The new business quarter was fast approaching and all the departments began to get busier once again. Meetings were being held every other day. During this time Jacob began to attend some of the meetings when he was able to spare the time. For the first time he been able to witness what Elle was like at work.At home she was like a ghost, he would only ever catch a glimpse of her occasionally. When they went out to events she always wore a smile but anyone who knew her would be able to tell it was just her fake politeness. When he saw her in the meetings he saw a completely different side to her; one he could only a.s.sume was the more genuine version of herself. When she spoke she spoke with confidence and commanded attention, blatantly calling out other members without caring about the corporate hierarchy. Even when she wasn"t speaking her eyes were always focused, and she would occasionally scribble down notes. Jacob had to stifle his laughter when he observed the smug look on Elle"s face as the managers reviewed the progress of her current project.
Now he could see the difference between them clear as day. He hated it, but he supposed it was only fair that everyone else compared them. Even he couldn"t help but start to compare himself to her as he watched.
One day, after a particularly long meeting, Elle quickly gathered up her things and made her way out of the conference room. Jacob watched her go. He had also noticed that while he had been observing her she had never once even spared a glance in his direction.
He began gathering his doc.u.ments as well when he happened to overhear two managers.
"Did you see the report?" One asked in a low voice.
"I did." The other confirmed. "At this rate we might have a few store closures this year."
Jacobs chest instantly tightened. He quickly took the doc.u.ments and returned to his desk in a daze. He knew the report the managers were speaking about; he had received it as well.
Jacob had been going out with Michael and the other"s more and more often. Two or three times a week they would gather to go out for dinner or to get drinks. On one of those occasions Michael had discussed a new project his store location would be running. One of the members of the sales department would need to be on the project as well, they would normally ask a senior member but Michael had asked Jacob. At the time Jacob had excitedly accepted. He hadn"t told anyone else about it, his intention was to surprise his father with the initiative and good results.
However, earlier that day Jacob had received a report; the project was not going well. It would be okay if it only had mediocre results, but instead they were reporting low numbers. There was only a short time before the end of the project, not enough time to do anything worthwhile to salvage it.
Jacob slammed his fist onto his desk, muttering under his breath. He opened the program the office used to record sales. Things might have been okay if Jacob had just let them be, but instead when he happened to see low numbers of his store location versus the high numbers of the online sales Elle was responsible for a sinister idea came to his mind.
Meanwhile, at MK"s headquarters, Adam was just entering a meeting. The director"s and manager"s involved quietly made their way into the s.p.a.cious meeting room. After a moment Adam spoke in his deep and stern voice. "What about the marketing department? Your recent project didn"t yield great results. Please report on what you have planned next."
The marketing director wasn"t in that day, instead, the manager who was left in charge stood up nervously and flipped through his doc.u.ments as he prepared to give an update. The manager endured the pressure and reported on the progress of the project, all the while silently cursing the director who had probably been absent today to purposely avoid this meeting.
Luckily for him their next proposed project was one that intrigued Adam. He didn"t say anything and just quietly listened to the report with an unchanging expression but in truth he was curious to see what the results of the proposal would be.