Opulent (3 page)

“It sounds suspect, Chad, and we have the best price. These no name companies can never compete with the largest multinational in the world.”

“I’m not committing to anything. It can’t hurt to get another perspective. ”

“Perspective? For fuck’s sake don’t botch this up by being greedy. It's bloody obvious where the market’s going. And where this company is heading, the longer you fuck around.”

“Look I gotta go. We’ll talk tonight…”

“Wait! Chad! ”

***

I walked briskly down the corridor into the lobby where Alex was waiting, wearing his brown boots with his blue denim jeans and his brown leather jacket. He was feathering his pink and grey checkered pattern scarf, on the side of his face. As I approached him, he was shaking his head and pointing to his watch. “Bro, what took you so long?”

I exhaled. “Vivian…”

Alex took the toothpick out of his mouth and licked his lips. “She still giving you blowjobs before meetings? Her morning, dick-tations, ha-ha.”

I punched his arm. “C’mon, let's get out of here. There’s something you tried to tell me before?”

“Yeah, you gotta hear me out.”

We walked out to the carpark where Alex unzipped his jacket and removed it. He was wearing his typical tight black t-shirt but had his scarf firmly around his neck like a python. He said, “I see that the girl from the glee club got the job.”

“Huh?”

“The blonde nerd with the glasses. I guess she got the job?”

“Oh, Felicity. Yeah. She starts tomorrow.”

Alex shook his head and took out another toothpick. “I guess Vivian was the one that made the call eh?”

“No, I did.”

“Bullshit, you pussy whipped motherfucker.”

“No bullshit. I actually made the call.”

“Bro, I knew she was ugly when I saw her handwritten CV. It’s like most things. If they have a sexy voice, they’re ugly. If they have pretty handwriting, they’re ugly.”

“Jeez Alex, where do you come up with this shit?”

“I know women, that's all. It’s called womanese.”

I rolled my eyes.

***

We went to a café not too far from work. It was situated next to the Fire station and we watched the convoy of fire trucks leave. Alex flicked away his toothpick and leaned back in the chair and smoothed the surface of his face.

“Bro we have to talk about what I heard Vivian say to Damian at the party.”

I sat up. “Yeah… what was all that about.”

“When I arrived at the party to pick her up she was getting all cozy with Damian. I tried to get closer to eavesdrop when these two clowns dressed as Navy officers butted in. They were toasting to the success of the deal.”

“And?”

“She was talking about a percentage…”

I baulked. “Jeez you’re an idiot. She’s referring to the percentage of the stocks we sold already. Vivian wanted me to sign the rest of the stock options before I headed out with you.”

“Tell me you didn’t sign?”

“Not till we meet with your guy.”

“Good, I was approached by Sione Suarvea, who offered to buy my stock options. I did the checks and he came out legit. He purchased my stock holdings for double what Cerberus are offering us.”

“Really?”

“It’s all done and dusted. As soon as the transaction was completed he asked for you, since we were the only party shareholders left.”

I paused to stroke my chin.

“Bro, he is keen to buy whatever share you got left. Let's meet this guy! It’s a no-brainer. Easy money… Lots of money. Money ho!” he said waving his hands in the air.

“Ok. Jesus, keep it down. Setup a meeting.”

“I'll book tomorrow at 2 p.m...”

“Done, I’ll bring Felicity in so she can get up to speed with what I do. Be good to expose her to the day to day stuff. An induction.”

“Well, she better know how to make a good coffee. ‘Cause she ain't easy on the eyes.”

“I’ll tell Vivian tonight that you have someone.”

“Bro, don’t tell her shit, till you meet this guy. She doesn’t know yet that I’ve reneged on her deal with me.”

“Alright then.”

***

Eight a.m. I was greeted by Felicity in the lobby. She was wearing the same outfit from the interview. But she didn’t wear heels. Her flat-soled shoes made her shorter.

“Good morning Felicity, how are you?”

“Great thank you. I was up at six am to catch the bus here. The traffic! Oh, my god. I’m so glad there's a bus lane-everything else was at a standstill. But Hey, I’m here and I made it on time.”

“Okay…” I paused with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m talking too much again aren’t I?” she blurted.

I shook my head. “No, I’m adjusting to you. Remind me not to give you coffee...”

Felicity giggled, as Vivian walked into the lobby. Her eyes narrowed at me and then she took her sunglasses off and said to Felicity, “First day at school…”

Felicity smiled and then nodded, watching Vivian walk past us. I noticed a change in expression when Vivian's back was to us.

“C’mon Felicity, follow me into my office. I'll go over your induction.”

We sat at my desk where Felicity took out her notepad. I opened my drawer and took out a tablet, peeled off the sticker with the name of the girl before. In the drawer also was the diamond earrings I was going to give to Vivian.

I paused. It was a Christmas gift. But to know I wouldn’t be spending Christmas with her put a sour taste in my mouth.

I opened the red velvet box and the gleam of the sun made the earrings sparkle. They were a teardrop design with two stones each, separated by a small white gold o-link that made the larger cut diamond spin around. I held it while it twinkled, refracting the light into colors of the rainbow. Felicity bobbed up from the other side of my desk.

“Wow!”

“Yeah… An opulent pair for the
one dearest
to you is what the salesperson said.”

“Christmas gift, for your mom?”

“She’s dead.”

“Oh, sorry. For your sister then?”

“No.”

“Wife?”

“No. I’m not married.”

“Girlfriend?”

I exhaled. “Hell, No.”

