Chapter 14: The Luncheon (pt. 1)

My brain was hurting from staring at my monitor for six hours without a break and there was a nagging voice in my little head that was convincing me that I'd be using glasses by the end of the week. It seemed like my workload had tripled overnight, and that was absolutely fine, but if I didn't do something else soon, my head would explode.

"Boss, I have a fax for you from the Marketing Manager in Mexico City," Hugo's voice came in through the intercom on my desk, which scared the living daylights out of me because I kept forgetting that it was even there, or that he even existed. Having an assistant would take some getting used to.

"Bring it in, Hugo."

Not even a minute later, my assistant came in with a small stack of papers in his hands. Honestly, having someone to help with the load that came with this new branch-out was a godsend and I couldn't thank my boss enough. After the President had left my office and went about his business, I turned on my monitor fully expecting to continue my day the same way I did every other work day, but nope!

My emails were full to the brim and I just kept getting more and more all day. I knew for a fact that one of two things would be happening today. Number 1, I would be working late. Number 2, I would go home and continue to work late on my laptop. There was one of two options, and if my job would keep me up past my normal sleeping hours, it wouldn't be at home. I'd just fall asleep immediately.

Earlier, Hugo had given me a map of the countries where Greene Marks would be expanding, which was an impressive amount of places. Overall, there was about six countries, including the new laboratory in Hong Kong. I couldn't help but be impressed. Branching out to Asia was a brave move, but placing a direct foot down in Hong Kong was even bolder.

American companies had a reputation of branching out and overstepping their boundaries, so I knew that Jason was smart enough to keep it respectful. The last thing he wanted was to have the company he built from the ground up in five years be blacklisted for shady activity. He was ambitious, but not that ambitious.

The computer dinged and the monitor lit up to showcase a calendar reminder that I didn't remember making, so I assumed Hugo must have connected his tablet to my devices and written it in. It was a reminder for my lunch appointment with a Miss Kay Ioshiri.

For some reason the name sounded familiar, but I couldn't find a connection to a face within my mind. Pulling out my phone, I typed the name into the Google search bar, hoping to see some results. Nothing. I pulled up Bing and typed in the name again, and yet again, nothing. Was I going to need to go into the dark web to see who this person was?

I pushed the button on the buzzer and leaned forward to it. "Hugo, who is Kay Ioshiri?"

"A Japanese sculptor based in Hamburg, Germany. Miss Ioshiri's team called this morning requesting a meeting with you personally about a collaboration for the launch of the new gaming device Mr. Greene is producing."

"Collaboration. Like a commercial for the product?" Now that Hugo mentioned it, I remembered seeing the name Kay Ioshiri in a fashion magazine, but I just assumed it was the name of a model, so I didn't look that much into it. I wonder why I couldn't find anything about them in the Internet? Did they only get around from word of mouth? Were they that exclusive?

"I believe so."

The clock on my desk was indicating that it was almost time for my lunch break, the notification on my screen said that my appointment was for 12:30 pm. There were only ten minutes between the time I left for lunch and the time I to meet with Miss Ioshiri or her team.

Before leaving, I made sure to set everything in order for the moment I returned to my office, prioritising what I needed to get done first. The top pressing issue, finalising the marketing plan for the new quarter and starting on the plans for the new gaming device. Thanks to my diligence over the weekend, there was little that needed to be done with the new season's plan. Now the task that would take up most of my energy was the introduction of the new gaming device.

How did a marketing company go about telling the world that they were branching out into the video game industry? Wasn't it a big leap? Sure, we boosted last year's top computer gaming system, but going about releasing video game consoles ourselves seemed a little too big for such a company as ours. Of course, I couldn't discredit the fact that other companies had jumped higher for much less.

At the end of the day, it wasn't my job to question things. All I needed was to promote things successfully and cater to the demographics given to me by the President's secretary.

Time was slipping from my hands like sand, so I finished organising my files, grabbed my phone, purse, double checked that my wallet was where it needed to be, and prepared to walk out of the office.

"When's your lunch hour?" I asked Hugo on my way out. The poor lad was sitting at his desk with his head deep in a stack of files. My question seemed to startle him because he jumped and stared at me wide-eyed with a bewildered look on his face. I understood that it was his first day, but he just jumped into the working grounds and tackled all his tasks with weights on his back.

"In ten minutes. Do you need me to do anything before it starts?" He grabbed his tablet and prepared to take notes of what he wanted me to do. It made me feel bad that he would take on even more work, but I was also determined to be a good boss, so I shook my head.

"No, I want you to come to lunch with me," he looked so surprised at my request that I had to smile. How long had he been working as an assistant? "I know a good place about a block from here. We can walk."

"I appreciate the offer, ma'am, but I have to finish organising your appointments. I couldn't possibly neglect my work right now," he put down the tablet and prepared to go back to work. This man was going to burn himself out before he turned thirty.

"It's only an hour, don't worry about it," when he looked at me like he had no intention of moving, I sighed. "You can provide me with information for my meeting with Miss Ioshiri."

Hugo immediately stood up and grabbed his things, looking at me expectantly when he was ready to go. I shook my head again and took off for the elevator, pressing the main floor button. Having an assistant do everything I said would take some getting used to, but like my boss had said, I would need the extra help with the recent expansion the company had undergone.

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