Chapter 3 Edward Phillipe

“That’s James Stone, Mr. Edward!” Bernard whispered in Edward Phillipe’s ear. They were coming into the lounge hall where there were two men seemed to have waited for them both.

Both Edward and Bernard were walking to the lounge hall of a hotel where James Stone and his marketing team were shooting for their new product launch, snacks for snacking time for the teenagers. Edward glanced at the banner that the marketing span at the corner of the hall, ‘a crunchy, healthy, fast satiating with affordable price to reduce your consumptive number of calories’ was the voice of the marketing banner they spanned along the hall. He snorted and covered his mouth with his backhand as he cleared his throat.

The man with some blink-blink accessories was sitting on the couch, his fashion reminded Edward of a rapper singer with some white luxurious golden accessories, he had strawberry-coloured hair with some shaggy cut medium length for guys and the other young man with blonde coloured hair was wearing nice, neat outfits with soft colour and he had slender outlook. He had a single white golden earring on his left ear. They looked quite similar to their facial features. Both of them had a straight nose, strong jaws, pale tone skin, nearly similar facial features, nearly the same height and beautiful jade-coloured eyes. From the distance, they looked like twins with two different sides of a coin in their fashion style.

Edward glanced at Bernard and squinted his eyes a bit. “That man who appears blink-blink or the other one who looks much funky? They look much similar to each other.” Edward gritted his teeth to make his voice lower.

Bernard smirked. “The blink-blink man is James Stones.” He murmured and then shaped a big smile on his lips.

“The more flamboyant man is his secretary, Duncan Gordo.” Bernard continued to explain and lower his voice. He pushed himself to smile and fixed his upper fits.

“James, it’s nice to see you…” Edward tapped James’ backhand as he approached James and saw James put one of his arms out to offer Edward a warm handshake. His lips shaped a wide smile.

“Edward Phillipe, how’re you, man?” James grinned and shook Edward’s hand. “This is Duncan Gordo, my man.” He signed his hand to the blonde-haired man with his earring.

“Good morning, Mr. Edward.” Duncan Gordo shook Edward’s hand firmly and Edward smirked.

“This is Bernard Austin, the best man that I have, James and Duncan!” Edward tapped the shoulder of Bernard, a man with a robust posture, dark brown wavy hair, and a shaped jaw and he was 6’5” in his height.

“Mr. James, Mr. Duncan…” Bernard shook each hand in a shift.

“Edward, I know that you have a big interest in taking care of your health…” James tapped Edward’s shoulder as they walked along the room to the open-air space. “We’re having a shot for our new product. A very healthy pack of snacks, Edward.” James strode his steps and he stopped as he clapped his hands. “Clara, would you come here!” He shouted to a girl with gingered hair who just finished doing a shot for the product launch.

The girl was wearing a black tight leathered mini skirt and she had a body shape that every man would stare at her for a while. That morning, her lower cleavage in a tight vivid red T-shirt crafted a passionate morning to every pair of man’s eyes.

Edward smirked as he caught accidentally those sneaky bumped tilts and he cleared his throat. “Is it about spicy products, James?” He looked at James and his question made James laugh.

“You have a good sense of humour, Edward.” James tapped Edward’s shoulder.

“It’s nice to see you, Miss Clara.” Edward took the girl’s backhand and landed his kiss from his moist lip on her hand. He did it with his two eyes staring at the girl.

“Mr. Edward Phillipe!” The girl swayed her hip a bit. She tried to give an impressive naughty but also graceful gesture as Edward liberated his gentle hold on her hand. The girl appeared to hit her mid-twenties with some energetic vibes of the cheerleader girl. She dressed up in an animated costume play.

Edward grinned at her in an enigmatic stare and he saw James was smirking. “What should we discuss about your products?”

James put one of his hands into his trousers’ pocket. “She is one of our ambassador products.” He signed his chin to the girl who was walking next to Edward and was followed by Bernard. “You could discuss our products at dinner time with Clara, she’s good at explaining that. But the best deal that we will find more interesting is talking about your buying passions in our company, Edward.”

Edward smirked. “It seems like you jump to boogie about it.” He inhaled deeply. “Anyway, let’s bumpy jumping about it.” Edward giggled and took a glimpse of Bernard.

Edward was staring at the coffee cup that he held and took a sip of it. “Bernard, I need you to give this sample to Ruth.” He handed it to Bernard after they finished having some explorative, investigative conversations with James Stones’ marketing team and Duncan Gordo, his secretary. He and Bernard were inside the car driving them back to the farming factory that Edward managed and he should visit his grandfather, Louis Phillipe who was living near the farming area.

“I will, Mr. Edward.” Bernard took the full coffee cup. He observed the cup from its outward look and began to be suspicious as his finger touched the package and sniffed the aroma. “They add some additional flavour in the coffee, it could be hazardous if the substance piles up in our body.” He looked at Edward.

Edward inhaled and wiped his nose. “I sense the same thing. Let Ruth and her team make an essential analysis about it.” He threw his sight out of the car’s window.

“Tell me what you think about it, Bernard.” Edward glanced at Bernard after there was a haze of pause in the air.

“About our last conversation with the marketing team?” Bernard inhaled. “Personally, I agree with your steps, Mr. Edward. For the moment, we should explore some options that they offered to us before deciding to buy or just making an insignificant partnership.”

“The products have some spots on the teenagers though.” Edward unwrapped a bag of snacks, one of James’ company’s products. He tasted it and squinted his eyes.

“Let your tongue become your guidance. What do you say about it?” He handed the snack to Bernard. “I think it doesn’t fit the calorie campaign they spread. They should be wise in talking about calories, they’re just teenagers.” Edward rubbed his temple and exhaled harshly.

“The taste is too salty, it’s a combination of salt and cheese improperly. Is it the favourite flavour for teenagers?” Bernard squinted his eyes. He turned his head to Lorraine and offered her the snacks. “What do you think about it? My bad, it’s not my kind one.”

Lorraine took a piece of the snack and she chewed it. She squinted her eyes. “Spicy and salty. It’s not savoury, it’s salty.” Lorraine shrugged. “It’s not my kind too. I prefer savoury but not too much salty.”

Edward smirked. “All the samples that we’ve got, please give it to Ruth for researching.”

Bernard nodded his head.

“And one thing, you should represent me for their dinner invitation with Clara. I have something else to do.” Edward showed his stern gesture. “Dig up more information from her. I think she’s not only quite spicy but she also has a good brain too.” He stared at Bernard. “You know what you should do to get important information from her. I sense that she’s not only an ambassador of the products.” Edward sniffed and smirked. “She will do anything to make us agree to sign a contract with the amount of three million dollars investment to James’ company.” He whispered in Bernard’s ear.

“I will, Mr. Edward,” Bernard smirked and looked at Edward in his amazing stare.