We Meet Again

||Ch-3... Flashback||

One Year Before

“I want everything to be perfect. You know the drill.”, James Wilson said to Mrs. Brook, his secretary as they were making their way towards the board room. His secretary nodded. They reached a glass door, James pushed it open. It was a big room with a long table in the centre, surrounded by chairs. In front was a projector. The interior of the room was wooden and classy, all brown and white. The room was empty except for a few people who were sitting at the end of the table. Just as he entered, the people there stood up in greeting. “Good Morning Sir!”, they chorused. He just nodded. James checked his watch and frowned. “They are late.”, he muttered. Just as he was making his way in the room, a phone buzzed. His secretary picked up the call. “Mr. Johnson is here.”, a voice said on the other end. “Send them up. 56th Floor.”, she said and cut the call. “Sir, Mr. Johnson is here”, Mrs. Brook said. He made his way to one of the chairs and sat down with others.

A few moments later, the door of the room opened and three people entered. First was a man with shoulder length blonde hair and average height, wearing a three-piece brown suit. He seemed to be in his early fifties. Next entered a man with black hair wearing a blue shirt with black pants. He was younger and wore specs. Finally, a lady entered. She seemed to be in her early twenties, quite young. She was wearing a black knee length dress with a white jacket and pointed heels, a perfect professional look.

“Good Morning Gentlemen! I apologise for the delay”, said the blonde man. “Mr. Johnson, please have a seat”, James said as he got up and shook hands with the man. Mr. Johnson seated across James. On his right side was the other man and on the left side was the lady but James took no notice of them. “I hope you had a safe flight”, James said politely though he hardly cared. Mr. Johnson nodded affirmatively and spoke, “This is Carl Reid, my accounts manager.”, he gestured to the man on his right. “And this is Eva Rose. She looks into all my legal matters.”, he said gesturing to the woman on his left side. They both politely acknowledged James.

Pleasantries aside, now they got down to business. “Mr. Johnson, we have already discussed the basics in our previous virtual meeting. I had explained my end of bargain and also mailed the contract papers to you to get them verified at your end. I have the final papers here. Once you sign, the deal is sealed. Mrs. Brook, the contract please.”, James explained and said the last part to his secretary.

 “Not so soon, Mr. Wilson.”, said a firm yet gentle voice.

He turned his attention to the speaker, Eva. “Any problem Ms. …?”.

“Eva Rose”, she filled in.

“You see, I went through these papers and it would be better if we get somethings cleared on your end.”, Eva said. James, being the arrogant man he is, hated being interrupted. But again, he might be quite successful but he could not let deals go. After all these deals, partnerships, tie ups together constituted his business. He wanted to get over with it soon. So, despite his irritation, he continued briskly, “And that would be?”. “Your company offered us 18% profit ratios if we join your new launch with our recent model. The contract states that this tie up is for 5 years. In this time period, if the estimated profit assumptions increase according to the current market, the share will still remain same, whereas if the profit ratios decrease by more than 8% then, then our share will be approved by you since you are the big investor here. But it creates quite an uncertainty in the deal. You are very familiar with how the market works, Mr. Wilson. Always unpredictable. Both our products are at stake here yet you want to yield your desired profit ratios even if that means that you can cut our margin by more than 50% of what it originally was.”, Eva spoke clearly.  “You and I both know that the possibility of the estimated profit decreasing is quite low. This will be launched all over the New York. Even if we make quarter of the sale we produced, our target will be achieved. You are considering the impossible Ms. Rose. Anything joined with the name of ‘VOGUE’ can never be below expectations.”, James said smirking.

 “If its that much of an idiocy to even consider that this project will not be up to the mark, then why include it in the contract at all? I am not the one picking up scenarios here, Mr. Wilson. I am just simply pointing out what you thought is a possibility since you want a back up in the contract.”, Eva spoke, looking him in the eyes. James was agitated. He didn’t think it would take this long to seal the deal. He subtly glanced towards his accounts manager who was sitting three seats besides him. He took the hint and intervened, “It was made very clear in the starting that the launch will be dictated from our side. In every contract we propose, we make sure to be ready for everything as a precaution. You must be aware of the current market situation.  Market is going high. There is no chance that this situation will come up even if the market is at its worst.”. This time Mr. Reid contradicted, “If you are so interested in the back up, then it should not be dependent on one party. It affects our ratios as well.”. Eva interrupted and James turned towards her again, “Moreover, if the market is good now, what is the guarantee of it remaining this way in the coming five years. If in the next two years, we face crisis, our string of the deal will be pointless since we will neither lose nor gain anything for the next 3 years, that too if you decide to lower our margins to maintain your stability. It is an unreasonable risk.”.

Eva could sense the anger and impatience in those hazel orbs which were intently gazing at her throughout the meeting. “First rule of being an entrepreneur is never to be afraid of risks. If you can’t come out of your shell, shark will destroy it eventually, eating you whole up.”. James’ statement was meant with silence. After a moment, Mr. Johnson spoke up, “Mr. Wilson, even you are adamant on this clause to avoid the risk which you yourself consider will not happen. We know how to build our business and maintain it. Not all risks are meant to be taken. If you can’t step down, then…”, he left the sentence hanging.

“Then...?”, James spoke in an intimidating voice, daring him to go against him. He felt like breaking something. No one ever dared to go against him but he maintained a cool façade. ‘It was all because of Ms. Rose’, he thought, ‘she was the one to start a baseless argument on an ignorable clause.’.

“Then, I hope we could come across more opportunities in future to work together.”, Mr. Johnson spoke confidently yet he wished that this would not be the case. Aside from this clause, deal was quite good, but again, one loophole and he can be doomed. He has learnt from his years of experience, never to leave a string loose when it is in front of view. If there was a problem in his plane view then, he cannot go further with the agreement. James’ anger flared, “Fine then Mr. Johnson, the deal is off. I hope you don’t regret it.”, he said in a deadly calm voice that sent chills through everyone’s spine. “Good meeting you.”. With that said, he, Mr. Reid and Eva stood up to leave.

 Just as Eva was about to turn, she caught James’ eye, so many emotions swirling in them, anger being the dominant. Eva smirked with a challenging look in her eyes and exited the room, her heels clicking in her wake.

And James was left behind thinking of those sparkling green eyes and honey-like voice.

That was their first and last meeting till now.