Discover Love

Chinese Delegates

I composed myself before I went in with the Espresso. Mr. Grumpy was at his table, as usual, signing some documents.

"We have a meeting with the Chinese delegates. I would like you to accompany me. " He didn't even raise his head and continued to sign the documents.

"Okay, Mr. Holden. When do we leave?"

"We leave in an hour and will be back post lunch." I made a mental note to call the CIA. He gave me some instructions and tasks to be completed before we leave for the meeting. I quickly started on the work and when finished, called Chris to explain the situation and excused myself from lunch. In an hour, we moved down where Martin was waiting at the parking lot. I got into the car with Mr. Grumpy. Surprisingly, he was not immersed in any paperwork.

"So how was your past week? What did you do?" He leaned back and tilted his head

"Nothing special. Work was less. I explored a new club. Chilled out with friends" I replied nonchalantly. I was more interested in his weekend. "What did you do? How was your personal trip?" If he can ask me about my week then why can't I? He smiled.

"It was so-so" That wasn't a proper answer.

"Did you enjoy your week away from this hectic office work?" I wouldn't leave it just like that.

"Trust me, being here is easy. The other one is too much emotional investment." He answered with a deadpan. Probably he doesn't like commitment. I should stop probing. Though I dearly wanted to know some tit-bits of his personal life, I knew this was the time to stop. We fell into a comfortable silence. Within the next ten minutes, Martin announced that we have reached our destination.

I got down from the car to find myself in front of an impressive gold mirror paneled building. We reported our presence at the reception and were ushered by the security towards the executive elevator. The elevator stopped on the 65th floor and we faced an impressive conference room.

The conference room had an enviable view of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. It was filled with a lot of delegates. They shook hands with Mr. Holden and we took the seats. The main meeting was between the Chinese delegate Mr. Yunzen Lui and Mr. Grumpy. Since Mr. Lui could not speak English, there was a Mandarin to English translator as well. The translation was slow and maybe because of that, was easy for me to understand. Holden Enterprises had entered into a manufacturing contract with the Lui-Changpu group of companies to export goods on a large scale. There were talks about shipping the products and import-export legalities. I made some notes though it was not good enough.

The meeting was over and Mr. Lui's secretary wanted to note down our email addresses for sending further details. As I shared the visiting cards I noted Mr. Grumpy having a heated exchange with the language translator. Mr. Lui was beaming while Mr. Grumpy was well, grumpy.

As I closed the distance, I understood that they were trying to convince Mr. Grumpy to attend a conference on Friday.

"Mr. Lui says that this is a very important conference where you will meet the other partners of the Lui-Changpu group of companies as well." The translator gushed. "As you already know, you were expected and then you dropped out because of the personal emergency you had"

'Personal emergency? Well of course, if Regina calls then that takes the precedence over anything else.'

"What do you think Ms. Wilson? Is my schedule free on Friday?" He narrowed his eyes and looked at me expectantly.

"Let me check Mr. Holden." I immediately pulled out the calendar plan on the iPad and confirmed that Friday is free of any appointments. I smiled and looked at him to find a sullen Mr. Grumpy looking back at me. Oops! What was that? Was I supposed to lie?

"It is settled then. We will meet you on Thursday evening." The translator smiled and Mr. Lui shook the hands.

"Yes sure. Please make the booking for plus one. Ms. Wilson would join me for the conference"

Wait! What? I don't mind him going to the conference on Friday but me? Why me? This isn't fair. I tried to attract his attention to me. He looked at me

"I hope you don't have any other official appointments. Do you?" His blue eyes bored into mine. I wanted to scream but I ended up nodding my head.

As we took the leave and entered the executive elevator, Mr. Grumpy turned and walked towards me. I took a back step and touched the elevator walls. He came dangerously close, raised his arms, and blocked me from all four sides. Suddenly I was reminded about our kiss in the office. Was he going to kiss me again? In here?

"You silly girl! Why did you tell them that I was free this Friday?" He was so close to me that I had difficulty answering him.

"Err... Mr. Holden, but you are free this Friday. I mean, if you wanted me to say otherwise, you should have told me before" I stammered and answered not completely looking at him. His close proximity was a distraction.

"And that's why-" He raised my chin and held my gaze "-you need to look into my eyes when I talk to you. What if I am trying to give you a signal?"

The ding of the elevator told us that we have reached the ground floor. He moved away and I exhaled the breath that I unknowingly was holding up. I clambered out of the lift and followed him to the car.

"I'm sorry Mr. Holden. I didn't know" How in the world was I supposed to know that?

"That's okay. You will suffer as well, as you will attend the conference with me" He was mocking me again. I nodded my head in agreement.

"Where would you like to eat lunch?" He enquired as we sat down in the car.

"It's alright Mr. Holden. I have brought the lunch so we can go to the office" The lunch hour was over. I would have to eat alone in the pantry.

"But I haven't got lunch. So tell me, where would you like to eat?" He insisted.

"Mc Donald's?" Somehow, nothing else came to my mind.

"Mc Donald's? Really?" He sounded surprised.

"I mean anywhere is okay" I didn't want to force him. Maybe he never has had a burger in his life!

"Mc Donald's it is! Martin, let's go to the nearest Mc D" Within another fifteen minutes we were inside a Mc D outlet. I couldn't believe that Alexander Holden, the billionaire, stood in the queue, placed the order, and brought the tray laden with burgers, fries, and drinks. We laughed at the silly jokes and had a really good time.

No one will believe me even if I tell this to someone!