The Meeting (1)

When they reached the conference hall in the Marketing Department, luckily no one had arrived.

"You okay Nana? I told you that we did not need to hurry to work." Wade pulled the chair for her and kneeled in front of Lina, handing her the water bottle that was on the table.

"I'm fine! It wasn't that scary." She waved her hand and greedily drank the water.

Wiping the water that dripped down her chin, she smiled at him weakly.

Because Mandy and Lucille had delayed them, Lina had asked Derek to drive faster so that they may reach the office before time.

Though they arrived before anyone else, Lina's legs were shaking and Wade had to support her while they were in the elevator.

But as soon as the doors opened, she stood straight and confidently walked to the conference room.

The moment Wade closed the door and brought her to a chair, she collapsed in it and the tremors in her legs were visible once again.

"You are the President, Dummy! Let them wait for you and not the other way around." He knocked on her head with his knuckles and she rubbed her forehead while pouting.

"I know what would be best for my tummy that feels like it's been on a roller coaster ride!" She dug through her purse and fished out the ziploc with the dried strawberry slices.

'These are so sour yet sweet!' She sucked on the slices with her eyes closed.

Seeing that she wasn't watching, Wade slowly sneaked his hands towards the bag that she placed on the table.

"Don't even think about it." Right when he was about to succeed, Lina agilely snatched it away.

"Nana, my good sister, please let me have a few pieces. I'll take you around the city after I come back from my meeting next week." He pleaded and it seems to work, as Lina tossed the bag into his hands.

Just as Wade stuffed four pieces of the strawberry slices into his mouth, the door opened and an ever frowning Stuart Bai walked in with Irene Zhou by his side.

They were busy talking about something and hence did not witness Wade rapidly chewing the slices in his mouth and snatching Lina's water bottle to help him swallow them.

'Idiot!' Lina just turned away and hid her face to stop her laughter.

"Good day Director Bai and Assistant Director Zhou." He greeted them after he regained his composure.

Like always Irene Zhou had a gentle smile on her face when she greeted them while Stuart Bai first nodded to Wade and then looked at Lina and made a 'hmph' sound.

'Childish!' Lina just smirked at him and saw him turn his face away when his tough act was not working on her.

"Who else has to come?" Lina asked Wade in a normal professional voice. No one would guess that they were fighting over food just a few minutes back.

"We are waiting for Manager Shen and the Directors of Finance and PR to arrive. We still have a few more minutes." He said and sat down on the head's position.

Lina paced around the room to exercise her legs that were trembling earlier and Stuart and Irene sat on either sides of Wade at the large table.

"Will you stop moving around and just sit down!" Stuart growled at her and she looked at him and pointed to her legs.

"My feet fell asleep on my ride to the office. This will take just a few minutes." She smiled innocently at him.

"Just let her be." Wade spoke up while checking his emails and heard a 'hmph' in return.

When she finished the second lap of the room and turned, the door was wide open and she could see what was happening outside.

She saw a tall and lean man walking towards her while talking on his phone. His eyes were on the folder in his hands but he walked perfectly without crashing into anyone around him.

The air around her seemed to slow down when she saw him look right at her. He gave a gentle smile and walked into the room.

"Sorry I am late." He greeted everyone in the room and turned towards her,

"And you are?" He gave her a charming smile and stretched his hand out.

'Yummy! Good Lord look at that stubble and those pink lips! I wanna take a bite!!!' She was lost in her lewd thoughts and forgot about shaking his hand.

She saw him give her a lopsided grin and this woke her up.

She looked around the room and saw that Anthony Shen had also come in sometime when she was embarrassing herself.

"She's our new marketing consultant, Lina Yang." Wade stood up from his seat and walked towards them.

He nodded at the man and turned to Lina and glared at her which made her give him an awkward smile.

'This girl drools at every hot guy.' He cursed her stupid behaviour and faced that man again.

"Lina, meet Ivan Zhou. He's the Director of our PR Department." He introduced the man and this time Lina accepted his hand when he extended it. His strong and warm palm held hers and she shook it.

"Firm handshake. I like that in a woman." He said and laughed when he saw her blush.

"Ivan, will you stop teasing the kid." Came a deep voice from behind and they saw an old man probably in his sixties walking in.

The old man stood in front of her and looked at her from top to bottom.

"I'm Oswald Wren, the Director of Finance here. Lina Yang, huh? I remember someone who looked just like you..." He did not continue any further and sat down beside Irene.

The people who were waiting for him to say who Lina resembled were left in suspense and they looked at him to find out who it was.

"What? I forgot! You can't expect an old man like me to remember everything." Oswald said when he saw everyone's curious gaze on him.

Lina and Wade let out the breath they were holding because of what the old man had said earlier.

Sitting down beside Director Bai, she smiled at Anthony Shen who sat next to her. Wade sat on the main seat and Irene, Oswald and then Ivan sat opposite to her.

"Now that everyone is acquainted, let's begin our meeting for today." Wade declared and everyone's expression became serious.

"I've called for a meeting today to discuss the new collection that our star designer LY has completed." As Wade spoke, the twinkle in everyone's eyes was clearly visible.

LY was the pride of Obsidia because a single piece of his high end collection would fetch them enough money for the company to function for a quarter. They never had cash flow problems because of his designs.

Though they did not know whether LY was a man or a woman, most of them regarded LY as a mysterious man.

"Did LY contact you?" Irene asked excitedly. She loved every single one of LY's designs and was a huge fan.

"Yes and LY's team will arrive by the end of this week." As soon as Wade said this, loud gasps were heard all around.

Lina wondered what the matter was and looked at Anthony asking him what happened with her eyes.

"LY's team has never come here before. They only sent the finished products, but now they will be here. That's a big deal for us!" He whispered excitedly.

Lina nodded her head in understanding.

'Of course they never came here because I never came here before.'

"So can we see the drafts of LY's designs?" Stuart Bai asked because it was his department's work to deal with the publicity of the collection.

"I would like to ask our new consultant to take over. Lina?" Wade tossed the question to her, leaving her bewildered.

'Now how am I supposed to answer this?" She glared at him and saw him smile reassuringly.

"Didn't LY discuss the new collection with you? Why don't you let everyone know about it." He hinted at her.

'Ohhh.. Got it!' She recomposed herself.

"Right. I forgot, my bad." She looked around and apologized.

"What do you mean she spoke to LY? How are they even connected?" Stuart Bai asked the question which was in everyone's mind.

"Well, we've known each other since forever, so of course LY told me about it." She made up a story which was true in a sense.

"Yes, who do you think recommended her for the consultant job?" Wade backed up her story and received an appreciative nod from Lina.

'Wow big bro! I did recommend myself for the job. Way to twist reality!' She saw everyone look at her in a different light now.

"Hmmm.. If it's LY who wanted you to join the company, then I can support that decision." Stuart Bai spoke in a soft voice but Wade, who was sitting right beside him, heard him clearly.

'But when it was me who brought her in, you couldn't accept that?' Wade glared at Stuart.

"Okie, let's move forward." Lina did not want another fight to start between these two. So she spoke about the main topic of today's meeting.