Amber woke up to an empty and cold bed wondering whether Daniel came back or not. She bet on all the thoughts that run through her mind and hoped that the former was correct.
'How couldn't he return after the effort that she had made with the mission assigned to her' Every thought that could lead her to a positive output crushed by the little doubts that found an opportunity to pop out in bits.
In her confusion, she was startled by the sound of her phone ringing. She picked it up and smiled when she saw her mate's name. "Hello, babe?"
After a minute or two, she placed her phone back where it was in the bedside drawer. Apparently, Daniel was busy with work and had apologized for not being with her on such a day.
Amber could try and understand him, but it always felt lonely whenever she had to go for days without seeing him. It bothered her to think that even after risking her life at the restaurant, he didn't wait for her to wake up before he left. He could have woken her up, and she would have been glad to be informed of his absence in person.
When she remembers how far they had come with Daniel and how many demons they had fought just to get to where they are, Amber holds in her temper and tries to understand him.
'Am I being selfish when I sometimes want him for myself' She felt a little guilty, but there was nothing she could do about her feelings.
"Is everything alright?" Alex inquired as he turned to look at Daniel
Daniel could only shake his head in response. He could only imagine how his ever-so-imaginative girlfriend was thinking of him at the moment. He couldn't blame her since he had been away from her repetitively without her complaining much about it.
Amber was everything to him. She was more than a mate or companion. She had become such a big part of his life especially since they both had lost their family ten years ago.
"Don't beat yourself up about it" Alex interrupted Daniel's train of thoughts. He could vividly see the wheels turning in Daniel's head, by the mere expression on his face. "We both know how that crazy gal adores you. She would never fail to understand you if she knew the purpose for which you are always absent"
Alex had witnessed the love between Daniel and Amber for almost a decade, and he knew just how deep it ran. It was something that he, too, hoped for in a mate, maybe even more.
"I just get scared of losing her sometimes, man."
For Daniel, Amber was home and the one in all the years before and maybe more to come, and he would be doomed if she even went away from him.
"We sound so emotional right now for two grown adults," Alex said as he pat Daniel on the back. The two rarely took the emotional highway, and it could be because of the endless demons they were fighting in order to give all the wolves a good home.
Daniel smiled at the Alpha's comment "Could Luna be part of that reason?" Not so many changes could be seen in the Alpha in terms of character, those closest to him like Daniel could see that he had become happier.
Alex was usually at the office, sometimes Monday to Friday, and only went to the hotel nearby to clean up and have a change of clothes. Malia brought such a refreshment to who he was emotionally and he was happy about that.
The two friends realized that they had been standing outside the office too long when they saw Cross come out of it. Cross had come to remind the Alpha and the Beta that it was time for the meeting to commence.
They had gathered at the 02 to meet up with Jack, the engineer so that they could get the conclusive direction that they had to follow before going heads on with the happenings in Light town.
Back at the Ford group, old man Eliot had been left in charge of the company, alongside Arnold. When it came to matters of the company, Alex trusted both old men Eliot and Arnold.
Old man Eliot was having a meeting with the marketing team to decide on the approaches on which to best handle the sampling process of their cosmetic line. Recently, the Ford group had been developing a cosmetic line and as of yesterday, they had received a sample of the first sample.
The marketing department had gathered in the meeting room and was busy sharing ideas on how best to handle the products. Being that the females were the highest percentage when it came to cosmetics, the first set of production was meant for the female population.
On the table at the front were two boxes that contained the samples sent by the manufacturing department of the Ford group.
"I believe that since we have quite a number of females in the company, the samples should be given to them" suggested the product manager, Ms. Rosette
Her suggestion might have sounded good in terms of inclusivity at the workplace but, they were looking for genuine feedback and some doubted if they could get that inside the company.
"That would have been a good suggestion but doesn't sound straight enough. What do you think, Brand manager?" There had been a lot of negative energy going on in the marketing department and it had negatively affected the team activities, so the Chief marketing officer, Mr. Eddy, was trying to watch what he says.
"I think that the information would be biased if we gave the samples to only the females in the company. First of all, they would be scared to offend the company, which would lead to them giving superficial answers to us. Something that we can not afford at this moment. This is our first product from the cosmetic project and we wouldn't want negative feedback when we finally release the final product. It would be bad for the Ford brand."
Old man Eliot looked at the young lady and he couldn't help but shake his head in agreement. It was a good analysis because most of the females in the company fancied and feared the boss in one way or another and would be too careful with the feedback for the samples.
"I agree with what Alice has said. We need every genuine answer that we could get" The marketing manager who had been quiet earlier spoke up. She had avoided the earlier discussions because of the rope pulling.
"As the strategist of the department, I suggest that we go for the social media influencers" The marketing strategist threw in. Mr. Mark had been with the company for such a long time, and he was one of the best in the market. He and his team never lost in that regard.
"What do you mean. Mind elaborating?" Old man Eliot had not really had a meeting with the marketing team before, he was normally with the Administration department. He needed to be as thorough as possible so that there are no loopholes.
"Giving the product to the social media influencers would be hitting two birds with one stone. One, our product gets introduced to the market, and two, we get our feedback. And I know that most of you are doubting this idea because you are being skeptical about the sample, but this is the Ford manufacturing department. I trust that they have gone up and beyond in making the first ten samples for each of the two products five months later."
It was a hard one, especially when it was their first time doing anything beauty-related, but they trusted Mr. Mark. They believed that the man was a strategist guru.
The meeting pushed on for over two hours and finally, there was a conclusion on how best to hand the samples.
Old man Eliot asked the department to prepare a detailed report, going deeper into how the entire product would be launched in their respective teams. He was happy with the outcome of the meeting and was looking forward to the entire launch.
He left the meeting and got into the elevator to go up to the Chairman/CEO's office. He needed to discuss with Arnold something.
"Good morning Sir," Arnold and the female secretary greeted old man Eliot as soon as he came into their line of sight.
Alex was going to confront the Almond group with evidence and in turn, ask for compensation for having used their proposal or suffered the consequence. He had listed the main things to be included in the document and asked both Eliot and Arnold to hand it with care because the words could be legally turned.