Chapter 9: Duty Calls

It was a new day at the new branch office of Bittersweet Food Corporation... I had to leave the other superiors in the headquarters because I wanted to handle everything myself. So while I'm handling the branch here. I have the others handle the main branch.

I had the dress I bought yesterday on my car and I'm bringing it to my office.

I opened my car door. The security guard greeted me. "Good morning Ms. Baltazar. You look lovely as ever.."

"Oh thank you, sir... you flatter me and good morning to you as well," I responded to him giving him a smile to lift his spirits up.

I strutted inside the building... although the building is not fully functional yet... it's full of construction noises since I just bought this building out of the blue.. anyway I'll have to focus on hiring more personnel for this branch.

Guess... I should schedule a hiring session to get more applicants for this branch. I said to myself as I passed by multiple office workers the heads specifically that also flew here with me to help start this branch.

"Good morning Ms. Baltazar." They all greeted me like a bunch of friendly neighbors.

"Good morning to all of you," I said to all of them. My relationship with my workers are very strong that they see me as their friend... not really the type of person who is a tyrant at work although I do appreciate them treating me very respectfully I do appreciate them warming up to me.

I walked over to my office with the dress in my hand along with my suitcase. I opened it and Sungah and Greg were already there waiting for me.

"Good morning Ms. Baltazar." Greg greeted me.

"No need to call me Ms. Baltazar, Greg. You can call me Grace honestly. I find it more comfortable to be called that." I broke it to him gently.

"What's that dress? Why did you bring it here?" Sungah asked me.

"I bought this stupid dress because of my spite towards the unfair treatment of people based on their clothing." I brought out the dress showing it to Sungah who goes wide-eyed over it.

"Again.. the reunion is like in a week... why are you guys already worrying about what to wear?" Greg asked us both.

"IT'S CAUSE THE PERFECT outfit is what makes us all the belle of the ball as they said it. Anyways do you have any sort of plan Grace?" Sungah asked me turning to me right.

"Yes, actually I do Secretary Tan. I have a meeting with the landlord of a warehouse for our products since I would need a warehouse for the sweets we make.."

"Oh.. you mean Mr. Ichiya?" She asked me in a concerted manner. "Yes. Although why are you concerned all of a sudden?"

I grabbed a teacup and poured the hot tea beside my office table. Drinking it waiting for her response.

"Uh... actually.." She says in a timid manner. "He called in earlier telling us that he calls off the meeting..."

"WHAT!" I spat out the tea in shock. "WHAT? HOW IS THAT... WHY WOULD HE CANCEL?" I demanded an answer out of Sungah who was quite shaking from my sudden spitting of tea.

"Apparently...." She would explain taking a deep breath. "Actually... I'm not sure either maybe you should try talking to him or something? I mean it wouldn't really hurt you right?" She suggested

"I guess I could give him a phone call or two. Anyhow since he canceled it.. it means he found a new tenant. Find me another land where we can buy or rent the warehouse since we'll be importing the products from the main branch here and we need a place to store them."

"Alright then. I'll keep it in mind... anyways in your schedule you have a lot of things to do.. you will still have to register your business since currently we aren't even recognized as a company and we can't sell since we aren't FDA approved yet. Also, you will need a business permit from the mayor and then you will need to register on the Bureau." Sungah said to me stating my list of to dos..

"Well that is awfully quite a lot.. so I guess we'll start on that..." I said to her sighing at the awfully long list of to dos.. well I'll have to manage... I mean I already did this at the states.. what could possibly go wrong by doing it in my home country.

I spent the rest of the day completing the checklist. Registering my business and having the FDA of the country test my products.. and they would have to inspect my factories if they meet the requirements to operate... of course they were since I know the regulations I mean come on I've been doing this for years now... I totally got this..

Until... I did not realize how different my home country is to the states... not only the process is completely different from what I experienced.. which I already expected.. but... I ran into a very time-consuming problem...

"WHAT? A FEW DAYS OR A WEEK AT MOST JUST TO PROCESS A PERMIT?!" I shouted at the lady behind the counter.

"Yes.. sorry it takes quite a long time to process.. you will just have to wait miss." The lady says to me.

NOW I REMEMBER WHY I LEFT THIS COUNTRY. It causes the way they do things is so slow... that it takes like a week just to get something as a permit... This is not gonna end well for me... and fun fact... I'm not a very patient person. Which is a weakness of mine but alas... I'll have to wait for a very long time just to process everything.

"Thank you so much! I'll just go back here in a few days. Thank you!" I said to them fakely covering my anger towards the fact that it takes so long just to get a permit.

Although curiosity drifted into my senses.. why did Mr. Ichiya cancel our plans... I was sure that he would and was happy to have me use his warehouse to store my products but now.. he had a change of heart... I wonder what that is...

"I should give him a call." A voice in my head suggested.. I mean it wouldn't really be a bad thing to just call him.. so I'll do it.

I dialed his number slowly making sure that the numbers were correct. It took a few seconds before a woman answered the phone.

"Hello. This is Ms. Cruz. I am Mr. Ichiya's secretary how may I help you?"

"Hello. May I speak to Mr. Ichiya like right now?"

"Do you have an appointment?" Ms. Cruz asked as if I was a waste of her time with her tone.

"No. I don't have an appointment." I responded.

"Then please make an appointment first so that you may speak wit-" I cut her off saying.

"Actually I did. Although it did get canceled. I was wondering if I can get the reason on why my deal with Mr. Ichiya got canceled exactly. What was the reason?" I continued pestering the secretary.

"Who is this exactly?" The woman asked.

"This is Ms. Baltazar. Grace Baltazar, C.E.O of Bittersweet Food Corporation. I had a meeting with Mr. Ichiya over a warehouse although it was canceled and I was not given a reason as to why it did.

"Oh. Mr. Ichiya told me to say this when you called. Another company took hold of the warehouse. It's also a food company that's for sure." The secretary said.

A food company? Could it be that they also make sweets? I'm also quite curious.. who is the one that took the warehouse from my company?

"Oh, may I ask which company it is that took the warehouse?" I asked her.

"It was the Quinones Food Corporation.." Her voice echoed on my mind...

Quinones... QUINONES FOOD CORPORATION.. THAT'S LOUIE'S COMPANY! SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT LOUIE WAS ABLE TO TAKE THE WAREHOUSE I HAD MY EYE ON! HE IS SUCH A-

I calmed myself down and responded to the secretary. "Thank you so much. Have a nice day." I said to her as I dropped the phone trying to hide my angry attitude...

I got out of the building of the bureau and then got into my car where Sungah and Greg were waiting for me there. I got in and just remained silent trying to hide my anger...

"So what happened out there?" Greg asked me.

"Not good.. firstly it takes long just for the permit to process the lady said it would take days or a week at most just to process." I sighed. "And then I found out who took the warehouse that we were going to get.. and trust me it's someone that I'm rather annoyed with.. someone that I have a grudge against."

"Let me take a guess.." Greg paused for a moment. "It's Louie... right?