A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 12: A brilliant presentation

After Amelia was done puking, she rinsed her face and ran out of the restroom. She ran back to where she had run into James and saw that he wasn’t there anymore.

She saw a man standing next to the entrance, he was wearing a blue and black uniform.

“Excuse me, sir. Please, do you know where the meetings with the CEOs are taking place? I should be there but I have no idea where it is.”

The eyes of the security man she spoke to roamed her body from head to toe. He wondered what someone who looked so not-classy would do at such a great event.

“It’s on the other side. They are in the first conference room.”

He pointed forward, and Amelia turned to the direction he pointed to.

“Thank you!”

She hurriedly ran down the corridor in front of her, while her eyes were busy checking out the doors.

Soon, she got to the fourth door and saw a tag with ‘Conference Room’ on it. She moved closer, and she could see the inside of the room.

It was super huge, and her mouth fell open in shock. There were pretty many people in the room, and they all looked hot.

They were all seated, but they were yet to start the meeting. She quickly searched for James, and then she saw him sitting so handsomely amidst the others.

The seat that was next to him was empty, and Amelia wondered if that seat was for her. She took another look at herself, and heaved a nervous sigh.

‘You can do it, Amelia. You need to show him that you can handle this.’

She lifted her head high and exhaled deeply. She reached for the handle of the door and opened it.

As soon as she stepped in, everyone in the room turned their heads to look at her, and they locked their gazes on her.

Amelia’s feet were glued to the floor as she was super overwhelmed with their cold stares.

“What is a janitor doing here? Did she miss the way?” A classy-looking woman who sat at Amelia’s right hand side said to her hearing.

Amelia gulped hard and lifted her heavy eyes to look at James. James clenched his jaw as he stared at her.

“Come here.” James kept his jaw clenched as he spoke.

Amelia read James’ lips from where she stood, and she felt her feet come back to life.

She ignored the murmurs around her and dragged her feet to where James was. She reached for the seat and sat on it.

“She is with James Parker? Why would someone like that be with him? She looks like a janitor.”

More discouraging words filled Amelia’s ear, and her eyes heated up rapidly. She bowed her head and began to fiddle with her finger.

“Don’t you dare cry.” James gazed at her and noticed the look on her face.

Immediately Amelia heard his voice, she swallowed the inconvenience she felt in her throat and raised her head. She looked at him and saw him gazing at her with a straight face.

“I think we can start now.”

A smart-looking man stood up from the front seat and everywhere went dead silent. He was the chairman of the General Financial Co-operations.

“Good day everyone. I believe everyone present here has one thing or other to do. So, we’d go straight to the point.”

As he spoke, the manual projector screen behind him slowly wound down, and he turned to look at the screen.

“We all know why we are here. We need two companies that will be joining the GFC this year, and these companies have to deserve this great opportunity.”

Amelia watched the man speak, and she noticed that those that were seated were pulling out files from their bags and everywhere they had kept them.

She hurriedly pulled out the file James had given her and placed it on the table. She opened it and scanned through it again.

After scanning through a few pages, she realized it was a file that talked about the Ja’Park’s Tertiary Company. It was prepared like a presentation.

She looked up and kept listening to the Chairman.

“I’ll be giving the thirteen companies present here today, five minutes to tell us why their company is fit for this opportunity.”

Amelia looked around the table and saw some were smiling and some looked super nervous. Just like how Amelia’s face was.

“Did you hear why we have to be one of the two companies that gets this opportunity?”

James leaned closer to Amelia and as he whispered in her ear, his breath breezed her ear, making her shiver.

“I… he said the company would help the other company financially and would bring them more clients and contracts in the future. They would work hand-in-hand to make sure the business doesn’t crumble.”

James blinked twice as his eyes adjusted in awe. ‘How did she get all that?’

He had noticed she wasn’t paying attention when the chairman was talking because she was busy with the file he had given her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t say more Mr. James. I wanted to go through the file real quick. I promise to pay more attention now.” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Amelia turned her head to look at the Chairman, and James smirked.

The chairman began to call the companies’ representatives one after the other, and they began to step out and present, using the projector.

Amelia looked at James, and she smiled. “I can’t wait to see you present, Sir. You are surely going to give the Chairman a good impression.”

James' eyes left the Chairman’s face and fell on her face. “Who said I would be the one presenting?” He asked.

Amelia blinked and slowly nodded. ‘Please don’t tell me I’ll be the one to do this.’

“This is your second assignment. If my company doesn’t win this, forget about this job and my forgiveness. I believe your uncle would be so happy to know you failed him.”

Amelia’s heart began to thump against her chest aggressively as she listened to James’ words carefully. She felt so much pressure inside of her that she began to feel weary.

“But…”

She swallowed hard and began to pace.

“I didn’t prepare. I can’t stand in front of people.” The words fell out of her mouth with great difficulty.

“I don’t care. You are my secretary to be. You are supposed to do it. You graduated as one of the best students in your department, didn’t you? Prove it here.”

Amelia slowly bounced her head and turned to look at the file again. Her hands vibrated vigorously as she turned the pages of the document one after the other.

‘Amelia, you can’t ruin this. If you ruin this for Mr. James, you are in more trouble. You are a mass communicator. You can do this.’

“The next company to present is Ja' Park’s Tertiary company.”

The announcement the Chairman made threw Amelia out of her brave mind and her heart stopped beating for a second.

“Get your a*s of the chair now! You are wasting time,” James said with gritted teeth, though he kept a cute little smile on his face.

Amelia nodded and slowly stood up. She moved away from the table and dragged her feet to the front. As she walked, her head was bowed.

‘Pray for me, father and mother! I’m about to die!”

The chairman excused her, and she stood where he had stood. She raised her head and her eyes caught with the numerous cold eyes that bore her skin.

Her lips parted and words began to fall out with zero confidence.

“Good day, everyone. I am Amelia Cooper, and I’m here to brief us about what the Ja’ Park Tertiary Company is about.”

The lights from the projector screen came on, and she turned to look at the screen. In front of her was exactly what was in the file she brushed through.

“Ja' Park’s Tertiary Company is worthy of this position, because, why not? Since the existence of this company, there has been no slight fall or change in her yearly financial goal. She strictly follows her budgets and makes lots of profits.”

Amelia looked at James, and she saw a smile on his face. She felt butterflies in her belly, seeing him smile at her. This gave her more courage.

“Let’s take a look at one out of many investments of our company. We have approximately fifteen Casinos in the United States, and they rank number one best in all the states they are.”

“Here in Alabama, others in California, Florida, Georgia and many others. Now, we can’t predict the future, but what if there is a financial crisis in General Financial Corporations? What if the need to fall back on a sub-company arises?”

“Ja’ Park’s Tertiary Company is the best company to rely on, thank you.”

The whole conference room was dead silent for the first three seconds after she ended the presentation. Suddenly, the people began to clap, and Amelia jumped in fright.

She looked back and saw some of them on their feet. Even the Chairman was on his feet.

“Beautiful! Brilliant!” The Chairman complimented her.

Amelia gave three quick bows before she hurried back to her seat.

As she approached, James’ smile faded off immediately. He was one of the few people sitting.

Amelia looked at his face happily, but when she saw the look on his face, her happiness washed down to her feet.

‘Didn’t I do well?’ She pouted her mouth and sat.