The Annual Dinner Event.

"The contract has been successfully signed, Leader!" One of the members of group A said with a smile. It was a bearded man who looked slightly older than the twenty-something-year-old Allicia.

"You have done a great job, leader! Congratulations on your first success!" Another one echoed and Allicia blushed.

She smiled and faced every member of the group. "I did nothing on my own, everyone played a great role that worked towards the success of the proposal" she uttered.

The members of the group applauded her, she was not just smart but also humble, they could not help but genuinely find her pleasing to the eyes. While the group was jubilating for their success, a cold snort suddenly reached their ears.

"It seems that since group A got a new leader, they have become so free. While other groups are working hard on the proposal, you all are idling around"

Allicia frowned and turned around only to see Marie standing by the entrance of her group with a disdainful scowl on her face. Seeing that it was just Marie and not someone of importance, Allicia fully turned to face her and revealed a pleasant smile.

"Are you sure you are not mistaken, group leader B? Who is idling around here? Intruding other people's groups, what are you attempting? You want to snitch on my group's plans and ideas to use them for your group?" She fluently accused and for a moment, Marie was shaken by the accusation.

"What are you talking about?!" Marie's complexion turned ugly, she gritted her teeth and glared at Allicia.

Allicia was not bothered by the woman, she simply shrugged.

"Simply saying what this feels like to me. Anyone would have thought that you are spying on them if you go about standing at their door uninvited. Just so you know, it is an offence punishable under the law of this country. Trespass, that is what a crime like this is called." she uttered and eyed the woman coldly. She could be very respectful and humble but when a person crosses her line repeatedly, she wouldn't hesitate to not give them a face!

"You–!" Marie was speechless, her entire face distorted with anger. She glared at Allicia and thought that she was just a young girl but she already has such a venomous tongue with no regard for the elderly! This made her find Allicia more displeasing to the eyes. Allicia's arrogance and rudeness towards her only fuel her anger.

"Just watch! You can keep gallivanting with your team now, I am waiting for you to lose the proposal and you will come back crawling in tears. I will see if you can laugh like this then!" The woman spat.

The members of group A were naturally displeased with this woman, they were merely showing her face by not talking back at her since she came but when she continuously insulted their leader, some of them could no longer hold back their retaliation.

"I am sorry, you will have to wait until forever before anyone crawls back to you in tears! Our leader already signed a fifty-fifty profit share with Microm Tech! The contract was just sent back a while ago and it had received confirmation! I bet your information is quite backdated!" The bearded man spat first in anger.

"Exactly! We have already closed the deal so what is she talking about?" A young lady echoed after the man.

"Crying back to you? Not even in your dream!" Another man spat.

"I think it is you who will run back in tears to your dysfunctional group and look for a way to close a good deal for the company!" The second woman in the group voiced.

"Yes, yes! At least, we members of group A have always lived up to our name, unlike some people. I see them getting demoted to group C very soon!" Someone said.

"I can't agree more!" The others echoed and nodded in agreement.

"All of you–!" Marie pointed at the people who spoke, her face flushed in anger and she rushed back to her office. Allicia looked at her team members and smiled, she always loved it when her people knew how to fight back!

Her policy had always been like this, when someone bites you, bite them back! Whatever method they used to attack you, double it! Back in the orphanage, she was known as the "little tyrant".

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Marie asking her group members for information about the contract. It did not take long for her face darkened and she begin dishing out instructions and pointing fingers at others.

"Tsk tsk, some people are going to work all through the night while we go home to enjoy the comfort of our beds. Ah, it is a blessing to have a leader like ours!" A young lady named Julie said.

"Julie is right. Leader, what you don't know is that, in the past, we have always been made to endure bullying, especially from that woman. To avoid disturbance in the department, our previous leader would make us keep quiet and accept insults. This time, we just could no longer bear with it. We apologize if we have caused you trouble" The bearded man said and gave a polite bow.

"No, you all did right. You cannot show yourselves that you are easily bullied" Allicia voiced and smiled at the team.

"Yes, the leader is right!"

Allicia nodded and returned to her office. While everyone left the office at the closing hour, she stayed back a bit to complete the contracting procedure before she sent her secretary to submit the completed contract. Only when she was certain that the contract had reached the appropriate desk for confirmation that she stood up to leave the office.

Just as she was about to get into the elevator, she bumped into Patrick. The man showed her a bright smile before walking towards her.

"Hey!" Patrick said and waved at her.

"Hello," Allicia nodded and politely smiled back. She walked into the elevator and Patrick followed suit.

"You are going home already?" Patrick asked with a slight smile.

"Yeah"

"Lucky you…" the man grunted and Allicia cocked her brows.

"You are not leaving yet?" She asked him.

"Yeah… my department has been working on the fliers for the company's annual dinner event that is coming up next week. Our previous designs for the fliers have been rejected. It is so tiring" Patrick explained.

"Annual dinner event?" Allicia asked arching her brows.

"Yeah. Oh, right! You don't know about this? The company's annual dinner event is always held at this time of every year. Apart from the end of the year ceremony, it is only at the annual dinner event that the big boss of our company makes an appearance. So, every employee in the company is always looking forward to the dinner. I mean, it is not exactly the dinner that everyone is anticipating but, the appearance of our mysterious big boss. I am telling you, you will even be surprised when you eventually see him at the dinner. I bet you will also have your eyes on him like all the ladies in this company" Patrick teased playfully.

Allicia heard him and rolled her eyes. "That is not possible, okay," she said.

"Allicia, I am telling you, the man is a feast to the eyes. But, it's a pity that the ladies in our company cannot have him, there is a rumour that he has a fiance already" Patrick said with a sigh.

Allicia did not really care about this mysterious big boss, she merely smiled and patted her lips.

"Good for him" she uttered.

Following a ding sound, the elevator stopped and the door opened. Allicia stepped out of the elevator and walked to the exit of the company. She walked out of the company and parted ways with Patrick. She flagged down a taxi at the entrance of the company. She remembered that she wanted to get some clothes for her babies so she told the driver to take her to the city mall.