A woman closed the blinds to shield the people from the heat of the sun inside one of the main conference room of the Yang Towers, the headquarters of the Yang Conglomerate.
A Presidents’ meeting was taking place. Everybody was as heated as the temperature outside. The Yang Conglomerate stock prices had steadily fallen on the average of 90 cents in the span of eight trading days.
Dream Radio’s President, Max Chiu, debonair in his early forties, was taking a swig of brandy, an effort to calm himself as he pored over the interim profit and loss ratios. The radio station only managed to break-even this month.
A usually proud and very commanding woman in her late 50’s was mortified at the 13 percent decrease in subscription of Taiwan Currents, a national daily newspaper. Cathy Lau, the publisher, took her spectacles off and massaged her temples.
Link Telecom’s President, Jesse Cheung, a young genius, who in just 2 years climbed the information technology industry ladder, stood up pacing back and forth.
Among the Yang Conglomerate, the telecommunications company had reported the largest revenues. However, their market share was diminishing since the last quarter as the rising rival corporation, Galaxy, grew stronger.
The youngest among them was Yang TV’s President, Reina Yang, who was having her fifth cup of coffee. The ashtray was overflowing as she started on her second pack of cigarettes.
Although some may scoff at her abilities, having only acquired her position by virtue of her birth, she had done her part and proved everyone wrong.
The television sponsorships were up and so were their program ratings.
Cups of coffee were all over the place. Smoke can be seen and touched, literally. The cake on the table looked like it was massacred, with everyone carelessly getting a slice of it.
The tension is high and Drei Yang was infuriated and was beginning to raise his voice. He had toiled hard for this company to rise and worked double time to keep it afloat.
Reina leaned back and rubbed her temples. Her head started to pound and ache at the tension and pressure, not to mention, too much smoke in the room. A little bit more and the smoke alarm might go off.
“I expect to see a positive turn of events in two weeks,” Drei Yang’s voice came hard. He looked at each of his executives, meeting their eyes, making them feel the urgency and gravity of the turn of events.
“Ladies and gentlemen do your job,” with that Drei adjourned the meeting.
“Your father doesn’t waste time, does he?” Jesse Cheung whispered to Reina.
She rolled her eyes, shook her head and smiled wanly. She got up, collected her stuff, and headed for the door.
“Miss Yang, a word with you,” Drei called out.
Reina stopped and went back to her seat. She looked at her father questioningly.
“Congratulations!” Drei said with pride. “You seem to have managed Yang TV well when I left it in your care.”
Reina shot an eyebrow up and sarcastically replied, “I took after you, remember?
Drei Yang smiled at his daughter’s tone.
“Still impetuous,” he thought and shook his head.
“Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?” Reina’s voice cut in.
“I believe we already had all of them covered,” he replied.
“Should you need me, I’ll be just be in my office,” Reina said and left the conference room.
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Reina walked wearily to the door of her condominium at the top-most floor of the Yan and Yang Skycraper. She was exhausted and all she wanted to do was hit the sack. Her head was pounding that she could barely think.
She fished for her keys in her purse, pushed it in the key hole, and turned the knob. She gasped at the sight upon her as she pushed the door open.
Candles were lit and made a path on to the terrace. Despite of her tiredness, she became teary eyed at the simple yet thoughtful surprise.
She placed her purse on the couch, closed her eyes, and inhaled deeply. She smiled in pleasure.
“Hmm…Vanilla,” she thought.
Opening her eyes, she began to follow the candle lit path.
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He was waiting for her in the sauna. It was filled with luxuriously warm water and bubbles were his only cover.
He was anxious for her arrival. When he heard the front door open, he quickly poured champagne in two glasses. He took one and sipped on it until he could hear her footsteps.
Soon, the sliding door opened.
He turned to look at her and with a smile, he stood up.
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Reina was not prepared to see this sight. Yes, she did expect to see him but not like this. Her breath got caught in her throat when she saw him stand up, water dripping down his body, making it glisten in the moonlight.
Her eyes wandered all over his physiqu…