TWO

Just as soon as she finished unpacking, there was a knock on the door. Diane stood up to open it. Rachel stood there holding a folder. “Rachel, what’s the matter?”

“Mr. Nicholas asked me to give this to you.” Diane collected the file. “He said, his father said there will be a meeting in the company tomorrow morning and the shareholders want to meet you. He wants you to go through all the information in here.”

“Okay. Thanks.” She closed the door and sat back on her bed, carefully opening the folder and bring out the files and papers in it. She scanned through it for a while, yawing intermittently. After some time, she returned the papers back to the file and dropped it on her bedside locker. Then, she relaxed into her bed and closed her eyes.

Her eyes flew open at the knock on the door. She sat up. “Who is there?”

“Malvika.”

“Oh, come in. The door is opened,” Diane said. The door opened and Malvika stepped in with Natasha behind her. They closed the door gently.

“Sleeping already?” Malvika asked, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Diane covered her mouth with her palm as she yawned. “I was going to. Why are you girls not sleeping?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Malvika replied.

“Malvi woke me up,” Natasha said, scowling in Malvika’s direction. She sat on the chair close to the wall, facing Diane. “What were you doing?”

“Oh, Rachel brought some documents I was supposed to go through in preparation for tomorrow.”

“What do you think?” Malvika asked.

“Think of what?” Diane replied, raising a brow.

“Nicholas. Ashley. Jenny. This family as a whole,” she replied.

“Malvika, it’s eight in the night. I can’t believe this is what we are talking about,” Natasha said. “I seriously want to sleep."

“Go ahead, no one is stopping you,” Malvika replied. “I was asking Diane.”

“You think she wants to talk about it?” Natasha asked. 

“Well, I want to talk about it. I asked a question. You should give me a reply.”

“The both of you should just stop,” Diane interrupted. She massaged her temples slowly. “Today has been a long ass day and I just want to sleep before tomorrow. Can’t o do that in peace?”

“Yes, you can,” Malvika said.

“Thank you.”

“After you finish telling us what you think,” Malvika added.

Diane sighed. “What do you want me to say? They are nice people? They look wonderful? I like them.”

Malvika raised a brow. “Is that seriously what you think of them?” 

“Malvika, I think you are just looking for a chance to tell us what you think about them. Just go ahead without beating around the bush,” Natasha said with a sigh.

Malvika smiled excitedly. “Let’s start from Nicholas. I think he’s hot as fuck. Wow! Those shoulders. His chest! Damn. Then we move to Jenny. She’s….”

Diane groaned and sunk into her bedspread. “Aargh, we are going to be here all night,” she mumbled to herself.

                            ---------

NEXT MORNING

Diane walked down the stairs, dressed in suit trousers and jacket with black pumps. She was holding a black and gold handbag. She wore dark shades, trying to cover her swollen eyes. Yeah, she didn’t sleep well last night. Malvika had not allowed her to. Even Natasha fell asleep on the chair while listening to Malvika’s rant.

She sighted Nicholas at the  “Good morning,” she greeted but he ignored her.

“Di,” Natasha called, “Are you ready?” She was in her school uniform.

“Yeah.”

Nicholas straightened up. “The driver will take you both,” he said and walked away.

“Ready?” Diane asked.

“Absolutely,” Natasha replied as they both stepped out of the house.

                              ------_

As the doors slid open, Diane removed her shades and stepped in. She walked straight to the receptionist who looked up and smiled kindly. “Hello Ma'am, how may I help you?”

“I’m Diane Matthews,” she said, choosing not to use her last name.

“Oh, welcome ma! The shareholders are already in the conference room.”

“Of course,” she said. “Whats your name?”

“Ariana Anderson,” the receptionist replied.

“See you later Ariana,” she said and walked away into the elevator.

Few minutes later, she was in the conference room. As she entered, the men turned to look at her. Logan Langston was in there and they stood up to welcome her.

She smiled brightly. “Good morning.”

Logan smiled. “Diane,” he called, “take a seat.”

As she made to sit at the head of the table, a man asked, “why should she sit there?”

Diane raised her head and looked at him. She assessed his dressing carefully; his suit, bowtie and the ugly scowl on his face. “This is my rightful seat. Do you have a problem with that?”

He frowned. “You are just a woman. How will you even know what to do?" He questions out of the blues. 

Diane shook her head and smiled wryly. “Let’s all have our seat,” she said as she sat down. “It’s my pleasure to meet you all. I’m Diane Matthews. Introduce yourselves.”

The man next to her stood up. “Edward McClain.”

“Logan Langston.”

“Jasper Harrington.”

“Derick Hale,” the man who had attacked her verbally said.

