The Boyfriend

Julie was deeply lost in the streets of Europe with Robert Langdon is one of those Dan Brown’s thriller novels. Her face was covered by the hardback she had just bought the day before and was already halfway through the 600 plus pages story. Her coffee cup was half empty, her croissant half-eaten, her eyes nailed to the sheets.

“Julie?!” a voice called her name which she pretended to not hear, she was three pages away from the next chapter. The source of the voice didn’t call on her again, instead, he took a seat in front of her in silence. Her eyebrows furrowed as she was finishing a few more paragraphs before she slid her book to one side and was startled at the sight of Nathan.

“Nathan?! I’m sorry I was …” she was lost for words.

“In the middle of a chapter? Don’t worry, I’m like that too …” he laughed softly, showing a row of perfect teeth between his perfectly shaped lips. “Are you alone? Can I sit here?” he was direct.

“Sure … ” being an introvert, she didn’t know what else to say after that.

“Why aren’t you in class? I just dropped Kelsey off at campus and thought I will stop here for coffee,” he peeked at the coffee cup in front of Julie. “Do you want another one? I think we should get another one.” Nathan was definitely an extrovert who was more than comfortable in his own skin. He had continuously spoken four sentences in a row without needing a reply.

Julie raised her eyebrows and said, “Okay,” with a smile.

“Just the girl I need to talk to, sorry to bother your reading, is it a good time?” he asked as he settled in his seat.

She needed a break from all the running around with a police detective, a conversation with a new friend was a good one. “No … no … I can finish it later, what’s up? Anything I can help you with?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Actually, there is … you know about my business in Bhorma, right? I was thinking if you’d be interested in taking your internship at my restaurant, I offered Kelsey but she said she won’t be able to take an internship ’til next year,” he was eager to get a favorable response.

“What would the job description look like for an intern?” she asked.

“I was thinking, it’ll be good for you to come up with ideas for my company and the chain I’m building … maybe we can sit down and work on a map so you have an idea of what I’m working on and the vision that I’m trying to achieve,” he was down for business.

Julie was intrigued, it was the kind of learning experience she was looking for. “Alright, my internship will be for three months starting December, I’m going to put in my application for the campus to go over it and get approval, so I’ll need a letter from your company to state that I will be doing an internship there.” She deliberately chose to start in December because she didn’t really want to spend the winter holidays with her family. That way, she can finish even earlier and start working as soon as possible.

“Does that mean you’ll do it?” Nathan was hopeful.

“I don’t see why not? If I can put in my ideas in a new business and help you get everything rolling, that would make my report more comprehensive, and I’ll be learning a lot more than if I join an already successful establishment, in which I would probably fill in a post as an assistant or administration job, that would suck for me,” she said truthfully.

“That’s awesome, December sounds perfect, I will be down on staff on holidays, and you can even help me recruit interns … well we should start mapping when you have time,” Nathan was fired up with the idea.

Julie picked up her backpack and reached inside it, she took out a pen and a notepad, “How about now? I have time now, I’ll just take notes on the information I need from you and then I’ll map it out on my laptop later and we’ll see from there,” she was excited.

They ended up sitting there until lunch and another cup of coffee to discuss the basics of Nathan’s business. He was thrilled to have her in his team, it was obvious that she would make a great addition to his company, or even a partner because she thinks like one. Even from the first time they sat down, she was absorbing all the information and processed it in that brilliant mind of hers more than anyone he had ever encountered.

Nathan, on the other hand, had been working on building a whole chain of restaurants on his own. The task was a lot to carry for someone as young as he was and inexperienced. Even though he had some help from his parents who had their own successful chain of meat companies, he was determined to be independent and took as minimum handouts as possible. He was more than capable, it was evident that he had the knack to be a diligent businessman.

“I can’t believe how efficient that was,” Nathan’s eyes were bright as sunshine, he knew right then Julie was the person he needed. In just one seating, they managed to map out the recruitment system, some purchasing system and already brainstorming about the computer system that the company needed to integrate all its departments and eventually all their future chains together. Julie had a satisfied smile on her face, she too had just found an employer that she felt like she can work with for the long run.

Nathan couldn’t shut up about it when he picked up Kelsey later that day. “That’s wonderful news, babe, now you can leave all that tedious work to Julie and spend more time with me,” she nipped his neck.

His eyes were still bright with ideas, he leaned over to her and kissed her mouth, “You’re underestimating my skills babe, I can do both when I need to.” And that was just the kind of comment that sends Kelsey tingling with desires.