Convincing her

Jen's week continued to be as monotonous as ever. The best parts of her day being when she was talking to Lucas before bed. She had slowly started adjusting to sleeping without him around, and the time she spent asleep gradually increased. At least, she wouldn't wake up at 2 am in the morning and stay awake until she had to go to university. 

Lucas, who has never had trouble sleeping, was still sleeping fine because he always came home exhausted from work. He really missed David during the past few days. It was soon Friday, the day that he was supposed to review and accept the proposals.

When he got to the company, his assistant read him his itinerary as he usually did as he walked to his office. Lucas listened to him as he occasionally nodded towards the people that greeted him. When he got into the elevator, his assistant had already finished informing him of his schedule.

"The proposals?" Lucas asked as he stared at his own reflection in the mirrors of the elevator.

"They are on your desk," Martin answered as he glanced at the meticulously dressed Lucas. Lucas nodded and stepped out of the elevator once it stopped on his floor. The three secretaries there all stood up to greet him, and he nodded at them before going into his office. 

Lucas shrugged off his jacket and hung it up before sitting behind his desk and turning on his computer.

"Would you like me to bring you breakfast?" his assistant asked, and Lucas grunted in acknowledgement. Martin left Lucas' office after he accepted breakfast. Lucas checked his email first before finally acknowledging the presence of the three folders on his desk.

He opened the first one and read through all of it before picking up the second one. When he was halfway through the third proposal, Martin knocked on his door and walked in with his breakfast. 

"Tell them to come to my office in ten minutes, and can I get a cup of coffee?" Lucas asked and Martin nodded before leaving the office with sweat trickling down his back. The atmosphere in there was so suffocating. He had just gone out for a few minutes to get breakfast. How did those directors manage to piss him off so much?

He quickly contacted the related people and relayed Lucas' orders before going to make that cup of coffee he was asked for. When he came back from the break room, he saw that group of men and women standing outside Lucas' office. 

Martin greeted them before entering Lucas' office. Lucas still carried a dark face as he was reading through the same file he had left him with.

"Sir, they have arrived," Martin said cautiously.

"Tell them to come in," Lucas said and took a sip of the coffee.

"Yes sir," Martin said and left the office. When they saw Martin come out of Lucas' office, they all had a thousand questions on what the situation was like inside.

"How is his mood?" one of them finally asked.

"Not promising, he asked you to go inside," Martin said as he walked to his own desk. He was just the messenger, everything else was none of his business.

When the group of five entered the office, they immediately felt that the mood was wrong. They looked at Lucas, who was still reading the proposals while wearing the gold-rimmed glasses that his girlfriend had picked out for him before. She had said that it makes him look softer, but at the moment they made him appear even colder than he was without his glasses.

The office was so silent, except for the sound of Lucas turning the pages. After finishing with the last document, he closed the file and picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip of it before leaning back on his office chair and looking at those people who were standing in a line while nervously looking at him.

"You know back at headquarters I have a younger brother, he is turning nineteen this year," Lucas said, a small smile appearing on his lips, but it just made them even more nervous.

"He finished a proposal, by himself in three days. And it was much better than what I'm seeing here," Lucas said and sipped on his coffee. 

"The budget for the hotel will not be enough, building my hotels cost three times more than your projections, much less Lewis standard hotels," Lucas said as he threw down the folder containing the proposal for the hotel. Was there a need to be conservative with such enormous projects? It was better to have a surplus than not having enough!

"The least you could have done was contact headquarters for reference. Do I need to teach you this as well?" Lucas asked. He knew that the hotel in Country M was built before they established the headquarters, so they lacked experience. Even so, wasn't this a bit too much?

The five were silent because Lucas had started talking about his nineteen-year-old younger brother who could write better proposals. How many years of experience did they have compared to a nineteen-year-old?

They knew the proposals were poorly done, but that was all their subordinates had compiled with such a tight deadline. Besides, some of them were still stuck on the fact that there was a younger brother in the first place. Were they going to go through this at some point again?

Lucas threw the hotel proposal on the floor and picked up the other one and pointed out all the things he was not satisfied with before it too joined the first one on the floor, he then picked up the last one and tore into it as well.

"I want new proposals on my desk by Wednesday if this is the quality you are planning on submitting, just bring in your resignation letter. You may leave," Lucas said and watched them shuffle out of the room.

He stretched his body and stood up from his chair after the door closed. He was not used to scolding people who were that much older than him, so he had referred to what he had seen his father do before. This was not easy at all!

He stood up and went to the sofas where his breakfast was and sat down, pulling out his phone and taking a photo and sending it to Jen.

Doing this had felt awkward in the beginning, but after doing this for every meal for five days straight, he had gotten used to it.

He remembered when his father had been criticizing someone's work while he had been in his office when he had finished high school, and he talked about how he, who was still a teenager, submitted better work than them. Lucas had only blankly watched because he had just received his own criticism from his father. He chuckled to himself as he continued to eat. 

Half-way through his breakfast, Jen sent a reply to the image he had sent, and the two started chatting with each other. This went on until Lucas finished his breakfast and went behind his desk once more, focusing on work.

About an hour later, Martin came into his office to remind him about an appointment that he had, and Lucas collected himself before leaving the office. As he walked out of the elevator into the lobby, that familiar face appeared again. This time she was blatantly staring at him. It was as if she wanted him to notice her.

"Who is that?" Lucas asked his assistant, and his assistant instantly knew who he was talking about. He had also noticed that woman stare at his boss even the last time they had seen her.

"I don't know, but I'll make sure to find out," he said to Lucas and watched as Lucas' eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Did he end up picking up a stalker? Like Jen did? He asked himself before shaking his head.

"There's no need," Lucas said and ignored her as he passed by her. He wanted to know how far she was going to go or if it'll just be harmless staring. There was no need to make a mountain from a molehill.

Martin opened the car door for Lucas before he joined the driver in the passenger's seat of the car before the car drove off. 

The woman who had been staring at Lucas had a very interesting expression after being ignored by him. Didn't they last see each other over a year ago? Was it so easy to forget her? Was she so forgettable? 

Claire who had just gotten the position at this branch office smiled at someone who greeted her, but she was feeling indignant inside.

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