Prep for the conference meeting

She was allowed to enter the building and spotted Mr. Warren sitting with crossed legs on one of the sofas. She rolled her eyes and reluctantly walked over to him.

"You are here," he said, standing up.

"It seems you can't live a day without me, huh?" she retorted.

 "Check those things over there to see if they will fit me well," he said.

"What? I came all the way here to check dresses out for you," Mara exclaimed. Nevertheless, she didn't say anything more and silently strode towards the aisle to inspect more suits.

 He raised a white suit to his level. "What do you think about this suit?" he asked.

 "Good," Mara murmured with a low voice, without looking up to see what he was talking about.

"Hey, do you want a salary deduction?" he said, causing her to promptly lift her head and approach him.

"I didn't study fashion design at the university," she said, almost on the verge of tears.

"I forgot you have a bad outfit choice," he said and looked away.

Mara glanced down at her two-piece faded outfit. It was a dress his dad had bought her for her fifteenth birthday. It still looked good on her and fit well.

"Why do you want me here then?" she said and shook her head.

She looked through the things while sitting down and gave him a side-eye from time to time.

 "Miss, I was asked to bring you these clothes to try on," the lady said.

Mara looked around, "I'm not sure I'm the one, I'm only here for a watch," she said with a smile.

"Mr. Warren requested that I bring these," the lady insisted as she handed them over to her.

"Try them out," she said, leading Mara to the dressing room.

Mara wore one dress, a fitted black shirt with white sleeves. She came out, feeling herself, and the lady applauded approvingly.

 "You look good in the dress," the lady remarked. Mara shyly smiled.

 At the far end, Max lifted his head to gaze at her. With a brightness lifting on her face, Mara looked stunning. From afar, she gazed at him, only for him to immediately look away.

"You have to try another one, miss," the lady said.

"Sure," Mara said and went into the dressing room to wear the next dress.

"This looks fabulous on you," the lady praised her for the second dress she had worn—a flowery straight dress that complemented her skin color.

She went in and wore the next dress, and the next, while the lady gave her the best positive remarks for each one she wore. Max stole a glance at her from time to time.

These are all the dresses ma'am, the lady said and handed them to the guard who stood behind them….

"What about the ones over there?" Mara pointed to the suits that Mr. Warren had asked her to go through earlier.

"They are not part of the dresses. Mr. Warren was only looking through samples that would later be designed and sent to him," the lady explained.

"Oh," Mara said, realizing her misunderstanding. "So, how much is it going to cost?"

"The dresses Miss Mara tried on are going to cost 2 million dollars," the lady replied just as Mr. Warren walked over to them.

"What!? 2 million dollars for just those 5 dresses?" Mara exclaimed, shocked and surprised.

"My man would sort you out," Max said.

"No, no," Mara said, "they are too expensive. Can we bargain?" She looked up at Max and then rushed to the lady. "Please, can you reduce it?" The lady stood firmly, "I'm sorry, we don't offer discounts."

And Mara went and took the bags from the guard and gave them to her, saying, "I'm sorry, we can't buy it."

"Okay, we will reduce it by 3," the lady said.

"No, no, we can only pay 1.2," Mara insisted.

"1.7," the lady countered.

 "No, 1.2," they went back and forth until she finally agreed to the 1.2.

 "Thanks for doing business with us," Mara said with a grin.

Max stood there and shook his head at what he had just witnessed.

"You see," Mara whispered in his ears, "I'm sure she intentionally increased the price because of you." She chuckled.

 "Thank you for the clothes," Mara said as they walked out. "How do I pay you in return?"

"Do you want to pay me?" Max asked, leaning closer to her. She gasped nervously.

"You don't have to," he said. "I will deduct it from your monthly salary."

"What, are you kidding me? I didn't say I wanted any clothes. We can send them back. We aren't far away from the store," she said. "I don't even like expensive clothes like that."

 "It's too late," he said, walking quickly. Mara stood there without moving, with a smirked face. "I hate this man," she said. "Thank God I asked them to reduce the money," she added reluctantly, dragging herself to follow him. Max smiled and continued to walk.

 "The crowd is outside mentioning his name with praises. His car is already waiting for him outside, with guards guiding him to the car without the crowds getting to them," "Why don't you go and take pictures with them?" Mara suggested while standing beside the car

"Not with all of them," he said.

"Why are you behaving like you are more important than them?" she said, looking around at the crowded people shouting his name with praises.

"If I am not, would they have been here?" Max replied.

She tried opening the car to enter, but it was locked from inside. "Can you at least open up?" she said.

Max slowly shook his head, "I didn't come here with you. You can at least take a picture with each of them since you think it is easy," he said and instructed the car to go and lowered the glass up.

"How rude," Mara said while struggling to hold the shopping bags.

"Oh, Mr. Mood, you are here. At least a more familiar and kind face is here with me," Mara said and glanced at Max, who was flipping through some files in the corner of the room.

Mr. Mood slightly giggled, but the look on Mr. Warren's face made him shut his mouth.

"Yes, I am, but I would leave here tomorrow by the first flight back home to go to the company. I only came here to give you some documents to go through before the presentation day," he said.

Mara walked to his desk and took the document from him. She sat beside him and went through the document, discussing what the company wants to present before the board members and the people of Dubai. They had a few discussions on how Mara should present and what to do during the presentation.