บท 21: Prettier In Person

Lana massaged her aching nape and tilted her head to look at the wall clock. She had spent the entire day alone at the CEO's office tending to the files given by Liam and making notes.

She felt relieved and pouted her lips as she folded the last file and closed it too. Liam did not bring her to any of his client's visits and meetings with him that day. She was expecting more field work with him rather than staying inside the office and doing desk work.

Lana wanted some action. She wanted to see the real court proceedings and the way they were held but Liam was too grumpy that morning, so she did not bother to ask him to take her with him.

She packed her stuff from the table and got ready to leave the office with a long face. Office work bored her and she was hoping the next day Liam would be in a good mood to bring her inside the courtroom or else she would go crazy and blackmail him to do that.

She wondered though why the man seemed upset with her when he had obviously enjoyed pestering her last night in front of her mother.

'Is it because I did not call him?' she thought as she walked through the hallway towards the elevator.

"Nah! Maybe it's because he thought he would be late for his appointment." she scoffed, thinking it was not about that call because it was out of Liam's character to be that petty. She asked Jorge, and he confirmed that Liam reached in time for the appointment so she was sure Liam would no longer be mad with her the next day.

Lana's face wrinkled as she opened her car. Why would she care if he was mad or not? The man should be the one to worry once she gets mad…

She opened her car and changed into her slippers first before getting inside and starting the engine.

Lana hit the road and played one of her favorite songs as she drove for a drive thru because she was not in the mood to cook.

She chuckled while she pictured her mother frowning at her once she found out she was not bothering herself to cook a healthy meal but buying takeout instead.

She picked her favourite food and was now back on the road. She was humming along with the music in her car when she felt her car wiggle, after a loud thud…

*Boogs

"What the heck!" she hissed as she hit the break and turned off her car engine. She went out to see what happened.

She reached to the rear of her car to check the damage. She turned around to see the person who hit her car and saw a pair of legs wearing black leather shoes coming out.

A tall man in a light grey business suit was standing in front of her. He smiled a little and scratched his head while looking at the damaged part of her car due to the hit.

"Miss, are you all right?" The man worriedly asked and scanned her from head to toe as if checking if she was hurt or something.

"Yeah, I'm good but it looks like the back of my car is not good at all…" Lana jeered, looking at a deep dent on her fusion red metallic Volvo v60.

"I'm sorry about this. I did not notice I was almost close…" He apologised and quickly made a call. He picked up something from his wallet and gave it to Lana.

"This is my contact. Please give me yours so I can have my assistant make the necessary arrangements for your car's repair and for whatever else is needed, Miss. By the way, I'm Noah." The man with a friendly approach extended his hand.

Lana only grabbed his card and gave him a half smile. "All right Mr. Noah, I'll just call in case I would need anything regarding this incident." Lana replied and turned around.

"Miss… Are you sure we need not bring you to the hospital just to make sure you're fine?" Noah insisted.

"No need. I'm fine…" Lana answered before she bid her farewell and left. She was fine, and it was nothing major to make a fuss for. Nevertheless the insurance company would take care of all the damages to the car, anyway.

Noah shook his head and with a smirk murmured, "What an aloof woman…" The woman did not even bother to give him her contact details. Well, not that it matters because he had his own ways.

He went back in his own car and muttered with a smirk, "She's prettier in person…"

...

Meanwhile, at Miss Tang's Agency…

"What? I thought they had decided to hire Miss Tang for that endorsement?" Miss Tang's manager hissed on the other line.

"What? Who pulled out? Seriously, when we are about to have that contract signing by next week? Can you do something about it, or can we talk to them and sort things out? We at least are supposed to know what went wrong." Miss Tang's manager exclaimed in panic.

It was a big endorsement and she could not afford to lose such an opportunity. "Alright please… Yes. We will wait. Please do something and set an appointment for us. Thank you so much for this Rey." she almost begged the person on the other line while she threw sharp gazes at Miss Tang.

As soon as the call ended with nostrils still flaring, Flor immediately confronted her talent sitting comfortably on the couch like a princess.

"What now Flor?" Miss Tang snorted while she looked at her new nail polish.

"Did you offend anyone important from the Zhao Group?" Flor asked with a crumpled face..

"Of course not. I've been behaving very well lately after that scandal from that network, so I'm not that dumb to pick a fight with someone influential!" Miss Tang barked back.

She crossed her legs and added, "Chill out Flor just set an appointment with whoever is in charge and I will come with you to talk about it. I'm sure there's just some minor misunderstanding out there…"

"You better be right this time because this project is too big to lose because of your arrogance like that. Representing the Zhao group will make you surpass Brione in fame, so you must not lose it at any cost! Do whatever it takes you to sign that contract and become their brand ambassador!" Flor pointed out.