Nyla made it to the office, she'd missed the man Marcus had sent. Anthony had done everything he could to get her there, but few things were as annoying as New York traffic.

Hyeon passed her a stack of folders. "Here are the files he left."

Nyla thanked her assistant before shutting the door to her office. She poured through the files and saw that Marcus had ripped apart her plan. He indicated things he wasn't happy about and things that could be improve. Nyla winced as she flipped through the papers, there were more red errors then she expected, but it was a good thing.

Marcus cared enough to actually go through her proposal and help make it better. She could work with this. Pulling up her laptop she began perfecting the plan. As soon as it was perfect, she would personally go to Marcus' office and deliver it. Through the afternoon she was hard at work and only when she heard the tapping on the glass door did she look up.

"Zoey," she said opening the door to the young women and quickly replacing the confused look on her face with a smile. "It's nice to see you."

It seemed like Nyla hadn't done a good enough job because Zoey smiled apologetically. "You told me we could meet today and Hyeon wasn't at her desk, so I let myself in. I'm sorry, we can reschedule if your busy."

Nyla took a quick look at her calendar and noticed that yes, she did have a meeting with Zoey scheduled for three o'clock. She'd been super busy with her pitch that she totally forgot.

"No," she motioned to the chair in front of her desk. "Have a seat, I have you on my calendar but just forgot for a second."

Zoey settled into the chair with a soft smile.

"Anything I can get you, coffee, tea?"

"Actually, tea would be nice." Zoey replied.

Nyla got up to make the tea.

"Oh no, don't worry about it, I can make it myself." Zoey said getting up.

Nyla gently pushed her back down. "You're the guest in my office, I'll make it. Don't worry, I needed to make myself a cup as well."

Zoey smiled at her nervously and Nyla plugged in the kettle she kept in her office.

"So, how's business going?"

Zoey bit her lip and didn't reply so Nyla repeated her question again.

"Not good," the young women said. "It was going fine at the beginning but one of my customers wrote a bad review on a blog post and suddenly, I've lost all my potential clients."

Nyla sat down and left the water to boil.

"What have you done so far to fix it?"

"Everything! I contacted the client, hoping to talk to her so we could resolve her issues and if she could take down her blog post, but she refused. I've offered my services for free, but nobody wants them." The young women looked close to tears. "At this rate, I'm going to go bankrupt."

"No, you're not." Nyla said with steely determination. "Wipe those tears and use your brain. We are going to come up with a plan to save your business in the next hour."

Zoey looked at her. "It seems hopeless."

"It's going to be hopeless unless you try and do something about it." The kettle went beep and Nyla stood up to make the tea. She handed a cup to Zoey, "let's brainstorm so ideas. What events did you book so far?"

For the next couple of minutes Zoey went through what she had been doing the past couple of weeks. Nyla was proud to admit she'd been doing everything by the book until her last clients.

"For future reference, sometimes, you need to dig a bit more into your clients before actually taking on a job." Nyla explained. "Not every potential client is important to your business and sometimes, you need to pick and choose."

Zoey nodded and began writing down what Nyla said. Nyla took a sip of her tea and smiled. It seemed like she had the perfect solution for Zoey.

"How's the planning going for the influencer event?" Nyla asked her.

She had put Zoey in charge of organizing one of Renne's biggest events of the year. Zoey's eyes lit up and she began explaining everything she'd been doing for the past few weeks. Nyla looked over the proposal, made some corrections and suggestions before she spoke.

"If you can handle it, I have another potential client to offer you."

Zoey's face morphed into a smile before she frowned. "I don't want you to keep passing on clients to me. I can't be a charity case forever."

"You're not." Nyla said softly.

She knew where Zoey was coming from. She'd been the same way. Young and trying to prove herself without help from anyone. It was Raymond who taught her that you didn't need to do everything alone. Sometimes, it was better to get help from those around you and there was no shame in doing so. Now, in a position of power, Nyla was able to offer others help like Zoey.

"Your client would be Darius Giordano."

Zoey's face still looked blank, so Nyla opened the cover of Business weekly and showed her the picture of Darius. The young women's face lit up with recognition and Nyla smiled wryly.

"Yes him, we are planning a charity event for the struggling kids of New York and honestly we could use some help."

"Are you sure?" Zoey's first words were.

Nyla nodded. "We were going to hire an event planner anyways and honestly, I've seen your work. You are one of the best. This will give you the push you need to get better."

Nyla spent the next hour going over what she and Darius had roughly talked about. Zoey continued taking notes adding her occasional input and Nyla would either agree with the idea or axe it. At the end of the two hours, Nyla felt confident and a bit less stressed now that Zoey would be handling more of the major planning element.

"Thank you so much Ms. Malhotra." Zoey said grabbing her bag and standing up.

"I honestly think it's amazing that you take women under your wing and help them. I don't know what I would do without you."

Nyla smiled at her awkwardly. She wasn't a big fun of being praised but she understood that she had an impact on these young hopeful entrepreneurs and that's why she'd started her mentorship program in the first place. Every year, she'd take on three young women aspiring to create their business and guide them in the area's they were having difficulty. At the end, she's let the go and see if they succeeded or not, and most often they did.

