Natasha was the first to settle in the CEO's office for the weekly top management briefing and reports presentation. She did her best to hold herself together, taking in several deep breaths one at a time. Within a few minutes, other managers started settling in until only the top seat was vacant. Three minutes before the start set time, the CEO walked in with confident firm steps and everyone stood up respectfully. The moment Natasha stood up, she shut her eyes from the pain. From the corner of his eye, Brandon saw the woman struggling. He ordered them to sit and be done with their presentations within twenty minutes for he was busy. The managers were relieved to hear that for it meant there was no much scrutiny to be done at the meeting. Though they were still surprised for the meeting lasted one hour normally. Natasha was the most relieved to hear that and she wondered whether he was indeed busy or was just doing it for her.
One by one, the managers summarized their presentations. When it was Natasha's turn, she stood up and took a long breath. Though her breath was weak, she did her best to focus through the pain and only highlighted key issues. The more she spoke, the more she could feel her breath becoming short and she started feeling dizzy. Since she was the last one to present, Brandon had to figure out what to do. He looked at his watch. Others thought he was impatient but he was indeed anxious. Things could go wrong anytime. "Twenty minutes are up, Ms. Claire. You can have the report delivered to me later. All of you." He then stood up and went to sit at his desk. The others stood up quickly, took a bow and left. Natasha took her time to fight through the dizziness but she did not want to remain behind alone so she stood up and hurried to leave. Before Brandon could stop her, she had already shut the door behind her.
In her office, the air conditioner was set at a cool twenty degrees and Natasha constantly took one bottle of water after another. She called in her secretary and had her deliver the weekly report to the CEO's office, which worried the man upstairs for Natasha always delivered it personally. He had a line-up of meetings so he went on to distract himself. Natasha drank one bottle of water after another and occasionally had some energy drinks. She looked at her watch from time to time. 'I should really have a child and test whether the theory works!' She thought to herself and placed her head in her hands, leaning on the table. She suddenly stood and walked out of the office. She had gotten an idea on how to distract herself. She went straight to the topmost floor, to the finance office. The CFO's office was wide open and Natasha could see that the head was in. She tapped lightly at her door and the woman replied with a "Mh."
"Hello, Mrs. Isaac." She greeted the middle aged woman looking keenly at the document on her desk. Gladys finished what she was reading and looked up at Natasha.
"Oh, Ms. Claire. My apologies, I thought it was one of my assistants or secretaries. I am so held up with the budget for next month's party." Gladys warmly welcomed Natasha, who sat down and nodded smiling.
"I understand. I did not mean to interrupt."
"No, not at all. The budget is already done. I was just cross checking it in case of any errors. Then I can move on to our DD City budget and our contract financial plan for Halal Establishment. But, how can I help you?"
"I wanted to help you. All of the above mentioned are directly related to me. And I would love helping you with one."
"I really appreciate your offer but, the two business related budgets are purely financial so I am afraid…"
"I understand. How about I plan for next month's anniversary." Natasha suggested, trying to bring out the sparkle in her eyes. Ignoring the surprised look on Gladys' face, she went on: "I can, make calls to our suppliers or even pay them visits, if you do not mind."
"Ms. Claire, but that is a lot of work and I have an assistant to do that."
"We can work on it together!" Natasha replied with determination. Gladys looked at her through her spectacles and thought that the new young GM was really hardworking and determined. But she worried that it would be too much for her, especially now that it took a whole weekend rather than one evening as before. She called in her assistant who had been in charge of arranging company events before.
"Tom, Ms. Claire here will be your supervisor when planning for the company's coming event. Assist her. Here is the list for your planning." Gladys said as she handed the list to Natasha, who smiled back at her. Natasha stood up and thanked Gladys. She finally had something demanding to keep her busy over the next few days. She walked past Watson as she headed to the elevator and only slightly nodded at him. Watson wondered why Gladys' assistant was busy following her so he went straight to the CFO's office to enquire. Natasha welcomed Tom into her office and asked him to advise her on the way forward and in case of any ideas he was welcomed to propose. It was almost noon when they had brainstormed on a few ideas and Natasha was happy for her plan was going on well.
"Go get your things. We shall be leaving to visit a few suppliers for the event." Natasha told Tom, who nodded and excused himself. Soon, the two were out of the BESMA Group and looking at the long list of things to do, she felt happy.
