BAD WORK DAY
At Arianna's place.
Arianna’s phone was vibrating on the table when her mother tapped her gently on the arm.
“Honey, you have a call”.
She opened her eyes slowly to the blurred image of her mother.
She had fallen asleep late yesternight.
“What time is it?” She asked, taking the phone.
“11am”
Her eyes widened.
The meeting!
She was the one who scheduled the meeting with the Cheshire”s company.
Quickly she dashed out of the bed into the bathroom to shower.
As soon as Andre entered the conference room, the faces of the guests were not encouraging.
“Welcome”
Andre became a bit nervous and stood at the far end of the long conference table, his secretary taking Arianna’s standing beside him, about seven feets apart.
“Mr Andre, you may be a newbie in this business but I don’t expect you to be this unprofessional”Mr Connor, the representative stated bluntly with his mouth full of doughnuts.
Andre’s brow twitched, as his red eyes ran over the obese face of the speaker, the man was already eating the snacks like a hungry lion.
Andre found it difficult to let the insult slide and not insult him back, he forced a smile with his teeth clenched tightly, his eyes showing no amusement making it obvious.
“I promise you won’t regret working with us”.
He replied and clicked his finger.
“My assistant will give you a copy of my next project idea before we proceed”.
Jennifer quickly gave each of them a hard copy of the designs.
“Is this a joke, this looks like a sketch book”the second male asked.
“The thing is that my P.A….”He stopped, finding it difficult to talk about Arianna.
After the awkward silence treatment from him, Mr Connor broke the silence.
“I know we shouldn’t have come here, I recommended Evan’s Hitler’s fashion company, he may be a Hitler but he is not like his father when it comes to business”.
“I am sorry Mr Andre but you gave us no reason why we should choose you and not your brother, I saw a design of yours I thought we might work together but this …I don’t think you are ready”.
The woman among them by name Mrs. Wang stated.
“He should learn from his brother,” Mr Connor cuts in.
Andre laughed out this time, hands on his face, a nerve tighten in his jaw.
“Oh no, Boss, don't say anything rude”.
Jennifer whispered knowing his next reaction won’t be nice.
“You think you can come into my company and mock me you obese turkey….I don’t beg for your cooperation you can take your low budget Versace contract to my brother all I care now will you leave or I make you”.
Two sets of men in black suits and shades appeared from the two doorways in the conference room.
“What a brat”.
“I know he is always jealous of his brother”
Another said as they exited the room.
Jennifer followed afterwards.
As soon as she got to the staff’s room everyone had their eyes on her.
“I don’t think our company will survive this fall season, Our CEO is not a businessman, well he may be smart but customer service isn’t in his dictionary, no wonder his brother is more popular, and our management is …”
“Shhh the P.A is here”.
One of the listeners cautioned in a whisper.
Max was relieved to see Arianna, though he knew what awaits her after all the drama.
“Are you okay, your eyes swollen and dark circles…”
“I am fine, are they in the conference room?” Arianna interrupted quickly and brought out the flash drive from her bag. Max shook his head slowly and avoided eye contact.
“What?”
The word gasps from her throat.
She turned to the others and found them whispering stuff to anyone giving her a hate look, definitely mocking her.
“Thanks to you they’re gone”.
Alecia mouthed from her corner and stepped up, the sound of her heel as she approached Aurora matching the sound of Arianna’s heat beat racing.
“We just lost an opportunity to work for the biggest fast growing brand because you ruined it, I don’t even know why Andre made you. P.A the former CEO saw you and never promoted you because you are not more than just an extra employee”.
“Alecia that’s enough”Max cuts in.
“And here comes her little boyfriend”.
Everyone else laughed.
Max eyed Alecia loathly and turned to wet eyes Arianna.
“He is inside the conference room, explain things to him, don’t be scared” he assured her with a smile.
She nodded slowly and walked to the room.
Outside the door, the cigar smell was so much, she wondered how many packs he took.
With a deep breath in, she pulled the door open and found Andre alone in the dark, the room stinking of alcohol and cigars. She felt sad for him.
“I…I am …I am…..”
“The flash drive” Andre requested impatiently, he didn’t even look at her.
Arianna gave it to him, as soon as it got into his palm, he threw it at the wall in rage and dropped down on a seat.
Arianna’s heart skipped at the sound of that, she stared at the shattered metal with her eyes wide open then back to him.
“Get out”.
He stated head thrown backwards, his palm on his forehead.
Arianna opened her mouth but no words came out of it.
Slowly she walked out of the conference room, Alecia went in after giving her a dirty stare.
She got back to her department,all eyes were on her, Max approached.
“Did he fire you?”
“I wish he did” Arianna said with a smile as tears dropped down her cheeks, without saying another word she walked towards the escalator.
Max quickly brought his phone and dialed Tianna’s number.
Few minutes later, Tianna called her, she knew Max must have spoken to her so she ignored her calls but later at the end of the day, Tianna called again and she finally decided to answer. She spent the whole day trying to win back the CHESHIRE company’s trust and arrange another meeting.
“Hello”.
She said slowly heading out of the company.
“Girl, talk to me about what happened”.
“I don’t want to talk about it, please Tianna can you let me be”.
“First you ignored my calls, secondly you ignored Max throughout the day at work, you didn’t even let him drive you home”.
“Since when is it compulsory to go home with Max” Arianna snarled with an eye roll.
“Oh I know that tone, I am waiting for you at home just get back and we will talk”.
Tianna stated and hung up.
Arianna stopped at the pace.
She had waited for everyone to leave before her,but after what Tianna said, she made the decision to stay back at the company.
She texted her mother she won’t sleep at home that night.
With a sigh she turned round, strolled back to the company.
