The telephone on Ciara's desk buzzed with a beeping sound as it vibrated slowly, jolting Ciara off her realm. She was busy going through the proposal the company had received in the past few days, with all her attention directed on it.
She hesitated before picking the receiver up, placing it softly on her left ear. "Hello..." She uttered lazily, her voice was dried with no emotion in it.
"Hello, Ms. Ciara." The voice rang against her ear from the receiver, it was low but audible enough to Ciara's hearing. "This is Milan on the line, ma'am."
"Oh, Milan." Ciara repeated slowly. "What is it? I'm in the middle of something important, your message should be delivered fast and keep it short too."
Milan nodded, even when she knows her boss couldn't see her at that moment. "Sure, ma'am. It's about the Vizio's Corp, I already did as requested, ma'am." She said, maintaining her professional demeanor as she speaks.
Ciara was impatient, not wanting to know whether she's done with her talk or not, she cuts in. "So...?" She demanded, not concealing the impatience she was feeling at the moment. "Is that why you called? Just to tell me, you did what was supposed to be your job?"
Milan quickly butted in, knowing it wouldn't yield any good if her boss gets angry. It's quite obvious she's not in her best mood at the moment and Milan doesn't want to prolong her anger -if she is feeling one at the moment.
"No, Ms. Ciara, that isn't why I called..."Milan was quick to defend herself. "You did not allow me to finish with my explanation before coming up with your conclusion, Ms. Ciara."
Ciara sighed, breathing in slowly before speaking. "Why did you call? You should go straight to your reason behind the call instead of this, Milan." She uttered in a sharp tone, her voice varying far from the one Milan has come to know.
"I'm sorry, ma'am." Milan quickly apologized. "Mr. Vizio accepted our offer but has his terms for the meet up, he accepted the mail few minutes before now, and I had it forwarded to your mail, ma'am."
Ciara breathed in as she noticed she's being too hard on Milan and cleared herthroat afterward. "Look here, Milan, like I told you earlier; I'm in the middle ofsomething important, and I have no time at hand." She said into the receiver. "I can't check mails at this moment, you should explain everything yourself."
Milan nodded yet again. "Sure, Ms. Ciara." She cited simply. "He agreed to the meet up but added his terms to it; he wants you guys to meet this late evening by 7:00pm, ma'am."
"Why 7:00pm?" Ciara finds herself asking, pissed off at the thought of it. "Why would he fix the time to such a ridiculous hour of the day? Are we going on some night date or business gala?"
Milan sensed Ciara's anger, and she knew that if care wasn't taken, she might end up cancelling the meet up -and that would be ridiculous; if not attract public attention if Mr. Vizio is sensitive about it.
"Please, take it calm, Ms. Ciara." Milan cajoled on the receiver, her voice was soft and appealing at the same time. "I'm sure he has no intention towards this; I believe he's doing this because his flight will be delayed by two hours and will be landing by six pm this evening. Who knows? He might have his schedule duly booked, too."
Ciara sighed slowly as she rubbed her right temple with her free hand, breathing in slowly at the same time. She was starting to feel a little pathetic, getting angry over slight issues and yelling if she got the chance too.
"Did he not find that hour ridiculous for a meet up that's strictly business?" Ciara lilted, trying to take her annoyance down. "Did he even care to know if I'm occupied as well at that hour? He should have stick to how I planned it instead!"
Milan held her breathe so as not to sigh, unable to figure out the best way to calm her boss down. She had experienced her get angry for quite a number of times, but she had never faced or spoken to her in such a state before.
She knew she needed to find a way to calm her boss's anger, since she's now her secretary -she's also entitled to see such part of her continuously from that moment.
"You need to take it calm, Ms. Ciara." Milan requested, sounding as cajoling as she could. "This isn't as hard as you have pictured it to be, ma'am. This is about business, and anything is expected; such as this too, ma'am."
"Look here, Milan, enough of this talk and tell him the meet up is cancelled already." Ciara uttered without thinking it twice. "Tell him, I also have a schedule to treat too -it's either he sticks to how I asked of him or forget about everything."
"Don't do this, Ms. Ciara!" Milan quickly said, knowing her boss would drop the receiver after she had uttered her last words. "You can't do this to the company, ma'am. Even if it's just for today, you should do this at least, ma'am."
"I'm sorry, I don't think I'm changing my mind on this." She bluntly uttered. "I promised Herzl I'll be home too early today, I can just leave him hanging and go for a business meet up instead."
Milan sighed, her eyes tightly shut. "This is a rare opportunity, Ms. Ciara, you can't toss it off that easily, ma'am." Milan sounded really desperate for her boss to attend the meet up. "This is going to take a huge, dramatic turn on the company if you give in."
Ciara breathed out, trying to give a second thought to Milan's words. If it had been Herzl being alone in the house if she comes late, she's supposed to be as worried as she is at the moment, but aunt Elsie will be at home with him.
After giving it thought for a couple of seconds, she finally gives in to it. "Fine, I'll go." She cited simply. "Send him my reply as possibly as you can, Milan -if not, I might have my mind changed."
Milan smiled on the other hand, before giving her a reply. "Sure, Ms. Cia..."
She did not allow Milan to finish her words before she dropped the call, closing her eyes tightly afterward. She needed to block other thoughts from her head. Not only that, but she sees no reason why thinking it through again -after all, there is no big deal in it...