It's Me And Not You

3

Rachel's POV

Today  I have a very hectic schedule. One of my biggest clients audit deadline is today. And I have to represent my firm at this prestigious business conference tonight. I must say I am really proud of myself and my achievements so far. I am the youngest female ever to be promoted to Associate Director at the firm.I must say I have came a long way and at 27 years I am progressing well in my career. I have worked really hard to earn this position at TASK Auditors and unfortunately this firm is still dominated by males and some are not really happy about my recent promotion.

I arrive at the The Carter Palace hotel at 5pm. Since  I am the keynote speaker tonight, it is a little bit of pressure.  I did attend last year but I attended the weekend session with my other colleagues. It is a three day conference,Friday and Sunday being the short days. Friday is the opening ceremony and one keynote speaker. Saturday, a full day with different speakers and Sunday is just brunch where all the guests get to network. My firm is one of the sponsors and this conference is good for attracting clients. One of the partners from my firm that usually attends these events was asked to give the speech. Unfortunately, he was not feeling well and asked me to fill in for him since all the other senior partners are out of town on mandatory training. 

This hotel is pretty fancy and it is mainly used for business conferences and some of the prestigious people will book it as well . But if you asked me the room rates here are ridiculous. I earn a very decent salary and I am also a majority shareholder on a successful telecommunications company. I invested some of my savings 3 years ago with two college students who had a brilliant idea and could not get funding. I help them get the business up and running and get the financial backing it needed. Today, the business is doing well and I very  happy.

I was escorted by one of the staff members since I had the pass card I was asked to present upon my arrival. The place is starting to fill up and the media personnel is everywhere,taking pictures and doing interviews with the guests. I go to the conference room just to check the setup of the equipment and make sure I will not have any issues with my power point presentation. 

The program was e-mailed to me beforehand. I know I am the second speaker.  I was advised by Mr Cooper to keep my speech to 15 minutes max. And I am also glad as I really do not want to bore the guests with all the accounting jargon on a Friday night. By the time I finished checking the equipment, I see that the time  is 5:30pm. I was given the table number and I see that no one is sitting at my table at the moment.  I really do not feel like sitting by myself, so I decide to go out and have a drink at the bar area I saw outside. Since my boyfriend ditched me tonight and some of my colleagues are attending tomorrow's session and they had better plans on a Friday night. Which is why I am stuck here alone.

I order one of the cocktails from the menu, I sit and check my e-mails on my phone. I am glad that this event is finishing at 8pm. I am really exhausted, all I want is my bed right now since I have been working overtime the whole week. I can hear that the bartender is talking to a guest now. There are not that many people out here and this conference is by invitation only for the richest business people to network. 

I take another sip of my cocktail , I check the time and I see that it is ten minutes before the conference begins. I have to go back now, I see that I have only managed to drink only half of my cocktail. I am grabbing my purse and I am about to stand up and now there is a guy standing next to me. He is good looking, I am not going to lie and it seems like he wants talk to me. I am distracted by his charms, my pulse is quicken as well. 

"Your place or mine" He says. I felt like a bucket of ice cold water was just dumped on me. I have no words for this man that just disrespected me. What does he think I am ? Some tramp? I feel like giving him a piece of my mind. But I really do not want to create a bigger scene. Before I overthink my decision, I take the remainder of my cocktail and pour it on his face and walk away. I hear gasps and I see that the people witnessing this are shocked. To be quiet honest it is not the reaction I was expecting, some of them are looking at me as if I did something wrong. Most people would applaud me for standing up for myself. But I am really not sure what is happening right now. Who is that guy? Is he the president? No,I know who the president is. Vice President? King? Do royals still exist?

But no matter what status he holds, I don't regret my actions. That guy needs to learn to have manners and most importantly show some respect to women.

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