My Girl
"I cannot understand your calm response towards this situation, Max. Why are you not doing anything about it? What's going on inside your mind?" Brian asked, puzzled at Max's disregard towards the situation. But he somewhere knew that Max had already prepared a strategy for this situation in his mind. He was just too impatient to know about Max's plan.
"What are you talking about, Brian?" a playful smirk graced his handsome features as he focused his attention on rotating the glass globe kept on his table.
"Oh c'mon, don't act ignorant. The Erikssons are planning on executing their plan before us. They are going to invest their shares in China, which was, in fact our plan."
"I don't see any problem in that. Let them start first." Max answered while his attention was still fixed on the glass globe as if he was plotting something in his mind.
"How can we let them take it first? We waited for nearly three years, for god's sake!" Adam glowered. Unlike Max's calm and planned approach towards problems, Adam always acted upon his insticts.
"Yes, we waited for it and how can we let Erikssons make the first move. They will get first mover advantage over us."
Leisurely, Max turned his attention from his favorite glass globe and smirked at Adam and Brian. "You see..." he started "the first mover advantage is often not an advantage. A well planned strategy will always dominate over less planned first move. So let them make the initiative. This is a very common misconception that the first movers dominate over market. In fact, it's anything but an advantage. Their market is not well defined and others will have a chance to learn from their mistakes. And not to mention, worlds most successful companies do not initiate. They directly take over the market and crush their opponents. I guess this answers your questions."
Brian's lips stretched into a satisfied smile. He knew that Max had something big planned in his head and he will never disappoint him.
"But why we waited for three years, if we were planning on others to initiate?" Adam asked still not pleased with Max's idea.
"We already know that the Chinese companies are smart and advanced. If we'd have started without waiting, we would've easily lost the competition. So, I waited, studied their strategies and analyzed our weak points."
"What are we gonna do now?"
"We will gonna let them establish their market. And when they will be strong enough to compete against the Chinese, we will buy all their shares and dominate the market". Brian's face broke into a big grin at Max's statement.
"Did I ever tell you that you're genius" Adam complimented, impressed by his best friend's cunning tactics.
"Not many times. You are hard to impress" Max returned Adam's smile with a wink. But his attention was suddenly diverted by a beep in his phone. He had texted Angela an hour ago asking her whereabouts and she finally replied to his question.
I'm on my way
His smile deepened by reading her reply. Just the idea of meeting her again, rejuvenated his spirits. He eagerly wanted to see her again after that day, the day he kissed her. If his luck favored, maybe he can steal another kiss from her.
On the other side, Max's reaction didn't go unnoticed by Adam. He rolled his eyes. Ah, not again...... he wondered how a business man as sharp and clever as Max can become so romantic within seconds. At one moment he found himself being proud on his pal and another moment he found himself baffled at his friend's stupidity.
"Is that the girl you were talking about?" Brian asked, amused at the sudden change in Max's mood. Max simply nodded his head in reply.
"Please don't act like a hormonal teenager in front of me. You look stupid!" Adam snorted.
"You will do the same when you will fall in love"
"Not gonna happen. Love hurts. Love make you pathetic and I will never fall for something that makes you weak" Adam retorted.
"We'll see" Max loved the reaction he was getting from Adam. I can't wait to see you fall in love, Adam. You need it.
"What about you Brian? Do you believe in love?" Adam asked curiously.
"Who? Me? Nah....I don't get involved in these feelings and all. I just enjoy my life dating hot chicks and drinking wine. Why settle for one when you can have many?" both Adam and Max chortled at Brian's comment.
"Anyway, this girl seems interesting enough to get this young man wrapped around her fingers" Brian said with a bemused expression on his face.
"You will see yourself" Max stated proudly.
"Whatever. I am gonna go and check the files" Adam came out off the cabin and went to down floor to check on other office. After giving some instructions to the employees, he again headed towards the top floor. As he stretched his hand to click the elevator button, he felt someone else present beside him. He knew it was her but he didn't spare her a glance and waited for the elevator to come down.
"Hey Adam" she tried to initiate a conversation. He looked in her direction and his lips twitched hardly . Angela frowned. What's the matter with him? Once the elevator came down, they both entered inside it. There was complete silence after that. She could feel the sudden tension build up between them and she felt suffocated.
"Bad day?" she tried again.
"What made you think that?" Adam questioned. He was already pissed because of her and she was doing great job in multiplying his anger.
Your face! You dork! She wanted to snap but instead she replied. "Umm, nothing". Subtly, she tried to glance at his direction. The first too buttons of his crisp white shirt were open and his dark hairs were tousled so perfectly that her hands itched to mess them. She realized that he carried himself stylishly unlike Max who always appeared regal and ridiculously perfect. She lowered down her head and tried to fix her attention on her feet. She could feel him burning holes down her head. She sense him staring at her with disdain. Is it only me or he hates me? Can he be a threat to me? The inside of her stomach churned.
