Anthony Williams was the first and only son of his father Thomas Williams, His father was so happy when he was born, he even named his company after him,Tony's solicitors he had called it. After their father decided to retire, He entrusted the company to him although Anthony had two elder sisters, they never really took any interest in taking over The company, at least not like he had. He was the only one of them that decided to finish law school. But They were more than happy with enjoying the revenue generated from the enterprise. He had just recently taken over as CEO of the company. It was a busy schedule but he enjoyed every bit of it. It was nice having employees look at you with so much reverence when ever he visited any of the branches for routine check ups. He was on one of those routine check ups when he met Lisa. Although at the moment he had mistaken her for someone else. He thought she was the manager Sophia Monroe. But it was hard to blame him she did fit the profile. She was beautiful but surprisingly simple, not at all like the description he had gotten from his father when he asked him to give her the job. Apparently she was the daughter of an old business associate, but she looked a little younger than he thought. He would admit he was very surprised when he got to her office and found her dancing so freely. He had gotten there for the report of how her branch was doing, which he could have done while there at the office. But there was something about her, he wanted to see her again. So he decided to ask her out on a coffee date. He tried to sound as natural as possible but he knew exactly what he was doing. He spent a good amount of time thinking about their meeting today. He felt like a high school boy on his first date. He had told his secretary to get him the managing director's number from their records she was the manager of the branch in Atlanta, which she did.
He dialed the number and held his breath as the phone rang. It felt like forever. Then she answered.
"Hello?.." she sounded skeptical and her voice sounded different
But He figured it was because she did not know who was speaking to her
"its me Anthony from yesterday."
"Oh hello! " she sounded a lot more lively now
So he relaxed a bit
"Will you be free by 2 today?"
"Yes sir" she replied
"good, meet me at the rose garden restaurant by 2, so we can talk"
"Yes sir" she replied.
"Please call me Anthony"
Then he hung up.
Sophia still couldn't believe it. Anthony had just called her to ask her out on a date. Even though it was just to discuss business. She did not mind
He must have figured out who she was and wanted to apologise for treating her. She was too excited to think properly. She had to get ready . And she had to look stunning . She headed to her wardrobe it was filled to the brim with so many attires for different occasions she had a separate wardrobe for shoes, heels, sandals, sneakers, everything .
She First tried on a Palazzo suit since it was a semi formal meeting , she examined herself in the mirror for a while but she decided against it, she wanted to look formal, but she also wanted to look sexy. She was hoping to win Anthony over with her looks since their last encounter was not so good. She wanted to make a very strong second impression. She spotted a gown she had recently ordered online. It was a beautiful white gown, it was body fitted so it would accentuate all of her physical features. It's length was a little above her knee and It revealed just the right amount of cleavage for it to pass for a semi formal dress. It was the perfect outfit for the occasion.
After examining the dress for a while she smiled to herself and said
"I'm going to blow his mind".
Anthony got to the restaurant 20 minutes early. He was usually early for his appointments. His philosophy was always being there before the set time. To him, being on time was being late.
He sat there for about 15 minutes before a blonde woman walked into the restaurant, she was beautiful, but not who he was expecting to see. He had started to turn away when she spotted him then she waved at him. He was taken aback by the gesture and could only muster an awkward wave back. Then she started walking towards him. He straightened, he was curious now. As she got closer he noticed she had a familiar face. She was the secretary that barged into the office yesterday. Sophia had probably sent her. He was disappointed but he did not show it.
"Good afternoon Mr Williams."
"Good afternoon"
"Did Sophia send you?" he asked. His eyebrows raised
She had a look of perplexion on her face as she sat down
"Excuse me?"
"Your boss Sophia, did she send you? "
"There's been a mistake sir, I'm Sophia, the manager at the office Atlanta. I'm the one you called to meet you here"
It was his turn to look confused. There was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds before he broke the silence again.
"Then who was that at the office the other day ?". he asked, his confusion still very evident.
"She is my receptionist. Well not anymore at least. I fired her immediately." She said casually as she picked up the menu
"She's gone?" he asked,his voice slightly raised .
"Yes. When I found what she did the other day, Lying to you like that, claiming to be the manager. I knew I had to let her go. "
"God knows what that street urchin would have told you next" she rolled her eyes then called for the waiter.
All this was a lot for Anthony to take in Sophia was not the person he thought she was. Then who was the lady at the office? He tried to recall who she said she was. She had never really mentioned that she was the manager, he had just assumed that she was. A lot of the previous afternoon's events suddenly made sense to him now. That was why she looked so flustered when he talked down to Sophia. She had tried to let him know but he didn't give her a chance to speak . He was in such a hurry . And it got her fired. Poor girl. But if she'd been fired how was he suppose to meet her. He was a busy man he still had a lot of work to do. So he decided that they should move on with the meeting. He would figure something out later.
He was staring into space when the waiter came and asked for their orders, the question snapped him back to reality . He spent the rest of that afternoon listening to her report and discussing about business plans for the company with Sophia.
He was not trying to flirt with her but Sophia was having the best time of her life. To her this whole afternoon was like a dream come true.
Anthony could be effortlessly charming when he wanted to.
After a long time When they were done with everything and it was time to go
He asked.
"The other girl from yesterday, What was her name again ?" he asked
"Lisa Perez". She answered.
"Get me her number, I need to speak with her"
"alright" she said, a little too eagerly.She wondered what he wanted to do with her.
She really did not care what happened to Lisa, She was too occupied with admiring Anthony to care about any of that. She was just thrilled that he had asked her for something and she was able to give it. The thought of being useful to him filled her with so much joy. But a lot of that joy was sucked out of her when he said
" I want her re-hired" he said.
"Why? She lied to you." She said. She looked very annoyed. She tried to hide it. But she did a terrible job.
"Yesterday was a misunderstanding" he said, ignoring her reaction to the news
" I would hate for her to lose her job because of a simple mistake".
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Sophia. She did not hate Lisa, but she was a proud person and this was a dent to her Pride. But Anthony had said that with a note of finality and she knew better than to question him.
Afterwards he asked the waiter for the bill ,then paid for it. Then he stood up to leave.
Sophia sat there a moment longer, she was furious but there was'nt anything she could do about it.
"You coming?"
she stood up and followed