Chapter 41: Easy as Pie

"Gentleman, I'd like you all to meet Miss Sarah. Now she'll be the one to accompany me in all activities which include me of course." Patrick announces as he stands at the front of the long desk where eight people already sat in the opposite of each other and give me judgmental looks. I nod to everyone as Patrick introduces me.

"This girl is no ordinary, a special recommendation by the CEO of SILLA also whose worked under 'The Movers'." I heard gasp sounds between the people sitting there and now their look totally changed when they look at me.

Huh. Take that you all.

"Miss Sarah, this is Mabuchi our head marketing director and this is Barney our...

Patrick introduced me with all his upper management team members while I kept passing them a warm smile with a good nod as they did the same.

"So let's start today's presentation," Patrick says while moving his hand for me to sit on a chair near to the very front chair where he was about to sit. "What's the pace gentleman?"

"A negative impact seen according to the data analysis which is about a total of 12% decrease in service demand in African countries which includes 3% decrease in South Africa, 5% in Algeria and a 4% in Nigeria but also a positive sight that is a 6% increase in demand in European countries including 3% increase in both France and UK." Says the bald guy who was the operation managing director whom Patrick introduced as Matt.

Matt looks up from the paper he was reading to Patrick. "But the plus point here is that the exchange rate has diverse the counter effect by 30%" He admits with a proud smile.

"What others have to say on this?" Patrick asks, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.

"Well, Mr. Patrick the cause I see is the lack of knowledge among the boundaries also the distress caused due to the political situation by the leaders constraining international businesses." Says Mabuchi.

"It's been like this since when? It's been more than years. I say we invest somewhere else rather than looking at the graph every now and then with a slow and steady decrease each month nothing but loss than any gain." Says the thin guy who's known as George, the general manager of The Shippers.

"I agree with George. Most African countries are afraid to allow foreign businesses. The lack of knowledge can't over come as yet within such a political situation as well." Says Barney, the man with the large mustache.

"I don't think so. Maybe we should wait some more and keep up with the pace. Eventually, they'd get rid of their fear it's a matter of time." Says the guy sitting next to Barney.

"I support George in this. If we could earn more revenue which could counter the loss then why not investing more towards where we have a higher probability of return?" Chimes in the guy sitting on the last seat to the right of the table.

The room fills in with sounds of yes and no's but mostly there were 'yes' supporting George who still had the proud smirk plastered on his face as if he had already won the debate.

Patrick clears his throat and everyone looks at him now. "Miss Sarah, what might be your say?"

What me? Was I allowed to speak in this?

Before the presentation, Patrick asked me to only write and listen everything carefully to what he says or what others may say in the meeting.

Maybe this was his way to test me... After all, they were told that I had worked with the movers so I should know better.

Everyone was looking at me expectantly especially George whose eyes were laid on me, long enough for me to notice the curiosity bulging in them.

Samuel has trained me enough to tackle such events. The knowledge about The Movers they provided me and The Shippers all kicking into my mind together as I judge the scenario through the experience.

The room fell silent as every gaze was fixated on me like I was on some big test...

But my heart didn't race this time, I was calmer than I would have thought. The confidence felt strange.

I take a deep breath and moved forward on my chair, putting down the pen on the desk that I was holding "According to my knowledge The Shippers is the company serving since the fifties... And now serving in more than thirty countries right?" everyone looks blankly at me still no clue of where I was going with this.

"Mr. Patrick I would like you to think over this company's first ever experiences when it came into the market and I'm sure it must have faced a lot of difficulties. That phase must have been difficult." Mr. Patrick half nods, his lips puckered like he was thinking.

"Similarly... It's very difficult to start but very easy to destroy."

"So you're saying that you don't support my suggestion?" George looks at me with his head tilt, his smirk gone as proud as it was but was replaced with yet another amused one.

"That is right Mr. George. Even if there is a slight opportunity, we should grasp it and not let it go."

"Let me tell you one thing, Miss Sarah." He looks at my suitcase which was lying down at my feet. "You sure keep your important things in that case right?" I raise my brows, making an obvious face. "Well, if you start putting everything in it that's not even important to you, it'll just increase your burden and eventually you'll be tired of carrying it as it will ache your arms. Of course, you can't handle for long until you're tired."

