Will you ever know it?

We drove in silence for about fifteen minutes. I needed to head the studio so that I could get some work done and show her what her job would entail.

I knew right away from the start of the interview, that she would be a hard worker. She was a little stuck-up and arrogant but she would get the job done. It was funny as hell asking those questions in that interview. I could tell that she wanted to pop-off at me but ma held her composure. She's a professional, I'll give her that.

She just stared out the window while some old school Nas played through the aux. I heard her quietly murmuring the lyrics to "If I Ruled the World".

We were stuck in traffic heading uptown to Harlem. I finally got a good look at her. Shorty was beautiful. Not IG model perfect but she was gorgeous in her own way. Long black curly hair, deep brown eyes and her body. Damn. She was definitely on the thick and curvy side, but you could tell she worked out and tried to keep fit. I couldn't help but bite my lip.

Too bad I draw a line at mixing business with pleasure.

I could sense him staring at the side of my face when we stopped in traffic.

Lord, working for this man was gonna take some patience... no scratch that, it was gonna take a lot of patience. Between his attitude and staring problems, I was always gonna be uncomfortable.

Shit and I have to live with him too? Keep me near the cross.

It was clear that I didn't think this whole job thing through.

Could I really handle living in someone else's space? We are clearly two different people, with different routines. I'm a homebody and attending events at clubs and shit is definitely something I'm not looking forward to.

I don't know how it's going to work. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

I decided to stop staring out the car window and open my phone. Ignoring all of my notifications, I went straight to my Google Chrome app to study up on Dave East. After browsing through his Wikipedia page and reading some of his song lyrics. It finally registered to me who he was. This is the nigga that my best friend used to be obsessed with.

She would always talk about him and stalk his Instagram page, but that was years ago. Wait until I tell her that I work for him now.

I also learned that he was a Harlem native and had a three-year-old daughter named Kairi.

I needed to look at his IG page. Instagram would tell me about his outward personality and a little bit about his social life. But it would be weird if he caught me stalking his page right now.

Wait he's driving, so maybe he won't notice.

While I was debating stalking him on Instagram. He turned down the music and began speaking.

"So you will be mainly working at the studio. Along with being my PA, you'll be the manager down there, running everything. When we get there I'll give you a little orientation and explain how things go. Now I need you to be down there at 9 am every day, except for the weekend. You have Sundays off unless advised and I only need you down there at about 6 pm on Saturday because we do a lot of night sessions then. You'll usually leave around 6 pm unless you have over-time work. Dress wise, you don't have to wear that shit." He said glossing over my outfit.

Feeling a bit offended, I spoke up and asked, "What's wrong with what I have on?"

"I mean nothing if you worked in an ordinary office. But you'll be working in a music studio in Harlem, things are more relaxed down there. You can put on all your bougie shit if we have a meeting or sumn."

I nodded my head waiting for him to continue.

"You can move into my condo this weekend. There's a whole section cut off for you with two bedrooms, a walk-in closet and living space. You'll be using the main kitchen. You will be getting $5,000 to decorate the space how you want it. I also have a daughter who stays with me often, I will introduce you to her later. I also have some house rules, you'll need to follow but the most important two being, 'Keep yo shit clean and don't have any niggas up in my shit''.

Could this man get any more annoying?

I scrunched my nose up at the last one because it was insane that he would think I would do something like that. Plus I don't date so that won't be a problem.

He finished up by exclaiming, "You will also have a company car so you can run errands and shit."

I instantly sat up in the passenger seat to reply to him.

"That won't be necessary. I can Uber, walk or take the subway. I don't drive."

"What do you mean you don't drive?" He looked at me while glancing back at the road.

"Well, I don't know how to drive. I never learned while I was at home and when I came to New York there was no reason for me to drive...so yeah."

He looked as if he wanted to ask me a follow-up question but he shook it off to continue to focus on the road.

"Fine but you're going to have a driver for when you need transportation during the night and when errands need to be completed quickly. New York is dangerous and I don't need a missing assistant fuckin' up my shit."

I quickly turned my head towards him, my face morphing into disbelief because of what this asshole just said.

"Alright then.", I clipped.

This shit is gonna be interesting

/•/

About thirty minutes later we pulled up into the parking garage of Harlem Music Studios.

I unfastened my seatbelt and hastily followed behind East as we entered the building.

He stopped at the reception desk and greeted the gorgeous woman sitting behind it with a headset on.

"Hey, Eva. This is Allaya and she'll be joining us as my new PA and studio manager. Give her the orientation, I have a meeting with my record label and I gotta go" he said while walking away.

I turned my focus from him to Eva who was smiling at me.

"Nice to meet you, Eva. And you can call me Laya or Lay, no one uses my full name."

"Hi Laya, I'm the receptionist here and I will also act as your assistant or #2 when you're not here." she smiled up at me.

I stared at her for a while, admiring her beauty. She was a gorgeous woman. Slim and toned. She had to be at least 5 inches taller than my 5'5 stature. Her brown skin was flawless and her straight jet black hair was cut into a blunt bob. I could tell that she had to be of Asian or middle eastern descent. She had this exotic model look to her.

"Okay, I'll show you to your office and give you the grand tour of the studio," Eva spoke breaking me from my trance.

I followed her to the elevator and up to the fourth floor.

In the middle of the space were a seating area and kitchen. To the left along the wall were four doors labelled executive studio room with a corresponding number.

She led me down the hall, past the doors and stopped next to a glass-covered wall, which held what I guessed to be my office.

"Wow." I breathed.

"I know. You have the best view in the whole building" Eva beamed.

I slowly walked over to the window lines wall and looked at my view of New York. I could get used to this work shit.

The office itself was large and shades lined the glass walls to provide me with privacy. My desk had a Mac desktop and I had a bookshelf. On the other side of the room were a seating area and coffee table.

After I finished gazing at my new office, Eva gave me an orientation on what my managerial job included and she showed me how to work the programs and systems on my computer.

Basically, outside of my PA position, I had to organize staff and studio schedules, make sure everyone was doing their jobs, organize payroll, complete a shitload of paperwork and ensure that artist music was safeguarded after every session.

"Okay, now time for the tour!", Eva said excitedly.

I gave her a half-smile and followed her out of the room.

After two hours and about two dozen more introductions, I was officially finished with the grand tour.

"And with that, I can officially say Welcome to Harlem Studios. So do you have any questions?" Eva asked.

"No, you basically covered everything"

"Great! I would offer to take you to lunch but I have some work at my desk and East texted me to tell you that you can go home for the day"

Thank God, I was up from 5:00 am this morning and I needed a nap.

"Okay then. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for the tour." I told her and picked up my stuff before closing my office door.

"Oh wait before you leave, give me your number, so I can give it to East" Eva called out as I was just about to exit the building.

It was only 4:00 pm and I was drained. When I walked into my apartment, I dropped everything at my door and headed straight into my bed. Diving face down onto my pillows and groaning in relaxation.

_________________

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(You Don't Know My Name by Alicia Keys)