***** NEXT DAY ********
******** CR Company *********
The black car stops at the entrance of the Company. Alfred and Danica steps out of the car expressively.
Danica enters the company, Alfred beside her. Their bodyguards followed.
"Why do they give me a Power Couple vibe?" Mr. Lee mumbled.
Mr. Lee arrives in the office area.
"Where is Paul? Is he late ?" Mr. Lee wondered and looks at his watch.
Meanwhile, Paul enters the office area.
Mr. Lee stands up and approaches him.
"Hey Lee" Paul said with a brief smile.
Mr. Lee was smiling at him.
[ Why he is smiling at me, like that?] Paul thinks
"Aye, what's wrong? why are you smiling like that?" Paul inquired
Mr. Lee started laughing.
[Has he gone crazy? What's wrong with him? ] Paul thought for a while
He pats Mr. Lee's shoulder and says "I know working in this company is driving you crazy, my friend. However, I am with you. "
Mr. Lee stops laughing and then takes out his cellphone. He plugs earphones in it and opens the recording.
"What this guy is doing ?" Paul mutters giving a weird look.
"Hey Paul" Mr. Lee chuckled and then says again "Yesterday, a big man gave a beautiful speech. I loved it so much, so I recorded his speech"
"Is that so?" Paul said, he was still confused.
"But, what's so funny about it ?" Paul asked.
"Do you want to hear that awesome speech?" Mr. Lee inquired and upheld his cellphone, bringing it close to Paul.
"Let me see" Paul says and takes Mr. Lee's cellphone. He tucked the earphones and played the recording.
Mr. Lee banked his palm against his mouth, to restrain himself from laughing.
**** RECORDING PLAYS ****
I LOVE YOU NINA
I LOVE YOU HONEY
WHENEVER I SEE YOU, MY HEART FLUTTERS
I LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK, DEAR.
I WANT TO MARRY YOU AND HAVE FIVE CHILDREN FROM YOU.
I ---
******* RECORDING STOPS *******
Paul now gets dazed like a statue, his eyes widened. He was so shocked and embarrassed.
"How was the speech?" Mr. Lee inquired half-jokingly.
"What the heck is this?" Paul exclaimed.
"This isn't true, okay? " Paul said with a nervous smile.
"A person always speaks truth in two situations. First, when he is angry. Second, when he is drunk" Mr. Lee said giving a witty smile.
"Whatever! But the truth is, I DON'T LOVE NINA" Paul said.
He was trying hard to prove his friend wrong.
"I wasn't conscious of what I was saying, so, this can't be true" Paul explains to his friend.
Nonetheless, his friend was unaffected.
"Why don't you accept that you love her, not Danica!" Mr. Lee said
Paul was flustered, he was still defending himself and tried his best to prove Mr. Lee wrong.
"This recording is the proof " Mr. Lee chuckled.
"I was going to send this to Nina, but--" Mr.Lee adds
"NO WAY" said his friend "You pervert! wait, I will delete this recording, then everything will come to end"
Paul deletes the recording.
"I was certain that you will delete this recording. So, I saved a copy of this recording in my pen drive" Mr. Lee gave a brief smile and told him.
Paul was now stunned. He wasn't able to argue with his friend anymore.
"Why are you doing this to your friend? why?" Paul asked making an innocent face.
"I just want you to accept the truth" Mr. Lee repeats his statement.
"you...."
Paul grabs Lee's collar and now, they battled like small children. As they were fighting, the pen drive falls from Lee's pocket.
Their silly fight was interrupted by a voice.
"Conference is about to start" Said an employee, he gave them a disgusted stare.
"They should at least act like grownups, huh !" the employee mumbled inwardly and left.
They both now glanced at each other.
"I will see you afterward" Paul murmured gritting his teeth.
"I am honest and honest always wins the battle" Mr. Lee replies and rearranges his shirt.
Now, they both left the office area and headed towards the conference room, ignorant of the fact that Pen Drive was now lying on the floor in the office area.
*** MEANWHILE ***
"Where is the pen drive ?" asked an employee
"I don't know, It must have fallen somewhere here" Said the man, who was trying hard to find the pen drive.
"Oh come on, hurry up !" said the fellow companion "Conference is about to start"
"I know! I am more worried about the pen drive than you. After all, I am going to cite the presentation today" the employee replied, who was still, briskly looking here and there for the pen drive.
Now his companion's eye glimpses the Pen drive, lying near Mr. Lee's table.
"Hey! I found the pen drive!" his companion exclaimed
"It's over here" he adds
He grabs the pen drive and gives it to his fellow employee.
"Oh thank god! I found the pen drive or else boss might --" the employee mumbles
"Aye, Come on cheer up!" his companion cut him short and said "you found the pen drive. Now, let's go to the conference room"
The employee grins
They vacated the area
Coincidentally, Mr. Lee's pen drive was exactly similar to that employee's pen drive.
