"Right, Miss, please take your time to look around and take your seat. This is the room where you will be working from now on"
Hina looked around the room full of emptiness and blinked her eyes.
"Is this some Norwegian Wood joke? There isn't even a chair"
I was caught off guard that she got this joke at all.
"You are right"
"It's like, completely empty!"
"This was Chairman Chan's wish. He did not want you to take over his old room, which has all the furniture and decorations that he picked, used, and loved. He wanted you to have a fresh start and build your own working environment"
"Right. That does sound like something cheesy my Dad would have said. So a fresh start, huh"
"Yes, a fresh start with billions of dollars"
"I feel like this is going to be like in the Matrix, like I say 'guns' and whole shelves of guns will just pop out"
What's with this girl and all the old references from way before her time?
"Not as dramatic, but if you have something in your mind you wish to buy we can call for the secretary to come in to take note"
"Right. Please call her in"
I tapped on my smartwatch for a quick dial to the secretary, who was Chairman Chan's secretary and will be Hina's now.
"Yes Miss", Lui the secretary walked into the room with a tablet in her hands.
"Hi. I'm Hina. Nice to meet you", Hina beamed a smile and extended her hand. Lui flashed a friendly smile back and shook her hand politely.
"I'm looking forward to working with you Miss Chan"
"Hina"
"OK. Miss Chan"
Well, she will get used to it soon.
"I thought about what I want to buy for my room, so here is my first order"
Lui took out her smartpen and got ready to take notes on the tablet
"I want beanbags. Two big ones. You know, like the ones you can lay in and feel like you are sinking"
"Er… excuse me, Miss?", Lui looked puzzled
"Yeah, I like beanbags. I have a massive one in my room back home too. Get one blue - Kaiser Blau, and one pink. I don't mean neon pink. It has to be baby pink"
"Okay... Anything else you'd like?"
"Nope"
"Would you like a working desk or a chair? Some shelves to put books on?"
"Nah I'm good. Just beanbags for now. Thank you"
"Right, Miss. I will get to it then". Lui shrugged and walked out of the room.
What was this girl even thinking?
"Miss Chan, don't tell me you are going to lay around on beanbags during work hours..."
"Don't worry. You will see once they are here. Now let's go out"
"Where to Miss?"
"Show me the canteen"
So in a few minutes, Hina and I were sitting at a table with the hot drinks. I was drinking a large mug of espresso and Hina opted for an Earl Grey.
"We will hang out here until my room is ready. Let's get to work now"
I could see other workers carefully throwing their glances in our direction, but of course, no one dared to mumble anything. This girl sitting here with me was now their boss. I'm sure none of them was thinking she would make a great CEO, and maybe some of them were already considering changing jobs, but alas, this was a big industry and a small industry. Anyone who worked here knows what this contradictory description meant, and it was not so easy to move.
"Miss, I don't think we can do any work here"
"Why not?"
"You need to be briefed about the current state of the company, the ongoing projects, upcoming deadlines, and priorities, and then call for meetings - Lui will help organize the schedules for you - and sooner or later you will need to meet our clients, give them reassurances that it will be business as usual, and in between all of that you need to actually sit down and think before you do anything or make any decisions"
"So yeah, brief me now"
Oh man, where do I start? If she's gonna be like this I will play her game and just take her for being dumb
"Do you know what business the Chan Group runs? What products do we make? What services do we offer?"
"Yeah! Weapons!", she winked and made a shooting gesture with her hand
"Please. That is not true"
"We make weapons. I know that. Don't think I'm that dumb"
":Sigh: Miss, we make 'defense products' "
"Huh?"
"We make products that help 'defend' our lives, our country, our rights, our way of living, and our loved ones"
"Hang on, don't we fight with weapons to defend? I'm getting confused"
"Our goal is not to 'fight', for we love peace"
"What the heck?"
"We neutralize the threats to our peace"
"As in, blow them up?"
"No, we disable them"
"With missiles?"
"Precision tools"
"Oh… I see..", Hina then looked like she had a moment of realization.
She might be smarter than I thought after all.
"If that's how you see things, you are mental, Miss Sin".
I heard the sound of suppressed laughter bursting through the noses around the canteen. Of course, everyone had been eavesdropping.
Damn you, guys.