"Good Morning Madam," Aviona"s secretary welcomed her as she entered the building. Aviona only nodded at her and followed behind her boss as they headed through the elevator. When the elevator personnel saw Aviona, he immediately pressed open the private elevator meant for her and welcomed Aviona with a big smile."Good Morning Madam," He greeted.
"Good morning Teofilo, you are in the morning s.h.i.+ft now?" Aviona asked as she was used to seeing the man at night before she leaves the office.
"Yes ma"am," The personnel told.
When the elevator closed, Aviona"s secretary immediately ran through Aviona"s schedule for the day.
"Your last meeting for today is at 8:00 PM Madam. It"s a dinner meeting with the board members of LNC Incorporated," Her secretary announced the last.
"Alright, how many minutes do I have before my first appointment?" Aviona asked while their elevator was moving up.
"Thirty minutes Madam," Her secretary replied to her query.
"Thank you, Cherry," Aviona thanked her and soon, the elevator reached the top floor of the building where the CEO"s office was located. Aviona stepped out the elevator with her stiletto heels, showcasing her knee length skirt and a powerful self-confidence. She went to her office immediately and closed the door for a moment, with the intention relaxing for a moment before her busy day starts. She sat on her desk and spun her chair around, facing the gla.s.s windows that showed the entire city below it.
No more than five minutes when she heard a knock on the door.
"Come in," She said and spun her seat back to where its supposed to be. Immediately she saw Margo entered from the door, eyebrows crossed.
"You had an anniversary yesterday and you still come to office today?" Margo started nagging at her. "Aviona, my G.o.d! If I have a husband, I surely won"t be able to get out from bed after a romantic dinner,"
"Margo, we both have important appointments today," She replied without thinking to much. She had employed Margo to work as head of the marketing department when she started off her company. Donna pursued a career abroad while Sophie on the other hand got married early like Aviona and she choose not to work as her husband was super rich and she wasn"t a career woman like the other three.
"But Aviona, what happened to your plans of making a child? Wasn"t that a priority?" Margo reminded her. It was Margo all these times who had been lecturing Aviona about her obligations to Martin as a wife which Aviona was grateful for.
"We had planned a vacation already," Aviona revealed. "Don"t worry you"ll be a G.o.d mother soon,"
"Aviona," Margo"s voice sounded concern right then, "You know, you don"t really need all of this. Martin"s wealth is already enough for both of you and I guess what you need to do right now is just to build a family with him like Sophie did,"
"Then what am I going to do with Leigh Group of Companies? I have thousands of employees including you," Aviona turned to look at her in eye.
"Well, you can entrust into someone else." Margo suggested, "You have many trusted employees that can replace you. I"m even willing if you want since I"m not a married woman like you. You can train me as you go an spend forever with Martin"
"Oh Margo," Aviona was deeply touched. Margo and her had been closer than ever when she came back and the girl had given her full dedication to the job she entrusted to her. "Thank you so much, but you know how important this company to me is and I just can"t leave it, not now,"
"Aviona aren"t you worried about your husband?" Margo sighed deeply, "Although Martin is very patient with you, he"s still a human. He might grow tired of your lack for time for him someday, specially that all of this," Margo paused for a bit before she continued, "All of this you are doing for Melvin,"
Margo"s words caught something in Aviona as all of it were true. Back then, when they were in Africa, Melvin had a struggle with his mobile clinic because of expensive medicines. This was the reason why she worked on making cheap version of those medicines, sold them off in the market and later made a company out of it. The second company she made was about automobile parts, and that was because she wanted to make her own automobiles for her clinics in Africa. The third company she developed was an online store, selling off internationally the hand products of the children in Melvin"s orphanage and so on and so fort. Leigh Group of Companies was composed to those companies she built, all for Melvin"s lost dreams. Even after his death, Aviona"s world revolved on him still and it continued on, even when she"s already married to Martin.
"Don"t answer anymore," Margo dismissed the topic voluntarily, "I"m sorry I should have not mentioned it,"
"It"s okay Margo, I had moved on," She told her as her heart clouded with guilt. "I"m married now,"
"Exactly my point Aviona. You are married now, its time you should make your husband and your family a priority. Think about my proposal, perhaps it"s the best thing you should do,"
In the middle of such an emotional conversation, Aviona"s secretary knocked on the door.
"Is that you Cherry? Come in," Aviona called.
"Madam," Cherry"s face was a little high-strung.
"Is it time for my meeting?" Aviona asked and stood, the turned to glance herself on the big mirror on one side of her desk in her attempt to look good before going to her meeting.
"No Madam, not yet," The secretary announced, "But there"s a private call for you,"
"From?" Aviona raised a brow at this. She certainly wasn"t expecting any call from anyone right then and because it was a private call, she wondered who was it and how important is it.
"From Manager Cheng," Cherry paused a little before she revealed.
"Manager who?" Marga looked at Cherry intensely and dragged her eyes back to Aviona, whose face looked worriedly surprise. Aviona"s friends didn"t know much about the Dugmoch family as they only knew Melvin.
"What"s wrong Cherry? What did Manager Cheng say?" Aviona hurriedly asked.
"Madam Sarah died this morning, that"s all he wanted me to tell you,"
All the color in Aviona"s face faded with the news and her knees became weak that she almost stumbled.
"Cherry," Her voice was cracking when she instructed her, "Cancel all my appointments for the day and tell my driver I"m leaving,"
"Yes Madam," Cherry replied but Aviona didn"t wait for it. She grabbed her bag immediately and left Margo and her secretary on her office.