********************
CONFERENCE ROOM
*********************
Danica had invited Nina too, as she wanted to explain the dos and donts of the Product Launch Event.
Alfred sits beside Danica and to her right side, sat Nina.
Paul, Mr. Lee, and other members occupied the right side of the table and Alfred's team occupied the left side of the table.
Everything was set perfectly.
Nina looks at Paul and gives a wink. Paul winks back.
"What's that now?" Mr. Lee asked in a low voice to Paul
"That's another sign that showcases your love for her" his friend adds
"That's just a formality, not love" Said Paul in low voice "You know many girls are behind me, that's normal for me now. "
"This guy... " Mr. Lee muttered inwardly
Now, Alfred looks at the employee and gives a hint to start the presentation.
That man inserts the pen drive and starts the presentation.
The recording starts playing...
"I LOVE YOU NINA --- I WANT TO MARRY YOU--"
Paul's complexion now gets frozen as hell, upon hearing that.
Mr. Lee lowered his head and flinched.
Paul gave a serious stare at Mr. Lee
"What is this, huh..?" Paul inquired stammering slightly. His face was all red with embarrassment and horror.
"I..I..have no idea, my friend" Mr. Lee said giving a nervous smile.
Mr. Lee checks his pocket hastily and finds the pen drive missing.
"Pen drive is missing" Mr. Lee said giving a nervous look
"I think it got replaced with presentation pen drive" Lee adds
Paul winced and mumbled "You...fool"
[Oh god! why you are torturing me like this? why?] Paul thinks.
Now Paul and Mr. Lee hides their face out of embarrassment.
Everybody in the room starts murmuring "Oh, so romantic---"
Others said, "What is this now ??"
Sean was unaffected because now he was habituated to all these weird surprises. Now, this shocks were part of his life.
Sean sighs
Danica's face turns very grave.
[ What the heck is this! ] she thinks.
Whereas, Nina smiled and blushed.
Alfred was smiling and thinking [You are a big one Paul ]
The recording kept on playing again and again. The guy standing near the projector tries to stop the recording, but, fails.
"Oh shit! The player has damaged" The man mumbled as he tried to stop it.
He then attempts to remove the pen drive, but Pen drive got jammed
[ Paul's twisted luck **coughs** ]
"Come out" the man mumbled as he struggles to remove the pen drive.
"What the hell is this?" Danica finally speaks and looks at Paul
Now she abruptly stares at the employee standing near the projector.
"Is this your presentation? are we going to display Paul's feelings in PRODUCT LAUNCH EVENT ?" Danica asked furiously.
"Just stop the recording, you jerk! " she asserted with fierce eyes.
"Boss, pen drive is jammed" the man answered. His spine shivered out of fear.
Upon hearing this, Paul and Mr. Lee flinched in unison.
[ Kill me at once! Come on, kill me god ] Paul grieved inwardly.
[ Ahh....what the fuck! I never imagined that it would turn out so badly ] Mr. Lee thinks.
Danica gets more furious, she strode towards the man promptly in rage.
[ I guess today is my last day!] The man was thinking and shuddering badly.
Danica grabs the projector and throws it on the ground. Projector gets shattered and the recording stops, ultimately.
Everybody stood up and now there was complete silence in the room.
Mr. Lee and Paul's body was all frozen out of fear and embarrassment.
Paul was visualizing Danica killing him with the knife. Whereas, Mr. Lee was visualizing Danica kicking him out of the company.
Alfred wanted to calm down her, but wasn't able to, because Danica had told him to maintain distance and behave normally in front of employees and staff.
Nina felt embarrassed and shy at the same time.
Now, Danica turns towards Paul and Mr. Lee
She asserts "I want you both in my office, right now!"
They gave a nod nervously.
Danica leaves the room in a rage. Alfred followed her and left too.
Nina follows them and vacated the room.
Everybody sighed
Paul and Mr. Lee left the room instantly.
Seeing them leaving, Sean too left.
~~~~~~~~~
DANICA'S CABIN
~~~~~~~~~
Danica stood there, hands crossed. Her eyes were full of anger and humiliation.
Alfred was standing near glass windows.
Nina, who was feeling delighted and embarrassed at the same time; sat on the sofa. She drinks a glass of water nervously.
Sean stood there and banked his hand on the head.
"Ah... these two fools" he mumbled.
Mr. Lee and Paul stood side by side, their spine shivered, they were now afraid of the consequences. Their head lowers with shame and remorse.
The man who was responsible for today's presentation enters the cabin with his fellow companion.
Now, the atmosphere was serious and held all kinds of emotions within it.