"I'll call you soon with more information." Nyla responded. "It was good seeing you Zoey, keep you head up."

The young women smiled and left her office. Nyla collapsed on the chair and looked at the big clock. She had a lot more files to go through before she could leave for the evening. Sighing, she booted up her computer and began shifting through her emails. It was going to be a long night.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla opened the door to her condo with a sigh. It was dark and empty but provided her with a stunning view of New York city at night. Lights were twinkling in the background and people were making their way home from different events. She kicked off her black Louboutin's at the side of her door and collapsed on her couch.

Her muscles were tense, and body was aching. She really should have continued with yoga classes but these days, she just didn't have time. Plus, she didn't get along with the instructor in the condo, so it made for a less than pleasant time.

Her stomach grumbled, and Nyla begrudgingly got up to open the takeout container Hyeon had handed her before leaving the office for the night.

Inside lay a shawarma. Nyla poked at it with a single finger. It was cold.

But she'd expect that, after all it had been three hours since everyone had left the office leaving only her, security, and the cleaning employees. She was at a pretty good first name basis with those employees now due to her long hours.

Some said she bought it upon herself, but Nyla had studied the lives of the most successful leaders in the world, they all had one thing in common—they worked harder than everyone else. So, she strove to do the same.

She took a bit of the shawarma and smiled. It tasted delicious, even if it was cold. Quickly getting up, she went to her mini wine cellar to located one of her favourite white wines. If there was one thing that went with every good meal, it was wine.

Pouring herself a glass, she made herself comfortable on the sofa and pulled open the many files she still needed to look through. Wine in hand, she made her way through the meal occasionally pausing to make a quick note in the files.

As the night went on, Nyla drank more and more wine and her head became fuzzier after that. At some point, she decided she was done looking at files and pushed them aside. Realizing she was still in her blazer and dress pants, she went to her room to change into something more comfortable.

Her bed was calling her, but she wasn't ready to call it a night. She sensed a feeling of loneliness in her condo for the first time. Usually she loved it but watching people below her having fun and talking made her realize she didn't have that someone to talk to anymore.

Pathetic. She thought to herself.

She didn't need anyone, she had a multi-million-dollar company and more luxury then she ever needed. She could live jump on her plush sofas for all she wanted.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this Nyla ended up on the bench of her grand piano. She positioned the piano so that she could see the night skies when she was playing.

Her fingers ran across the keys and she breathed deeply.

It had been a while since she played but her fingers glided across the key. Music filled the empty room. Every once in a while, she missed a key, but it didn't matter. The music built in crescendo as did Nyla's feelings. She played until her heart content. Piece after piece, classics, jazz, modern, she played them all.

After playing the last note, she rested her fingers on the key. The condo was silent once more.

There was a loud buzz that made Nyla jump from the bench. She realized it was her phone. Grabbing the phone, she accepted the call without looking at the ID, "hello?"

"Why is there someone named Zoey emailing me documents about the carnival we are supposed to be planning?"

Nyla walked up the stairs. The alcohol was really starting to set in now. "I think you might have the wrong number."

"Cut the shit Nyla, who is this chick?"

Nyla winced. "Have I ever told you that I don't like the word chick?"

She slipped into her duvet covers. "Chick, chick, chick, sounds like a chicken." She giggled, before covering her mouth.

There was silence on the other line.

"Are you drunk?"

"Nope." Nyla responded, popping the p. Then she giggled again. "I think I'm tipsy."

There was a snot of laughter on the other side, "No shit sherlock. You would never act like this without the alcohol in your system."

Nyla pouted. "I'm super fun."

"I'm sure you are."

Nyla leaned back against the pillow. "I think I've gone to heaven. It's so soft here..."

"You're still on earth," was the respond from the other side of her phone.

Nyla scowled. "You didn't have to ruin the good dreams I was having."

Darius laughed, it was a warm sound that hit her right in the heart. "I'm going to record this conversation and play it to you when you're sober. This is comedy goals."

Nyla was silent for a bit before another thought hit her. "Are you alone."

There was a pause and some shuffling of papers. "Yes I am."

"Do you feel lonely?" She whispered the last words. "Because I do, I feel very lonely. Like a bird."

There was silence on the other line. "I don't think you'll be very happy when you remember what you've told me tonight."

"Oops." Nyla yawned. "I guess that means I should hang up now, I need wake up early to go through a couple of files."

"And check the newspaper," Darius reminded her.

Nyla tugged on the band of her ponytail. "For what?"

"To remind yourself that I've won our little bet."

"You have not."

"I will, after you've checked the newspaper tomorrow." Darius said with a confident tone.

"I don't like you." Nyla declared.

Darius laughed. "That's okay, I'm not too fond of you either."

"Then why aren't you hanging up the phone?" Nyla questioned.

There was some static in the background before the call was abruptly ended. Nyla sighed and threw her phone on the side table. It was time for her to go to sleep.

--------------

When Nyla's drunk, we really get to see a different side of her, a more softer side. What do you guys think?