Part 16

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I got to work fifteen minutes before seven, with Mr. Knight's coffee and mail in hand. When I reached his office, he wasn't in yet.

This gave me sufficient time to put everything on his desk on the exact spots where he wanted them.

I was laying in bed last night and that's when I got to thinking about everything that happened. I was still convinced that Mr Knight's behaviour was ridiculous, but I also realized how stupid it was of me to react in the way that I had. I only made the situation worse by prodding in the first place.

At the same time, I thought what I said was justifiable. But, it wasn't worth it. I couldn't afford to lose this job, there was too much at stake.

There was not much left to do now but wait for Mr. Knight to arrive. I couldn't really start going through his emails without him present. There would be no use since so far he had to give the final say on the replies.

I sat at my desk and sipped my coffee.

Five minutes passed, no Mr. Knight. Ten, 15, 30 minutes...still no sign of him.

I started sorting through the emails, deleting all the spam and flagging everything that looked to be important.

By eight o'clock I was done but Mr. Knight had still not shown up.

This was very strange. He's never late. His motto, which I learned from showing up five minutes late one day, was: "Those who are early, are on time. Those who are on time, are late. And those who are late, shouldn't bother staying."

What if something bad happened?

Oh, don't be dramatic Lizzie, he might just be late.

My phone (the work one, not my personal one) started ringing. I looked at the screen that flashed a private number.

"Good morning, Elizabeth Bennet speaking." I answered.

"Good morning Miss Bennet," came Mr. Knight's voice through the phone, "I'm not coming in today or for the next few days. I'll be away on business."

The chatter of people talking could be heard in the background.

"Alright, I understand sir."

I did not understand. I racked my brain but I had no knowledge of any business trips scheduled for this week or any other week for that matter until July.

"You have taken care of the basic admin in the office for a few weeks now and should be competent enough to handle things while I'm gone. I will, however, forward a number through which you can reach me if there are any emergencies." He sounded as business-like as ever.

"Very well sir. Is there anything else you would like me to do?"

"No, that will be all." And with that he ended the call.

How did this happen? How did Mr. Knight have a business trip that I knew absolutely nothing about? I was his personal assistant after all, wasn't I? Was I not supposed to know about these things, to organize these things?

I guess that explains him typing away on his phone all of yesterday. The timing is impeccable though...

Maybe he just organized a trip to get away from you. That would certainly explain why you knew nothing about it...

No, that's ridiculous! Mr. Knight wouldn't just leave to avoid me. Our falling out wasn't even that serious. And besides, if he really wanted to avoid me, he would've just fired me, that would take care of the problem indefinitely.

I grabbed Mr. Knight's coffee from his desk and took it back to my laptop with me. I took a sip of coffee while I waited for my emails to open up again.

The coffee was ice cold and extremely bitter. It seemed quite fitting in my current situation.

...

I made my way over to the kitchen  to make a cup of coffee.

My eyes landed on my old nemesis.

"Now, are you going to work with me or are we going to have trouble again today?" I asked the coffee machine.

A chuckle came from behind me.

Oh no, not again...

I turned around to see Ian staring at me bemused.

"I see you and the coffee machine are at it again."

"Well in my defense, I haven't had the need to use it in a while since I  just bought Mr. Knight's coffee after that first day."

Ian came over towards the machine and started brewing two cups of coffee.

"Ah, I see and since William is gone, you're finally taking your lunch."

I looked up at him stunned.

He called Mr. Knight William. He knew he was away.

Huh...

"Very good observation there, although I'll have you know I took lunch yesterday also." 

He chuckled and handed me my cup of coffee before picking up his own.

"So, you knew Mr Knight was going away on business?" I tried to ask as subtly as possible.

I didn't want a repeater of what happened yesterday when I questioned Mr. Knight. Sure, Ian looked more laidback than him, but there's no telling. He wears suits, maybe those stuffy ties make the men in this office super uptight and closed-off.

But this was also my first opportunity to learn something more of Mr. Knight who becomes more puzzling by the day.

"Yes, I knew he was going away. We've been friends for many years now, which I assume was what you were actually asking."

Drats, he saw right through me.

I just gave him a sheepish smile before taking a sip of coffee. I had no idea how to respond, he didn't seem upset by my question though.

"Any other burning questions you have running around in that mind of yours?" He flashed me another bemused smile. 

He was really embracing every opportunity to laugh at my expense. 

"Well, since you keep pressing the matter." I joked along, "And you seriously don't need to answer if this is too intrusive, but do you know George Reynolds?"

He gave a slight frown, "We haven't met personally no, but I know of him. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, we had a very tense meeting with Mr Reynolds present yesterday and it sort of felt like there was a little history there."

"You're not wrong, but unfortunately I won't be able to give you a lot of information on the subject. All I know is that they were in business together in the past and things went downhill, both parties losing a lot of money. I don't know the exact particulars of the situation though."

"Thank you, that has already cleared things up a lot."

"Happy to help." He smiled cheekily.

His phone started buzzing with an incoming call. He looked at the screen before looking at me apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this call." 

"Oh, of course, go ahead. I have to get back to the office anyway."

I walked back to the office, my mind racing with a million thoughts.

It felt like the more I learned about this whole thing between Mr Knight and George, the more confused and at the same time curious I became. 

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