Serendipity - A Chance Encounter

"Well this is nice, how much is this?", Samantha pointed at the latest product that the Hozzby brand is launching that day.

They were currently at a shopping center where the event is held and there were a lot of people looking around and appreciating the products displayed.

One of the Hozzby staff came to them and greeted Becca, "Hi, Ms. Wise. I"m Lori, I spoke to you on the phone. Thank you for coming today."

"Oh h.e.l.lo, Lori it"s nice to meet you. Congratulations on the product launch.", she greeted.

"Thank you!"

"This is my friend, by the way, her name"s Samantha Kim.", Becca introduced.

The staff looked at Samantha and smiled though there was a hint of wonder in her eyes. She was trying to remember if she has seen or heard her somewhere because her name and face looked familiar. But she didn"t want to make mistakes so she just kept her greeting in a polite tone, "It"s nice to meet you, Ms. Kim. Thanks for coming."

Lori turned to Becca again and spoke, "Ms. Wise, if you could please follow me, we have prepared a gift for you today.", she gestured for Becca to follow her.

Becca who was already used to this trend where brands give her gifts, followed Lori to a corner; Samantha also followed suit.

"As a thank you for coming to the launch, we are giving you a unit of the new Hozzby laptop. We hope that you like it.", Lori handed a huge bag.

"Oh wow! It"s very generous of you, thank you very much. Although…", Becca thought about it. She actually just bought a new laptop a month ago and didn"t think that she would need a new unit. The product that Lori gave her was a heavy duty one and she felt that it would be such a waste if it"s not going to get used often. Turning her attention to Samantha, she handed the huge bag to her.

"You told me you were planning to buy a new one to replace your broken laptop. Why don"t you have this instead? I think with programming, the specs are enough right?" Becca then turned to Lori, "Sorry, Lori… as much as I want to keep the laptop, the truth is, I just bought one and my friend here would probably be able to use it more than I do. That"s okay, right?"

Lori who was feeling the refusal of the gift at first became curious when she heard about programming. Her gaze turned to Samantha again and she tilted her head, "You program?"

Samantha shyly smiled, suddenly noticing the attention was s.h.i.+fted to her. "Yes, I do."

"Lori, Samantha is Trident"s CEO. I thought it would be nice that I brought her here since she knows about computers.", Becca proudly announced.

Lori"s brows scrunched up and then her eyes widened in surprise. "Y-you"re T-trident"s CEO?", she hurriedly took her phone, not waiting for Samantha"s response and quickly typed on the search bar. In a split second, Samantha"s face appeared along with the articles from the recent events that happened which was related to her company.

She looked up to Samantha again and she gaped, not knowing what to say. The truth is, before Lori applied for Hozzby brand, she had tried to apply for Trident but she wasn"t able to pa.s.s the preliminary round of interview and testing.

Looking at the beautiful woman in front of her, she couldn"t believe that she was facing the boss of the company that she had wanted to get in right after graduating college. She was star struck! The intelligent and beautiful CEO of Trident was really standing before her.

"Ms. Lori?", Becca was waiting for her response but Lori was a bit distracted at that moment. "Is it okay if I give this to my friend instead?"

"It"s really you.", she mumbled as she looked at the picture on her phone and then back to Samantha"s face to confirm. Lori finally snapped out of her trance, "Oh of course! Of course! It would be an honor for us if Ms. Samantha Kim will accept the gift. We hope that you like it."

It was the first time for Samantha to receive such gifts in this way. At first, she just went there to accompany Becca with the product launch and maybe find a replacement for her broken laptop.

"My laptop. In which Daniel had damaged it with water. No wait, actually… I also allowed him to do that to me so it"s not entirely his fault.", she thought to herself and a smile appeared on her face when she remembered what happened that night.

Actually, she could"ve had the laptop fixed but she thought that it was time to upgrade since it was already a few years old. "Thank you very much, I will use it well.", she expressed her grat.i.tude.

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The staff left the two of them and both Becca and Samantha went back to the products display. Becca turned the camera on once again and naturally recorded the event and herself as she doc.u.mented what"s currently happening. She faced Samantha, "Is it okay if I show you on camera and maybe ask your thoughts about the product launch? It"s okay if you"re not comfortable with it."

Samantha thought about it for a second before she decided, "You know what? Why not! It could be fun!"

Becca smiled brightly, "Awesome.". She turned the camera to face the lens to them and started her spiel, "I"d like you to meet a friend of mine, Ms. Samantha Kim. She"s...", Becca started to introduce Samantha and she felt nervous but was also quite excited to talk to the camera.

"Hi everyone.", Samantha greeted and waved to the lens, she imagined Becca"s followers looking at her at that moment though of course, the video is yet to be uploaded.

Becca started to interview Samantha and she answered flawlessly like an expert in the field. In which, Samantha actually is quite knowledgeable about it. Although the terms that she used as she described the new laptop that they were talking about were not very familiar to Becca, Samantha was quite a natural with her explanation that it was easy to understand. If Becca were to decide, she probably already have bought the laptop; she was sold!

Just as they ended their mini interview, Samantha"s phone rang. It was from Daniel. She excused herself from Becca and found a spot where she could talk comfortably.

"Hey… it"s nice to hear from you. How"s your trip?", she spoke as soon as she answered the call. Her voice was energetic and Daniel noticed it right away which made him smile.

"Yeah, just got off the meeting. You sound happy, are you outside?"

"Yes. I"m with Becca at Hozzby"s product launch. Honey, I got a free laptop!", she proudly told him the news.

"Oh, that"s great! Sorry about the other one.", he apologized when he remembered. He had actually planned to buy her a new one but hadn"t gotten around to it yet.

"Don"t worry about it. When are you coming home? I miss you already.", she confessed.

"I will see you first thing tomorrow. Be good, okay?"

"I am always good!", she protested and heard Daniel"s laugh on the other line. "Come home soon, honey."

"I will. Take care.", he acknowledged before he cut the call.

Right after the phone call got cut off, Samantha heard a familiar voice that called her from behind. The person whom she didn"t want to meet anymore.

"Samantha.", Andrew called her.

***

Just when she turned her head to look at him, Andrew pulled her close and kissed her suddenly on the lips without warning; she couldn"t get away from his hold so she just let herself loose and kissed him back. And they lived happily ever after!
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Happy April Fools day!

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