Ashley
“The Brown Luxuries,” he said and I looked at the building astonished.
The Brown… in the sense his company owns them?
“Woah. It is so beautiful” I uttered as we paused in front of a building.
He looked at me and I shut my mouth and came out of the car as he did.
“I am gonna tell you about this all today. Here carefully. You have your phone?” he said while making his way inside a building.
“I guess, sir” I replied.
“Take notes if necessary. Or better…” he went to the receptionist.
“Mr. Brown! How may I help you?” she asked politely.
“Give me a Live Scribe 3 SmartPen”
She gave him some pen and damn, it looked expensive.
“So that you don’t care about saving or writing very beautifully on your papers. Writing on the phone is damn hard. Just take this..." he took a real good paper bundle of like… 10 pages. “And write on them”
I smiled at his generosity. Even the papers look expensive.
“Um… but sir, I don’t know how to… I mean, connect” I said.
He sighed. “Give me your phone”
“Here” I gave him and he did a little work and connected them. I was taking it back when he stopped for a moment. I saw that a message came on my phone… and he probably read it.
“Uh… sir?”
“You have a boyfriend?” he questioned.
I was shocked at his straight forward question. “No sir”
He gave my phone back without another word and I shrugged. I don’t know what caused him to ask such a question. I took out my phone to check the message.
“From today, no phone during work hours, Ms. Ashley,” he said and I immediately kept it back.
How did it go from Ash to Ms. Ashley?
I didn’t say anything. I just kept on moving. He also kept on moving without telling or saying anything and it was pretty clear that suddenly after whatever message he has seen, it has affected him. And now he is not comfortable around me.
“Sir” I finally spoke up. “I can explain that message if you just let me see it”
He stopped and looked at me.
“Frankly, I don’t care about some stupid message of yours,” he said. “Ms. Ashley”
Oh really, Mr. Brown?
“Then sir why are you calling me Ms. Ashley all of a sudden?”
Yes, I am quite straight forward.
“Okay,” he sighed. “Explain”
I took out my phone. I checked the message.
“You really not free, babe?” was the message.
I opened the chat and showed him.
“He is my ex. See. I haven’t even replied to him for a long time”
He took the phone in his hands and scrolled upward. “From a year?” he raised his eyebrow.
“Yes”
“Okay,” he returned my phone. “Let’s do a tour of these,” he pointed towards the buildings.
“Yes,” I smiled and kept my phone back.
I don’t even know why it matters to him that I have a boyfriend or not.
Or maybe it was just he thought I lied to him.
“Ash,” he said and I looked at him. “We have left two buildings behind. Let’s go back”
I nodded.
Left them behind when you were just going forward calling me Ms. Ashley?
I went with him back to the very first building.
“So, this is Apartment AA or double-A” we entered it and the inside was fabulous. It was a very big hall and it all looked so royal. “This is for everyone. Public” I noticed that many people were going around.
“So, it’s a hotel?” I questioned my suspicion.
“Not a hotel, exactly,” he looked at me as he stopped. “Even if anyone can stay here, that anyone has to do something with my—I mean, our company. Either they have come from international borders to talk about a deal and have an appointment or they work here”
“Ah… okay sir” I replied as we made our way out.
We went to the next apartment.
“This is something special,” he said and we entered.
The apartment was again a huge one. As royal as it looked, it has to have the same marble extensions.
“This is for my personal assistant,” he said and I looked at him shocked.
Personal Assistant in the sense… me?
“Huh?” I asked, my face rather shocked.
“Yes, Ash. Actually…. Um, listen” he said and I nodded. “You know, everything works under me here”
“Yes sir”
“So, the thing is, you don’t have to work at the headquarters. It is not your job. You are my PA, so you have to be with me and I am gonna be way too far from the headquarters. Okay, firstly, tell me where do you live?”
Where do I live?
“Encino” I replied.
“Yeah, so you have a choice, Ash,” he said. “I live near Glendale. You can’t possibly travel from Encino to my workplace regularly. You have the choice to stay at this apartment. We are very near to my place”
“Okay, sir… I guess I will stay here. But… what’s the price?”
He looked amused for a moment and damn, I saw a smile on his face for a moment. And his smile is such a turn on!
“You are my PA, remember?”
“Yes, sir but—”
“And I own The Brown Luxuries”
“But—”
“And all these apartments and whatever you saw outside, they are collectively called as The Brown Luxuries, so stop worrying yourself”
“Ah... okay sir,” I said but dare you, I can’t believe he owns them all! I mean, HE owned them, not his company.
“This was Apartment AB, by the way,” he said and I nodded. This is a hell of a work to remember. I wrote everything down.
We went to the next apartment and so on. Everything was so expensive, I felt like a VIP myself. Then he showed me every hotel and every beauty parlor. He also owns many restaurants.
“Have you written anything?” he asked as we came out of the last restaurant after the tour.
“Yes sir, I have!” I replied.
“Good. Now one thing, Ash” I looked at him. “Don’t compromise the safety of the staff only apartments. If you ever, ever get confused about which was private and which public, ask me. And you have to learn all that I told you today”
“Okay, sir!” I nodded and he nodded back.
I just hope that I remember whatever he told me and also, I have to move in tomorrow itself.
“Move in tomorrow and I’ll show you my workplace” he sat inside his car and I sat on the passenger’s seat. I nodded.
I checked the time. Already 4 PM? I mean, seriously? Did we spend hours on this?
Well, it was worth the time.
“They were beautiful,” I finally said as he drove off.
“Tomorrow you are gonna see your cabin. I hope you’ll like it” his pace was fast and smooth.
“I know I will,” I smiled. It is a dream come true, isn’t it?