"Sir, we have arrived."
The driver pulled open the door, and a serious-looking young man stepped out of the car.
You would call him a young man because of this whole set-up, the people standing next to him, and the nervous vibe that he brought as he stepped further and further into the building.
But looking at his face, you would think he had just escaped from a high school and stole his dad's clothes and was then playing the role of a grown-up.
One part of this statement is definitely accurate, he did steal his dad's clothes- Sebastian Day, the 22-year-old college drop-out, is now the temporary CEO of YD, the famous international trade company that is always one of the hottest topics in town.
Sebastian's father, the former CEO of YD, Vincent Day, has disappeared from the public for the last 5 months.
The Board couldn't hide this information from the press any longer and the competitors were ready to spread this news to all the investors and potential partners- so they had to find a perfect acting CEO without creating more drama- that's why they decided to invite Sebastian back, as the rightful successor to this huge business.
Sebastian thought this was finally his moment to shine: Even though he is still so young, he has lived abroad for the past 12 years: the Board, a.k.a. his dad and uncles and grandparents plus family friends, thought it would be for the best if he lived in a foreign country where no one knows about his family background.
You could say that his family built this empire on their own- or at least his grandparents did.
So in a way, they feared that their children and grandchildren would become spoiled little brats who could not understand the hardship of life- so the solution was to send Sebastian away.
Sebastian was not sent to have the typical rich international student life- he was banished, to be challenged until he had the ability to rejoin YD.
But what the Board did not expect was that Sebastian was even harder to control.
When he was given a challenge, he made sure to run away from it.
He dropped out of one of the best programs for management when he was just about to graduate and cut all contact with his family.
This time, they had to hire several teams of private investigators to track down Sebastian- he was eventually found on a resort in Fiji island, not vacationing, but bartending.
What a humbling experience to the rich basters- they thought they had enough to know everything about this defenseless child but they did not know that he would grow up to be like this.
But Sebastian never agreed with his family's decision- he never knew his day would come, he did not know it was all a 'test', he just thought his family had abandoned him when they sent him away at the age of 10; now that he was old enough, he decided that it was his turn to abandon them:
"If there is no company for me to manage, if they always want to see me through the stupid mistakes I have made as a child, why would I even go back and why do I need this lame degree?"
But standing in front of the YD building today, a place he called home before, Sebastian had never felt so confident- he knows that he can lead YD, maybe he needs a little help, but he is willing to put in so much effort to make the best out of his family's legacy.
"Oh, my baby boy! Oh Se-Se!"
Sebastian had been fearing this moment- his annoying auntie, Lynn, was ready to put on a show, a show that was meant for other people to see.
"I have missed you so so much! Where have you been hiding? You won't even send us a message... Just like that dad of yours."
Her flowery perfume was then all over Sebastian's new suit, "I would have to get this dry-cleaned. Again." He thought to himself.
Looking around the meeting room, Sebastian saw all the familiar faces, even though they were all much older than he remembered.
"Thank you for having me back." He said, with a polite smile, trying not to start an argument although he would very much like to.
Even though he had lots of questions, he would rather not let these people see him lose his temper.
He wanted to ask them why he was sent away without communication, why he did not have enough money for tuition, and where exactly is his father. But he didn't. He knew that this was so much more complicated than any press had reported, so the best thing he could do now was to take over the company, and slowly, figure everything out.
"We are also happy to have you back." He got a couple of polite responses.
But very soon, he noticed a strange woman sitting at the corner of the room.
It seemed like she was lost- no fancy brand, no newest line of laptop, she sat there with her pen and a notebook, drawing something.
"So when did we get a court portrait lady? Please introduce us. Or let's not have any important discussions in front of any of your assistants, please."
Sebastian was not interested in having someone else in the room before they could discuss how they could save his family business- now pretty much his business, so he tried to keep the atmosphere light but anyone who understood the slightest of business communication knew that he was asking irrelevant people to leave the room.
But the funny thing was, no one answered. The lady also did not look up, as if no one was talking to her.
This made Sebastian a little uncomfortable- he was already worried that he could be seen as the incompetent "son of the CEO", so he tried to keep everything professional.
But now? He couldn't even get an assistant to leave the room.
He looked down, thinking of a solution, what should he say?
"Se-se, we have something to talk to you about..."
Sebastian took a seat when Lynn was about to give him an explanation.
"This is Jen," Lynn raised her hand gracefully, pointing at Jen's direction but the woman called Jen did not seem interested in the conversation again.
"She is my assistant. Well, but she will be yours from now on, to help you with running the company."
"This has got to be a mistake." He shouted, grasping onto the edge of the table, waiting for an explanation, "Help me run the company? An assistant? That is not what assistants do, I am sorry."
"Sebastian, you are still the youngest CEO of YD's history, but you are too..."
"But what? I am just a puppet of you people?! And you just have to achieve that through this strange woman? No offense to you, Jen, but what?" He pointed at the corner of the room, all eyes on her- the quiet lady who had not made a sound since this uncomfortable meeting started.
"You will be the face of YD like your grandfather has ever wanted. But you will be helped by our expert group, and one of them is Jen. Jen will be around until you are really ready to take over."
Almost holding back tears, Sebastian looked at Jen- this mysterious woman who is suddenly the savior of his family business and Sebastian was only here because his grandpa wanted him to.
Aha- the ignored boy of YD is again, overlooked and underestimated.
"Don't worry," she finally opened her mouth, her voice was calm and light, not bothered by the heavy atmosphere in this room, " Mr. Day, I will never embarrass you in public. Just tell people I am your secretary. Or your nanny. Just an assistant."
"Sure, we will see." Sebastian thought to himself, "Let's see who is the real boss. All of you."
Sebastian left the room in a storm, no one was following him, and he didn't know where to go in this massive building that was supposed to be owned by his family.
Who is she?
Why is she here?
Who brought her here?
Does she have something to do with my father's disappearance?