“Oh? What do you have in mind?” Chris asked curiously, watching as Ranita pulled out her phone to find a contact. Suddenly, he realized something and said, “Didn’t Nemotube work with Stuart’s Corp before? Do you know Mr. Bassett?”
Ranita found his contact information, which was not a business number but a personal one.
“How convenient! Mr. Bassett wanted me to go to Dubai before,” she said.
Checking the time quickly, Ranita made the call and Rashid answered promptly and enthusiastically, “Oh! Miss Bowman, you finally called me!”
“I heard from Mr. Stuart that you didn’t come eat with me; I was so sad and was just about to call you myself when you called me! Isn’t this what they call telepathy?” he continued passionately. His tone was so warm that Ranita found it hard to resist him.
“Mr. Bassett, I’m sorry; I’ve been busy with an important project lately so I couldn’t accept your invitation,” she replied quickly but softly-spoken like a melodious oriole bird.
“Well then! Did you need my help for anything? Just say it if there’s anything I can do!” Rashid laughed, “But since I help you out now, don’t forget to treat me dinner!”
Rashid was both smart and straightforward.
Ranita didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore; she went straight into asking for his help, “Mr. Bassett, I really need your help on something. Do You know Roman Macdonald?”
“Roman? Of course I know him! If not we wouldn’t be good friends! What about him?” Rashid chuckled. “Is he also fond of you like myself who has good taste?”
Ranita giggled. “You’re really funny, Mr. Bassett.”
He laughed along too, “Alright then, tell me more. Let’s see if I can help…”
Immediately, Ranita briefly explained what had happened.
Rashid responded immediately, “I thought it would be some big deal! I’ll give him a call. However, it may not succeed after all. Roman is particularly stubborn.”
“Well… thank you anyway, Mr. Bassett.”
Ranita hung up the phone and said to Chris, “If it doesn’t work, we’ll figure something out.”
“Running a business always requires some careful consideration. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll look for other energy companies.”
The two chatted for a while before continuing the meeting.
The meeting resumed and Ranita noticed that Roman was staring at her. Suddenly, he asked, “Miss Bowman, Mr. Bassett wants to marry you as his third wife. Why didn’t you accept his proposal?”
Ranita was taken aback by the question. “Mr. Macdonald… we’re in a meeting right now. Can we discuss this later?” she replied calmly.
Although they were speaking in Arabic, the people around Roman could understand them and it made Ranita feel embarrassed.
“Don’t worry about my people,” said Roman seriously as he repeated his question, “Why didn’t you accept him?”
Ranita looked at Chris who leaned over and whispered to her ear asking what had been said.
“He asked me a personal question,” Ranita whispered back.
Chris frowned and said, “If it’s not convenient for you to answer, then don’t bother with it. Let’s talk about the project instead of these inappropriate questions.” Chris had been considering changing their partnership before but now he wasn’t interested anymore.
Ranita giggled at Chris’ reaction and replied to Roman with a smile on her face, “Mr. Macdonald, Mr. Bassett already has two wives which doesn’t align with my personal beliefs on marriage so I declined.”