"And that's the news about you today, President Amelia" Brittney, who was Amelia's personal assistant raised her head up after reading off a tabloid. Amelia heard all this and was silent for a few seconds then, she began to laugh. She laughed for a while before she became calm again. She touched the Luna masquerade mask on her face. People knew how to wrap lies like a beautiful present and throw it at the world. And just like that, people grab it, swoon over it and then, they begin to showcase it to other people, and other people begin to make the gift look so extravagant and then, everyone believes the nonsense. It's the cycle of rumors.
She let go of her mask and spoke "Do you believe what those tabloids say, Brittney?" she asked her personal assistant who had also never seen what she looked like. Brittney moved her head in a thinking face and said "What I do know is that everyone has a reason for doing whatever they do. You cover your face for your own reason, whether it be that you're ugly or not. For me, as long as your heart is pure and I have seen it for myself, I'm fine" She concluded.
Amelia smiled behind the mask 'such innocent child' she thought. Brittney also added "It's also a part of your fashion too. Somehow, you just make a masquerade mask go perfectly with your work outfit. and it's not like you're wearing the same thing over and over again. You can even make it a trend". It was always like her to find good in everything that happens, whether it be the worst case scenario. And that's why she liked her around. Her presence had helped her in so many ways than one.
Amelia stood up from her seat. It was time for her meeting with the board of directors. She knew they were having a meeting about the same thing, but she decided to go this time and make sure that it ends. She still wanted to retain her position as CEO, even if she did not want to have any time with them.
Brittney walked in front of Amelia to open the door for her. They both walked to Amelia's private elevator and went to the next floor where the meeting was normally held. They both came out of the elevator and made a right turn to the location of the boardroom. Brittney opened the doors of he boardroom and ushered Amelia in.
The boardroom was a big space with a oval shaped conference table in the middle with designer office chairs all around the table. There was an OLED panel TV at the right side of the room opposite the CEO's seat.
Everyone was already there seated and waiting for her arrival. They all stood up when she entered the room. The whole place was silent and the sound of her heels could be heard as she walked to her seat.
It was after she sat down that everyone was allowed to sit. Amelia wanted to get the whole meeting done with and move on with her day.
"What is this meeting for?" she asked all of them
There were ten board of directors in the room and one of them spoke up "First, we need to address this issue of you coming late to meetings. You act like the meetings are not important and we have nothing best to do with our time" Mr. Hartley Hart spoke up.
Amelia laughed behind her mask "This is my territory and you say that I'm late. What if you all are just way too early" she said to him. Another person spoke up "Miss Amelia, he is not wrong. We scheduled this meeting for 11:30AM and you are arriving by 12:05PM. We have lives too" Mr. Ray Reynolds said to her.
Amelia durned to look at him "what other business do you have? Going to sleep with other women behind your wife's back?" She asked and everyone in the room choked on their saliva.
"Don't come in here telling me about your lives. What is this meeting for?" she asked again. They all made slight coughs before Hartley spoke again "Miss Amelia, the news about your face.... It has been all over the internet. There are people saying different things about you and it is beginning to get out of hand. Some say_"
"That I'm a witch in disguise using 'this body' for coverage. I am an ugly old lady who surprisingly has a very alluring youthful body. I have a cursed face that being looked at could cause a person's face to dry up. I read the tabloids" she took the words out of his mouth. Hartley nodded in confirmation and another man who was Mr. Thomas Anderson said "This is not a good look for this establishment. You have to find one way to stop the rumors of you and our company."
"Thomas my dear, what do you think I should do to stop the rumors?' She asked him.
Thomas decided to grab the opportunity and lay out his thoughts "You either take off the mask and reveal you are not what they think you are, or you assign someone to be the acting CEO. You could even retire_"
"What?" Amelia said in a very calm voice and everywhere became silent. She was not surprised that he asked for an acting CEO but for her to retire? When she was not past her prime? That was way too far.
Amelia did not want to unintentionally confirm the rumors of her being a witch by going all crazy on them. So, she decided to be cool about it. "Mr. Thomas Anderson, I love to inform you that MY conglomerate is the second best business establishment in the country and I'm still working on being the best" She said and touched the mask on her face, slowly caressing it.
"My mask has done nothing to decrease but increase sales. People love the mystery. They anticipate, and wait, and try to create all these rumors for me to bite. But it only makes my wings spread wider". Everyone could hear the smugness in her voice.
She took her hands down from her mask and stood up "Don't ever bring up discussions like this to me again" She said and walked out of the room with Brittany following behind her.