The restaurant was not overly spacious, but it was still finer than anything Chloe had ever laid eyes upon. Small tables were grouped together to form larger ones, and some floated all by themselves like little islands for romantic couples, covered in silky white tablecloths that she was afraid to touch before washing her hands.
“Hello again, Chloe,” Damian greeted. He stepped seemingly out of nowhere and smiled once again. His colleagues were already all seated in groups of three or four all about the room. Damian was the only one who still had no seat.
He gestured to one of the small tables near a pretty fountain designed in a Renaissance fashion. “Would this be alright?”
“Of course,” Chloe responded After all, she as of yet could not come up with a reason to say that she did not like this particular seating arrangement. They sat at the table, facing each other, and Damian called for a waiter. It took a few minutes for him to finally arrive, as he had been serving the other customers and it was rather busy. The few minutes of silence had not been awkward, however- there was gentle piano music playing in the background and Chloe had become entranced in the peaceful sound.
When the waiter did arrive, finally, Damian asked for menus. The waiter nodded and departed, then returned fairly quickly. He placed them a bit awkwardly on the table, and then positioned a pen over his notepad.
“Anything to drink, sir?” he asked.
“I’ll have a glass of the House red wine, please,” Damian pronounced grandly. The waiter scribbled furiously and then turned to Chloe without lifting his eyes.
“And for you, miss-” He looked up, and his eyes landed on Chloe. She had just been squinting at her menu in the dim candle lighting when this happened, and as she lifted her eyes, they met his, and for an instant, they both froze.
“She will have the same,” Damian interrupted, shoving his menu in the young, tan and handsome waiter’s face. “And we will also share a platter of escargot for our appetizer and have two onion soups.” His voice did not sound outright mean, but it hinted at a note of tension that indicated that the look exchanged between Chloe and the dark haired waiter had not gone overlooked or unnoticed.
“Y-Yes, of course, sir,” the waiter managed to mumble, and hastily returned to scribbling down the order, walking away in a bit of a hurry. The tension of Damian’s voice had not gone unheard by him, and in his language, it was seen as an indirect threat. And those were the worst kind of threats possible, because, for this waiter in particular, who had worked at this job since he’d been sixteen, a vocal threat could indicate something coming- something unpleasant. He had dealt with this many times from many different customers, and experience voiced that it was better to avoid it completely. If a customer was ever made even slightly unhappy, not only would he not be getting an extra tip, but he would also likely get yelled at by the restaurant’s manager, who could sense customer satisfaction like a dog and did not have a good temper.
Chloe was a bit annoyed at Damian for interrupting the waiter’s gaze. He was young and attractive, but there was also something about him that appealed to her from the start- something interesting, something hidden. There seemed to be a mystery, a story behind that man’s eyes, something that Damian’s overly exaggerated looks tended to lack.
But on the other hand, as soon as their little connection had been broken, Chloe also returned to reality. What was she doing? She was here for a reason and that reason was plain and simple- to pay attention to her French leader and do what he says if that can help her get situated here in this beautiful city. Why was she looking at meaningless waiters who would all be willing to give her a reason for a greater tip? No- she needed to focus- that was what she needed to do. She had to keep her eyes on the prize- the prize of getting an education, a job, a career- and only then could she start looking for something more.
“So tell me, Chloe,” Damian continued, as though nothing had happened out of the ordinary. His tone remained casual and curious. “What is it that you did when you lived back in the United States? Any particular job or career field?”
“No,” Cloe admitted. “Not exactly. I was mostly focused on my studies and school. I had considered getting a job, but I would not have been able to make much more than what I was already getting from my family, who agreed to support me only while I was still at college.”
“So, no work experience whatsoever?”
“Unfortunately not.”
“Well, it may not be that unfortunate. I’m sure you must be very well acquainted with the Language Learner Software.”
“I am,” Chloe admitted. “It is the software that I used to learn French.”
“Well, that is all I needed to hear! Welcome to the company.” He sounded genuinely happy about this. “You will begin helping us distribute the Language Learner tool to people all over the world, so that they will also have the same kind of chance in learning other languages as you had had. Are you familiar with the price of the program?”
“It cost me twenty dollars,” Chloe recalled.
“Great! We will move on from there. You will also be helping us develop the software further- right now it does not have a ‘learn English’ version. Once we get that done, I’m sure we’ll be able to sell many more, since English is, after all, one of the most frequently used languages around the globe.”
“Okay,” Chloe responded. She did not yet sound one hundred percent convinced of what exactly she would be doing, but in any case, at least she had a slightly better understanding of who this man was. Or did she?
At the very moment as she shifted her eyes of Damian, she spotted the waiter far in the back of the room, carrying a large platter laden with numerous dishes. It was crowded back there and he was not the most gracious person- he stumbled a few times and nearly tripped over a customer’s shoe when he felt her gaze upon him. A hint of a smile lit up Chloe’s flawless face. It was a mean thing to laugh at this waiter’s clumsiness, but she was smiling not to make fun, but because of how cute he looked in this state of distress.
But Damian was obviously a very observant business man- that was what had moved him so far up on the road of success with his software production. The smile had not gone unnoticed by his hawk-like imperious gaze and one glance over the shoulder told him of everything he had not been yet aware of.
“Chloe,” he said. She instantly snapped her attention back on him. Had he noticed her zoning out? One glance at his now serious face told her he had. “Please stay on task. I cannot trust you if you always seem to be thinking about something else. I need your full attention, because what I am about to tell you is very important. Do you understand?”
“Of course,” Chloe returned with a promoted air of confidence. She decided not to make any contradictions to his obvious accusation. It was better to just move on from the moment altogether.
“Good. Now, you will not be having a lot unfettered time at the university. But choose a more or less free schedule, and you will be able to both keep up with your studies and also start working with me.”
“Alright,” Chloe replied. “I hope they will allow for a flexible schedule, however- what if they don’t?”
“Just make sure you make it so that your schedule is adequately interchangeable. It shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“I will try my best,” she promised.