Journey Of Strokes

CHAPTER 13

Aarohi's POV

The past week has been a chaotic one, with meetings lined up back-to-back and preparations for the annual meeting going on parallelly. I reach the office by 9:30 to prepare some materials for the annual meeting, as we leave in 2 days. I remove my blazer, place it on the hanger, and then switch on my computer. I get an email notification from the CEO's PA.

At 10:00 am sharp, Avika knocks on my door. "Always on the dot" I comment as she enters, and she just smiles. She informs me about the meeting with the new illustration company. Before she leaves, I inform her, "I got an email from the CEO's PA mentioning that we can bring our PA's this time for the annual meeting, pack your suitcase. AND make sure you pack an evening  gown." She looks a bit confused. "Why an evening gown? Aren't we just going for a meeting?".

 I shake my head, knowing fully well how it goes. "With experience, I'm saying, the CEO always organizes a party to celebrate success, it is like understood that there will be a party in the evening"  I say this, remembering the first time I attended the meeting,  laughing to myself. "What happened?" Avika asks. "Nothing just remembered the time when I first attended the meeting. I  thought it was just going to be the meeting, but suddenly I was informed about the party, and I had to prepare a last-minute dress for the party." Avika laughs, saying, "I will pack then."

At 10:30 am, I gather all the materials along with my laptop and enter one of the meeting rooms. Today is the first official meeting with the new illustration company artists. I occupy the center chair, looking through the company's file. While I was looking at the file, I noticed the meeting room door open. I put on a polite smile, welcoming all the artists who enter one by one and take their respective seats. 

Mr. Kashyap entered last along with another person, who occupied a seat on my left. Mr. Kashyap greets me with a handshake and says, " Good Morning, Ms. Roy." I wish him back. "Good morning, Mr. Kashyap. Is this your director?" I ask, showing the person with whom he came along. Before Mr. Kashyap can answer, the person speaks up. "No, miss. I'm just an artist for the company."

I start the meeting with the introductions first. I introduce myself "Hello everyone, I'm Aarohi Roy, Art Director, , I'm looking forward to working with everyone present here." I gesture for the artists to introduce themselves. One by one, all of them tell me a little about themselves. I listen to them attentively while taking small notes in between. As I was finishing up a small note about the artists, I heard, "Hello, I'm Reyansh..." I zone out a little, my mind replaying his name, but I quickly shake off the feeling, paying attention and writing a small note at the end.

The next part of the meeting is the core, where we discuss the project, what the writer is expecting, how we work here in the company, and all rules and regulations, which lasts about an hour and a half. We move on to the "Free session" the same as the previous time, where the artist can put forward their opinion.

 I see one of the artists raising her hand and starting to ask a question. I try to compose myself, unknowingly holding my breath a little as if anticipating someone to interrupt her and tell her that her opinion doesn't matter like the previous director. I subconsciously, out of anger, fold my hand in the form of a fist. 

I'm brought back with a slight tap on my shoulder from Avika. I scan the room to see everyone looking at me, expecting an answer to the question. "I'm sorry. Could you please repeat your question?" I asked politely. The artist repeated the question, and the session continued for about an hour, making me delighted from the inside. 

As I'm about to end the session, Mr. Reyansh speaks " Ms. Roy, I have a question: how do you interpret the characters in the book? In my opinion, as all the artists have a different way of interpreting the characters of the book the writer depicts based on their thought process, I feel that it would be a better work if the writer could give us in-depth information about how she has written the characters so that all the artists can be on the same page."