Brandon finally had a break at half past noon and he sat at his desk. He had already had a total of five minutes and had a few more to go. He called in Watson, who came running in. "Do you not have any work to do?" He asked his PA who looked at him in confusion. "You seem idle. I should add you some more work."
"But Boss, you called me in!" Watson lamented.
"Yes. But you came running in. You need some more work." Brandon repeated. "Ms. Claire?"
"She has left to go planning for the party next month." Watson replied with a gloomy face. Brandon looked at him, his face indifferent. Watson knew what his boss wanted and he went: "She asked to take over the party preparations. She had already left with Tom to visit a few suppliers."
"But it is not in her jurisdiction."
"It is. She is the overall in charge. Though the planning part is beneath her. I guess she is trying to keep her head busy." Brandon looked at his PA and thought that he had a point.
"Get someone to keep an eye over her. She is unwell we have to make sure nothing bad happens." Brandon ordered. Watson nodded. "We have to go back to DD City by end of next week, get everything ready. Then, we have been invited to the governor's wife's birthday party on Sunday evening. Prepare the gift. As for Halal, we have to pay their company a visit before we officially announce our partnership. Plan a day before we go to DD City for that, ask Margret on the best day." Brandon stood up and went to the office window. "Julie Ann?"
"She has been low-key. It is as if she did not show up at all."
"That is not good. It is like a sleeping poisonous snake- asleep now but as soon as it opens its eyes, it bites ruthlessly. Find her, keep an eye on her. And contact Mr. Owen. I am waiting for some information from him." Watson nodded and left the office. Brandon prepared to go for another meeting outside the office. For the rest of the day, he was busy in meetings and Natasha was busy with suppliers. Tom was surprised by Natasha's energy. She was like a harmed widow seeking revenge. In the evening, when Natasha noticed Tom's tiredness, he excused him and told him the remaining work of the day can be sorted out by her. They had been moving around in Natasha's jeep so she hailed a cab for him and paid for it. He was very excited. Natasha had one more errand to run before she could call it a day. She looked at the list and saw she had ticked it almost halfway. She went on to the Extravagant Mall to the seventh floor. She had to make an order for the team's uniforms and various team t-shirts during the various team building games.
"Hello. I am Ms. Claire from BESMA Group and I am here concerning our uniforms for an upcoming team building." She sweetly introduced herself at the reception. The shop was for clothes printing and embroidery. It was the best one in the city and thus most expensive. It was also in demand. She was directed to seat at the waiting area for a moment as her order was being checked. The seat was very comfortable and the more she waited, the more she felt tired. Soon enough, she dozed off. Her phone rang until it went off. She did not know for how long she was asleep but the next thing she heard were salutations.
"Mr. Joseph!" People were all saluting someone respectfully. But then it went quiet and she went fell back to sleep. She thought she was dreaming. Brandon looked at the woman asleep on the couch and he was furious.
"If any of you dares to wake her up!" Brandon hissed. "Do you know how long she has been waiting?" Brandon asked the receptionist whose face was turning pale. "One and a half hours to be exact." He replied before the employee could reply. "Has she even been served?" Brandon asked again and his face went darker when the employee shook his head. "Is this how your company wants to operate with BESMA Group? Maybe I should revisit my partnership with…"
"Mr. Joseph." The manager came rushing in, sweaty. One of the employees had already updated him on what had happened. "I did not expect you to come. You could have called me. Please, let us discuss this in my office."
"So if I would not have come, she would continue waiting there until the sun rained?" Brandon pointed at the tired woman on the seat. "You disappoint me."
"It is all my fault Mr. Joseph. I got so many clients and the order slipped my mind. I sincerely apologize." The manager replied, his voice shaking.
"Then, maybe we should stop doing business since your other clients are most important that one of my own had to wait for a year to be served!" Brandon said calmly. "Watson, revisit our deal with…"
"Please Mr. Joseph! How about I do the order at half price discount!" The manager had to save the relationship. BESMA was their biggest client for they had many employees and all their quarter year uniforms were gotten from them. His slightly loud reply got Natasha slightly open her eyes and Brandon immediately gave him a warning stare. The manager covered his mouth and they waited until she went back to sleep.
"Call Tom. Tell him to come and supervise the order now." Brandon order and Watson proceeded to do as told. He then moved to the sleeping woman and covered her in his coat and slowly lifted her from the couch and left the shop.