Chapter 6 - Mr. Snowman

            My CEO was at the door and right beside him was this incredibly handsome gentleman. The face looked familiar and I wondered where I had met him. Oh... I remember. The guy who splashed water and mud on me yesterday. How could I forget? I instantly started boiling with anger. What is he doing here anyway?...

          He looked at me with an innocent expression on his face. Does he mean he didn't remember what he did? It's not as if it's been a year or more. It was just yesterday. After all, he was never the victim so how could he.

          "Maya, this is Mark Snowman, the invester we talked about this morning. He passed by to see how we are preparing for the meeting." The CEO said.

           Nice to meet you, Mr. Snowman, I said, faking a smile and stretching my hand for a hand shake.

         "I don't have time for pleasantaries, Maya or whatever you call yourself, I want results and nothing more. Excuse me," he concluded rudely as he stormed out of my office, leaving my hands hanging. 

           "Sorry about that, Maya, perhaps Mr. Snowman is still in a bad mood from last week's meeting. Please do your best," he said in a pleading tone, as he followed Mr. Snowman.

           I was in utter shock at his behaviour. How rude...I thought of refusing to go ahead with this presentation but I have already promised to be there so what do I do now?. How can I have this presentation in his presence? I was in a state of confusion and try as I did, I could not concentrate on my work. I watched as time passed by, only to realize it was past 8pm and the driver was waiting outside. I went to Tracy's office to bid good bye but she was still engaged with her report so she waved me goodbye.

          I got home feeling defeated and depressed. How could I meet path with him again... Now I am even more happy that I got a new job and turned down the promotion.

          The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone. My CEO was calling. I was surprised because he never called me before or after our official working hours. But he is calling me at 5:30am. It must be something very serious.

            "Maya, the meeting has been rescheduled to 3pm today. Mr. Snowman has other plans for next week so he moved it forward. Please finalize all your reports by 12noon for us to have a short review meeting before the presentation. The driver will pick you up at 6am." He hang up. Which means I have barely 30 minutes to get ready.

          I called my cab driver to cancel our appointment and literally run to the shower. I hurried up and by 6:24, the driver had arrived. Throughout the ride, I was working on my laptop till I got to the office. I usually made my cab rides my only time for meditation but this time around, there was no such luxury. 

           As I got to the office, it was 7am but I realized everyone was already seated. Even Tracy only said Hi and rushed to her office. I worked through the morning and completed the report by 10am so I decided to review my work. I did so and saw a few mistakes which I corrected. It's good I did a first review. 

         Looking at the time, it was already 11:30am so I decided to grab something to eat before the review meeting. On my way to the canteen, I couldn't believe Mr. Snowman was already walking in with three other men all in black suit. They looked soooo admirable and I couldn't take my eyes off them. But the unfortunate thing happened when I bumped into Mr. Snowman as I was going out of the elevator. I thought they will use the CEO's reserved elevator but he came through where I was coming out from  which resulted in me bumping into him. Why him and not someone else? My heart was beating so fast... 

          No, not again.... 'I am sooo sorry Sir, I said as I bent down to pick his files scattered around'. He is just a young guy of 28years but he carries himself like a middle aged man and wanting all the respect in the world, and yet not giving any.

         "Never mind Ma'am, I will take care of it. Please go ahead" said one of the men behind him. He had a genuine smile and was really gentle so I stood up to leave to escape from this Jerk of an invester but my fate had it otherwise.

          "No," came the rude voice from behind me. "You have to pick it up. Are your eyes only for decoration, can't you watch where you are going?" He said coldly.

           Ofcourse, I said, picking up the files. After picking and arranging the files as fast as I could, I did not want to hand over the file to him but rather the gentleman next to him, who had treated me nicer earlier but it was just another big mistake.

         "Does the file belong to him, why do you give him my files?" He asked in his usual rude tone. I took the files from him and handed it to Mr. Snowman, apologising again, looking down.

