54 The Meeting (2)

Finding everyone's attention on her, Lina cleared her throat and began speaking. Her childishness was gone and in its place was her serious and cold face.

"Mr. Hitoshi and his team will arrive on Saturday morning and will be here in the office on Monday. I hope everyone treats him and his team with the respect that they deserve. LY may be the person who draws the designs but Hitoshi and his team bring them to life with their craftsmanship." She spoke seriously and saw everyone nod in agreement.

"Good. Moving on, we need to discuss the plans on the sale of the pieces. I've already spoken to Wade and LY and this is what we have come up with." She looked at Wade and seeing him nod, she continued to explain how the auction will take place.

She explained how each piece will be sold individually rather than in a set and also the rule of 'one person - one piece'.

"Smart move. This way the guests will compete among themselves and we rake up the profits." Old man Oswald laughed and complemented Lina.

"But we still need the drafts that will be put up for the auction. At least a couple of them, to get the attention of the media." Stuart said while rubbing his chin.

"That will not be a problem, Mr Hitoshi has the drafts and we can get them when he arrives on Monday." Lina solved that problem and faced Ivan Zhou.

"Mr Zhou, I would want the invites of the auction to first be sent to our loyal patrons and guests and only then should the news be published in the media. I hope that won't be a problem?" She looked at him seriously.

She wanted the ladies to use word of mouth to gain popularity among the socialites for the auction and only then announce it to the public. This way there would be much hype and discussion about her auction.

Ivan glanced at Wade to check whether he was okay with her plans and Wade just nodded in agreement.

'Nana is in her element, she completely forgot that she needs to run her plans and ideas by me.' Wade saw that she was looking at her laptop to see what to discuss next.

"The matter with the venue for the auction, that I will leave it to you Wade. You can handle that and once the venue is set, we can hand out the invites to our loyal patrons first." She heard Wade calling his Asst inside the room.

"Kirk, have you completed the task that I had given to you last night?" He asked Asst Kirk when he stepped into the room.

Kirk immediately passed out the files that were in his hand to everyone seated on the table. It contained the list of four hotels in the city that were known for their grandeur and exquisite beauty.

"Thank you, Kirk. We shall look into them and decide which one would suit our auction best and our budget too." He smiled at Oswald who was frowning looking at the list.

"Manager Shen, I would like to see a list of our loyal patrons on my desk before the day ends and give a copy of that to Ivan too." Wade gave out his orders to Anthony Shen, who jotted it down.

"We will also be sending an invite to all the big families in the city and also to a few in the surrounding cities. I'll handle that and after I prepare the final guest list, you can have a look at it and let me know if I have missed anyone." He spoke and all agreed.

Who would be better at this job than a Young Master from one of the big noble families.

"Director Wren, I was.."

*Beep Beep*

Wade was cut off by the loud ring on Lina's laptop.

She immediately rejected the incoming video call and asked Wade to proceed.

"I want you to get me a …"

*Beep Beep*

Once again the call request interrupted him.

"Just answer the call!" He said in an impatient voice and Lina just pouted and answered the call.

"Nana baby! Do you not miss daddy? Why do you keep rejecting my call!" As soon as the call connected, she heard her father Simon Yang whine like a little child.

"Daddy! I am in a meeting! Which is why I did not accept it!" She said like a teenager who was embarrassed by her father in front of her friends.

"My Nana is all grown now and she hates her father now! Darling, my baby girl hates me!" He spoke to Lina's mom who wasn't seen on the screen.

"She has always hated you. That isn't something new." She heard her mother so brutally crush her father's heart.

"Mommy! Don't add fuel to the fire. Daddy, you know I love you. I'm just busy at work right now." She coaxed her father who looked like he would cry in a moment's time.

She glared at Wade when she heard him snicker and that instantly shut him up.

Lina had completely forgotten about the others in the room. She looked around and saw them turn their heads away as they controlled their laughter.

"Simon?"

When Lina was glaring at Wade, Stuart Bai who was sitting right next to her saw the man in the video.

