The next day, I went up to his floor on my lunch break. I didn't really want to ask his assistant if he was in, so I just walked through the cubicles like I had a reason for being there. His door was shut, and I was just thinking I might have to give up and ask, when I got lucky. The assistant seemed to be looking for something, and after a moment, stood up and went into the office. I quickly changed my direction so I could see through the open door.
The assistant was looking through a drawer in the filing cabinet. I briefly remember how not that long ago I'd been undressing in front of that very filing cabinet. I shook my head to clear away the memory and squinted. I didn't see him inside.
"Trying to get a peek at the boss?" asked an unfamiliar voice. I looked up to see a cheerful woman holding a stack of papers and grinning at me.
"Oh, no. I, uh..."
"It's okay," she said conspiratorially. "It happens a lot. He's kind of like a celebrity. People hear everything about him, but they rarely see him, so they're curious. We get all kinds of people finding an excuse to come to this floor to try to see him. Don't worry."
"Yeah, I um... I guess I was just curious," I lied. The woman nodded.
"He's not in today, though," she said.
"Oh, really?" I asked, hoping I sounded casual.
"He actually hasn't been coming in much. He's out a lot for meetings and things, you know? But I can tell you," she leaned in, and I could tell she was enjoying this like it was juicy gossip, "he almost always comes in on Wednesday. Something to do with contracts he needs to sign or some other paperwork."
"Oh, okay. Good tip, thanks." I couldn't help but think of what this woman would do if she ever happened upon the knowledge that her "celebrity" boss liked to have sex in his office with his baby mama. I shuddered at the thought, and resolved to never let that happen again.
I didn't want to wait until Wednesday. There was some woman out there who knew my kid's name, and I needed an explanation for it. I finally decided to go ask his assistant, who looked at me suspiciously, but told me that it was unlikely I could get an appointment with him for the rest of the week.
Was this normal? I know I'd asked him not to contact me, but I didn't think that would involve avoiding the business that he owned just because I now worked here. I knew that logically there were plenty of reasons that he'd be out of the office that had nothing to do with me, but I couldn't help but feel annoyed. Ever since the accident, it had been like he was everywhere, constantly asking to be part of my life. And now, when I actually needed to see him, I couldn't find him.
I realized that if I wanted to see him, I was going to have to call him. I headed back towards my office, angrily scrolling through my contacts and clicking on his number. It rang and rang before finally going to voicemail. I left him a short, probably angry-sounding message asking him to call me and hung up. I decided if he hadn't returned my call by the end of the day, I would try calling again.
I didn't hear from him for the rest of the day. As I left the office I checked my call log, just in case I had somehow missed his call, but there was nothing. When I tried calling again, it still went straight to voicemail. He'd never ignored my call before. No matter what he'd been doing, he'd answered. Was he not answering now because he was upset with me? Or had he decided that I just wasn't that important?
I clenched my jaw as I headed home for the day. Cassius might be the most infuriating man I'd ever met. Where the hell was he?