I closed the box and my eyes shifted to her. I sighed, knowing I would spend Christmas alone again this year. Perhaps for years to follow, remembering Vivian’s rationale of 364 days with me and one with her family.

“Felicity… I’m still thinking about the ‘dearest’ part.”

She gave me this cheeky smile and her thumbs pointed inwards to her chest. “I’m your girl!”

I rolled my eyes and handed her the tablet. “I had IT set it up for your email and everything. Your login and password are on a sticky note on the back of it and I have synced it with my appointments as well so you know where I am.”

I watched as Felicity examined the tablet. Her nails were painted red.

I said, “You are computer literate, right?”

“Of course I am, Chad. 5.2 gigahertz processor 32megs of ram, and it even has an SSD hard drive. Wow, this is like some fancy piece of kit. Can I take it home?” 

“Phew… I was worried ‘cause I thought of that handwritten CV…”

We both laughed and Felicity pressed her glasses up against her nose.

“Chad… I'm not too certain what my role is.”

“Felicity, I need you to share the load with a lot of the day to day running of the businesses I own under Taniela Consolidated. This company had humble beginnings. I bought shares in petroleum, gas and crude. I reinvested whatever profit I made on exploration, buying stock. But the market is tanking, oil prices are dropping with demand from China declining and the collapse of the countries in the European Union. I’m losing profitability so I have sold most of my shares and reinvested it into solar initiatives.”

“Clean, green energy,” Felicity said.

“Yeah.”

“So this is where you come in. I’m always evaluating opportunities to reinvest. I’m in meetings listening to pitches and so forth, and there are administrative requirements that I don’t have time for.”

“Okay, Chad I get it. So I’ll be leveraging your time, right?” she said.

“Exactly.”

There was a chime that made Felicity glance at the tablet.

“Felicity, we have a meeting today at two p.m. with Sione Suarvea from Pacifica Exports. He is offering to buy the rest of my shares, but I have a number of reservations. Oh, you remember Alex? He’ll be in that meeting as well.”

Felicity looked up then at me. “Nope? I didn’t meet him.”

“He was in the lobby when you came for your interview-dark slicked back hair, brown leather jacket.”

“Ha-ha, him! The toothpick guy. Gelled hair and the gay ass scarf?”

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“He was such a snob, gave me one look then brushed me aside. He kept checking out the ladies though, he’s kinda creepy.”

“That’s him alright. He’s harmless. Your desk is just over there near the door. I need to have a chat to Vivian about a few things, then we'll link up at two pm, ok?”

Felicity bit her lip and asked, “What’s Vivian's role in this company, is she a boss?”

“Yes and No. Just to clarify, you are to direct report to me, but she will have work that she will divvy with you as well.”

Felicity looked uneasy.

“Don’t worry about Vivian, you’ll get used to her. Oh, and another thing, this meeting is entirely confidential. I want to keep this from Vivian for now.”

***

It was one p.m. and Felicity was getting her things ready for us to leave. Alex had arranged to meet offsite in a restaurant. He was there already with Sione. I started to put my coat on while Felicity watched. I adjusted my cufflinks and turned to her. “It’s the best way to learn.”

“Throw me in the deep end, huh?”

I smiled. “C’mon it’s not like that. You’ll be fine, you'll swim just fine.”

Felicity adjusted her glasses and breathed in. “It’s the sharks I'm worried about,” she was saying, walking towards the door, when suddenly it opened.

Vivian didn’t bother to knock and waltzed right in. She came up to me and put her arms around me and kissed me. My eyes shifted to Felicity, who looked down to the ground.

Vivian licked her lips. “Chad, I thought we could go for a late lunch?”

“I'm afraid that’s not possible,” Felicity blurted.

“Excuse me?” Vivian said, putting her hands down on her hips.

I said, “Vivian, we have a meeting offsite at two p.m. with a client.”

Vivian held her stare at Felicity and she stared back. I could feel the tension.

“Fine, we'll do dinner then tonight. I want to talk to you about Alex.”

“Ok…”

Vivian put her arms around me again and kissed me, her possessive push against my lips with her tongue nearly choking me. I noticed her open her eyes with a quick glance at Felicity.

When Vivian walked out Felicity bit her lip. I shut the door, exhaling.

“You said you didn’t have a girlfriend?”

“Ha! I don't know if I could call her that. I don’t even know if I'm her boyfriend.”

Felicity raised her eyebrows and I said, “It’s kinda complicated.”

“Friends with benefits?”

“Huh?”

“Booty call?”

“What?”

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at my watch. “C’mon we gotta go. Felicity…Focus!”

***

Alex was always mixing business with his secondary pleasure which was food. He’d arranged the meeting at a Chinese restaurant called Yum-Cha, with forty round tables and staff who came around with a variety of dishes.

The place was packed, but Alex had booked the VIP area which was behind the massive fish tank. The lighting was dim but blue ambient light from the fish tank made the setting like we were under water. There was one table and when I spotted Alex and the person who I assumed was Sione. They both stood up.

Alex introduced me to Sione. He was impeccably dressed; mocha skin and clean shaven, his jet black hair styled in a modern pompadour with a neat part on the right side. He was wearing a grey wool suit with a waistcoat. White pocket square. Crisp white shirt with a grey tie. I took a glance at his shoes- they were black lace–up, rounded to a blunt end at the toe. Shiny and expensive. Shoes were an indicator for me to a customer’s latent wealth. Even the suit to a degree. It was definitely tailored to his physique.

Sione had broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Tall. When we took our seats, he undid his coat and revealed a pocket watch.

I commented. “It’s an excellent timepiece, Sione,