"And today our shoulders are aching from carrying that burden so we need to put out those useless things and keep what's more important to us only." People start nodding towards George whose proud smirk was back on his face who was still staring at me, few of the people were still not convinced of his speech and showed no reaction to it.

"Mr. George, you remember East India Company invaded India? And eventually, the country got split into two. There was terrible political chaos which even put a constraint to international business but it didn't stop them from doing their business. At the end of the day, they needed a hand, they wanted their people to survive aside their fear, their economy needed to grow."

"And here we are dealing with lack of knowledge right?" I eye him questioningly but he doesn't say anything and I take that as my answer "Less educated people can be easily manipulated even if it includes political leaders." I move my attention to Patrick who was already looking at me.

"There are risks everywhere, Mr. Patrick, what if the next day I came here without that 'useless' thing in my case and you ask for it here, now suddenly that useless thing becomes a precious object which I apparently discarded considering I would not need it anymore and it happens... You miss the thing when you need it the most." The members broke into slow murmurs while two people start nodding there head towards me in a 'yes' with a smile on their face.

When I looked at George his jaw was clenched and he was looking towards Mr. Patrick who was looking at me with a nod.

"There are risks in everything but you have to be brave enough to take that risk. The risk is business and business is everything." I lean back on my chair and pass a polite smile towards George who just eyed me.

"Well gentleman that was impressive and I'm glad that we made no mistaking by preferring Miss Sarah for this position," Patrick announces and everyone agrees with him or otherwise some just act to agree.

Patrick gives his reviews in the final decision and the presentation continues for another twenty minutes until everyone starts leaving the room. Before every one exits the room they headed towards me and extended their hand with congratulation and welcome-to-the-team motto.

When the first person extended his hand I was struggling if I should shake hands. Even if I was on a mission, I still couldn't forget my culture so I just nodded my head to them with a thank you. There wasn't even a single person who didn't try to reveal their disapproving look towards my attire but it was quite fun seeing the look on their faces. It was similar to the whole city looking towards my attire with an intrigued face. I don't know why Samuel didn't ask me to change my attire however I was much relieved with the way it was.

Even if he would have asked me I would have said the same thing that I told Patrick in my interview but not that I wasn't curious to why he didn't ask to change my appearance, I did ask him and he replied to me ' I had to stand out and I stand out being myself.'

"First day and quite the welcome?" George approaches with a smile on his face or was it fake? I couldn't judge that. I pass him a calm and polite smile with a slight nod and he extends his hand towards me and I hesitate again as I watch his hand extended in front of me.

"Ummm... Sorry, it's just a personal thing." I say, waving my hand at him and pointing it with my other finger. "I don't mean to be rude." I shrug as I stop waving hesitantly and he eyes me warily and then eyes my attire.

"I-"

"It's okay Miss Sarah. You amazed us all on the first day I expect more to come from you." I laugh awkwardly.

"Prepare yourself for more. It was just the beginning of a test." He winks at me and follows others exiting the room.

Wasn't I just going to sit on a chair and handle the documents and listen to Patrick? Not exactly, what happened today anyway?

I guess that's why I was trained, they knew better. Let's just wait for what's more to come.

"Sarah you stay here with me." I turn my head towards Patrick's voice and he was still seated on the front chair. I glance back at the door which was closed with not even a single soul inside. I took a deep breath and move to sit on the chair on which I was sitting minutes ago.

"Sarah, I want to share something's with you before we start your job properly."

So finally he saw my guts, heh!

"You need to listen carefully."

Okay...

"Don't write anything we discuss here but focus only on listening and keeping it safe in your brain."

Here it comes...

"It's not the same here like the movers but a very different environment."

Yeah... Give it to me, all your secrets...

"You need to make sure everything goes well. You'd be looking after every decision I make and make sure it reaches to the right person."

...Nice and easy...

"You'd be handling my documents, attending all my meetings some with me and some alone, dealing with lots of people instead of me also... Sometimes I'll ask you to lead my presentations and this is going to be hard on you. You need brains for this and I believe I see you more than that and I can count on you."

"Certainly sir, you can trust me." A smirk forms on my lips and he nods in agreement as he continues to tell me do's and don'ts.

But all I can think is how I can really manipulate everything when I get my hands on it.

This was easy as pie, no wonder Samuel chose me to do it.