After Two Weeks
Things went more smoothly than I'd imagined. Of course, the a*shole never showed up after that day. The last week, I worked with Tao, joined him in meetings, even made a presentation of the new product The Geon Corporation is going to launch next month. The original presenter of the meeting was Bingwen but his grandmother got sick due to which he had to leave for the other city the night before the presentation.
Tao called me and explained the whole situation to me. He convinced me of the presentation saying that it would be a good opportunity for me to prove myself, especially to Mr Geon. Representatives from five big corporations of China were joining the meeting.
Three of them had already voted for the product to be released. I had to persuade the rest of the two for their investment. Probably I declined Tao first. My position in the company was nothing more than a delicate shard of glass hanging on the edge of a cliff.
But if the presentation would go okay, I would gain the trust of Geon the crazy. That was the only reason I agreed with Tao. And it turned out amazing! I persuaded the other two representatives. Tao offered me dinner on my first success. During eating, I told Tao about the ring I had of Junho since the night his girlfriend broke up with her.
I wanted him to take the ring and hand it over to the real owner but he suggested that I should be the one giving it back to the owner since I had found it. Bravo! This is what you get for keeping an eye on someone's thing? But the problem is I don't remember where I've put it!
"Good Morning, Mr Geon", seeing the idiot of the century walking past my table and entering the elevator, I spring on my feet.
"Finally devil is back", in midst of muttering curses, my phone starts ringing.
"He-", I didn't even reach half of my sentence when the voice from the other side interrupted me.
"In my room, Miss Alice."
With that, he hangs up the call. I quickly went to his office. After knocking on the door, I entered the room as I heard come in.
"Give me a brief report about last week's activities", he says in a dominant voice.
Well, he's Geon Junho for a reason.
"You've got two minutes", I curse at myself mentally as he spoke again upon finding me standing quiet.
Wanna get lost in Geon-the-thickhead-land again, Alice?
"Oh, shit! F*ck...damn, sorry for using foul language. Ugh...I'm wasting my time, whatever. Okay, so I postponed all of your last week's meetings as per Mr Wang's order. Some are scheduled with meetings you will have this week and some are planned with next month's meetings. I also went to Talbot Corporation with Mr Wang. They concurred with a new meeting which is likely to be held this week or the next. If they get agreed with a project with us, that I'm a hundred percent positive they will, we can endeavour the new project right away. About the release of the new product, all the representatives approved it. The release process is under the working of Quality Assurance Team."
Woah! I swear I ever spoke this fast!
"For today?", he asked, still looking at me.
"Well, I wasn't sure when you would come back so I didn't cancel meetings beforehand. According to it, you've one meeting sharp at eleven and one in the afternoon."
He glanced at the clock which said quarter to eleven.
"Call in the meeting now", saying he stands up from his chair.
"From now on, you will be attending all the meetings with me", while talking he stands next to me.
"And good work, Miss Alice", after uttering these words, he gives a monetarily appreciated smile then walks past me.
He just smiled? At me! I don't f*cking believe it! Did he get his head hit by a meteorite? He seems changed.
"Are you going to stand there all day?", his voice comes from some distance.
I turn my face to find him standing at the door.
"Coming", after blinking a couple of times, I finally follow him to the meeting room.
After the meeting
Everyone has left the room except Tao, Bingwen, Mr Geon and me. I'm not using names for him. That's progress, right? During the whole meeting, I only kept thinking about two sentences.
"Junho isn't a bad person, Alice. He has a soft and loving heart. Something awful happened in his life of him that made him this way. But I believe this mood is temporary. At least I hope it to be."
When we were at dinner one night, Tao started talking about Junho. Geon the dickhead soft and loving? You gotta be playing jokes with me. But when he appreciated me today, Tao's words started replaying in my mind.
"Good work, Miss Alice."
What happened in his life? Was Tao talking about the breakup? But we all do have breakups. It has become an everyday thing in our lives. It has to be something else. Well, not my concern.
"You okay with that, Miss Alice?", with what?
I felt someone's arm nudging on mine from under the table. Veering around my face, I see Bingwen looking at me with a questionary expression.
"Mr Geon is waiting for your answer", he whispered, trying not to be heard by Tao and Mr Geon who were sitting across the table.
Was I dozing off with open eyes? Lost in Geon-the-thickhead-land, again.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine with it", well, what could they be asking me? Not that they are gonna make me escape this country after committing ten murders in a row. Let's chill for now.
Time skipped to evening
"WHAT! A WHOLE WEEK IN AMERICA! OUT OF CHINA! ALONE! WITH THAT PROUD AND STUPID A*S! I'M DOOMED! FOR REAL"
Bingwen snapped me into reality when the second meeting of the day finished. He was telling me how I would enjoy and stress over some things at the same time while my time in America. I, being dumbfounded, asked him what the hell he was talking about. He then told me that I got agreed to go to the abroad meeting with Mr Geon when he asked me after the meeting. So that's why he was asking if I was okay with it.
But that's wasn't me agreeing. Come on! Okay, that was me but lost somewhere for a moment, my bad. I never travelled to another city alone, let alone a country. After that incident, I restricted myself from travelling to distant places alone. Feng was always with me.
"His ex-secretary was accompanying him to abroad meetings but when he resigned from the job, Mr Geon preferred most of the meetings within the country but he still had to leave for meetings in other countries every once or twice in a month. Sometimes more even though he hates travelling alone. And now when he has his personal secretary, I don't see a point of him travelling alone. But considering your job experience, he still asked you. And sorry to remind you but you agreed on this yourself", he takes a sip of his coffee and starts wrapping up his things.
"You still have two days till the meeting in America. Don't worry", well, I can't stop worrying about this! I never travelled alone after that incident!
"Are you planning to stay over here tonight?", he asks slinging the straps of his bag over his shoulder.
"Why don't you tell him to order me to accompany him in committing ten murders then we will escape the country together?", my head hangs down recalling what I really thought after saying yes to him.
"Murder? You're so funny, Alice. Let's go. I'll drop you off in my way", you should. I don't think I can ride a bus along with all the thoughts from my past lingering on my mind.