"So you wanna say that she has many things similar to you and that she can be your perfect counterpart?" Brian asked with a smirk.
"Exactly!"
"Man, you are totally whipped up" Brian whistled.
Their banter was interrupted by Clarissa. "Sir, Ms Velazquez wants to see you" her voice buzzed from the intercom. Maxwell grinned at Brian "let her in Clarissa".
"Let's test your lady love."
Within seconds Angela entered inside the room, unaware of the second person.
"Good evening Ms Velázquez. I'm Brian Maugham." He introduced himself "Max must have told you about me."
"Yeah, Max told me about you. Nice to meet you Mr. Maugham. I'm extremely sorry if I'm interrupting any important discussion"
"Not at all, I was just leaving. Actually Max and I were debating upon something. Maybe you can help?"
"Sure! I will try my best" she gave him a beautiful smile.
"Ok, then tell me, what will the best tactic to defeat your enemy according to you?"
"Always be unpredictable to your enemy. If they are strong, avoid them. When weak, strike them. If high on morale, depress them. When united, divide them. If at ease, exhaust them. Act upon their weakness. Emerge to their surprise." She answered with full confidence.
"With the way you're quoting, I can see you're an ardent Sun Tzu follower" Brian said highly impressed with her answer.
"Absolutely. Sun Tzu is my idol"
"Now can answer, what's the most essential thing to know while fighting against your enemy?"
"To know your enemy more than you know yourself"
"And what will be your opponent's greatest mistake while fighting against you?"
"To underestimate me" she smirked.
That's my girl. Max praised in his mind.
And with Angela's smart answer, Brian threw his head back and laughed. Angela was completely perplexed by Brian's reaction. After laughing for a minute, Brian stood up from his chair.
"Have fun" that was all Brian said to Max and they both exchanged a meaningful smirk. Before leaving them alone, Brian paused at the door.
"You can call me Brian, beautiful lady" and just like that he winked at her and disappeared. Whereas Max rolled his eyes at Brian's open flirting. That man......
Angela stood there completely dazed . What's going on between them? Why is everyone catching me off guard today? I guess it's not my day. Then she realized that now she was inside the room with Him. Alone. Alone after what happened that day. She slowly peeked at him with the corner of her eyes and found him standing with his arms crossed across his chest. His eyes were shining with a mischievous glint and the smirk was still intact on his lips. The sight was enough to melt her into puddles. Oh god....... What is happening to me?
He took calculative steps towards her. With his every increasing step, her heart started to beat faster. She clutched the sides of her dress tightly.
"How are you?" she swiftly turned to him. She didn't even realize when he came so close to her.
"I'm fine" her voice came out in heavy breath. What the hell........
The reaction he was getting from her was boosting his spirits. Oh! How much I love to see her like this, to see my effect on her. This is completely my day......
"Would you like to join me for a dinner?" He asked.
She looked down at herself. As she didn't see the dinner coming on her way, she was dressed casually. But she knew very well that her dress was not suitable to attend dinner in a fancy restaurant. I should've seen that coming.
"But my dress is not appropriate for that" she tried to reason.
He leaned closer to her ear to the point where his lips touched her earlobe and whispered seductively "trust me, you will wear a rug and still you will be the most beautiful woman on earth."
Damn.....kill me. Heat rose to her cheek and her stomach started fluttering. She couldn't fathom her own behavior. Because Angela Velazquez was not a girl to blush easily.......
"Shall we?" Max offered his arm to her. She took a deep breath and slid her hands across his arm. I can do this.
Angela sat on her chair directly facing Max. He smiled at her and sipped his red wine. They both dined in perfect silence. No one dared to say a word. But the silence was comforting in its own sense. He glanced around him and found himself to be the luckiest man as no one in the hall had a date as beautiful as Angela.
Max cleared his throat to gain her attention. When he sensed her complete attention on him, he started "as I told you earlier, we are celebrating the success of our latest Las Vegas project"
"That's great" she chimed "congratulations Max!"
"Thanks" he casually ruffled his hair which Angela found very hot. Please don't do that. For god's sake.
"Brian is hosting a success gala day after tomorrow. And..." he trailed.
"And..."
"And would you like to go as my date?" his eyes shone with anticipation and he smiled in manner which was impossible to resist. How can she refuse an offer as tempting as this? But before she could accept his invitation, someone answered before her.
"If only she didn't have a date already."
Her eyes widen with surprise because the voice was very familiar. A voice she can never forget.
You've got to be kidding me.