          "It is very rude to look down when someone else talks to you. Don't you have manners?"

          God, I wanted to slap him, see who is talking about manners. Does he even know the meaning of that word? Anyway, the company is at stake and since I have a few days to be with them, I want to leave the best mark possible. I don't want to be the reason why their merger didn't pull through

          I did not mean to be rude Sir, I said looking into his eyes. He looked at me with a piercing look which made me walk away. I didn't look back, and he never said anything else.

         This is the last time I will ever admire anything or anyone close to this Snowman. From now onwards, I have to avoid him at all times, I said to myself as I got to the canteen. I ordered for a cup of tea and some cookies which I ate hurriedly and went back to the office.

         The look on everybody's face when I got there, clearly stated there was a problem. Tracy rushed to me.

       "We are having the presentation now." She said hurriedly.

      What....what happened to the review meeting? Everybody was tensed and it's obvious they kept their questions to themselves.

         This time, we had our meeting at the conference room adjacent to the CEO's office. It's the biggest conference room in the building and mostly reserved for special meetings like this.

         So the meeting began. I wanted to be the first to present in other to be less tensed and pay full attention to the others but unfortunately again, I was the last.

       I was very surprised at the way Mr. Snowman asked detailed questions and his intelligent way if critically analyzing every presentation. He really earned my respect and he would have also earned a lot of admiration if he was more polite.

        When it got to my turn, I gave it my best as I saw the smiles on the faces of the management team, as well as the investers who came along with Mr. Snowman. Yes, I got to realize they were co-investers. After my presentation, I was asked a few questions which I responded to confidently.

           Yes. Knowing who Mr. Snowman is, I didn't leave any loopholes for him to attack me on. I learnt from my encounters with him that, if you want to kill a snake, you have to cut off its head. Looks like it worked. He didn't have much to say afterwards. 

         We were given a short break before the final decision will be made. Tracy hurried to me with excitement.

        "Good job, Maya, you made him quiet for the first time."

        Well, let's hope what happens next, I said with a little smile, remembering my humiliating moments this morning.

           "What happened, you don't look happy," she said concernedly.

           Yes. I can only be happy if the merger works and this company is not taken over completely....I said thoughtfully.

           "You have a point, but you are not even going to be here so why worry." Tracy said confusedly.

        I will not be here but I still want you to be happy and enjoy every benefit the merger will bring this company. I replied. Just then, we were all bekoned to return to the conference room. There was dead silence at the moment we were all eagerly waiting for the final decision. Then I heard Mr. Snowman clear his throat.

     " Dear All, I have heard and seen every report and I can clearly discern, the extent to which you have all gone. I must say, that you have all exceeded my expectations, especially Maya," he said, making me shocked. Then he continued. "Therefore, ranging from all reports from budgets, and funds allocation, ranging from finance, legal, human resource, procurement, risk and sales and marketing, this is our final decision.

           We confirm that we begin the documentation for the merger of both companies. I have therefore arranged for us to have lunch together today to begin celebrations but tommorow evening, we will have dinner at a coded location which will be sent to your various emails.

          So without much I do, let's move to the canteen. Everybody began cheering and clapping as we headed to the canteen. Even though we were at the canteen, the food was purely not from the canteen. The food had been ordered from a Chinese restaurant and the pastries were ordered from one of the biggest hotels. It was very obvious that good things were about to happen to everyone, well, except me because I will no longer be working here. 

         Everyone was happy and eating joyfully. I shared a tabke Tracy and Kira when one of the investers by name Tom walked towards us. Yes, strangely, Kira was being nice and wouldn't leave us alone for even a minute.

        " Hi ladies, call me Tom." He said sweetly. Oh he was the one who tried to help me with my elevator drama with Mr. Snowman.

        " Hello, Tom, Kira said flirtingly but he turned to me as he said. 

       "Maya, can I talk to you alone for a moment?......