CHAPTER THREE

"Why are you just coming?" Mr Fred asked, as soon as Lisa entered the car. He was at the driver's seat, she was on the seat beside him while her boss was at the back seat.

She was about to cover up for herself by using their accountant's request, but thought against it. There was no way she would let them know about it since she could not find a way to tell them about her suspicion towards their accountant.

"A very important file came in after you left, so I decided to quickly attend to it, since I did not know the time we would come back."

"Nothing can, and should be so important to keep boss waiting. Is that clear?" He warned.

"Yes sir."

"A small portion has been deducted from your salary." Mr Kim declared from the back.

"Ok sir." Lisa replied although she felt pained.

"Here." Mr Fred handed a ticket to her. "The ticket for the event." He explained and drove out of the parking lot.

After some minutes on the road in silence, they arrived at the hotel.

"We're here!" Mr Fred announced as he parked the car in the parking lot. They were in one of the biggest five star hotels in the country.

They alighted from the car and walked into the lobby. The event hall was at the twelfth floor so they quickly made their way to the elevator.

"Your tickets?" The officer at the entrance of the hall demanded.

They presented it to him and walked in after he examined them.

"Oh! There he is!" A woman nodded towards them.

"Mother." Mr Kim hugged her as they got to where she was. She was with two other women.

"My good-looking son." She praised.

"Dylan is now a grown man!" One of the women acknowledged.

"I was going to say the same thing. How long has it been? Just three years." The other woman laughed.

"Good afternoon aunties!" He greeted.

"Oh! Come on! There's no need to be too formal!" The first women waved.

"Gooday ma'am." Mr Fred greeted Mr Kim's mother.

"Oh! My other handsome son! How have you been my dear?" She pulled him into her arms.

"Dylan has been stressing me lately mum." Mr Fred replied.

"Oh no! You haven't." She smacked Mr Kim playfully.

"You treat Frederick better than you treat me, you know?" He laughed.

"And is that going to be my daughter?" She smiled towards Lisa.

"That's his new secretary." Mr Fred introduced.

"Good afternoon ma. I'm Lisa Kim." Lisa extended her hand for a handshake.

"Wow! Her voice is like that of an angel — she laughed — and she's so beautiful!" She squealed and pulled her in for a hug.

"Thank you ma'am." Lisa smiled nervously.

"It doesn't matter if you're the secretary. You're too beautiful to not be my daughter, plus you bear our surname too."

"Ah! It's a pleasure ma'am." Lisa replied. She had been smiling to the extent that her cheek began to hurt.

"You just maintain this new secretary, D. It's not a good reputation for your company to change it's secretary frequently." Mr Kim's mother advised.

"Son?" A male voice called from behind. It was Mr Kim's father.

"Father!" He greeted.

"Gooday sir!" Mr Fred greeted also.

"You both should come home soon. It's been long we had dinner." He replied. "Who is this?" He gestured towards Lisa.

"My new secretary." Mr Kim replied.

"Good afternoon sir. I am Lisa Kim. I'm honoured to meet you." Lisa introduced herself.

He sighed. "I was thinking she's the girl you plan on marrying. And you should consider sticking to one secretary." He complained.

"Honey! He's still young. We shouldn't be the ones pushing him to get married." Mr Kim's mother spoke up.

"What do you mean he's still young? He is our only child. I need a grandchild as soon as possible! And you too!" He turned to Mr Fred. "You should start making plans on getting married before the end of this year!"

"We're outside. Can we at least talk about this at home?" Mr Kim's mother pleaded and dragged him away. She turned to Lisa quickly and smiled guiltily. "Sorry about that!" She waved and continued dragging him away.

"Our table is over there!" Mr Fred broke the awkward silence.

"Dylan!" A female voice called from a distance as they were walking to their table. They turned to locate the person.

"Oh my God!" Mr Fred muttered. An elegant lady was rushing towards them with a big smile.

She looked like she was in her early twenties. She wore a bright red designer's dress and a silver high heels. Her jewelries were sparkling under the lights.

