At the Office
As soon as they finished with the stickers, the siblings decided to take a break before demonstrating their system to the CEO.
‘Clara, can you please hold your tongue when we go upstairs. Leave the talking to me.’ Max pointedly looked at her.
She huffed, ‘Yes, boss.’ she said sarcastically, ‘What? I can be nice.’
The boys shook their heads. This was one instance where they hoped she would hold her tongue until they got the deal.
Max demonstrated the system effortlessly. Highlighting the main points of how the cameras worked, showing him how the night vision cameras work by using one of the unoccupied dark conference rooms. It was like seeing everything in the room in broad daylight, and he was proud of what they offered. Jeremy had designed their cameras and everything else they were using right now.
He was a bit annoyed when he realized the CEO had not been paying attention to him the entire time but instead had been staring at his sister. It was like Mr. Colfer was entranced, and everything his sister said was fascinating. He could see it in his eyes, the wonderment and adoration of a man that was attracted to someone.
‘How much would it take for you to transfer to my company?’ Sebastian asked after Clara’s presentation.
‘Are you poaching me right now?’ Clara asked, offended.
‘Let me tell you, we come in a package, all three of us. So it will not work,’ his sister added.
‘Not them, just you. I will give you a top-of-the-line research facility with highly trained people at your disposal,’ Sebastian challenged.
‘Oh shit! The CEO is attracted to Clara? WTF?’ He smiled sheepishly and looked at Jeremy. He waggles his eyebrows and grins at the two CEOs butting heads. ‘Ooohhh.. Look at these two. Something is happening, and I cannot wait for Clara to kick his ass.’
‘You can’t afford me. I already own 30% of this company,’ she stared at Sebastian, her jaw clenched.
‘How do you think we came up with this technology? I already have that top-of-the-line research facility you are talking about. Plus, I am not for sale,’ she smirked.
‘My bad! I apologize for my indiscretion.’ He shrugged. ‘I did not say you were for sale. I just wanted to see how dedicated you are to staying in San Jose. You know, I was thinking, maybe I could entice you to move to San Diego? This city can use someone like you, and I’d rather you worked for my company than anybody else’s.’ He stares at her pointedly.
‘Still not for sale,’ she was now pissed off more than ever, ‘Don’t you know when to quit?’ she said a little too brusquely.
Max stepped in before Clara blew the deal for them. “What Clara, Uhm... Ms. Johnson meant that she really loves our company because she helped build it from scratch. She is not thinking of going anywhere soon.”
‘Fine, fine! I’m sorry. It’s just that some people just need the right price, and they’re willing to do anything,’ Sebastian replied.
‘Not Ms. Johnson. She’s very loyal to SST. So, Mr. Colfer, we’ll leave you to play with the new system and let us know if you think we missed anything.’ Max folded his laptop, ready to head out before Clara exploded.
‘Again, I apologize. Why don’t we throw this conversation under the rug? I would like to invite all of you to join me for dinner to compensate for my mistake,’ Sebastian said apologetically.
‘I was thinking of bringing all of you to the “V”. I’m not sure if you are familiar with that restaurant, but I heard that they have the best steak in town. I haven’t been there lately, but this is a wonderful occasion to celebrate, don’t you think?’ Clara had that stony-eyed look on her face and knew that he should not have pushed her too much. ‘Please say you’ll come,’ he invited.
‘No!’ she says. ‘Yes!’ says Max and Jeremy in unison. That was two against one. She rolls her eyes at them.
Max raises both his eyebrows at Jeremy and smiles sheepishly. ‘Damn! Mr. Colfer, don’t be too obvious. I wonder what you want from my sister, though? You’re trying to flirt with her while we’re here, dude,’ he thought.
Clara was sitting across from them on the table, and she was shaking her head and mouthing to them, ‘No! We’ll just go by ourselves.’ She pursed her lips together and frowned.
Max pleaded with her to go, ‘Please, please, please, you promised we were having dinner somewhere fancy.’ But all he got was a glare.
Jeremy followed with, ‘Yeah, please, please, please. Plus, weren’t we….’ Clara widens her eyes at him to shut him up. They were eating at the same restaurant before they left, and now Mr. Colfer invited himself to rain on their parade.
‘Fine! We’re going! Such a bunch of kids. You’re getting it from me later,’ she said with her older sister, annoyed voice.
‘We’ll meet you there at 7,’ she said, looking at Sebastian and turning to walk out the door, pushing Max and Jeremy out with her. ‘You guys are in big trouble,’ she mumbles to them.
-=-
The siblings headed back to their hotel and decided to have lunch at the cafe located on the ground floor of their hotel. After checking all of their emails and calling the office for any updates, they took a quick nap. Afterward, so they would have enough energy for their nighttime activity.
‘Hey guys, I want to be there at 6:30, so we can take pictures. I want to show those foos back home where we’re going,’ Max reminds them.
He acted like he was still in college, hanging out with his friends. At SST, they required everyone to dress business casual most days, but being part owners allowed them to occasionally break the rules.
The rule was, as long as they didn’t come dressed in their pajamas and beach attire, the staff could dress as casually as they wanted. Clara wanted it to be in an environment where everyone felt comfortable and didn’t need to put on airs.
This was because most of the people working for them were from local orphanages or student workers. Their salaries usually went to their studies or lodgings, and she did not want them to feel pressured to spend hard-earned money on fancy clothing.
Clara only had one exception. When there were presentations, they required everyone involved in that project to dress their best. That way, people do not underestimate them.
As for the rest, the technicians and other people who visit the sites have uniforms provided to eliminate the confusion of being mistaken for intruders.
Clara’s personal philosophy was that clothes do not make the person. SST employees give it their all, no matter what background they came from.