"Oh. If it isn't the Genius Stuart Bai." Lina heard her father say in a sarcastic tone.

She alternated between her father and Stuart who were staring at each other.

The sweet and loving voice that her father had spoken in earlier turned into a bland and uninterested voice.

"Wait! Lina is YOUR daughter?" Stuart screeched. He stared at Simon then at Lina and then at Wade who smiled and nodded at him.

"Of course she is my daughter! Look at her eyes, she got them from me! Aren't they pretty?" The daughter loving maniac was back once again.

Lina just banged her head on the table and covered her red face.

"Nana? Is this the oldie who bullied you?" Simon asked her and then glared at Stuart.

"Listen here, Bai. Just because I am not there does not mean that you can bully my little girl." His voice was menacing and cold.

'Now this is the Simon Yang that I knew! Who was that weirdo from earlier, who spoke like a spoilt child?' Stuart Bai returned to his senses when he felt Simon's intense glare through the screen.

"Hey! Tell him that I did not bully you!" He shook Lina who was still covering her face with her head on the table.

"Daddy! Way to blow my cover! Now I really am pissed! GOODBYE!" She then resolutely ended the call.

"Nooo…! Why did you do that?" Stuart wailed with a loud voice and tugged at his hair.

Lina was confused and bewildered at his behaviour and she looked at Wade. He just shrugged his shoulders indicating that he did not know why Stuart was acting this way.

Oswald Wren looked at everything happening and chuckled while shaking his head.

'Poor Stuart. He picked on the wrong person.'

Meanwhile, Ivan, Irene and Anthony were confused by everything that was happening around them.

'Why is the Director scared of Lina's dad? I've never heard of any Simon from the big families. Who can he be?' Anthony Shen looked at Lina who was trying to shake off Stuart's hands.

"That's enough, Director Bai! I'll handle this matter, so can we please continue?" Wade could not take any more of Stuart pleading Lina to call her father back and prove his innocence and decided to bring their attention back to the meeting.

Stuart nodded earnestly and sent a glare at Lina before calming himself down.

"As I was saying earlier, Director Wren I want a report of which hotel would be best for our auction by the end of the day. Also get a few pictures of their biggest banquet halls and how many people they can accommodate." Wade assigned them their duties.

"Ivan, prepare a draft of how you plan on releasing the news to the media and also the invites by tomorrow." He received a nod and moved to the next department.

"LY plans on releasing pieces for the flagship stores as well. This will happen after the auction, so get me a list of all our stores. The pieces will be limited edition and sold only in the top 5 stores." He spoke to the Marketing department and they nodded.

"Lina, you are incharge of showing Mr. Hitoshi around since you are already acquainted with his team." He said and looked at his watch.

It's been two hours since the meeting started and he had other meetings to attend soon after this one.

"Let's end it here. Everyone, take each other's help if you need and let's get the planning done by this week." He shut his laptop and handed it to Kirk.

"I will be out of the city from Friday. Our next meeting will be held when I get back on Monday. Make sure that all your proposals are flawless so that you don't waste my time." He commanded and walked out of the conference hall with Asst Kirk following him.

'Don't waste time, my ass! He just doesn't want to do extra work.' Lina rolled her eyes.

"Ahem.." She cleared her throat and got the attention of everyone who was packing up their stuff to leave.

"Can we all just forget about the super embarrassing call that happened?" She gave a winning smile to everyone.

Ivan and Irene smiled and nodded while Old man Oswald just looked at her for a long time without responding.

'Oohkaay… Moving on to the next one.' She faced Anthony and smiled sweetly.

"What call?" He played along and received a high five from Lina.

She then turned to Stuart Bai and waited for his answer.

"Can you all give us a little privacy?" The ever frowning Stuart Bai was back and he politely asked everyone to leave.

They just nodded and walked out. Anthony gave one last look at Lina and saw her pleading eyes.

'Take me along! Don't leave me alone with this man!'

But her pleas were rejected when he mouthed 'Sorry' and hurried out.