She stood in shock and admiration as she watched Adrian graciously walk in and sat on a chair. He was looking handsome just like the first day she had seen him.
She looked at Lucas Wintershall and the elderly man beside him and then to Adrian, they all looked so much alike.
"They're probably related" she whispered to herself as she heard her name.
"Welcome, Miss Montes" Lucas Wintershall said as she greeted him.
Adrian stopped whatever he was doing as he looked at the lady his father was greeting. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the lady, she was familiar for a reason.
He looked deep into her green eyes and then it finally occured to him where he had seen her, it was from the hotel. She was the little prey he had saved from her predators.
He took a perfect look at her she was pretty with a perfect smile and poise. He walked to her direction and stretched his hand to her.
"Adrian Wintershall" he said in his deep masculine voice.
For a moment, she was lost in his voice and look. "Ivy Montes " she said with a large smile.
The meeting started immediately, Wintershall Food was in little crisis. They were second place in the food market, the Hemsworth food -a rival group was ahead of them with a large margin.
"What's the way out?" Lucas Wintershall asked as everyone started chipping in their contribution but they didn't seem pleased with their suggestions.
"How about we try using a young celebrity lady? Someone who is loved by all" Adrian suddenly said
"And who do you have in mind?" Old man Wintershall said
"Emma Gomez"
"I don't think she'd be able to pull it off" Old man Wintershall said, thwarting the idea.
Adrian knew his grandfather was going to oppose, the Old man had never liked Emma to reasons best known to him.
"Why do you think so?" Adrian questioned his grandfather
"The kid's snack isn't making much sales, Emma is an adult celebrity. I don't see the equation there"
There was a minute silence in the conference room, it was a little grandfather - grandson banter.
"Grandpa....."
"No! No grandpa here, it's Old man Wintershall" he lightly scolded Adrian. "Any other suggestions?"
The remaining members of the board kept quiet, they knew better not to say anything so that Old man Wintershall would have no choice but to accept Adrian's suggestions.
"I have a suggestion sir"
Everyone turned their heads to the direction of the voice,it was Ivy. They all looked at her with shocked faces.
"This newbie doesn't know what she's getting herself into" most of them said inwardly.
Old man Wintershall smiled as he saw Ivy rise up to buttress her point. He looked at Adrian's grimmed face and he smirked, "I like this"
"Since the issue is with the kid's snack, why don't we revise our advertisment to be children centered only?" Ivy said
"How do you mean?" Adrian asked
"Well, we'd keep up with the advertisement on television and radio stations and the billboards but what about a one on one advertisement?" She added
"One on one?" Adrian said with a mocking laughter. "You mean we should talk to every kid we see on the street? Where do you think we live?" He said slightly raising his voice
Ivy was a bit upset here, he didn't allow her make her point yet he was already against it.
"I don't mean it that way, Sir" what I mean is that we should go to schools; elementary schools,parks, wearing kids favourite character or hero. They would relate to that faster "
"And how many schools and parks would we cover that way?" Adrian asked, not willing to buy her idea.
"As many as possible. How many distribution outlet of Wintershall Food do we have?". She asked and without waiting for an answer, she continued.
"Each distribution outlet would go to schools and parks around them, and we'd all do the same thing"
"And what if it doesn't work?" He said again
"Why are you being so negative? She smacked her mouth almost immediately as she realized she said it out loud.
" It would work" She quickly added to cover up her mistake.
"Fine, I give you a week to initiate your plan and bring me good results" Adrian ordered
"A week?" She exclaimed in fear
"Why? Is a week too short?". Adrian asked with a mocking smirk
"I…I.."
"Then it's settled. Our new virtual assistant would implement her suggestions and bring us feedback in a week. The meeting is adjourned" Adrian said with a firm tone as he rose from his chair.
Everyone looked at Ivy with pity how was she going to pull it off within a week. They all moved out of the conference room one by one, leaving Old man Wintershall, Lucas and Adrian alone with Ivy.
"Miss Montes, I'm proud of you" Old man Wintershall said as he came close to her.
"Thank you Sir" Ivy stammered unsure of what to address him as. Most of the workers called him 001 and only Adrian and Lucas called him Grandpa or Dad or Old man Wintershall
" It's Old man Wintershall for you" he said to her.
She looked at him in surprise, was he really permitting her to call him Old man?
"Call me Sir Lucas. Mr Lucas doesn't fit my good looks" Lucas Wintershall cracked his joke, shinning his teeth as he said.
She looked at Adrian expecting him to tell her what to address him as.
"And this is Adrian, Boss Adrian" Lucas added.
"Noted, Old man Wintershall, Sir Lucas and Boss Adrian " Ivy said
"Very good, you'd catch up fast" the Old man complimented her
"Thank you " she said and nodded her head with a smile as he and Sir Lucas walked out. She walked back to her chair to get her stuff before trying to head to the door when she bumped into Adrian's well toned body.
"Boss Adrian?" She said as she looked up to his face
He kept looking at her green eyes like it was something he was looking for all this while.
"Is the boss in love with me?" She thought to herself.
"Did you coerce my father into giving you a job because you helped him with the translator?"
"Uhn!!" Ivy was taken aback by his question. She was expecting him to confess his feelings or say something romantic, but what on earth did she just hear him say?
"Just know you're on probation and if you fail to get this job done, I'd fire you myself" he said harshly before walking away