The inspection went smoothly as Yve was delighted with the things she saw. Before concluding her tour, she looked back at the staff and said,"Thank you ."
As the tour on the display section of the mall comes to an end, Yve is delighted to see the execution of their plans. Before going back to Edward"s office, she turns her head to the staff as they all all form a line.
"Thank you very much for all of your hard work. I"m sorry, I couldn"t visit you on a regular basis. However, seeing the actual output today, I can truly say I can trust your reports. I"ll be expecting new updates every day, okay?" Yve said to the members.
They all smiled at the compliment they just received from her before responding, "Yes, Mam."
"Good! So I"ll see you in a week then? Don"t forget if you have any problems just contact my secretary for us to be able to address the issue immediately. Any questions?"
The staff members look side by side before the team leader answers, "No, Mam!"
With that Yve dismisses the team and walks back to the office area of the mall and sees Edward inside looking through many files.
"Am I disturbing you?" Yve asks him as she walks towards his desk.
"No, not at all! Please, have a seat!" Edward points at the couch as he fixes the files before sitting in front of Yve for some talk.
"How was the stroll around the mall?" Edward asked as he sat in front of Yve.
"Well….." Yve folds her hands as she contemplates on the right words to say.
"It"s fine. there"s no need to beautify your words, just be honest and frank." Edward said.
Edward knew the negative things about the mall and they were already identified. However, it will take a while before changes would be truly visible. After all, the people in the management must be straightened out first for smooth processing. Changes must also be conducted one step at a time or else, the consumers would be too shocked by the intense change and then disappointed if there will be no follow-up change. In his question, Edward wanted to see how far Yve has grown and understood the situation one of Stones" major companies is doing.
"Okay. Visually the mall looks good and a lot of customers are coming in and out of the mall because of its accessibility to public transportation. However, those are not good enough as selling points nowadays. I also often hear from the customers earlier that they would come here if the stocks from other malls would run out. Which means we"re known for late procurement of in-demand or trending items. Lastly, I don"t see any unique points for this mall. If a foreigner comes to ask me, I will not recommend this mall as there is nothing special to it." Yve calmly enumerated the things she discovered in today"s walk tour around the mall.
Edward just smiled at Yve. She enumerated perfectly the basic issues which are noticeable by the customers.
"Wow! You were amazing! With just that stroll, you figured it out?"
"Well, I"m looking around earlier having the mindset of a customer. Outside the meeting room, I just wanted to be treated that way. However, I wasn"t sure if I got everything figured out." Yve answered.
"There"s no need to rush. Your thoughts were correct and considering you just came here for a few hours, you did exceptionally well." Edward praised her.
"Is there anything else I can do to help?" Yve asked Edward.
"At the moment, just focus on the presentation. You already have a lot on your plate." Edward said and asked a different question instead.
"What are you going to do after this?"
"I don"t have anything. I will probably go home and maybe review some lecture notes." Yve answered and stood up.
"I should go now. You still have a lot of things to do."
"Okay. Sylvan, make sure she returns home safe and sound, okay?" Edward commanded Sylvan.
"Don"t worry, Secondo." After the salute Yve and Sylvan left Edward and went out of the mall.
"Are you heading back home, Young Madam?"
"Hmm.. I guess. I want to sleep a bit early tonight. By the way, do I have any schedule for tomorrow?"
"Nothing. I thought you might want to rest or do other things not work related." Sylvan reported while taking a peak at Yve through the mirror in the car.
"That would be true also. Thanks."
Thinking that she can finally rest now, Yve closed her eyes for a bit and didn"t realize she had fallen asleep. As the car came to a stop, a man opened the door with a wide smile on his face.
"Primo.." Sylvan turned his head to greet his boss but was silenced as Vince placed his finger on his mouth.
Vince continues to bend his body to take his time looking at the face he really missed. He noticed the dark circles on her face. He lightly brushed his hand on one side of the woman"s cheeks.
"You haven"t been sleeping much as well…. You must have been through a lot of things the past few days. I"m sorry, my Queen." Vince whispered.
Much to his delight, the woman moved her face more comfortably to his hand.
Deep inside Yve"s dream, Vince has arrived and is holding her tight in his arms. As a result, she tightened her grip around the man"s neck. She even murmured,
"I miss you."
Unknown to him that her husband is indeed carrying her to their room. Vince smiled hearing his wife"s longingness and kissed her forehead before whispering back so close to her ear,
"I miss you, too."
Hearing the familiar voice and smelling the loving scent of her husband, Yve slowly opened her eyes and saw the man she has been missing the past few days. As the man placed her on bed, she called him out and said,
"Vince, you have arrived."
The man sat beside her and calmly asked,
"What do you want to eat? I can cook while you rest a bit and we can eat dinner together."
"But I bet you"re also tired." Yve smiled a bit as he continuously stared at Vince.
"I"ll be fine. I arrived earlier today and I already had my dose of sleep to cure my jet lag." Vince smiled as he tucked Yve warmly inside their bed.
"Okay. Then just cook anything you want to."
"Yes, my Queen."
"My King, I"m glad that you and Mom are back safe and sound." Yve smiled as she gave in to her tired body once more and failed to hear Vince"s response.
"I"m happier that you were safe while I was away."