“Jacob Leonardo.”

Diane smiled. “It’s nice to meet you all. So, as I said earlier, I’m Diane Matthews Langston,” she said. “And I really hope you all would cooperate with me to move this company forward.” She breathes in. “So….”

“I don’t understand why you should be here," Derek interrupts, his voice coming out harsh and unkind.  "You shouldn’t even be heading this meeting. She shouldn’t be here at all.”

Diane kept the smile on her face. “Mr. Hale, I presume, it’d be best if you just keep quiet and listen to me.”

“This is impudence! You don’t talk to he shareholders of the company like that!"

Diane relaxed into her seat. “As far as I’m concerned, my father has the highest share in this company and he is the head, so by right, I am also the head. Do you have a problem with that?”

Mr. Derrick gritted his teeth.

Logan cleared his throat. “Let’s just get into the business of today.”

“Right,” Diane said, briskly flipping the pages of the file in front of her. “So, the main agenda is to talk about the fact that the company is thinking of investing THE ALEC ENTERPRISES. This Enterprise deals with production of junk foods and snack. There is also the issue of investing in the LASRAG CEMENT COMPANY. We have to pick one. Let’s express our thoughts and suggestions.”

“I think we should invest in this company,” Jasper Harrington said. “Junk foods are fast-selling and will bring as much profits as possible.”

“You think?” Derrick Hale contradicted. “Personally, I think we are better off investing in the cement company. The Alec Enterprise is just an upcoming business. It’s not even yet a business it’s a business idea. How are we sure that it will be succesful? What if it’s crashes? But the cement factory in question is already an established business.”

“You seem to have forgotten that even an established business can crash,” Diane said. 

Derrick Hale glared at her, his wrinkled face creased in a frown. “An upcoming business is more likely to crash than an already established business.”

Diane nodded slowly. “Well said.”

“The junk company seems like a better idea,” Edward McClain said.

“Okay,” Diane said. “This is what we will do. I’ll send the prospects of both company to all of you. In our next meeting, we will take a vote.” She stood up and shuffled her papers together. “Have a nice day.” 

She walked out of the conference room. As she turned round a corner, she saw a guy dressed in suit, leaning on the wall. She stopped. “Why are you here?” she asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be working in your office? Is this how the workers in this company behave?” she asked, raising her voice slightly.

He smirked. “I don’t work here.”

“Really? Who are you?”

He slipped his hand into his pocket. “Jayden Hale.”

“Your name kind of sounds familiar.”

“My dad is one of the shareholders," he says with a faint smile.

“I see.”

“And you are?”

“Diane Matthews. Nice to meet ya. Why are you here?” she asked.

“Just hanging around,” he replied. “I’ll be gone soon.”

“Oh…okay.”

“Why don’t I help you with that?”he asked motioning to the files in Diane’s hand.

Diane smiled. “No, thanks. It’s okay.”

“Here, bring them.” He collected the files. “Lead the way,” he said. She led him into her office.

“You can drop the files o the table,” she informed him. “Thanks,” she said as he dropped the files.

“You are welcome,” he replied, giving her a warm smile. “So, I’ll see you again soon?” he asked casually.

Diane shrugged. “Depends on how soon.”

He smiled and waved. “Bye,” he said, walking out and closing the door behind him.

                            -------

Jayden stepped outside and walked towards his car. His father, Derek Hale was there, waiting for him. He opened the door to the driver seat and got inside. His father turned to glare at him.

“Where were you?” his father asked. “You were supposed to be waiting for me here.”

“I went inside the company,” Jayden replied, shrugging carelessly. “To get a look. What’s making you so worked up?” he wondered.

“Nothing. Just drive!” His father barked and he complied, ignoring him. 

As they drove, Jayden hummed lightly to the music coming from the car's stereo. He kept glancing at his father's angry face and fixed jaw.

After a while, Jayden said, “I met Diane Matthews today. Such a lovely woman. She looks smart too.”

Derek glanced at him sharply. “Jayden, what did you do?”

“Oh, nothing at all. Just had a conversation with her. Seems like we will be seeing each other again very soon.”

Derek turned his attention back tomorrow he road. He scrunched his eyebrows in deep thought. Then, a smirk appeared on his face.  “Well, Jayden, I would have said I don’t want you associating with her but it’s your life and you are old enough to think for yourself.”

“Right. But I don’t think that is what is going through your mind.”

“What is going through my mind is none of your business, boy,” Derek replied.

Jayden frowned, tightening his hands on the wheel. He knew his father and he very well knew that whatsoever was going through his father’s mind wasn’t a god thing.

©️ INIOLUWA