Chapter 50

"yes he looked upon my qualifications and appointed me as his secretary ", my eyes widened in shock "Oh sorry, I mean manager ", he corrected his statement.

I sighed "You almost scared me ", I turned around to another familiar voice. On examining I realized it was Sonia, I quickly hugged her and introduced both of them to each other as they looked at each other quite indifferently.

"Okay, now I'll leave both of you pretty ladies to have your time ", Dan waved us a final goodbye and left.

"I'm glad James is replaced by him ", I hated James so much but couldn't stop her from using his name, Sonia definitely didn't seem normal. She was blushing since the moment he left. "Did you notice, he called us pretty ?", she hopped out of excitement.

I coughed dramatically, "Yeah, he did. I sense someone crushing on the newbie already. He's a nice guy, I assure ", I winked.

"I saw this guy and totally forgot the purpose of me being here, are you free this Saturday after lunch?"

"Yeah, I am. If Mr. Reynolds doesn't indulge me in some work. If I am free, you have my word. ", I replied after scrolling over the virtual calendar in my mind.

"Let's go for shopping past movie than ", she didn't ask me but in fact told me. I quickly nodded meaning a yes as this was the first time my new friend has asked me something so I simply couldn't say a no. I pointed my thumb towards my cabin meaning that I should keep going, she agreed and left.

I comforted myself in my cabin, drank a sip of water from my bottle, and focused over the spam folder in my mailbox. I opened and read all of them inquiring closely that none of them was as important. "Hello, This is Amanda Waters ", I picked up the telephone before the second bell.

"Come to my cabin without wasting a second ", I rushed at once and got in after taking permission. He didn't look at me making my presence irrelevant.

"Sir ", I said in a tone louder than my original. He looked up and refocused his attention towards the laptop.

"Miss Waters, here's the PowerPoint presentation with every detail of our new launch in the field of soft drinks, I want you to study the presentation. I've mailed you the detail of each slide, you've to be the speaker ."

"Me -what ?", I questioned startled.

"You-yes. I am audible enough, right ?", he rhetorically questioned.

"I need time for that ", I cleared my throat.

"Yes, you have 2 hours until the visitors arrive. Take your time but make sure you're fluent enough. Go through every detail in the mail, I don't want you to present without having any idea about the products line "

I nodded "I'll try my best "

"I want the best, Miss Waters ", I turned around and made way towards my cabin. I unbolted the window of my cabin before unlocking my laptop. I opened the mail and pinned it after saving it so that I could compare it with the PowerPoint presentation. I tried learning everything making gestures with my hand so that I didn't look like a parrot and made a fool out of myself during the presentation.

I learned and over learned as I wanted it to be the best, I wanted to make him proud and get out of the clumsy tag and enter in his good books. I wanted to start fresh and let go of the past, to leave behind every time we fought or when he was intolerant.I settled my hairs preceding towards my dress when it was 10 minutes left.

I made my way towards the conference room which was on the third floor, I was shocked when I encountered Sonia there . "hey again ", I waved "Didn't expect you with the board of directors "

"I am here to give clear cut information regarding accounting policies and standards ", she was brilliant in that field so I smiled off cutting our conversation and revising over the content I had to present. I took a glimpse over the enormous conference room which had a long rectangular shape table surrounded by chairs throughout.

It had a projector afar, clear enough to match everyone's vision. Many men and women sat there silently waiting for the presentation to begin. Now, I knew what exactly pin-drop silence stated by my teacher of 1st grade meant. "Good evening sir ", everyone stood up in synchronization as they greeted Mr. Reynolds.

"Good evening ", he tightened his tie and sat on the chair which was situated in the middle, which confronted every chair. I took a seat next to him, not because it was vacant or because I wanted to smell his exquisite cologne but because I was his secretary as everyone knew.

"So my brilliant employees who all expertise in some field, the board members and other visitors, we have gathered here to discuss upon our new product line launch. My Secretary will proceed with the meeting but before I want my accountant head to provide a small gist of the pricing policies and the pricing structures. He gestured his hand towards Sonia as she quickly stood up and inserted her pen drive to the laptop which connected the projector.

She said everything confidently, gave answers to the questions raised by the members of the board. Looking at her, my confidence faded as I wasn't this prepared after all. I dragged the bottle which was closer to me to gulp away my stress along with water. I cornered my eyes and noticed that Mr. Reynolds wasn't quite impressed by this action of mine.

Its just water, why is it aching in your eyes?

I wiggled my toes, distressed. Yeah, I was an MBA student and I was taught how to face the crowd but I was losing my confidence. My foot felt uneasy as I was wearing my mother's peep toes which didn't fit me perfectly and also slipped off frequently, so I decided to pop them in at once. I straightened my toes beneath the table making my sandal hop in hope for it to fit in.

Holy shit, it didn't. In fact, it didn't even rest close to my foot, I moved my naked food around in the close space to rest them on. To my surprise, my legs trailed over Mr. Reynolds's shoes.

No, no I am not seducing you like in movies. He read my facial expression sensing trouble, my eyebrows furrowed creating a help-me-once-again type of face. He quickly reacted to that, first with an annoyed expression but later he closed both his eyes in sync assuring me to stay calm.

"So now I come to the last slide ", Sonia removed some sheets from her bag and set the graphs on the presentation as per it. With every consequent word of her, my heart plummeted at the thought of making another childish scene.

Mr. Reynolds dropped the pen he was playing with, he bent at once to pick it up. The table was covered with a designated white cloth, no one could look at what's hideous inside. I wanted to thank the person who was the interior designer of this place. Mr. Reynolds almost squatted down, he gently moved his hands through my naked sole.

Fine, stop you're starting to flame up the desires I never had, he quickly comforted my foot with the sandals. Every bone in my body felt weak at his movement, I felt a tickle in my stomach when all he did was ran his hands casually over my foot to cover up my clumsy behavior. I wanted more of whatever he did, I know my demands were overrated but I couldn't help. I swore on my Nutella jar, never to wear mom's sandal again.

I rushed towards the laptop to inject my pen drive since it was my turn. I mouthed a thank you to Mr. Reynolds, he definitely didn't react to that. I then continued my presentation, to my projection nothing went wrong. Everything was satisfactory, I waved the members of the board goodbye bidding them farewell whilst shaking their hands.

"This proposal boasted our hopes and expectations more than what we assumed, see you in Paris Mr. Reynolds . ", they left the room in a mannered queue. I was contented with the thought of staying alone in office till Mr. Reynolds was away in Paris so that these weird thoughts wouldn't strike me again and again.

I examined the time, it was 8 ' o clock already. I promised Gina and Francis dinner tonight so I dashed towards the exit. I didn't want to add up another event to Francis's book named '101 excuses of Amanda for being late'.