2. A WAR OF WORDS

She was always ahead of time. So was she today. To her, punctuality meant 5 - 15 minute before the decided time. The buzzing designing office settled down sensing her arrival.

She was seen as a heartless figure by her subordinates. Her 16-inch long wavy jet-black hair was only meant for her, her black pupils hid the unknown giving out no clue of anything. She wore no expressions, the only thing she wore was confidence. She wore it like an armor which made her aura strong and unique.

Her cold expressions with this unbeatable aura made her unapproachable.

She headed straight to her cabin. She was followed by her assistant, Ai Chyou, on her way. Chyou recited the first few tasks of the day to get started with. 

"Hmmm....One strong espresso with a pack of sweetener."  she responded before parting ways with Chyou. Chyou left for preparing her request.

She closed the door behind before taking her seat comfortably and settling down for work.

The usual bi-weekly 9 am meeting was not far away to start. She gathered her files before heading out.

Her whole department was all prepared for the meeting that was expected to start soon. An air of tension followed as she pulled open the door of the meeting room. She glanced across the room before heading towards her chair.

Silence flowed in as she settled down for another decision-making period. The presentation began reporting the current state of the department. Managing the designing department was never easy to start with. Every day screamed for something new. The competition was fierce as ever.

The sudden interruption of the loud forceful opening of the doors disturbed the meeting. As everyone curiously turned their heads to see the intruder, Meilin focused on the screen showing no interest in the commotion.

A lazy voice followed after the commotion, “Excuse me for the disturbance. I hope you all don't mind."

Hearing no response after his introduction he continued, “Don’t take this seriously, you know, it was an emergency and going in for an appointment and stuff is too much of a work itself so I thought I will just drop by to save time. I hope you understand."

Still when he heard no response and when she had not turned around to face her he called her out name to grab her attention,"Ms Hu. I hope you could let this go."

"Where you talking to me?" Her sharp dead voice rang out in the room as she turned around to face the man at his mid-thirties standing at the far end of the table.

It took him a second to recover and digest what she said. Her way of disrespecting was too innocent for anyone to not notice. Her dull lazy eyes stared right at him waiting for his answer.

He was about to counter what she told when she interrupted him, “May I know who you are? I don't seem to know you Mr.?"

This was a straight insult. He couldn't hold it anymore, “I didn't know that Ms. Hu had less knowledge about her work colleagues. Your base will need a bit of retouching. Not to worry I could help you with that."

As she leaned on the table supporting her head with her hand she responded, “So your name?"

As he opened his mouth she cut him straight again, “Why don't you mention your name and details to my assistant here to make an appoint so as to avoid the trouble you are creating? That could have helped clear a lot of misunderstanding to begin with."

She stood up and walked towards the door, she paused beside the man and said before leaving the meeting, “I hope you don't mind."

As he stared at the departing figure the desire to crush her down rose.

On her way out of the office with her assistant, she hinted her to speak about the personality. Chyou immediately pulled out the information of the person and started speaking, “He is the newly appointed Assistant Communication Manager from the General Management department, Mr. Bao Ling. He has a strong backing and the Bao family has had ties with the company for quite some time."

"Hmmm..... Seems like we have too many back doors opened. The Management team simply makes things hard."

"Respect only comes when you learn it. It is simply like a barter trade."