"Dylan!" She opened her arms to hug him, but he moved away from her.

"What is it?"

"What do you mean 'what is it'?"

"Uh! Miss Tayla?" Mr Fred called.

"Fred!" She squealed. "It's been so long! How are you?"

He smiled stiffly. "You see, Mr Kim is not feeling too well, so it would be kind of you to let us go to our seat." He lied.

"What! What happened?" She tried to touch his forehead to check his temperature, but he moved back in time so Mr Fred caught her hand instead.

"He doesn't like people touching him, you know?"

"Who's this?" She eyed Lisa.

"His secretary."

"Should a secretary be this beautiful?" She scoffed.

He smiled. "It would add to the company's image. And as you can see, she's dressed corporately."

"Well I believe she's just a secretary and nothing more. I would not want any form of competition for my husband to be." She smiled at Mr Kim.

Mr Kim exhaled sharply.

"I think you should leave now." Mr Fred said.

"Why? I'm just marking my territory from an unwanted...."

"Miss Tayla? Your friends are waiting for you over there!" He turned her towards them and slightly pushed her forward.

"Discard what you just heard." Mr Fred whispered to Lisa as they continued their walk towards their table.

"Who is she?"

"Someone Mr Kim's father wants him to marry. She's the daughter of a wealthy friend of his. But Mr Kim here has refused to show any interest in her."

"But why didn't he say anything when she was just all over him?" She asked.

"The last time he did, he lost his cool and hurt her emotionally, so his father warned him against repeating such situation." He explained. "Now that's enough. No more questions." He added as they sat down on their seats.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Apexium and Co.'s 43rd anniversary celebration!" The host began.

"Apexium and Co.?" Lisa turned to Mr Fred. "I thought it's Vechron?" She whispered.

"We are a subsidiary company." He replied.

"Wow! Well that explains the numerous faces in this hall." She remarked and Mr Fred nodded in agreement.

"Let's take a walk down memory lane with this video, showcasing Apexium and Co.'s history and highlights." The lights in the hall went out and almost immediately, the video began to play on the big screen in front of the hall.

The room was filled with silence as all eyes were fixated on the screen and soon after, the video which was just five minutes long came to an end.

Once again, the lights were turned on and everyone clapped heartily to the video they had just watched.

"That was a very interesting historical piece we just watched." The host climbed back on stage. "Moving on, I would like everyone to join me as I welcome our great founder and CEO, Mr Kim Tyler, to the stage, to share a few words to kick off our celebration."

Another round of applause began, as everyone stood up to cheer him on.

Majestically, he walked to the podium on the stage.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you everybody!" He smiled and waved.

"Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to our anniversary celebration!" He continued after everybody had settled down. "I am happy to mark this special occasion with all of you. Today we recognise....."

"Excuse me, why is your screen like that?" Mr Kim asked Lisa who had just brought out her phone from her bag.

"It fell down." She smiled sheepishly. "Today." She added and regretted it almost immediately. One thing was clear from his facial expression; Mr Fred had not reported her to him.

Her phone rang again. It was the reason she brought it out in the first place. She looked at it but could unfortunately not see the caller ID. Since the phone's screen was severely cracked, the display was affected as well.

"Bring that thing down!" Mr Kim used his hand to hide the phone quickly as she tried to bring it closer to her face to get a better view of the screen. "Do you want to tarnish the image of my company in front of my rivals?" He heaved an angry sigh.

"Secretary Lisa, you see, the image of our company is very important to Mr Kim here, should anybody see how badly damaged your screen is, it would look as if we don't have the capability to take care of our staff." Mr Fred smiled.

"How come you didn't know about this before now? Look at you acting all saintly towards this matter." Mr Kim glared at him.

"I actually knew about it." He smiled.

"And!..."

He was interrupted by the loud cheers in the hall. His father had just finished his speech.

"Why did you let her move around with that phone if you knew about it." He asked as the noise died down.

"It happened in the office just before we came here. There was nothing I could do about it." He answered, maintaining his smile.

