There was an extremely weird silence lingering in the air as soon as Joy left. It seemed as if she had taken all the happiness along with her.
Natasha's eyes darted between both siblings. Dom was silently eating his breakfast while Lulu was doing the same.
She did not need a genius to tell her that something was wrong. Usually Dom would fuss over his sister, but he was dead silent, and she could see that Lulu looked a little bit sad.
Dom wanted to ask Lulu more questions, but then he remembered how she had snapped at him yesterday, and he would rather she remain in this good mood. She looked like she was back to her usual cheerful self, he did not want to do anything to cause her to feel sad again.
"I think you two need to handle whatever it is that's bothering the both of you, I'll be in my office." said Natasha as she stood up, taking her quick escape, she really disliked it when she had to be the mediator between the two siblings and yet she always found herself doing it.
Lulu and Dom both watched her leave as Dom cleared his throat.
"I think I should get going too, I don't want to be late for work." said Dom as he was about to get up when Lulu stopped him.
"Wait." she said as he turned to look at her.
"Is something wrong?" he asked as she shook her head.
"I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you yesterday, I didn't mean it Dom." said Lulu, her expression sombre. She never wanted Dom to be upset with her. He was her brother, she knew that all he meant to do was make sure that she was okay.
"Can you please forgive me for being such a brat?" asked Lulu as Dom chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Of course I forgive you Lulu, I was never upset with you, and I realized that you were right, I was being a bit too... fussy." said Dom as he smiled.
"But no you weren't you were just worried about me like any good brother would." said Lulu.
"You're my brother and I love you, even though you can be annoying sometimes and I do get on your nerves on purpose, I still love you, and thank you for being such a good brother Dom." said Lulu as she stood up and gave Dom a hug.
"You don't have to thank me, and I love you too." said Dom as he held her tight. Regardless of anything, she was still his little sister, his adorable little sister, and he loved her so much, he only wanted the best for her, and he wanted to make sure that she was happy.
"There, now I won't have to say that for the next two years." said Lulu as Dom laughed and shook his head.
"Now I'm absolutely convinced that your back to yourself." said Dom as Lulu sat down and ate her breakfast.
"Yeah, yeah, you're lucky I'm in a good mood, or else I would have agreed on the several ways you can be overly fussy." said Lulu as Dom scoffed.
"Right..." he replied.
"Anyway, I'm not going to work today, I'm taking a few days off." she said.
"That's to be expected, it doesn't matter, take as much time off as you need." he replied as she smiled.
"Well I have to get going now, there's a press conference at 9:30, and I can't be late." said Dom.
"Alright, see you later." said Lulu as she smiled and she heard the front door close.
"Hmm... I wonder what I'm going to do with my day today?" Lulu asked herself as pondered.
...
"You ready?" asked Michael as he walked into Dom's office and Dom nodded.
"Oh, and before I forget how is Lulu?" asked Michael.
"She's fine, she's back to her usual self, and that's such a relief." said Dom as he stood up and smiled.
"You see, I told you, she just needed some time." said Michael as he smiled.
"You and Natasha were right." said Dom as he laughed, he had been so worried that Lulu would develop trauma because of what she experienced, but luckily, she seemed fine enough.
"Sir, are you ready?" asked the Secretary as she walked into Dom's office.
"That I am." said Dom as he walked towards her and Michael.
"How many people are in attendance?" asked Dom.
"All the employees are present like you asked, and there are five tv stations that asked to broadcast the event, that was the maximum that I could accept as per your request." she replied.
"That's great, shall we?" asked Dom as Michael and the Secretary nodded as they left his office.
Michael's phone started to ring as he looked at it and saw that it was Charlie calling, he frowned and switched off his phone, talk about calling at the wrong time.
...
Dom walked into the hall as it was already filled with people. The lights were sharp and the flashing of cameras were focused directly on him. He could hear all the whisperings and clamour going on.
Dom frowned internally. He did not usually like addressing large gatherings like these, but it was essential that he did. The news of yesterday's mishap had spread on the news like wildfire. He needed to address this situation before speculations of all sorts of nonsense sprung up.
