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Chapter 5 - Invitation

Three days passed since the incident with Angelo's sister. Crystal was bailed out and the man was compensated well. He was given a much better car compared to his previous one and was given a fair amount of money.

Upon learning of Crystal's car accident, their dad didn't say much - as usual. He neither got angry, nor reprimanded her daughter, but he silently cut off his daughter's credit cards. It isn't obvious, but they know he cares and loves them deeply. Their mom grounded Crystal for a month and will not be allowed to go outside the Tan ancestral home. Her cellphone, laptop, or any kind of gadget that can be used to communicate are all confiscated.

They were doing all that they thought could help their daughter to grow up. It is also a form of protection. Crystal is aware that what they are doing is for her good and she is thankful for being sheltered by her family's protective umbrella.

They indulge her every whim, most of the time. And if she ever gets into trouble, her puppy eyes can work it to her advantage. The downside to this is that...Crystal became too complacent. She became a bit of a 'wild child.'

Knock. Knock.

The door opened automatically and the ever diligent secretary Rod came into view.

"Mr. President, the Phoenix Foundation is having their yearly gala again and they extended an invitation for you to grace them that evening."

"That's unusual. As I know, Isn't their yearly gala usually held two months from now?" Angelo asked as he closed shut the folder he was reading.

"Well, the foundation's Chairman suddenly changed things. As for why that is? No one knows. They never informed us of any reasons, they just told us about the 'when and where.' Speaking of this, the gala will be held at La Credenza hotel two weeks from now and they expected to receive a reply as soon as you possibly can, preferably this coming Friday or earlier." Rod informed in detail.

"Hm. Do I have a schedule that night?" Angelo inquired while typing away on his computer.

"You have an appointment with President Han from the Z modelling agency at 6:30 pm for an early dinner at Shangri-La. The gala will start at 8:30 pm. It will be tight, but we might be able to squeeze it into your schedule." Rod meticulously answered.

Angelo stopped typing and looked at Rod. "It will be tight but it is an important event. Inform them of my attendance."

"I will, and about your clothing for the event? Would you like me to book an appointment with one of our stylists?"

"Hm. Please do. Just in case the stylist still doesn't know of my fashion preferences yet, I want you to reiterate that I don't want to look like an out-of-place colourful peacock or a blinding shining disco ball in the gala." You can hear the disdain in Angelo's tone at the mention of his worse clothing pet peeves. He knows that whomever his secretary decided to get will be up to his standard. He just can't help being meticulous about what he wants.

"Ok. I will see to it that all your requests are met to a T. After everything is finalized with the stylist, I will go ahead and book a room at La Credenza. I know you hate being 'manhandled' by the stylist as you describe, but.. it is necessary for you to be measured again. Just so we can have the guarantee that everything will fit nicely on you." Rod adjusted his glasses and looked at the president with a glint in his eyes that says 'you have to - like when a strict teacher stares at his/her complaining students that there's no way out with their homework.

Angelo stares back at Rod for a few seconds and can't help but to agree in the end. "Ok," he sighed.

Rod was about to leave when he remembered the email he received a while ago. "About the new campaign, a manager of a fairly new modelling agency reached out to us of their desire to give their model a shot to audition. They heard about the campaign."

Although they were looking for a face for their new campaign, they weren't too public about it. They just informed some of the modelling agencies - big or small. It is not like they are being snobby but they are avoiding things going out of hand. It is not an exaggeration to say that when it comes to their campaigns, almost everyone - from the S-listers to the lesser known, desires to get a piece of success and fame that comes with being one of the Tan Corporation's faces.

There is one time when they became too public with one of their campaigns that caused chaos in their corporation. Hopefuls started calling the H&R department, which resulted in their phones kept ringing non-stop. Their emails were flooded with inquiries, that it looks like some kind of spam virus just wrecked their computers.

Now, it is usual for phones to ring quite often in the H&R department, but when all phones constantly ring non-stop that even business-related phone calls can't go through, then that is when problems arise. Some, if not most, have started asking for a favour to sign someone they know but they were shut down.

The president doesn't allow nepotism and cronyism. Anyone who was found doing so will be immediately let go from the corporation and will be blacklisted from all of the subsidiary companies.

A lot of hopefuls also camped outside the corporation for an audition. Due to these massive camping out, it looked like one of those globally known talent shows is having its auditions. It caused a problem with the employees and the people who work around and close to the Tan Corporation. They blocked the sidewalks and the shops/buildings' entrances. Some even have set up some tents on the sidewalk and also in the parking spaces. It caused a massive headache to all people affected - shop owners, customers, businesses and employees.

That is how bad it was.

Due to this incident, the executives decided to go back to their usual system.

"Since we haven't found someone to be the face of our campaign, there is no reason to reject them. Tell them to send their chosen models portfolios." Angelo said while flipping open a new folder on top of stacks of folders he has to read.

Rod hesitated for a bit but shoot it anyway. "Well, the manager included in the email that as of now, they only have one model in their agency and upon our go signal, their model's portfolio will be dropped off tomorrow morning. The manager also said that you might… no, you will regret it if you don't give them - their model, a chance. She said that their model is the perfect face for the campaign."

Angelo was amused. "Well, aren't they spunky and confident? I like that."