Maya
Today has been another hellish day. Meredith has been in a terrible mood. I have no idea why. I think sometimes she doesn’t need a reason. But, of course, I am the one who she has been taking it out on. I need the day to be over, but it is only two, so I am stuck here with her for another few hours. Thank God it is the weekend again, which means I have two days off away from here. It’s not like I will be doing anything since I have college work to catch up on because I have been here late nearly every night this week.
I can’t believe it has nearly been a week since I met Conrad. And I have seen him three times since, and he still had no idea I am, which I am glad about. I wonder if he has forgotten about “Mia” yet? I hope he has. I wish I had forgotten about him, but it is hard to do when he keeps showing up everywhere.
I turn my attention back to work because I have a lot. I am not staying late again. I am out of here not a second past five-thirty. Meredith can complain all she wants because I have done way more than I am supposed to do this week. I just hope I stand my ground if she does tell me to stay late. I am still not great at standing up to her.
It doesn’t take long for me to get lost in work again.
“Maya,”
The sound of Conrad’s voice sends a shiver down my spine. He is not what I need today. I sigh and look up at him.
“Hello again, Sir. What brings you back here?”
He never comes here, so I am curious why he is here for the second time this week.
“I need to talk to Meredith about something.” He answers.
“Um, good luck with that. She isn’t in the best of moods.”
“Oh, great. Maybe you can help me. You have worked here a while, haven’t you?”
I nod, “Um, yes, but I don’t know what I can help with you, Sir.”
Meredith wouldn’t be happy if she found out I helped Conrad with something.
“Have you ever met anyone called Mia?”
The second he said the name, I started to panic. My stomach churns, heat rises throughout my body, my palms sweat, and I feel sick. Fuck! He is here to find out more about the mysterious woman from Saturday. If he mentions it to Meredith, he is going to get me into trouble since I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.
I shake my head because I am worried the wrong words will come out if I open my mouth.
“Oh, okay. I don’t even know if that is her real name.” he sighs, pulling a seat over and sitting on it.
“Is there a reason you are looking for her?” I ask, disguising my shaky voice the best I can.
I need to know what he is thinking. I honestly didn’t think he would still be thinking about me. He is a man who can get whatever he wants, so why get stuck on one woman?
“You will probably think I am crazy.”
“No, I won’t. It seems important to you to find her.” I say softly.
Conrad takes a deep breath, “I met her at an event on Saturday night. We seemed to click, well I thought we did. I guess you could say I was mesmerised by her. I haven’t felt such a connection with someone in a long time, but she ran away from me. I don’t even know what she looks like, not really because she had a mask on which she wouldn’t take off. As I mentioned a moment ago, I don’t even know if Mia is her real name. I haven’t stopped thinking about her, and it is driving me crazy. I need to find her.”
He runs his fingers through his hair, groaning. He is evidently frustrated. His words have made my heart race, and the churning in my stomach has turned to butterflies. Has he really been thinking of me that much?
“It doesn’t sound crazy,” I whisper.
“You don’t think?” he asks with a smile.
“No, I think it is very sweet you still want to find her, even if she ran away from you.”
I feel terrible lying to his face, but even if he does ask Meredith, she probably won’t tell him the person is me. She would be too embarrassed to tell him.
“I went after her, but she was too quick.”
“I am sure there was a reason why she did what she did,” I reply.
“I am sure there is. I just wish we had at least swapped numbers. Anyway, I have taken up enough of your time. Thank you for listening to me. I will see if Meredith will tell me. I know it wasn’t her daughter, even if that was who she was pretending to be.” He sighs.
No, I can’t let that happen! I start to panic again, to the extent that if I don’t calm down, I will end up having a panic attack.
“Is that such a good idea? What if you get her into trouble?”
“I won’t. I will come up with an excuse, one which won’t get her into trouble. I will tell her she left something behind or won something on the raffle or something.”
“Okay. Good luck.” I smile.
“Thank you, Maya.” He replies, returning the smile.
He disappears to see Meredith, and I rush to the bathroom. I lock myself in one of the stalls, sitting down with my head hanging between my legs and taking a few deep breaths. He can’t find out it is me! I feel the tears fill in my eyes but quickly wipe them away.
A part of me wants to walk straight out of the office in case she does tell him. The last thing he needs is to see me after he finds out I just lied to him when he poured his heart out to me. I am sure she won’t tell her. She will make something up to stop her from bringing any shame to her family.
I pull myself together and go back to my desk. I try to work, but I can’t concentrate. I stare at Meredith’s office door, waiting for Conrad to come out so I know if he knows the truth or if I am fired. My leg bounces under the table, and I tap my fingers on the desk.
Ten minutes passed, but it felt like longer before I saw the door open. I freeze and wait to see what happens next. He closes the door behind him, and his eyes fall on me. He stares at me without a word and approaches my desk, standing in front of it. I slump down in my chair, staring back at him and try to fight back the tears. He knows!
Conrad opens his mouth to speak but changes his mind. He shakes his head and walks out. Fuck! I let the tears roll down my cheeks. I knew this would happen; the second he found out it was me, he would lose all interest. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want me either.
I hear Meredith’s office door open again. I quickly wipe my tears away and act like I am working. I hear her heels on the floor coming towards my desk. Great, I am now going to be fired.
“Maya.” She says firmly.
I nervously lift my head to look at her, “Yes?”
“I thought no one knew you weren’t Taylor?” she snaps.
“They didn’t,” I reply, playing dumb.
“Well, Conrad knew. What the hell happened? How did he know it wasn’t Taylor?”
“I don’t know.” I stammer out.
“Well, he knows. You are lucky you weren’t the one to tell him, or you would be fired. He says you left something behind and have to go the hotel to pick it up.”
“I am sorry, Meredith. I tried my best to keep hidden from everyone.” I whimper.
“Forget it. You are useless. I know never to ask you for help again.” She snaps and storms back to the office, slamming the door behind her.
I head straight for the bathroom again. I did the same as before, locking myself away in one of the stalls and letting myself break down. I guess it could have been worse; he could have told Meredith the real reason why he wanted to find out who I was. Then again, once he found out it was me, he was probably glad he didn’t because I would be nothing more than an embarrassment to him.
I really thought my day couldn’t get any worse. At least Conrad now has closure and can move on from whatever fantasy he had formed in his head. Me, I will just get on with life like I always do. I am not surprised everything has gone to hell; it is the story of my life.