010. At The HQ

"Sir, the manufacturer is here, and so is the branch manager and his group. Where should I take them, please?" Abigail, Noah's secretary, asked her boss.

"Good. Take them to the conference rooms 2 and 4. Take the respective files along. I'm going to see the president first for him to decide which one he'll like to meet with while I take the other one." 

Noah gathered some files and handed them to her before he left for Ryan's office, while Abigail went on to do as told.

It's his second day here. His girlfriend did not come with him today as she had to rub things at her family's company, more especially with Noah gone now, but she would be coming around in the afternoon for them to go for lunch together.

*

"My boss said to take you into the conference rooms first, so please follow me." Abigail said and led the visitors to the conference rooms.

*

"What is she doing here?" Ryan abruptly stopped in his tracks once he spotted the familiar face among the group of five coming towards his direction, causing the employees with him to also stop in their tracks. He had just concluded a short meeting with them.

"Whom are you referring to, sir?" One of them asked, but he ignored them as the other group approached.

"Good morning, Mr. President." Idan and the others greeted once the group got to Ryan's side. Sienna also did the same.

Ryan only nodded but didn't respond. Instead, his eyes were focused on Sienna and that made her a bit uncomfortable. This was her first time meeting the President this up close, and already she felt his incredible aura.

"This is Miss Quinn, sir. She's our CLO." Idan, who thought that Ryan was looking at Sienna because she was a new face here, decided to explain.

Sienna gave a polite bow and said, "Nice to meet you, sir." 

But Ryan didn't reply to her and turned to Noah's secretary instead. 

Abigail understood his questioning look and quickly explained. "Oh, President Ryan. My boss just left to go and see you in your office. He wanted to find out whom you would like to meet with, so he can take the other."

Ryan's eyes spotted Noah coming from the distance, so he quickly said to Abigail. "Tell the vice president that I'm taking this group. Give me the needed files." 

Ryan then said to Idan. "Come with me." He didn't want Sienna and Noah to meet for whatever reason only known to him.

Abigail handed the papers to one of the employees with Ryan, who in turn followed Ryan and the others to conference room 2.

*

Three hours later...

The meeting between the President and the small group of four took about three hours, and soon it was lunch time.

"Good. So let's do as Miss Quinn proposed and see how things will go from there. This meeting is adjourned." Ryan concluded the meeting and left the conference room first while the group of four gathered their things, preparing to also leave.

The other three look at Sienna with curiosity. All throughout the meeting, it was very obvious that the President was only interested in hearing what she had to say.

Because Ryan was all like Miss Quinn this and Miss Quinn that. The only time that he directed any questions to the others was when the said issue only pertains to them. 

"Miss Quinn, what are your opinions about that?" The accounting head jested by doing an impression of Ryan during the meeting, causing the others to laugh.

"What do you propose that we do, Miss Quinn?" 

Idan leaned into Sienna's ear and asked the question that the others with him also wanted to ask. "Do you know the President? Have you two met somewhere before?"

Sienna made a weird face and shook her head. "No. Never. The only times that I even saw him were always from afar during the company's workshops and seminars. Today is my first time being in the same small space as him. I think he just doesn't like me."

"Really? But it didn't look like that to me or the others. You're the only one here that he addressed with your own name; he always addressed us with our job titles. And he was quite nice to us today."

"Yeah. I was scared shit that he was going to have our heads but very relieved that he was amicable today. Never seen him this patient and understanding before." The head of marketing added.

"Hm? Really? So that was him being amicable? Then how is he actually? Because I'm not going to lie, I almost wet myself with him throwing almost every question at me. If this is him being understanding as you claim, then I don't think that I would want to be near him when he's in a bad mood."

"Hahaha...just hope so. Anyway, are we going straight to the office or should we grab some lunch on the way?" Idan asked the group as they reached the door and were about to exit the conference room, but Ryan came back, making them pause.

"Miss Quinn, a moment, please." He said and took Sienna's hand to pull her back into the conference room. "The rest of you can leave. Miss Quinn will return later." He said to GM and the other two departmental heads who nodded before exiting the room.

Sienna's heart raced amplified, pondering what she might have done wrong, but nothing came to mind.

"I...is...is there a problem, Mr. President?" She managed to pull her hand out of his hold and asked once they were left alone. 

"I..." Ryan didn't know what to even say to her. 

He had just seen Faiza and Noah on their way somewhere, maybe to have lunch, but he then remembered that Sienna was still in the building and could run into them. Hence why he came back to prevent her from leaving now, but he hadn't thought of what his excuse would be then.

"Excuse me, sir, may I please know why I'm still here?" Sienna asked after waiting, and still no concrete answer was coming from the President.

"Um...have you had lunch yet?" Ryan fumbled a bit awkwardly.

Sienna was a little dumbfounded, but she gave him a reply. "No, Mr. President. Not yet."

Ryan straightened up and said. "Good. Then I'll have my guard take you for lunch. Wait for him here, and do not step out of this room."

"Thank you, sir, but..." Sienna wanted to refuse his strange offer, but he was already gone.

Ryan then left to check whether or not Faiza and Noah were anywhere in sight before he sent Keshav to pick up Sienna from conference room 2 to take her for lunch as he had promised. 

Not that that was his intention, but this is how things went.

*****

Three weeks later...

Rrring! Rrring!! Rrring!!

"Hello?" Noah said after answering the phone. He had just finished with his first official meeting with the CEO, the President, and the executive board.

"Hello."

"Hello. Sienna, is that you?" Noah quietly asked and speedwalked to his office.

"Hm."

"Hey, how are you doing? It's been a while."

"I'm fine, Noah. What about you?"

"I'm also fine."

Sienna took a deep breath before asking. "Noah, you know why I am calling you, right?"

"Hmm!" Noah sighed. "Yes, dear, I do. And I'm sorry for not being able to answer your call and texts. I was hoping to have some free time and then call you for us to meet up. If it's okay with you, can you give me a bit of time? Or we can discuss whatever it is over the phone if that works for you. What do you say?"

Sienna contemplated on whether she should tell him over the phone or not as this was quite a sensitive matter to the two of them. 

She sighed and said. "You let's meet as soon as you can." She then hang up the phone afterwards.

"Are you very sure about tha..." Noah wanted to say but the call ended before he could finish.

'Sorry, my love. I promise to make time for us to meet.' He thought to himself. With only a few days to his wedding, he knows that he wouldn't be able to meet with her before that.

*

"What did he say?" Arla asked but she could surmised that her friend didn't get a positive response from her ex.

Sienna shook her head as she said solemnly. "He asked for more time or that if I was okay to discuss over the phone, to which I chose the first option."

"Oh. Okay. But why didn't you tell him over the phone then. It's been almost a month now since you tried to get him to meet with you. What if this continues until you start showing? Or do you think that he just doesn't want to see you because he may be thinking that you want to get back with him." 

"What?! Nah. I dont think so. Noah knows me, that I wouldn't use any tricks just for us to get back. Never."

"So?"

"Hmm." Sienna sighed heavily. "But there's not much that I can do in this case except to wait as he said."