Savior

:~Chapter 2~:

     Being the sweet, kindhearted, board of mature and sensible men that they were, I’m sure they were waiting for me in the conference room, going over the basic details of the meeting before I arrived.

     Right.  

     “Should we really be surprised? It’s not like he owns a watch or anything,” one of the men stated. The one before him nodded. “What do you expect with him as the COO? I honestly prefer his brother more,” he said.

     The others laughed.

     “Acting like he can give us orders, he’s just a little kid compared to us! You know that, right? You know that! Ha ha!”

     “Nothing more than a breast sucking baby!”

     “At least I got something from my mother, what did you get from yours?”

     After hearing the sound of my voice, not another word came out of them. To think that they were so loud I could hear them from this distance. How do they expect the employees to do their work?

     With my company not far behind, we entered the room and he closed the double doors behind me. Slapping the palms of my hands unto my hips, I took in the sweet sight of all these grim faces, as it’s the only thing my Dad would allow me to do with these guys. With a bright smile, I said “good morning”, and occupied my seat. Right at the head of the table, where I could relish in the sight even more.

     Without much enthusiasm they greeted me back, only theirs sounded like mumbled curses. The knowledge of that did nothing to penetrate my shield. Having my hands twined together and my ass in this chair, I felt more powerful than it should have been. Like it doesn’t have control only over the nine grinches sitting at either side of me, but even my soul. My smile refuses to leave.

     “It never hurts to stop, why wait ‘til they get punched in the butt? If they’re not going to deliver, I don’t see the point in wasting dollars!” He laid his hand flat on the surface, gazing at the faces of those around him as if to emphasize his point. “Our competitors have already gotten the drift, now we’re sitting here looking like suckers in front of them.”

     “Forget about all the competitors right now and think about all the money we placed into it, money that could’ve been placed into the new project.”

     “If my team develops it right, and oh, we will, it will give us three times the amount of income than when the last project came in, which may I remind everyone that Mr. Olive started.”

     Mr. Olive rolled his eyes. He looked pretty uncomfortable in the chair three seats to my left. “The one we’re currently working on still needs stability. To invest in your project now would be like cheating on your wife with a girl from her gossiping workplace: a complete bust.”

     “It could also--”

     My attention had long since focused on Christen the moment I couldn’t feel his presence behind me. Cathy was at the door with him, holding a red folder that shouldn’t have taken so long to give him. While her white painted fingers curled through the tips of her curled black hair, he opened the glass door further, in the end presenting himself directly before her with his arm on the white wall. She smiled at that.

     I frowned.

     The document was still in her hands.

     Christen used his hand to gesture towards it. Cathy hurriedly gave it to him and was still standing there when the door was closed. Without looking at him or asking what it was, I tuned my head to the others, trying to make sense of the geezers’ bickering. Not even my grandpa talked this much.

     “The new project is still manageable in my opinion, and in my opinion, it just seems like you don’t want the focus to be split from your project, since if it took flight you’d have the most to gain from it,” Mr. Clark stated, his hair dyed so white it was starting to match the walls. “Isn’t that right, Olive?”

     Before Mr. Olive could snap his neck off, I stepped into the conversation. “I don’t get why most of you are still insisting on using King Co. As a source. Nothing would change if we switched to another first rate supplier that’s just as good. We up the urgency, they deliver, the faster we can stabilize the project. And once it takes off and it’s determined to stay that way, the move for establishing other projects can get started as soon as we check out the market. Problem solved. Less time to waste.”

     I personally thought that would be the end of it, but then again I should’ve known better. Especially with these guys acting as if they’re older than they actually look. They gazed at me as if I shouldn’t have spoken. Not with looks of disdain or judgement, but ones that held no respect of my existence or my standing. I quirked my brow and tried not to frown.

     “The best companies in the world use King Co. As their main supplier since their resources are topnotch quality. To use someone else would make us look inferior in the eyes of the competition,” Mr, Frank, Olive’s lackey, stated. “Any i***t would know that,” he mumbled, as if I didn’t have ears. Not only did his friends smile and smirk, but even the opposing side’s faces brightened with the remark as they continued to argue about which project should take priority. Christen glanced at me, red folder in his hands. From the corner of my eyes he started glaring at my clenched fists on the table, but I knew it wasn’t me he was mad at.

     These buggards were really starting to piss me off. Upper parts of my body were filled with fire and tension. Bursting out would not help. Everyone else is allowed to do it it seems, but for me doing it would only support the childish notion they have towards me. I attempted to calm down a bit, focusing all my anger to my fingers which clenched tighter.

     “You know,” I started, loud enough for them to hear. No, to make them hear. “I think someone here is getting too comfortable.” Staring directly at Frank, I smiled, making sure to appear completely composed. “Or is it that your inferiority complex is more important than your paycheck?”

     The whole room quieted down once I finished speaking. I could sense their gazes measuring my movements. Too shocked, Frank refrained from saying anything, or it could be that nothing could come out.

     “Ahem,” Mr. Olive coughed. “I sincerely think that no one here is comfortable, since we have yet to come to an agreement.”

     “Well, you all would’ve been if you stopped thinking with your tonsils up your arse.” Mr. Olive huffed. “Using the same supplier as the other high level companies so they can view us as the same as them is just small thinking. What matters is that the end product is well constructed with the best materials. The result of our hard work will earn us respect.”

     Not much was said after that other than Frank’s mumbling. Mr. Olive didn’t say anything, hopefully realizing I was right.

     I held out my hand and Christen passed me the document. “To keep this foolishness from happening again, I’ll be directly over-viewing this project.”

     “Especially since it’s been one of our greatest ideas since the fall of a certain one two years ago,” one of the younger men said. He was probably referring to the project I created from one of my ideas that went downhill due to unforeseen circumstances. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to provoke me or just stating facts. Knowing that it was most likely the first option, I didn’t let my pride take over as I answered. “Yes, exactly. The future development of the company is our most important priority.”

     Again, no one said much. Mr. Greene, a shorter than the rest guy sitting directly at my right, was looking smug a while ago when I was talking down to Frank and Mr. Olive, but the moment I said that I would take over the new project he seemed to relax a bit, looking almost unsettled.

     That’s how I liked them, with their mouths shut.

     I finally sat the red folder on the desk and started breezing through the contents.

     “Let’s get this s**t finalized.”