Oh my!!!
RYAN’S POV.
“Oh my goodness!!” I exclaimed as I checked the time again as my car came to a halt at the entrance of the office where we were supposed to have the meeting. I was already an hour late.
Having arrived an hour later than the expected time, I could only hope for the very best. Thanks to my curiousity about Sophie, I had been arrested. The unpleasant thing was that I could not verify if it was indeed Sophie, so it was essentially a waste of time. As I walked into the office I hoped that for some reason the meeting had been extended.
I checked my phone as I stepped in and discovered that I had a slew of missed calls. Karl had been phoning me repeatedly. “Shit, I hope I am not in trouble.” I said as I dashed down to the hall where we were going to hold the meeting.
As I arrived to the meeting, Karl was already seated with the clients, and the meeting had begun. Karl was clearly upset by my conduct, as evidenced by his expression. As soon as I stepped inside, I had no idea what to do. I regretted my actions, because if I had not followed Sophie, I would have arrived on time.
“Emmh” I mumbled as I entered the meeting room, and Karl’s face became crimson with rage. He glared at me, clearly upset about my tardiness. I stumbled over my words and was unable to say anything because I had arrived late. I felt a knot forming in my stomach as I tried to come up with an explanation for my delay.
” What do I even say?” I muttered as I looked at their faces. How do I break the news to everyone that I was detained for violating a traffic law while following someone I believed to be my ex?”That would be silly.” I thought, and Karl’s voice jolted me out of my reverie.
“You are late Ryan.” Karl spoke in a stern tone, and I realised I had been standing there numbly staring at everyone since I arrived. Our prospective clients gazed at me, wondering if I was okay.
“I’m really sorry, everyone,” I stammered. As I glanced at everyone seated, their looking eyes indicated that they required an explanation for why I was late.
“There was an unexpected traffic congestion on the way here. I am sorry, I guarantee this was not planned.” I stated again. The investors stared at one another with a knowing expression before one of them responded reassuring me that everything was alright. “Get on with the presentation; at least you are here, and that is all that matters.” He replied, and the other clients nodded in accord.
I noted Karl’s expression; he did not appear to be buying my excuse, as he frowned.”If I had not been following Sophie around like a lost puppy, maybe I could have arrived on time!” I murmured to myself as I picked up the files to begin the presentation.
“You are aware that this is not in line with our character, therefore please accept my sincere apologies. We would soon begin the presentation.” Karl said as he walked to where I was. He murmured quietly as he stood close to me, his voice full of irritation as he fired at me, “Be quick with this; you have already wasted so much of our time, as we had to wait for you.” The room fell into an uncomfortable silence as l searched for the files for the presentation. Everyone watched as I searched for the files with no success.
I could feel the tension in the room rising as Karl’s words hung in the air. My face flushed with embarrassment and regret. How had it come to this? All because of my foolish infatuation with Sophie. As I looked around at my clients, their eyes filled with disappointment, I realized that I had let them down. This was not the professional image I wanted to portray.
I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart. It was clear that I needed to salvage the situation and regain Karl’s trust. “I am so sorry sir,” I said earnestly, meeting his gaze directly before turning to search for the files. “I apologize for letting all of this get in the way of my professionalism. It won’t happen again.” There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes as he processed my words.
I found the files after searching for a while. “Found it” I exclaimed in excitement and Karl’s anger slowly dissipated, replaced by a look of surprise and perhaps even a hint of admiration. The tension in the room began to ease as I made my sincere apology. I could see how my clients were starting to soften their judgment as well. It was a crucial moment for me, I needed to keep up with my good works to ensure I kept my place in the company
With determination in my eyes, I continued speaking, “I understand that my actions have caused disappointment and distrust among all of you. But I want to assure you that I am committed to rectifying my mistakes and rebuilding the trust that has been broken.
I could feel the weight of Karl’s disappointment bearing down on me. The tension in the air was palpable, But this was a turning point for me, Taking a deep breath, I mustered up the courage to go on with the presentation.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
A sound of applause filled the air after the presentation and I could not feel more proud of myself. Having been able to captivate everyone with my presentation I smirked as I noticed how Karl smiled at the success of the project.
” I guess we would be doing business then.” The clients said as they stood up to shake Karl’s hand. ” But I would want some clarity on some facts.” He said as he turned to ask me some questions.
Still smiling, I anticipated his questions would not be much of a big deal. I stared at him awaiting his questions, when suddenly, we heard sounds of a phone ringing.
” Whose phone is that?” One of the clients asked as they stared at one another. A sudden realization hit me when I noticed, it was a familiar ring tone.
” Oh no.” I said as I noticed the phone was mine. I checked the caller and noticed it was Tana. ‘”but what did she want now?” I questioned myself as I tried to turn it off.
” Oh sorry about this” I said as I picked the phone to end the call. The call was not ending instead the phone kept ringing loudly, as I was tensed about the whole situation, I had turn on the volume instead of turning it off.
” What is this Ryan?” Karl yelled at me, I am so sorry sir. ” I said apologizing for my phone ringing as I was finally able to turn it off.
” Why was she calling?” I mumbled to myself as I stared at everyone, Tana was not one to call out of the blue. I wondered if something was wrong.