Celina’s POV
“Dennis, I think I will have to leave. I need to go and see Jefferson. Will you be alright here?” I asked.
“Everything is fine and we have no urgent meetings whatsoever. You can leave for today.” he replied, so I smiled at him, nodding my head. The issue with Jefferson’s company is bothering me so much that I cannot focus on my work. I was just glad that I didn’t have any projects going on at the moment. Leslie was good and I trusted her when it comes to the company, not with personal things though. She was still angry at me and didn’t agree with the fact that I was the head architect of the country club project.
My office was just a walking distance from Jefferson’s and I took that opportunity to think and find a solution for him as well. I am not used to my husband forgetting about calling me. Don’t get me wrong. I do understand that he has his work, but being unable to call me only means that he had a serious problem and that is what made me worried.
Jefferson is very intelligent. He always has answers to every tricky question and I believe in him. But it didn’t stop myself from worrying about him because I knew that there was someone behind everything that was happening in the company. I know how much the board wanted to remove him from his position. I myself experienced their disloyalty first hand. We should be a strong couple because I am smart too and, together, we will be able to handle everything with ease. Well, that’s what I thought.
I continue walking until I’ve reached the building. As I entered, I went straight to the elevator and pressed the floor where Jefferson’s office was and headed there. I was about to enter his office but I heard him and Noris talking. When Noris came out of his office, I acted as though I had just come and greeted him, “Noris, you’re here.” I said, smiling.
He smiled at me too and said, “Hi, Celina. How are you?”
“Fine, I don’t have anything to do in my office, so I decided to visit Jefferson. Is there anything going on?”
“No, nothing new. Just the previous and usual clients’ complaints,” he replied. I smiled and nodded at him before I excused myself.
“OK, then I am free to see him now. Bye.” then turned my back to him and entered my husband’s office. Daria and Bree were not at their table and the other secretary’s office door was closed, so I guess they were having a meeting there.
“Hi,” I said and leaned on the door frame. He looked at me and smiled as he saw me.
“Do you miss me that much?” he asked,
“Yes.” I replied and closed the door before I walked closer to him. He stood up so we could kiss each other. “Busy?” I asked after.
“Trying to get into the problem,” he replied,
“Just tell me if you need anything that I can help you with.”
“I already had a talk with an expert and I guess everything will be settled this week. He looks reliable and has been suggesting to me a few things to make his work done in private.” he informed me.
“I see. I told Dennis that I am going to stay here, so you can tell me now what needs to be done, to help you out.”
“For now, I am only asking the customer service to reply to all the complaints accordingly while Luigi , the expert I told you about, was looking for the one who was spreading this rapidly.”
“Then, you can start planning for the board outburst?” I asked and he laughed.
“You know them well,” he replied, “I was actually wondering why they were so quiet right now. I was waiting and expecting an urgent board meeting but it’s not happening.” he added, and that made me think as well. I know them so well that I already imagined him flooding questions about their losses, instead Noris beat them to it. I agree with Jefferson when he told him that he was the one we least expected to have any reaction.
I knew that he needed to prepare for the board meeting, so I let him work on his report to convince them that everything was going to be alright. While he did that, I helped him look into the marketing department’s plan to attract clients again. A month before I left the company, I faced the same problem but not as much as his.
With all the complaints that we are receiving now, I don’t think that they will be able to get back on track as fast as we did before. There were some misleading comments that could threaten a client’s security in their bank account, so the marketing department should do extra and a lot of effort to ease that.
And as I look at their plan, it was good, but there’s still something missing. I had a feeling that it was not going to work, so I had to reject it. They had to think of another way.
“Sir,” I heard Daria say,
“Please print all of these. Prepare a graph that will show the company’s fast problems for the last few years that we have faced so far”, Jefferson said, and she took the flash drive before she left the office.
“Are you alright?” Jefferson asked me. He stood up and walked closer to me while I nodded my head. He asked me when he was the one who I should ask. I could see on his face that he was worried every time I looked at him when he was busy at his table. It was probably the report that he was going to present to the board just in case they called a meeting.
“I’m done checking the marketing plan and I think that there’s something missing.” I said, handing him the folder and I continued telling him my opinion. “Because someone was making the complaints big, this kind of marketing and advertisement will not work easily. You don’t just give them discounts or make some raffle promos just like that or they will only think that you are just trying to cover up something.” I added, he was nodding his head as he read my notes on the folder.
“I wanted to include this in the meeting just in case so the board will know that I have a concrete plan to solve the issue. I guess it was a good thing that you came.” he said,
“Let the expert look for the one behind these while we answer the complaints. There’s no better solution for that but to appear in the media and address the issue.” I told him and he looked at me like he was asking me, “Seriously?” I nodded at him. I knew that he didn’t like to be seen on television or any social media channels, but this is the only way that the clients will see the company’s sincerity.
“What do I need to do first?” He asked and I smiled, he agreed with me. “But you have to let you know that once I let myself seen on the media, there will be a lot of women who will come after me.” he said,
“So what, are you going to come to them?” I asked, glaring, and he smiled.
“Of course not,” he replied and kissed me. “I can’t joke you around with another woman.”
“Can I joke with you about another man?”
“No.”
“So don’t ever joke about that anymore.”
“Yes, my Celina. I am glad that you love me so much,” he said, and I rolled my eyes at him. He liked to see me jealous. But when I tried to make him feel that way too, he would declare war. We tried to make revisions to the marketing plan. There were good points but there are a lot that are not necessary or will not be enough to persuade the people. We had been doing that until lunch and we only stopped when we ate, then we went back to work again.
He was busy making his speech for the public appearance while I continued what we had left before our meal when Daria came in,
“Sir, the board called for a meeting.” she informed him and he sighed heavily. So they started.