"Fix it before coming tomorrow." Mr Kim said to Lisa.

"Yes sir." She nodded. How she was supposed to fix it within that short time was impossible to her, but she was glad he didn't know what made her phone look that way.

"Won't you ask how it happened?" Mr Fred asked.

'No!' She screamed internally.

"How did it happen?" Mr Kim asked absentmindedly.

"She was on the phone during working hours. I walked into her talking with someone on the phone." He replied.

Suddenly he became very interested in the matter.

"What?" He turned to him.

"Is that true?" He asked Lisa.

"Yes sir." She replied. "But it won't repeat itself again."

He inhaled deeply.

"Should I dismiss her now?" He thought aloud.

"I just promised your mum to report you if you change your secretary again." Mr Fred whispered only to his hearing.

"Your salary has been shortened once again." He glared at Lisa.

Mr Fred cleared his throat. "Mr Kim? I don't think it is right to treat our newest employee this way. Let us be lenient with her for the time being. As she has promised, she won't do it again. There's no need to deduct any amount from her salary."

"Are you now the one running my company?" Mr Kim glared at him.

"I will have to report it to your mother then." He whispered to him.

"Stop threatening me!" He retorted helplessly. "Just fix that screen before tomorrow." He nodded to Lisa.

"Yes sir." She replied.

"But you see, Mr Kim..."

"Shut up, Frederick."

"But there is no way she can fix it before tomorrow except she gets a new phone."

"Then she should get a new one." He replied.

"How will she...."

"Can you concentrate? The event is ongoing." He gritted his teeth.

"They're just dancing here and there. Are you even enjoying it as we speak?"

"What do you want from me?" He turned to Mr Fred in defeat. He was right. Other than the CEO's speech and awards presentation, nothing interests him in their anniversary celebration.

"Let the company get her secretary a new phone." He smiled.

"Can you just stop smiling? It's annoying me. And no, our company cannot get anybody a new phone."

"But..."

"Thank you!" He dismissed Mr Fred with that one phrase.

Lisa's phone rang again and she excused herself from the table to pick the call outside the hall.

"Hide that screen well." Mr Kim called out to her.

"Let the poor girl breath, Dylan." Mr Fred coaxed.

"Hello!" Lisa answered her phone. She had made up her mind to pick up the call even though she could not see who the caller was.

"Lisa! I've been texting and calling since." Jena whined.

She quickly stepped into the restroom near the elevator so no one could eavesdrop on her conversation.

"I'm sorry. The thing is, today happens to be our anniversary. We're celebrating it as we speak." Lisa explained.

"Okay. But have you found a way to go about what we were talking about?"

"I'll definitely come up with something. But for now there is nothing I can think of."

"You said your company's anniversary is today right?"

"Yes."

"And the deadline for the contract is this evening?"

"Yes."

"How about you..."

"Let me call you back." She interrupted. Someone had just walked into the restroom so she needed to be cautious.

"Ok."

"Secretary Lisa."

"Oh! Accountant." Lisa smiled. She had noticed that it was a norm for coworkers to call themselves by their position and surname or just their position in the company so she decided to get accustomed to their pattern.

"I saw you leaving the ceremony so I rushed out to see you."

"Oh. I came to use the restroom. I don't plan on leaving until the celebration is over."

"Yes. I can see that."

"Ok. I would be heading back then." Lisa declared. She wanted to leave her premises as soon as possible before she remembers anything concerning the project.

"Come on! Why the rush? I told you I came out to see you remember? I haven't even told you why I was looking for you." She smiled.

She rolled her eyes discreetly. "Oh! Yes! You actually said that." Lisa replied in a slightly high-pitched tone.

"Have you submitted the proposal to CEO?"

"You see," she paused to collect her thoughts.

"After you left Mr Kim called for us to leave immediately. So I just gave it to him in the car. He didn't give me any feedback but I'm sure he looked into it." She lied.

"Okay." She nodded. "If that is the case, he should get back to me very soon." She replied.

"Thanks for your help." She patted her arm and walked out of the restroom.

