Emerging from the airport, a 6'3" businessman stood outside, taking in the fresh air in a white suit. His guards, all clad in black suits, followed closely behind.
With people surrounding him, trying to catch a glimpse of him and calling out his name.
"Welcome back home, Mr. Nicolas Levy," a man said has he appraoched them. He said with a smile on his face
"I hope you will stay much longer this time."
"I hope so," Nicolas replied, slightly bowing in return. He glanced around a few times and, with a sigh, he proceeded to enter the car.
…....…..
"Let's develop an autonomous delivery robot that can navigate predefined routes and deliver packages or documents between departments," Mara exclaimed with excitement, her eyes shining as she stood in front of her team member at the front desk.
"That's a good idea, but remember, we don't have any engineering persons in our team. It will be nearly impossible," Eliana cautioned.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Mara said disappointedly as she turned to walk away.
She slumped heavily into her office chair, frustration evident on her face as she gazed into thin air, trying to come up with a solution before the end of the week for her team. "I really need that pay raise to take care of my mother's treatment ," she muttered annoyedly. "Ugh... I just hate my life," she said, rolling her eyes.
"What if we develop an employee Wellness and Engagement app where everyone's health would be tracked? At least they'll all come to know I am losing my mind and on the verge of breaking down because of working here. Or maybe we could come up with something powerful enough to crash this whole company into pieces so I can have a normal life," she said, leaning back in her chair.
"What am I going to do now?" she said hastily, placing her head heavily on the desk.
She shook off her thoughts and returned to the work she was assigned before the sudden morning meeting about the competition.
"Sir, I have the data analysis report you requested," Mara said as she stood in front of Mr. Warren's III office.
"Leave them down and get back to work," he said without looking at her, busy on his laptop. Mara nodded and placed the folder on his desk. As she turned to leave, Max's voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Hey, why didn't you greet me when you entered the office?" he said loudly and firmly, hardly closing his laptop as he turned to face her with a stern look.
"Sir, I did greet you when I entered, but you were busy on your laptop," she said.
"Ouii, I didn't hear you then. Go back and come back and greet me again," he gestured.
Mara went back and came back, greeting him again, but he didn't respond until she shouted out loud with the greeting.
"Are you trying to break our windows here?" Max said, standing up and walking closer to Mara as he leaned in.
"I want you to stay a little bit in here," he uttered slowly, staring directly into her eyes, their lips almost meeting, which sent a nervous shiver down her spine as she looked at him, tighly closing her eyes.
''Are you expecting something'', Max said with a grin.
"Huh," Mara stumbled as she pulled away.
"Here, input all these files by the close of the week," he said as he walked away from her and sat down in his chair.
"Can I work on this next week?" Mara asked.
"No," Max said, his focus returning to his laptop.
"But Sir, I am part of the competition this week. My team and I will be working on our project," Mara said.
"You're part of the weak team, right?" Max said as he gazed at her. "There's no need to stress yourself," he said.
Mara said nothing, packed all the files on his table, sternly looked at him one last time and walked away.
Max's grin widened slightly as he watched her depart.
...........
The next day at the board meeting...
"When did he return?" Mr. Moon said as he spotted Mr. Nicolas Levy coming in on the same path as them.
Max lifted his eyes to see the person he was referring to. He quickly shifted his gaze and looked in another direction as they crossed paths.
Tension hung in the air as both men stood there, gazing at each other without uttering a single word.
"It's nice to see you again, Max," Nicholas said, bringing his hands up for a handshake. "How are you doing?"
Max looked at him without saying anything and walked away, leaving Nicholas's hand hanging.
Mr. Moon shook it instead. "Welcome back," he uttered with a bow and hastily followed Max.
…....…..
In the boardroom, everyone was present.
"I want to share our plans for the next several months," the Chief director began. "We're going to double down on our investment in research and development, focusing particularly on artificial intelligence and machine learning. These technologies have immense potential to revolutionize our industry, and I believe we are uniquely positioned to lead the charge."
"This will provide new potential for creativity, efficiency, and value creation for all of us. The opportunities are absolutely endless, whether it's driving revolutionary discoveries, personalizing client experiences, or optimizing our procedures."
"I propose a joint venture between our companies to expand into new markets and diversify our revenue streams," Mr. Levy said.
Everyone started nodding in agreement.
"I agree," Mr. Manuel Omer, CEO of TecComps, said.
"Hmm, I'm not convinced. Our last collaboration didn't end well, remember? Your company failed to deliver on its promises, leaving us to clean up the mess, while you enjoyed in the US without showing your face here," Max said.
"We've revamped our processes and strengthened our team. It was a mistake I had to apologize for it a long time. Moreover, I wasn't the one in charge then," Mr. Levy replied.
"Forgive me if I'm skeptical. I need more than words to trust your company again. It's difficult to trust people like you," Max lashed out.
"It's your problem if you have trust issues. Moreover, you can back off from this project. Your presence here doesn't make any difference if you're not here," Mr. Levy said, almost boiling over.
"Can you two just calm down? Grow up, you two, work on whatever issues you have going on" the CEO said as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
…....…
"Ew, disgusting! How can you eat like that? Do you even eat at home?" Kate from Team A said as she folded her arms in front of Mara at the lunch hall.
"I don't think so. She brings an empty stomach to work every day. She can't afford these kinds of foods," Vic, another Team A member, chimed in, and they burst into laughter.
"I still don't know why Mr. Warren III decided to send her to Dubai instead of you, Kate," Hannah said, giving Mara a daring look as she sat down.
"She might have charmed him," Kate replied with a gleam in her eyes.
"I hope your team loses big time again, like the failure that you are. I won't make you take my place in this company. I will see to it that they throw you out of this company," Kate added as she pushed Mara's head.
Mara slammed her fork on the table and stood up, looking deadly into Kate's eyes. "Do you want to die?" she said with a smirk. She exhaled heavily. "Let it be quick. I don't even want to be here," she added, took her tray of food, and walked away.