La Lumière

Everyone spun to see who had disturbed their meeting in such a rude way.

Lina first looked at Wade's frowning face and then turned towards the door.

She saw a woman dressed in a black short skirt paired with a bright red dangerously low necked top standing at the doorway.

She took a few steps forward with her heels making loud clicking sounds in the silent room.

"Oh, am I late?" She looked around the room and saw everyone's ticked off faces.

"That may be because no one bothered to notify me about this meeting." She gave Anthony and Irene a wicked smile and then turned towards Wade.

'Who wears sunglasses indoors?' Though Lina loved the woman's style, she felt that the glasses were a bit too much.  

She took off the big shades unhurriedly and looked at him with a wide smile.

'Well someone's got a flair for dramatics!' Lina rolled her eyes seeing her actions.

They were on the 22nd floor and she could have removed her sunglasses in the elevator rather than taking them off dramatically before everyone else. 

"Hello, VP Luo. Please forgive my impudence." She slightly bowed her head and flashed a smile at Wade.

"Just find a seat for yourself, Ms. Kang. You are interrupting our meeting." Wade spoke in a sharp tone and the woman's smile instantly fell.

She nodded and looked around the room. 

The only seat vacant was beside Leon and she frowned before walking towards that seat.

"Psst.." Lina signaled Anthony and he leaned towards her when he saw her movements.

"What is it?" He whispered in a low voice.

"Who's that?" She glanced at the new woman and Anthony too looked at her.

"That's Maxene Kang, our research analyst. The office next to yours belongs to her." He enlightened her and sat straight once again.

Lina just nodded and observed her as she switched on the laptop and got ready for the meeting.

Wade then looked at Old man Oswald and went back to what he was about to say before he was interrupted.

"Mr. Oswald, please share with us the result of the task that I had put you in charge of," Wade asked him and Oswald nodded his head.

He looked at his assistant who went forward and projected something on the screen attached to the wall.

"We had three hotels in mind for the auction. The Tremonte, The Pontiac, and finally La Lumière." As Oswald spoke, the images of the three hotels were displayed on the screen.

"And which one have you decided on?" Wade questioned him.

"After careful consideration," Oswald began.

'Which translates to which one offered him a better price.' Wade taunted in his mind. 

"Our team has come to the conclusion that La Lumière is the best choice for us." He proudly declared and looked around to see their reactions.

La Lumière was one of the biggest and most popular hotels in the city. Getting a reservation there would be next to impossible thanks to their high demand and long waiting lists.

But luckily, when Oswald's assistant persuaded him to at least give the place a call to try their luck, the hotel's manager informed them that their banquet hall was available.

So Oswald asked for an appointment with the manager for today evening to discuss further details if Wade did not have any issue with the venue that he had selected.

"La Lumière? Isn't that place very expensive? Are we 100% sure that we want to hold the auction there?" Maxene Kang spoke up when she heard this.

 Earlier, she had asked Leon to fill her in on the agenda of this meeting.

Since she was away on a business tour, she had no clue about what they were discussing in today's meeting. 

She had just entered the building when someone had informed her that all the important members were in a meeting with the VP right now and so she rushed to the conference hall.

Oswald looked at her with a frown but did not say anything. He just gestured his assistant to play the video.

In the one minute video being played, the best banquet hall of La Lumière, the Opal Hall was beautifully portrayed. It was a huge hall with more than adequate space required for the auction.

The stage, seating area, and dining area were all extravagant and impressive.

This video was sent by the hotel's manager who was overjoyed when he learned that Obsidia wished to host an auction for its jewelry in their hotel.

"It's all grand and beautiful, but will it fit our budget?" Maxene asked when the video ended.

"Ms. Kang, let the Finance Department bother about it. Please don't disturb Director Wren again." Wade finally chided her for interrupting Old man Oswald.

She just bowed her head and looked at her laptop.

'What's her problem? It's not like my company lacks the funding needed!' Lina was pissed at this woman's lack of confidence in her company.

"I've even prepared a report on La Lumière being the perfect choice for this auction. Please take a look at it." Oswald Wren gestured to the file placed before everyone and they picked it up.

Lina was pleased, looking at the detailed report that Oswald had prepared.

"Looking at that video and your report, I am satisfied with La Lumière. Everyone is in favor of Director Wren's choice?" Wade inquired and particularly looked at Maxene who reluctantly nodded because everyone else was nodding.

"Director Zhou," Wade called out and both Ivan and Irene turned towards him.

Leon and Lina both stifled their laugh when they saw this confusion because they both had the same last name.

Lina had come to know the reason behind this, at last night's dinner. 

She recalled the scene from last night where she was with Irene and Julia as they were resting after singing to their heart's desire.

She then began ogling at Ivan who was singing with Leon on the stage and had called him 'yummilicious' out loud.

Julia giggled at her remark but Irene made a sound like she was about to barf.

When Lina looked at her with confusion, Julia softly whispered something in her ear.

"Director Zhou is Miss Irene's older brother." She then went on a laughing spree, looking at Lina's stunned and dumbfounded face.

As it turns out, they both have the same last names because Ivan was Irene's elder brother. He was just a year older than Irene.

'Ivan and Irene Zhou! How did I not connect the dots there?' She chuckled.

"You are so lucky to have such a handsome brother!" She hugged Irene and squealed giddily.

If only her three eye candy brothers heard this statement, they would definitely bawl their eyes out.

---

"Director Ivan." Wade clarified and brought Lina back to the present.

"How are the invites looking?" Wade asked him and Ivan passed around a black envelope to everyone.

The envelope contained a golden invitation card that had all the information about the auction with only the time, date, and venue slots empty. The back had the rules for the auction that needed to be followed at all costs.

One invite permitted one person with a plus one. This ensured the limited seats for the auction and also increased its exclusivity. 

"VP Luo has already sent the list of families that he wants to invite." He gestured to Wade who gave him a nod then looked at Anthony.

"Director Shen has given the list of patrons that will receive the invites first." He then looked at Lina.

"As Ms. Yang had mentioned, first the patrons will receive the invites, then the media and the big families." Lina smiled and nodded at this.

The first set of invites would be sent out as soon as the venue was booked and then after a couple of days when the hype increased, there would be a press meet to officially announce the auction.

"Director Wren, coordinate with Ivan and send out the invites when the venue is confirmed," Wade instructed and peeked at his watch.

"What's with these rules? We can't earn anything if we follow them!" Maxene pointed out when she read the instructions on the invite.

"In my opinion, this rule would just lower the competition and decrease our sales." She said haughtily when she noticed everyone's attention on her.

'She's putting down Nana's ideas!' Wade glared at her.

'This idiot calls herself a Research Analyst but she doesn't understand how the demand and supply chain works.' Old man Oswald just rolled his eyes.

"Plus Talia's would never do such a thing!" She confidently said and everyone frowned.

'Here she goes again!' Everyone present had the same thought in their minds.

'Talia's? Where have I heard that name before?' Lina was sure that she had heard that name someplace but she just couldn't recall where.