Page 22 of Interning For A Billionaire

“And, how was it?”

“His place? It was…”

“No!” I interrupt, laughing. “I mean… how was it… with him?”

She smiles softly. “It was very nice. We really had a good time. But… you know we’re not supposed to be dating. And… well, I have a boyfriend.”

“I didn’t know that.”

She nods. “His name is Yusuf. My parents love him, we’ve been going out since college. Everyone expects us to get married, but I don’t know. When Piotr and I were talking, it felt really good. There was such a spark between us!”

There was so much excitement in her voice.

“Could you end things with Yusuf?”

Her face clouded over. “No, that is not an option.”

“And… Piotr?”

She shrugged. “I will have to forget about him.”

We went back to the office, and I thought how difficult it was to control one’s feelings. Not to mention, your thoughts. I had been thinking about Naked Guy ever since the comedy night, not talking about it with anyone, not even Ty, whom I saw regularly. I had a habit of dropping by his place after work. He often asked me about my love life and when Sven was coming to visit me. He knew I kept putting him off, pretending that I was working almost every second of the day.

“I am beginning to get the feeling you don’t want me to come to see you,” Sven said one evening during a phone conversation. He sounded hurt.

“No, no!” I protested, feeling guilty. “It’s not that at all!” I lied.

“I just don’t want you to get here and then I have to work all the time!”

“But… I don’t get it… you work in HR, surely there is nothing for you to do over weekends?”

“Well, I’m setting up the therapy space for Feelgood Fridays,” I said. “I have to get the massage chairs ready, set up the partitions, make sure everyone has headphones with relaxing music. This is going to be my initiative. It’s a pretty big deal!”

“I know,” he said, grumpily.

The following week, I spent every day getting the extra boardroom ready. We put up partitions between chairs and Samira and I tested each chair and the headphones to make sure everything worked. Then we closed the blinds, lit candles and watched the room change. I had brought in some plants and wicker baskets for a natural feel, and it really did feel therapeutic.

Josie was our first client, and I took her to the chair, explained the routine to her. After fifteen minutes, she emerged with shiny eyes. “Wow!” she said, “That felt really amazing! Can I go again?”

It was the one thing everyone asked. But we were fully booked the first day. As soon as one person left, another arrived. Everyone loved the chair and commented on what a great idea it was.

As the afternoon wore on, people seemed even more loathe to leave. They wanted to extend their session and relax more. “It’s been such a rough week,” one guy said. “I fell asleep in there, I swear!”

I realized that people were even more stressed than I’d thought.

After the last client of the day was done, it was my job to tidy up the room. I started by opening the blinds and blowing out the candles.

I heard the door open behind me.

“Do you have time for one more?”

I turned around and saw Michael Greer in the door.

“I didn’t book a spot, because I saw how quickly the appointments filled up! But I would love to try out one of these chairs,” he said.

“Of course,” I said, because how was I going to say no to the boss?

I was exhausted from taking people in and out all day, adjusting chairs and fiddling with equipment but I put a clean towel on one of the chairs, and explained which buttons he should press. Then I turned down the lights and left him.

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