Chapter 2—I Got It

              The warm rays of the sun helped to fend off the occasional chill the blow of the wind carried. A little surprised at the appearance of the sun, she welcomed and enjoyed the mix of warmth and chill on her bare arms. Then it was obstructed, a shadow fell onto her and blocked the warmth. She looked up at the towering figure blocking her sun.

              "Hi Gina, it's been some time since I saw you last, hm? That doesn't bode well for business," Roy said, winking his eye as he came toward her and shook her hand.

              Gina was glad she could get Doxxan's VP of Finance to the table on short notice. And not only that, he was also a sight—an athletic, rather vain, good-looking man in his mid-thirties. At 6'1, he was four inches taller than Gina.

              He came with an entourage; with him were his accounting manager and the user representative of the project that Gina's company worked on. Except for Roy, these were the same people she had met with earlier in the day. Roy didn't specifically acknowledge Dungi's presence—other than a nod toward him. Roy had never met Dungi but the other two men knew Dungi well from the project.

              After some pleasantries, Gina asked a server to move them to a bigger table. Once all were seated, Gina began by telling them how sorry she was for not being better prepared earlier and having to ask for another meeting so soon after. The work was indeed completed, she said while signaling Dungi to produce the proof of completion. The user representative examined the piece of paper Dungi laid on the table. It looked proper, he concluded approvingly.

              "So, why didn’t we accept her invoice?" Roy asked his Accounting manager, with a raised tone.

              Yes, why? The Accounting manager had not known that his boss would join the meeting. He wasn't prepared to answer his question, especially when the real reason for it was superfluous: He had just wanted to see more of Gina. He knew if he created some kind of artificial difficulty, and held out long enough it would eventually reach Gina. It was a foolish and immature thing to do but a meeting with Gina was well worth it.  As a result of his tomfoolery, Gina had asked to meet him twice within a week. And for that, he was now in trouble. He could either own the improper conduct or admit incompetence.

              "I must have overlooked the acceptance certificate. My bad. Please resubmit your invoice and I will process it right away. I'm sorry Gina," he said—straight admission, no buts, no ifs.

              Gina nodded sympathetically, assuring him it was no big matter. He was relieved. And Roy? Roy had pulled his weight, it worked and he felt good. He looked at Gina watching for a sign of gratitude, but Gina was already thinking of how pleased the Boss would be upon hearing this.

              All was fine and dandy. Everyone relaxed, everyone but one. Dungi still didn't understand how Gina could get away with it so easily—at least that was how it appeared to him. Dungi couldn't believe that Gina had met with the client without the slightest preparation. If she had brought the document to her meeting earlier, I wouldn't have to come all the way here. Who does she think she is? Does the Boss know this? Dungi thought grudgingly.

              But people like Dungi would never understand office politics. It was beyond his paygrade. He would never understand how little could be big and big could turn little. One thing Dungi knew, however, was how to be safe. He should not venture out of his designated zone; he dared not show any attitude. Moreover, Gina could get feisty and was two levels his senior. The Boss loved her while he was a nobody to the Boss. There was no enticement for Dungi to do anything but sit and obey.

              In those five minutes, Gina resolved the issue, and she felt redeemed. She spoke no more business throughout lunch, and talked mostly with Roy—leaving the three underlings scrambling to find words to say to each other while waiting for their sumptuous lunch to be served.

              She was relieved she did not immediately disclose to the Boss she had committed the foolish mistake of not being well-prepared for the meeting. She suspected telling him the whole truth would be seen as shying away from consequences, and he would not have appreciated it. He would not see it as an attempt at honesty, he would see it as complacency followed by weakness.

              "Thanks, Dungi. Sorry for the trouble," she said to Dungi with a smile after the clients left. She is truly beautiful, Dungi thought.

              Gina took an elevator down to the basement parking lot. Her car was parked conveniently in front of the elevator vestibule. The scent inside her car was of her perfume. The interior was neat and organized. Her mind, however, was filled with one thing. As she was driving her car out of the basement parking lot, she spoke to her phone. "Siri, call my boss please." Three rings and his deep voice greeted her.

              "Hi, Gina. How did it go?" The Boss asked.

              "Good. Very good. Where are you?"

              "Home."

              Gina placed herself in his spacious, high-floor penthouse right-smack downtown, almost equidistant to all their clients' work premises. She could picture her boss' erect posture, overlooking the bustling streets from his glass wall and talking with her while holding a glass of scotch and a cigar between his fingers. She could hear Buddy Guy’s guitar wailing in the background as she stood behind him, looking at the same streets he was looking at.

              She had been to his building many times but had never been in his apartment.

              "Do you feel like having a drink nearby your place?"

              There was a slight pause, then,

              "Not really. Did it truly go well?"

              "Yes," she said.

              He sensed her disheartened voice. He reconsidered, then decided he shouldn't.

              Driving out of the parking lot, she almost hit a pedestrian. A little stunned, she stopped by the side of the road while continuing her conversation with the Boss.

              He offered an alternative. Breakfast at 8:30 at Eggs & Flowers, a posh restaurant on the top floor of his apartment building.

              "I can do 8 am if that's ok with you. I have a weekly meeting with the team at 9:30 am."

              "On a Saturday?"

              "Well, it was supposed to be on Thursday, but then we were all tied up with meetings. So we moved it to the only day that we are all available for this week."

              She just wanted to be at the breakfast sooner, to have more time with him. The Saturday meeting she mentioned was not completely untrue, but it was not of any real importance. Besides people would find sound reasons to avoid working on weekends, which was a healthy behavior, so she half expected them to cancel anyway.

              The Boss was looking forward to seeing her at breakfast the next morning.

              "See you tomorrow," Gina said.

              Just as she was about to hang up, he called her name.

              "Yes?"

              Good job, he said. Gina pictured his satisfied smile.

              "Thank you." She felt light and smiled to herself.

              Still smiling, she put her phone down and continued driving onto the main road. She took her sunglasses from the visor. The glare from the asphalt disappeared and turned into the pretty hues of the rainbow. Her phone rang. It was Roy. He asked her, prudently, if he could meet her after office hours for a drink. His manner was so sweet. She said yes.

              The face of her boss flashed in her mind. Don't blame me, she thought, for no apparent reason. And she put her stilettoed foot on the gas.