here with Vincent for his check up but I don't have to be back in there for a while." She replied, sitting down opposite Lily-Ann on one of the tables.
"Oh, I have been wanting to meet you for the longest amount of time! I've heard so much about you."
Imani raised an eyebrow. "All good things, I hope." She said, laughing nervously. "Knowing Vincent, it probably wasn't."
Lily-Ann waved her off, much like Vincent did when she said something silly. Staring at her, she could see now where he got those amazing cocoa coloured eyes from. They were so dark, they immediately caught your attention. They had the same pouty, plump lips and the same wide grin.
"To be honest, my son never has anything nice to say about anyone." Imani nodded vehemently, completely agreeing with her statement. "But I have never seen him get so worked up over one person. When he speaks of you, although he may be angry, a lot of energy goes into him getting that angry." She threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was infectious and Imani giggled along with her. "Any person that Vincent has to keep talking about day in, day out when I see him is most definitely worth meeting."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Do! I'm not sure if you've noticed but Vincent doesn't exactly like people." Again, Imani nodded. "So for anyone to have the power to make him keep discussing them - that, that is someone special." She blushed at her comment, picking at the bottle of water she had bought before sitting down. "I can see now why. You're a beautiful girl."
"Thank you." She felt completely comfortable with the woman in front of her, she had a warm and inviting aura to her - the complete opposite to her son. "Can I ask you something?" Lily-Ann nodded in response. "What was Vincent like as a kid?"
Her smile widened as she heard the question. "Oh God, I miss talking about this. Let me tell you that Vincent hasn't always been the way he is. Hard to believe yes, but once upon a time, my boy was a sweet and caring boy who was polite to everyone he met."
Imani looked at her in disbelief. "Vincent? Are you sure you're talking about Vincent? Vincent Pellegrino? The guy who doesn't even remember people's names if he deems them 'unimportant'?"
Lily-Ann's laughter pierced the air. "Uh-huh. When he was growing up, he didn't take anything without a please and a thank you. When there were guests he would be out there making people laugh and talking to them, showing them his art - everything!"
"His art?" Imani inquired, although she had a slight idea of what she meant.
"Of course - you don't know. It's extremely saddening how he doesn't show his work - Vincent is so talented and yet he chooses to keep his work hidden and away from others." Lily-Ann answered, a slight sadness taking over her voice. "He used to show me everything he did. From the little sketches on a random piece of scrap paper to the big pieces he would've spent weeks and weeks on. Every single one of them were stunning."
Imani thought about the previous night when she had seen him with the paintbrushes. "Well, I'm pretty sure that he still does paint."
"No, I know he still paints and sketches but I also know that he doesn't show anybody that work. I'm sure everyone would love it... I'm sure you would love it."
Stumped as to how to reply, Imani stayed quiet. All the talk made her want to see his work even more. Was he really that good?
Almost an hour later, Lily-Ann and Imani were walking down the hallway having talked non-stop since they met.
"Vincent was telling me that your health is getting worse but-." She looked her up and down. "You seem like you're doing really well to me!"
Again, Lily-Ann waved her off. "Oh, that's just today, honey. There are good days and then there are bad days. Today is a really good day."
"Ma." Vincent stood up from his seat in the waiting room after spotting them and rushed to his mother's side. "How long have you been standing? Have you eaten?"
Lily-Ann sighed and looked at Imani. "Not long, Imani and I ate whilst we sat and chatted. We only stood up because I needed to stretch my legs. Vincent why didn't you tell me that she was into the finance sector - I could've met her earlier and talked to it with her. God knows you don't know much about that side of the industry." She mumbled, giggling at her own joke.
Vincent didn't even crack a smile.
"What were you doing with her?" Realising that he was asking her that question, Imani turned to Vincent.
"Uh... Talking? I thought it was kind of obvious."
"Did you go and look for her? I don't remember telling you where she was. Did you go out and look for my mother? Did you even consider the fact that she is weak? She can't be standing for long periods of time! Are you so completely dense that you didn't even think to take her back to her room where she's safe?!" He blasted her, making her feel smaller and smaller with every question.
"Vincent." Lily-Ann said, trying to diffuse the situation but he had been set off.
His aggression was full force, his rage completely visible on his face. "Did you even think for a second that you were putting her in danger? Clearly not. You know what - go home."
"Vincent!" Lily-Ann exclaimed again but her plea fell upon deaf ears.
"NOW!"
She flinched as he yelled, all attention drawn towards them. Before she could leave, Lily-Ann pulled her into a hug. "Please come back and visit - it gets lonely sometimes." She whispered into her ear so that Vincent couldn't hear her. Pulling away, she watched as Imani left the hospital without saying another word.
When she was left alone with her son, she shook her head in disappointment. "She was only keeping me company."
"Ma, do you understand that you cannot be standing and walking around for long periods of time? You're not strong enough for that. She should have known that."
Lily-Ann continued to shake her head as he led her back towards her room. "You need to apologize to her."
"I don't need to."
"Yes you do. The next time you're here - I want to see her here with you-." Vincent opened his mouth to answer back to her and she raised her hand, silencing him instantly. "I want to see her here with you. I enjoy your company, sweetheart but I have missed having another lady to talk to."
Vincent rolled his eyes, running a hand through his signature dark locks.
"Until then - you can go home. I look forward to seeing you and Imani tomorrow, baby." Hugging him goodbye, she kissed his cheek, tapping it lightly and laughing when she saw the look of irritation on his face.