CHAPTER 10 : Planarization of Anika's Idea

 **

CHAPTER 10

"What!" Anika stood abruptly in shock. She never had a conversation with the book. The only time she had read the book was when she was in the hospital or when the book strangely helped her with an idea. Apart from that, she never had any opportunity to interact with it.

"How do you know?" Anika asked. 'How could the book possibly know about the condition of someone, even when it's with me all the time?' she thought.

'Like, I understand that the book is a bit supernatural sort of, but doesn't it only write about me?'

After a bit, the book replied --"Of course I know. I could feel it. Are you dumb, asking me such a question?"--

"What—" Anika's jaw dropped. Never in her life had somebody talked to her like that, not even her brother, and now, to top it off, the book was calling her 'dumb.'

"How audacious—" Anika replied, but the book wrote again, cutting her off.

--"You can talk?"--

It felt mocking, as if it were taunting Anika about how she had been left speechless earlier.

"Of course I can talk. Why are you behaving strange?" she asked, annoyed.

--"I am behaving strangely? It's you who's strange and creepy."--

"What—ha, you are the dumbest, creepiest, and strangest one!" Speechlessly, Anika said, closing the book with a loud <"THUD">.

This had really irritated and annoyed her. 'Like, who would just start mocking someone out of nowhere? I knew this book was strange.'

Still, a little curious about its answer, Anika opened it again, and just as it opened, it wrote something out of the blue again.

--"The KC group? That massive company? They're just giving away money to victims? For free? This isn't some scam, right?"--

"What?!" This single line had made her angrier than she had been when reading all the things the book had said to her. She had been working non-stop on preparing the PowerPoint for that, and she had just completed it.

Had it been someone else who said all this, Anika wouldn't have believed it. But it was the book, which had helped her earlier—albeit a bit strangely, but surely.

'I had suspicions. Why would my uncle agree to my proposal? He never had before. Please just don't— or even I don't know what I'd do,' she thought, fuming to the brim with anger.

She had already been tired from making the presentation, then had to deal with the strange taunting of the book, and now this.

She got up, switched on the television in her room, and while it was starting, she called her secretary. "Ms. Riya, has the board passed any proposal without my attendance?"

"No, ma'am. It was the last meeting of the board members, which you attended last time," the secretary, Ms. Riya, replied.

"I think the right-wing board members have plagiarized my proposal. Do a quick recheck, fast."

"Plagiarized? Ma'am, that's a serious—okay, I'll let you know in just a bit," the secretary said, but Anika interrupted her.

"There's no need. They are doing the press conference now. How dare they?" Anika said, looking at the news channel, where her brother, Mr. Chobby, Mr. Goosley, and a few others were sitting in front of reporters, conducting a press conference.

"How dare they steal my idea? Riya, get to the office as soon as possible. I will call for an urgent board meeting," Anika said, fuming with anger.

Anika's father had left some of the company's shares for her in his will, making her one of the major shareholders of the company. Therefore, she could call for an emergency board meeting.

'I didn't want to, but they forced me to do this,' she thought, calling Mr. Hudson.

"Hello?" Mr. Hudson replied in confusion, as it wasn't work time yet, so he was still at home.

"Good morning, sir. Anika speaking."

"Yes, Ms. Anika."

"Sir, I have called for a board meeting as a major shareholder," she said authoritatively, yet with a bit of softness.

For Anika, there was hardly anyone she could trust in the office, and there was none among the board members. Hence, she also suspected the chance of Mr. Hudson being involved in all this.

"May I hear the reason?" Mr. Hudson replied in a serious tone.

"Most of the right-wing board members, along with my brother, have stolen my proposal about compensating the victims and are now conducting a press conference without any board meeting and without informing me."

"What—" Mr. Hudson stood abruptly, a little shocked. "Okay, Ms. Anika, let's continue the rest at the office," he continued after a brief pause.

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--------**In the Meeting Room**--------

Everyone had gathered in the meeting room, except for her brother and a few of the board members who were still at the press conference.

The murmur in the room went silent when Mr. Hudson entered, until one of the right-wing board members broke the silence. "Why has Ms. Anika called such an abrupt board meeting? She is clearly misusing her advantage as a major shareholder."

"Yes, we are all here, even Mr. Hudson has arrived, and she hasn't yet. Does she think of us as people who will always turn up whenever she calls?" said another.

"This is clearly an insult to all of us," joined another.

------------** A Little While Earlier **------------ 

One by one, the lights of the building turned on. Many cars one after another, arrived quickly at the entrance of the building.

Most of the secretaries and assistants of the board members had arrived by now. Even Mr. Hudson's secretary, "Sam," had arrived and gone straight to Anika's floor.

By now, Anika had already become a red tomato. She hadn't eaten since yesterday, which only fueled her anger further.

"How dare they! Let me show that son of an uncle—it's probably all his doing."

"Please wait a bit, ma'am. You can't—" Riya tried to calm Anika down.

"She's right, Anika," an elegant, manly voice came. It was Sam, Mr. Hudson's secretary and his son.

Sam and Anika had been colleagues and friends since she first entered the company. He was one of the few people in the company she could trust, along with Riya, her secretary.

"But—they will all try to use this chance to get Rahul to the same level as me, even using my own idea for that," Anika said, clenching her teeth and fists.

"I know, but it would all come back to you, and they might even try to frame it as though you disrespected the vice president," Sam said, calming her down.

"But—"

"Yes, ma'am. Mr. Sam is right," Riya added, supporting Sam.

"Anika, I know you, You aren't someone who would let such people pull you down. Just calm down a little and think rationally," he said, placing his hands on her shoulder, motivating her.

Feeling Sam's hands on her shoulder, Anika's cheeks blushed pink, and her heart raced a little. This was the feeling she had every now and then, whenever Sam got this close to her.

"Phew..." After a deep breath, Anika said, "You are right. I can't let them pull me down or even let them gain the upper hand over me. I will show them what I am made of," she said, her spirits uplifted again.

"Riya, you have the KC Mall project presentation stored, right?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am, but wasn't that project put off by a majority vote?"

"I know. Just get it ready. It's time to give all of them a reply."

-----------**Back in the Meeting Room**----------------

The talk about Anika misusing her shareholder power and how it would have been better had her brother Rahul held that power was ongoing until the meeting room doors opened.

Anika, her secretary Ms. Riya, and Sam entered.

But Seeing them, everyone went silent, many with confusion on their faces. They had anticipated Anika storming into the meeting room angrily, slamming the door open, and making mistakes they could use against her.

But, contrary to their expectations, Anika entered the room with a file in hand and, above all, with a face full of spirit and determination.

**