"I'm so done!" She cried out loud. She needed to update Jena but when she turned on her screen, she realised that there was no way she could ever be able to call her back as she had promised. No matter how well she knew her phone, calling Jena with the state of her screen was going to be an impossible task.

She had already wasted a considerable amount of time outside and in order to avoid any form of suspicion, she had to go back.

"I was beginning to think you were kidnapped." Mr Kim sighed as soon as Lisa got to their table.

"I'm sorry sir." Lisa apologised.

"Behave yourself. You have not been on Mr Kim's good side since the start of today." Mr Fred advised her quietly.

"Yes sir." She replied and placed her focus on the event.

"We will now begin the presentation of the awards. Let us welcome our honourable CEO once again to the stage, to start the hand out of the awards to the distinguished and well-deserved recipients." The host announced and once again, the hall resounded with thunderous applause as the CEO climbed onto the stage.

"I am so pleased to have the privilege of bestowing the awards to their respective winners. It is with great joy that I stand here today, to let you all know that a lot of us here have done this company and our nation proud. Our subsidiary companies, our staff and even those that have a partnership relationship with this company have worked so hard to get us to where we are today.

But there are certain people that would be specially recognised today, because of their immense and monumental contribution to our company.

We will start with Neuronix. Can the CEO of Neuronix please step forward to receive the award of the most influential CEO of the year?"

The crowd erupted into a tremendously loud ovation.

Mr Jackson walked up to the stage nobly with a blinding smile. Mr Kim Tyler presented the award to him with a handshake.

"Thank you so much everyone!" He waved to the crowd when the hall was fairly silent. "I am so grateful to my wife first of all," the applause increased again. "That's okay! That's okay!" He tried to calm everyone down. "I'm so grateful to my wife for her unending support towards me. I want to also thank all the employees at Neuronix, from the highest position holding staff to the lowest, I want to say a very big thank you to you all. I also want to thank the other companies and those that partnered with us for the trust they had in us while working with us. Thank you everyone for rejoicing with me today and lastly, to our amazing CEO, Mr Kim, who has shown immense support to my company, I want to say a very big thank you. I am very grateful sir!" He bowed and walked off the stage as the cheers doubled up again.

"The next award...." Mr Kim Tyler paused to open the envelope. "The next award goes to Neuronix! The most influential company of the year! But before the CEO of Neuronix comes forward to receive the award, I would like to make a special announcement. It has been fifteen years since Neuronix was formed and named by it's current CEO. Although it is not among the oldest standing subsidiary companies of Apexium and Co. I am delighted to announce to you all today, that due to her massive contribution to Apexium and Co. starting from today, Neuronix will no longer be a subsidiary company, but a parent company that would now operate on her own and no longer under Apexium and Co.!"

Shouts of joy and jubilation burst out from the hall. The staff of Neuronix were already on their feet, jumping and clapping in joy.

"Let the CEO now step forward to receive the award." Mr Kim Tyler announced.

Mr Jackson stood up after few seconds. He was in so much shock. He held his wife's hand and walked side by side with her to the stage to receive the award. When they got to the stage, Mr Kim Tyler embraced him and his wife before handing the award to him.

"I am short of words!" He began. His breath was shaky. "There are so much I have to say, but I would just sum it up to one phrase. Thank you!" His eyes were glistening with tears. "Thank you Apexium and Co. for having faith in us. Thank you to my beloved wife for supporting me. Thank you to my staff for trusting me. Thank you all for cheering me on today. I promise to live up to the legacy of Apexium and Co. even as an independent company." He waved to the crowd, bowed down and walked back to his seat with his wife.

"Can we please be silent, so that we can quickly move on?" Mr Kim Tyler wheedled the jubilant crowd. "The next award is the Rising Star Award. An award for young employees who have made a significant contribution to the company and possesses great potentials for growth. This year's Rising Star Award, honouring a young professional who has made significant impact, and shows tremendous promise, goes to Mr Kim Dylan! The CEO of Vechron! Can you please step forward to receive your award!"