Team Victor: A GoldmAnna Fic

Chapter 5: Goldman

Thursday Afternoon

Still no word back from Anna hours after the delivery. Surely she would call or visit with her answer soon. It would be difficult for Glen to get anything done until she did. Did he do the right thing? Did it work? Oh man - He knew he had it bad.

Victor stepped out of his office and his voice snapped with a hissing, quiet furry that was much more terrifying than yelling. "Goldman, I need a word with you in my office."

Now this couldn't be good, because he usually did not say anything except "Goldman" and then Glen would know he needed to go in to talk to Victor. This was boss-speak for "we need to talk." Shit. What went wrong? He felt his Old Spice activate as he began to sweat into his already damp shirt.

Victor sat behind his desk quietly for several seconds, his hands tented, holding something back, looking like he was considering what words to use. And then he spoke in a deep voice, "Where did you find the audacity . . . what could have possibly possessed you to book a Rhone cruise for two?"

Goldman's eyes widened in shock! How could he know! Was it not okay to take Anna Huang on a cruise? Did Anna complain or something? Did he violate company policy?

"I asked you to buy tickets to the theme park," Victor continued.

"I did that, sir."

"I didn't hire you to plan dates for me."

What the hell was Victor talking about?

"Next time, wait until you have the word from me. Or at least heed the company policy on large expenses like that. I have to sign the expense report first. Surprises can be nice, but I would have liked to be included in this decision."

Glen considered the words. Victor certainly didn't control Glen's personal finances. Maybe this is about leave time? True! He should have asked for time off first! Maybe it was a bad time in the schedule, but he had checked carefully and picked a time when nothing major was going on for Victor that Glen would need to help with.

"So sorry, sir, I didn't get the procedure right."

And then Victor smirked on one side, his grey eyes sparkling, "But the flowers were a nice touch."

The fuck?

"She loved the flowers. And, she called me and she said she'd be happy to accompany me to France, and 'was it for an investment project?'"

"Oh." None of this made any sense! He couldn't be talking about Anna! "Wait, who's going with you where?"

"Did you leave your brain at home, Goldman? We're talking about Mei Chen."

Click. Uh oh. "Mei Chen is going with you to France because you sent her flowers?"

"Yes. Pay attention. Next time let me decide on the when and where, and then you can book it. I have to pace things carefully with her, I don't want to scare her off. That's very important. On the other hand . . . attaboy. That was well executed and apparently well timed. Also you have impeccable taste, she couldn't stop talking about the 'forty-eight flawless, thornless white roses.'" Victor used a breathy, feminine voice in imitation of Mei.

Did he just say attaboy?! We have arrived at the once a year occurrence of Victor Li giving an employee praise! But shit! This could get expensive. . . Glen came to realize Victor accidentally stole his trip. And it was all his own fault. How did this all go wrong? And then, just to save his wallet, he grinned sheepishly and said "I know I should have sent it in advance, but you're okay to sign the expense report, right?

Victor looked annoyed. "Of course."

"Great! Great! Well, I guess you're going to France next month then. I'll make all other arrangements. Anything else?" But he was thinking, holy crap, I have to call the cruise line and change the names.

"Yes. For next time, discretion is important. I'm her company's leading investor, after all. But I think this time, an extra large bouquet can look like a business partnership gift to outsiders. That's common enough."

"Of course, Victor! Always." Wow, Victor was starting to really lose it over Mei, and he didn't care if his personal assistant knew that. Is that why this happened? How did this happen?

"You may go."

Glen went back to his desk and rested his hand on it, feeling like his brain was dripping out of his nose. The flowers must have been sent to Mei instead of Anna. Didn't anybody read the handwritten card? He was going to have to spend all afternoon changing the names on the airline tickets and the cruise booking. Good. Really this is good. He had been impulsive and then very lucky because he couldn't really afford this trip anyway. How's he going to woo Anna now? Book another one? Maybe he'd actually have to be direct. But this incredible woman deserves romance, he had to do it just right.

Later that day, Glen went down to the Chen Media floor to talk to their receptionist, and figure out how this happened. He hoped he wouldn't bump into Anna, not yet. The young receptionist was still there, honking into tissues every few seconds the same as she was early this morning.

"Hi, um, Miss Sunny, did you, uh, deliver the flowers this morning?"

"Yes, Mr. Goldman, I told Kiki to give them to Anna, just like you said." And then she sneezed again.

"Great, okay, then." He clapped his hands together awkwardly looking around.

Sunny typed away at her laptop. "Can I do anything else for you, Mr. Goldman?"

And then he spotted his handwritten card in the small, chrome wastebasket next to the desk, among a large pile of Sunny's tissues. Guess it fell out. Did Sunny sneeze it out of the bouquet or something? Or worse, and more likely, Anna saw it and tossed it, then gave the flowers to Mei. His stomach tightened at the thought.

"Nope, thank you, Miss, that will be all.

He didn't especially want to catch Sunny's cold digging for it. He knew what it said. He'd written 4 different versions.

                     Anna,
                     I want more. Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to France?

                     Glen

*Scroll on to Chapter 6*