"Congratulations, sir!" The receptionist said while standing and clapping as Ralph strutted into the entrance of the ground floor of the company building. This singular act caused everyone else, in sight, to also stand and give him a round of applause.
It was no news that Ralph just struck a deal with Xiang Robotics, which specialises in building robots of every kind. It was a major deal; Xiang Robotics is the number 1 Robotics engineering company in the world. One could only imagine how Ralph communicated the deal to them which made them accept.
Malthus, who stood behind Ralph, immediately joined in the applause, smiling in admiration. He often saw how unsettled his boss was for the past month, he noticed that throughout the business trip to China, his boss struggled with sleep; he was glad that it was now a success.
His boss, in just a matter of three years, had successfully acquired and merged with other tech-related companies, he even already had a partnership with Microsoft. His boss reached these milestones and surpassed them, he also planned to attain even higher feats. He was the saviour of Landers Tech.
Ralph stood in the middle of the small crowd, basking in their praises of him until it was time for him to take his leave. With thank yous here and there, he walked to the private elevator, with Malthus following behind. On getting inside, Malthus pressed the 90 button which was to take them to the 90th floor; the penthouse.
Ralph walked confidently into his office and sat comfortably on his office couch. He saw as Malthus rushed to his office kitchen to make tea, within a few minutes, Malthus came walking quickly, but with caution, holding a saucer with a teacup placed on top of it. Inside it, was briskly hot oolong tea.
Malthus placed the tea on the centre table in front of Ralph and stood by his side. "Following the success of your trip, your schedule is free for now, sir."
"Hmm…what's the next thing on my schedule?" Hearing this, Malthus mentally heaved a sigh of disbelief, he saw this coming but he didn't want to believe that his boss was going back to work immediately. His boss was always working, this unhealthy dedication made Malthus naturally concerned.
"Even after that, you're free, sir." This comment caused Ralph to halt sipping his tea and turn his head sideways to look at Malthus.
"What did you say?" His deep firm voice sounded as he gently placed his teacup on the saucer.
Malthus shrugged a bit and said confidently, "Take time to rest, sir, I am your secretary, please trust me to help you best spend your time." Avoiding the soul-piercing eyes of Ralph, he continued, "Also, I'm getting married, sir." With this, he reached inside his suit jacket, brought out an envelope and placed it on Ralph's table, just beside his cup of tea.
Ralph glanced at the envelope on his table thinking it was a resignation letter. "Are you finally leaving me?" This question caused Malthus to jolt.
"Not at all, sir, I only need an assistant. The coming months will be too demanding for me. Seeing that I'll be occupied with wedding preparations, I do not want that to affect your productivity."
Hearing this, Ralph took the envelope on the table, reached inside, grabbed the content, and opened it. It was a wedding invitation card. His face was expressionless.
"When's this assistant coming?" He said as he closed the invitation and placed it back in its envelope.
"I'll put out the job vacancy by the end of the day, in 3 weeks, I should already be onboarding her."
"Her?" Ralph's eyebrow arched as he looked at Malthus.
"For gender balance, it's important that the next addition should be a female." Malthus knew that Ralph had never worked closely with a woman, he always thought that was why he was so rigid. He believed that adding a woman to his workforce would make him more accommodating, as she would naturally bring a warm energy to the environment.
"Hmm…I'm fine with just males." Ralph sternly replied, he then took his cup of tea and continued sipping from it. This caused Malthus to stand uneasy.
"Sir, I also prefer males, but we are meant to operate according to the standard of the Office of Commercial and Business Affairs, as a global institution." Malthus clapped back. In all his 10 years of working as Ralph's secretary, he realised Ralph's habit of occasionally objectifying women and unusually using them for his corporate gains.
Malthus was initially disgusted by Ralph, during his first 5 years of working with him, but as time elapsed, he began to feel sorry for him. He knew within him that what would transform him, was a woman.
"So, who is this Lisa Ross that is dividing your attention from work?" Ralph's statement made Malthus shocked. In just the space of a second, Ralph had read the whole content of the invitation card: You're cordially invited to the wedding ceremony of Malthus Higgs and Lisa Ross. Ralph was again displaying his very unnatural brilliance.
He previously looked at the card like he didn't care about the content like he wasn't reading at all, and almost immediately, he dropped the card; meanwhile, he cared. Although Malthus was shocked, he wasn't surprised. Most people write Ralph off because he always appeared rude and nonchalant; they never knew that he was only very socially awkward.
"Well," Malthus replied with a tint of red on his cheeks, "she's the love of my life!" Hearing this, Ralph smacked his palm on his thigh and broke into a fit of laughter.
"You?!" Ralph managed to say as he laughed. "You know how to fall in love?!" He laughed some more.
Malthus was taken aback by Ralph's laughter, he almost felt insulted. "Yes, I do. I can love too, instead of focusing on work all night and day, unlike some others." He said as he adjusted his round-framed recommended glasses.
With this, Ralph's laughter died out. He understood that Malthus indirectly called him out. He reached for his teacup and continued sipping from it, this time, faster than how he had drunk before. Stretching the already empty cup to Malthus, he mouthed, "Get me more."