Autumn is a second spring

9. Oura

Every single employee of Oura, one of the leading cosmetics companies of Asia, respected their CEO very much. It was not the respect towards the position, but the respect that he had earned from them by his dedication and hard work.

Despite his young age, he had proved to every single person who questioned his ability to lead a company wrong. The GDP of the company had tripled in the short span under him.

Along with that the fact that he treated every employee with respect, creating a good working environment throughout the company. With this approach, every employee felt empowered and driven to work harder.

"Swadee Khrab Khun Earth"

"Swadee Khrab Khun Earth"

The employees were greeting their CEO as he walked into the building, followed by his assistant. Earth didn't forget to smile and wai-ed back at the employees who greeted him.

Oura was the company his adoptive parents aka the Siripongthons gave him as a wedding gift. Despite their disagreement with the person he got married to, they gave him all their blessings.

Remi and Thas had never treated him like an outsider. After his parents died in a dreadful accident, the two took on the role and gave him a complete family alongside their own son, Fluke.

When he announced that he had a flash marriage with his husband, Kao, Thas flipped. He literally wanted to give him a good beating as he got married to a divorcee who is a single father. The fact that Kao used to date him before getting married to his ex-wife also added to the list of reasons for Thas to dislike him.

Earth could only sigh at this thought. His stepson, Art had managed to capture Thas's heart with his cuteness but Kao, Kao was still an eyesore to his adoptive father.

Kao's family's disagreement on the marriage was also not of any help. It only added fuel to Thas's anger towards this marriage.

After having married Kao for more than two years, Earth was yet to be accepted by the Dechaphatthanakhuns. Not that he cared, but the thing had been taking a toll on Kao as the head of the family.

Kao had taken on the position of the head of the Dechaphattanakun family before he got married to Earth in Vegas during a business trip. Almost his whole family, excluding Ohm's and Boun's branches of the family, was against him marrying another man. But Kao paid no heed to their protest. 

"What's the schedule for the day?" Earth asked as he entered the topmost floor of the building. It was the floor that was dedicated to him and his secretaries.

"In the morning, at nine, you have a meeting with the design department and marketing department about the new product designs." Mos, Earth's secretary recited. "In the afternoon, you have a lunch appointment with Khun Will to discuss the allocation of shops in the new mall. After that you are free, khrab."

Earth listened carefully and nodded.

"Khun Earth today is Friday. We need to pick Nong Art from school." Bank reminded. He was in charge of taking care of Earth's personal life. He was appointed by Thas because he felt that Earth was taking work too seriously and hadn't been taking care of himself.

Earth hummed as a smile bloomed on his lips. He was going to see his son after five whole days and he was really happy.

After he married Kao, Art expressed his interest in joining a boarding school. He wasn't very keen on sending the seven-year-old to a boarding school. But after the kid started throwing tantrums, they eventually had to give in, with the condition that the child had to come home every weekend.

Every Friday, Earth would pick Art from his school and drop him back on Monday morning. This was followed so that the child wouldn't feel detached from his parents at any point in his life.

"Khun Earth khrab," Bank called out making Earth turn around. "Today is the first Friday of the month. So we will have to send N' Art to Khun Jane."

"Oh, Yes. I totally forgot!" Earth massaged his temples.

Khun Jane was none other than Kao's mother. Kao had made an agreement with her that Art would spend one weekend of every month with her and on all the other weekends, the kid would stay with him and Earth.

Earth wasn't very fond of this arrangement. He only got limited time to spend with the child and often felt bad. He was hoping that someday, Art would change his mind and agree to go to a normal school and stay at home with him and Kao.

As the clock struck nine, Earth entered the conference hall. His employees were waiting for him already. None of them dared to be late.

Once Earth took the seat, Mos announced. "Since everyone is here, let's start the meeting."

A handout was given to everyone at the meeting and the representative from the design department stood up and started explaining their presentation.

"We have designed this portable makeup kit for people who travel a lot. It contains a primer, foundation, concealer, shadow palette, eyeliner, highlighter, lip liner and lipstick. Customers can customize the pack based on their preferences." The design representative spoke while Earth intently listened.

"We have also designed a daily pack, that can be for touch up kit that contains foundation, blush, concealer, mascara and lipstick." The representative switched to the next slide and explained the new portable design of their product that anyone could carry around with them.

Once the presentation was complete everyone turned to Earth to hear his opinion. 

As someone who attached a lot of importance to skincare, Earth was very knowledgeable about the cosmetics industry.  He could clearly see the plus and minus points of the new design.

" As far as I know, there are already many cosmetic brands out there that provide such kits. Most of them are well-established once as well. What would make the customer prefer our product to stand out over others?" He questioned.

The meeting went on till the afternoon. The proposal for the launch of the product was successfully approved.

Bank drove Earth and Mos to the hotel where he was having the lunch appointment with Mr. Will, who was also a good friend of Thas.

Given the fact that Earth was Thas's son, the old man didn't make it difficult for him and agreed readily to allocate a shop as Oura's outlet in his new mall.

Earth was eccentric to bag the deal. Mos had already readied the formal agreement. He made sure that the agreement was signed over the lunch appointment and Will wouldn't get a chance to back out on his promise.

Once the agreement was signed, Mos and Bank parted ways with Earth.

Earth drove himself to Art's school to pick him up. He also brought a few mandatory things to send to his mother-in-law via his son. He didn't want to seem rude to her despite his displeasure towards her orthodox thoughts.