Dom made his way to the top of the podium as he stood directly in front of everyone and he cleared his throat softly. There was a microphone positioned right in front of him.
All the cameras were focused on him, the flashes of lights from pictures of him being taken were still able to be seen, and he could see the cheeky looks on the faces of some reporters.
"Good morning." he said as he began his speech, it was better that they get this all over and done with. The hall instantly went silent as all eyes were on him.
"I want to start by thanking everyone for choosing to attend this briefing. Your presence is highly appreciated" he said.
"My name is Dominic White, CEO of A-Corp, I am aware that no introduction is needed, but it is just to inform those who are unsure of my identity." said Dom.
"I am sure that everyone is wondering what the aim of this briefing is, and it is to deal with a few problems plaguing many employees today."
"And that is incompetence and insubordination." he said.
"Now, I am sure that everyone has heard by now about the unfortunate incident that happened with the elevator on our premises. It made the headlines yesterday and with it came many speculations on how money is spent within our corporation and what money is spent on." said Dom.
"Let me start by clarifying that the money we use within our corporation is used to make a profit, it is used to settle internal problems, and most of all, it is used to pay our employees and provide the financing needed to purchase all our amenities such as this hall." he said.
"To all those that believe that some sort of fraud is going on internally, I urge you to stop spreading false claims. We are in no way obliged to share our financial records with the public, and those who work here will be sure to tell you what exactly all our funds are used for. We carry out recommended audits just like any other company." said Dom.
"I believe that matter is sorted out, now onto the accident that happened yesterday." said Dom.
"Firstly, this organization is pledged completely to the absolute safety of each and every employee." he said his tone severely stern.
"The elevator crash yesterday affected every single one of us, myself included as it was my sister and her friend that were in that elevator." said Dom.
"Now before you say anything, regardless of if it was my sister in there or not, it would have affected me just the same." said Dom as he knew that he had to be quick to shut down all those who might want to take his words in vain.
"Till now the reason for the sudden malfunction has not been publicly revealed."
"But I will reveal it now. It turns out that it was system malfunction. The cable snapped." he said as he could hear gasps ringing in the hall.
"Further investigations proved that the elevator that we all thought was brand new was in fact a second hand, that was resold to us for full price. Now we were completely unaware of this severely upsetting fact, but things like this happen." said Dom.
"Corruption happens everywhere, in every single place." he said.
"It is very easy for people to cast blame on the top level management. They say that we misuse funds, that we do not care for the lives of the innocent, that it is only the profit that we make that concerns us." said Dom.
"I am here today to tell you that is not true at all. An organization as big as this that had been running for as long as we have certainly will not put or employees in jeopardy." said Dom.
"We in fact do pay technicians whose sole job is to weekly service the elevator and run maintained checks." said Dom.
"It was in fact one of these technician who was immediately informed of the issue, and instead of responding in the expected manner, this man chose to leave his job undone, resulting in the crash." said Dom.
"This man in question was just fired yesterday for his incompetence." said Dom.
"Like I said, it is extremely easy for people to cast the blame at others, to those that they deem fit for their hate and accusations."
"And most times, the people we are accusing are innocent, absolutely innocent." said Dom.
"They say that the people at the top are corrupt, but before you climb all the way up, why don't you start with the bottom level."
"Let's face it, there are corrupt people everywhere, people who don't care for others, people who's only concern is their gain, people who will do everything and anything just to get what they want."
"They are in every single level, not just at the top, they can the security guard at the door, the secretary on the front desk, anyone."
"And people say that they want a change, they want to end all these corrupt things, well I'm telling you that you can't change at all, you can't expect people to change if you yourself won't change." said Dom his tone very emphasizing the word 'you'
"People seem to forget that the most important factor for change is you. Change starts from you."
"Now onto the employees." he said.
"As CEO I cannot possibly check on each and every department to ensure that things are running smoothly." said Dom.
"That is why I delegate, I command, I give orders, I expect things to be done in a certain way and in a certain time."
"Now if you are one that does not take your job seriously, I urge you to change now, because you still have time to make a change." he said encouragingly.