Presentation Day

Her phone displayed 19 missed call notifications,

 She was jolted awake by the persistent knocking on her door. "I don't want room service," she mumbled and collapsed back to sleep.

Immediately after she drifted back to sleep, another call came through, sending shivers down her spine.

"Hello, hello," she mumbled groggily.

"Where are you?" The commanding voice on the other end sent shivers down her spine, and she immediately sat up in bed.

"I am on my way," she stammered, hastily ending the call. Panic set in, how can I have forgotten this meeting...

"Oh no, the presentation!" she exclaimed, rushing to get ready in a panic. "He is going to kill me."

She quickly entered the bathroom and came back out just as fast as she had gone in.

She wore a neat, official outfit and quickly packed the files into her document without wasting much time.

"Can you have some kind of seriousness in everything you do?" he exclaimed furiously. "I specifically instructed you to check in here by 8:30. Look at the current time! How could you be so negligent?" Mara kept her face buried, trying to avoid eye contact with him.

Thank goodness the meeting was postponed to the afternoon by the chief director, or else we would have lost this offer clearly like losers, he said.

"I overslept after I came back from the concert," Mara said.

"Concert? You went to a concert when I asked you to sit and go through all those files to have a perfect presentation… what do you think I brought you here for?" he said and hit the wall so hard that Mara got startled. She gulped nervously.

"Well, well, I can see there is some heated argument here between the boss and his worker," Mr. Green Wave said with a smile on her face, while Ann stood behind him with her face equally lowered down.

"May the best man win this offer today," he said, "which is obviously going to be me," he added, giving a stern look at them and pulling Ann in front of him as they walked away,

They entered the hall, a large theatre that was almost full. Max glanced around and chose to sit in the late row, just at the entrance, with Mara sitting beside him. The host began, and a few speeches were made by the chief director.

The host called for the first company to present their deal to the board members and other organizations present at the meeting.

"Good Afternoon, Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed board members, and other amazing business organizations present here, thank you for your time today.

Today, I bring before you a transformative opportunity to establish a strategic partnership with every business, a key player in our industry, that would help in the expansion of all aspects of our business."

Max frowned and looked at Mara, who was also equally shocked while staring right at the stage as Ann did her presentation. Mr. Green Wave, who sat down there, looked up at them with a smile on his face.

Dubai has a robust presence in markets we are all eager to tap into. Through a collaborative effort, we can all in partnerships leverage their distribution channels, enhancing our market reach to the top. This partnership not only ensures a mutual exchange of resources and expertise but also positions us as a formidable force in the industry.

Assistance can be provided to Dubai in order to enhance its tourism potential by bringing in additional resources.

It is a well-established fact that over one thousand tourists visit Dubai for its scenic beauty.

So, equally, as we are helping Dubai reach the market more attractively, each and every business will also boom…

She went on giving importance to this deal if they all agreed to go /with it.

Combining forces allows us to pool resources, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, Ann added.

Everyone stood up, applauding her. "This is good, we need to go with this deal," people started saying, and others nodded in agreement.

"I only bring out the best deal," Mr. Green Wave said proudly as he boasted and clapped with a heavy smile on his face.

"We don't need to hear the other deal proposals. Let's stick with this offer," declared a businessman, garnering support from others present.

Mr. Warren gave Mara an angry glare before storming out with great fury.

She stood there, his face looking awkward while staring at Ann without a blink. "How come they have the same deal as ours?" she muttered to herself, from word to word.

As they applauded her, Ann stood on the stage feeling unease with teary eyes…

"We will go for a brief break before the next deal will be presented," the host said.

"I trusted you with this offer, and what did you do? You decided to give it out to my opponent," Max said, heavily breathing with anger.

"I don't even know how they got to present the same thing as ours," Mara said, looking confused herself.

"How careless can you be? Couldn't you at least keep a file safe?" he said furiously. He giggled slightly, "How can I be this stupid to trust someone who doesn't read a file before signing? I've lost!" he added with a clenched fist.

"Sir, I can at least present ours," Mara said softly, with a tone of worry.

"How slow can you be? You want us to go and present a deal someone has already presented. You want me to look like a joke in front of other business gurus in this game. What will people say about the esteemed, Great Max Warren III, copying the same deal as his colleague? Do I look like a joke to you?" He furiously pounded the walls with his hands.

 "Hehehehe," Mr. Green Wave stated, laughing with his belly heaving up and down with each laugh.

 "Hmm, hmm," he cleared his throat, "looks like my opponents are trembling," he said and giggled. "How did you see the presentation over there?" he asked teasingly while still laughing. "Amazing, right?" he said. "I know, I know. Too bad you people can't compete," he added while still smiling. "Too bad, too bad," he nodded.