What Nobody Knew

Part 19

Mr Knight's jet should be coming in any moment now. Patrick went ahead to wait for his arrival at the gate and assist with his baggage. There was a coffee shop inside the airport relatively close to the gate where Mr Knight was to arrive from. 

I sipped on a hazelnut latte as I waited for them. 

Mr Knight came back just in time for the Baxter launch party. Everything was organized and all set, but he still had to be present for the actual event. I assumed he would be back long before the party, but at least he's back now.

I looked back at the gate to see Mr Knight striding confidently in my direction with Patrick in tow with his luggage. I stood up and made my way towards Mr Knight.

"Good evening sir, I hope you had a good flight," I said in greeting.

He gave me a slight nod.

"Good evening, it was fine. I assume nothing has changed with regards to the launch while I was away?" He started walking in the direction of the parking bay.

"Oh, Uhm, no sir, everything is still perfectly on track and ready to go."

I guess we're just going to jump straight into business then. 

Of course, what did you think? Did you think he was going to hold your hands and ask you how your time was while he was away? We both know he has an aversion to hand-holding and other niceties.

"We'll go over all of the details again tomorrow morning for one last time."

"Very well, sir." The sliding doors opened and revealed the business car that was parked in the reserved parking space.

Patrick loaded Mr Knight's luggage and laptop bag into the trunk of the car.

Mr Knight held the back door open for me to climb in. Apparently, this is something he does now. I thought it best not to question it as I slid in past him.

Once Mr Knight climbed in on his side, Patrick started the car and we were on our way. 

We drove in silence. 

There were so many questions burning in my mind. Like, where was Mr Knight? What kind of business trip was it? Was it even a business trip or did he take some vacation time? Although that one seemed hard to fathom.

I could, however, not ask any of these questions since they were completely in the area of too personal and unprofessional.

So, I kept quiet and simply stared at the trees passing by outside the car window. The sun had already gone down, so there wasn't much detail to be made out anymore.

We finally reached my house and Patrick came around to open my door for me. 

I greeted Mr Knight and made my way to the front door. Mr Knight's eyes were on my back the entire way. They waited until I was inside the house before the car drove off.

As soon as I closed the front door my mother bounced out from the other room giving me a heart attack in the process.

"Who was that driving off?" She asked curiously, trying to sneak a peek over my shoulder.

"My boss, mother. He was just dropping me off." I said already making my way to my bedroom.

"Oh," She sounded disappointed, "I thought it might be a boyfriend or something."

"No, sorry to disappoint," I called over my shoulder.

Mother mumbled something incoherent but I didn't bother asking about it. I simply wanted to crash down on my bed and sleep for 12 hours straight. 

It was only when my head landed on my pillow that I realized that Mr Knight didn't discuss anything business-related. He just told me that he would go through everything with me tomorrow. Why did I have to meet him at the airport for that? He could have just waited until tomorrow so we could discuss everything then.

Mr Knight's behaviour was as puzzling as ever. 

...

When I opened the office doors on Saturday morning, I was relieved to see that Mr Knight was seated in his normal spot. I was just glad that I didn't have to sit in that blooming room alone again today.

I greeted Mr Knight whose eyes were already strained on documents before him and went straight to my desk to switch on my laptop.

"Elizabeth, can you come over here for a moment?"

I stood there stunned, unable to move. That's it, the man had to have sustained some kind of head injury on his trip.

He called me Elizabeth. I didn't even think he knew my first name. He's always just called me Miss Bennet.

I took a seat across from Mr Knight, pen and notepad at the ready for his instructions. 

"Yes, sir?" I asked when he didn't immediately start speaking.

He stopped reading the document in front of him, interlacing his fingers and looking at me intently. 

"The launch party is in two days, we have to go over everything before then. You will also be joining me for the actual event. I need you to keep an eye on everything and be available if I need you."

The excitement started bubbling inside me. I get to go. This event will be extraordinary, I never thought while I was helping to plan everything that I would get to go myself.

"Oh, yes, of course, sir." I tried to keep my excitement at bay. 

We don't want silly emotions like that to have Mr Knight rethink his decision.

"So, the first thing we'll be doing today is going out shopping."

Okay, it's official, I'm done, this isn't Mr Knight. Either that or he's definitely gone mad.

"I'm sorry, shopping sir?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes, we'll have to get you something suitable to wear for the event. You'll be representing Knight Inc. and need to look the part."