The Luncheon (pt. 2)

"Is that them?" I asked Hugo for the umpteenth time, causing him to sigh quietly and shake his head at me. The nerves were beginning to eat me up inside and I couldn't help being a little bit annoying! 

"I don't know, ma'am," He reiterate for the equal amount of time. Hugo had let me know since I had begun asking that he didn't know what Miss Ioshiri's team looked like, so he wouldn't know who they were when they did show up for our appointment. That didn't stop me from asking him repeatedly, though. 

The doors to the restaurant opened again and a couple dressed head to toe in black came into the dining area. They harmoniously removed their sunglasses and looked around the room before making eye contact with me. The nerves began to eat me up again. Why was I nervous? It's not like this was my first time having a business meeting over lunch. The couple came over to our table and looked down at me. 

"Vice President Waters?" The woman addressed me, gazing at me expectantly with her dark eyes. She had stunning bone structure. 

'If you say that doesn't sound good, you're lying to yourself, Amaria.'

"Yes, are you Miss Ioshiri's manager?" I held out my hand for her to shake, which she did—with a frightening grip. To say that I was intimidated was an understatement. This was all real. This was happening and it was real. This was the beginning of my life as Vice President of Marketing. 

"Yes, my name is Sara Nanake. This is Mr Joseph Zandeza, he's Miss Ioshiri's press manager." 

"Pleasure to meet you," I held out my hand for him to shake before motioning to the seats on the opposite side of our table. "Please, sit. Our waiter should come by soon to take our order." 

"Thank you," Manager Nanake sat down and crossed her legs, immediately taking on a regal posture. "I didn't realise how hard it would be to make an appointment with you, Vice President." 

"Please, call me Amaria," I looked at Hugo and smiled. "I wasn't aware I had appointments until this morning. Our company underwent a pretty big change basically overnight and I have been absolutely swamped with work. If it wasn't for Hugo, I would not have been made aware of your request at all. I have him to thank." 

Manager Nanake smiled at Hugo briefly before her expression became strictly business. "As you might know by now, we're interested in collaborating with Greene Marks for a creative boost towards your new video game device. Miss Ioshiri is an avid gamer and has been following the production of your new device since the very beginning. My belief is that using Miss Ioshiri's sculptures in your ads will bring mutually beneficial attention to our respective branches." 

"You mean feature your clients' sculptures in a commercial?" I took a sip from my glass of water before continuing. "We can do that, but it would be up to the Design Department to incorporate them." 

"No, you misunderstand. Miss Ioshiri is interested in collaborating with the video game designers directly." 

I choked on my water and tried to cover it up quickly by clearing my throat and dabbing my mouth with the napkin on the table. Miss Kay Ioshiri wanted to assist with the game design? That was beyond my area of expertise. They needed to be speaking to Delilah, not me. 

"I beg your pardon? Miss Ioshiri wants to add elements to the video game?" I didn't even know what video game we were talking about. All the President told me this morning was that there was a lab who was working on creating a video game pocket device. That was it. 

"Yes. President Greene has been updating us on the production of the video game itself and Miss Ioshiri has requested to be part of the design product. Numerous sculptures have already been made for it," Manager Nanake once again gazed at me expectantly, like I was supposed to have even the slightest idea of what to say. 

"Once again, you should be speaking with the Vice President of Design about that," telling them that they were speaking to the wrong person was disheartening, but I had to do my job and direct them to the right path, even if it meant missing out on the details that my boss had deliberately kept from me. Professionalism came first.

"We tried making an appointment with Vice President Ramsay multiple times but nobody from the department was answering so upon calling HR, we were referred to you," Manager Nanake paused when our server approached the table, asking us what we would like to order for lunch. 

While Manager Nanake and Press Manager Zandeza ordered their lunch, I turned to talk to Hugo about some pressing questions swirling around in my mind.

"Hugo, does Delilah have an assistant now too?" He nodded upon hearing my question. "Do you know why she's been unreachable?" 

"I believe Vice President Ramsay has taken some time off work to visit her mother in Colorado," Hugo replied before thanking the server for refilling his glass of tea. "She submitted a leave-of-absence last week." 

I couldn't help but give Hugo a weird look when he said this. If he just started working today, how did he know what happened last week? The question was about to leave my mouth when it dawned on me. He must've been briefed on what happened last week so he would be able to work more efficiently. 

Another question started swirling around inside my brain, but it was only a speculation, so I didn't entertain the thought for very long. Pretty soon, the server was asking me what I wanted for lunch. 

"Caesar salad and vegetable enchiladas, the usual raspberry sweet tea," I handed the server the menu and continued to listen as Manager Nanake and Press Manager Zandeza explained their situation to me. 

From the little that I knew, Miss Kay Ioshiri was a talented artist with some of their most exclusive pieces on show for some of the most prestigious art museums. I had heard that some of the royal families of Europe had also purchased some of Miss Ioshiri's pieces. The styles of the art ranged from steampunk to soft pastel. 

Miss Ioshiri was known for having multiple styles and sometimes merging two unrelated genres together for a sculpture. This being the case, it made sense that they would want to collaborate with the video game developers. Currently, I knew nothing about the development of the game. I wasn't even aware that there was a game until a few minutes ago. 

"Manager Nanake," 

"Please, call me Sara," she input before sitting back to hear what I had to say. 

"Sara… I must admit that I had no idea there even was a video game in development. President Greene was keeping this project under wraps for fear that his competitors might catch wind and beat him to it. As you know, this is a ruthless business," Manager Nanake nodded. "Do you have an outline of the elements that Miss Ioshiri would like to incorporate to the game? I can have my team look at it and send it up to President Greene for revision. I'm sure he'll approve of it immediately." 

"Yes, I can have my assistant send it to your assistant by the end of the day. I would like to approach the matter of Miss Ioshiri's appearance on the ad for the launch of the products," a single nod from me kept her going. "As you by now know, my client is a very private person with minimal to no personal appearances. Miss Ioshiri wants assurance that there can be a cameo in the ad, but no straight shot." 

"I thought Miss Ioshiri wouldn't want to appear in the ad at all?" This conversation was starting to make my brain hurt. 

"My client wears a mask whenever making public appearances that will receive a lot of press. I understand that having Miss Ioshiri appear in your ad would attract a lot of positive attention to your company, so we ask that you keep this information strictly confidential." 

This time it was Press Manager Zandeza who spoke up. His voice was so deep that it startled me, so I just sat there staring at him like an idiot until he spoke up again. 

"Of course, President Greene will know if this, but other than that, I ask you to keep this information between the two of you. Our client is very sensitive to being exposed to the media, and tabloids would not hesitate to leak this information to competitor artists. To keep both our branches from colliding and clashing, of course." 

"The same way we will refrain from mentioning your newest project to anyone other than Miss Ioshiri. I trust our information will remain confidential between both our parties?" 

"I understand. We won't say a word to anyone," I immediately agreed. Just after I'd finished speaking, our server came back with a cart and began placing our plates in front of us. 

Despite the fact that this meeting was supposed to resolve things, it only left me with more questions than answers. Of course, those questions would have to be confined to my mind, seeing as relaying this information to anyone could jeopardise the launch of the new gaming device. 

All this drama and it was only Monday.