One of Brianna's many flaws, her tendency to overthink small, simple things, comes into play now.
She slips into her head, retreating to her thoughts, and begins a quiet conversation with herself. "No, I doubt that, maybe he's like a cousin or something or whatever. But then again..." "Mom? Do you know if he's their biological son or a cousin?" she asks, anxious to receive an answer.
Her mom comes out of the kitchen again, "Well, now that you mention it, I do recall hearing something about them losing their son. He was already an adult, though, at the time, but that was long ago. I think you were within your first three years of birth when it happened," she replies as she picks up some grocery bags and heads to the kitchen again.
Brianna thinks, "Hmm...," and sighs. "There's no use pondering on why they did it based on speculation, but I think they made the right choice."
The Head Office of Winter Mirage Incorporated, as busy as ever, is bustling with staff from different segments of the company.
Luka steps into the building, greeted by a sudden cold change in atmosphere, still wearing the clothes he had just come back from school in. Followed by his private guards, whispers fill the air as lower-level company staff knew nothing of his identity.
"Who's that kid, and what is he doing here?"
"I haven't seen that face around here before, but it doesn't seem like he works here."
"Of course not. How would such a youngster be a staff member at this company? I mean, look at his dressing, it doesn't scream 'Company staff' to me."
"But those guards, aren't they the CEO's private guards?"
"Now that I think about it, that's them."
"He must be pretty important to have those guards with him."
"But then again, I heard the CEO is pretty young, too. It might be just a friend, you know how kids these days love hanging out."
"That may be true, but he's different. I hear he's always here before anyone and always leaves last."
And so the whispers keep going on and on, but He pays no mind to them and heads towards the elevator. "Good Afternoon, Mr. Luka." Kara, his Secretary, greets with a subtly thin, pitched voice. Luka nods in acknowledgement of her greeting and passes through into his office, leaving his guards to stand outside the door.
Puts down his bag, pulls off his headphones, and sits behind the desk with a plaque on stating "Chief Executive Officer- MR. LUKA ANDERSON." He immediately begins going through documents that had been left on his desk a few minutes before his arrival.
A knock on the door, then it creaks open, and Kara comes into the office, holding some files and closing the door behind her. "Sir, Mrs. Larrison, Head of General Management, brought up an issue and asked me to relay it to you urgently," she says in a composed manner, standing firm and upright.
Luka drops the document slowly and faces her to listen properly. "Go on."
She clears her throat, opens the file in her hand and speaks while flipping through documents inside from time to time, "She said to inform you of the increase in waste products from the food and textile sectors, that are now getting unmanageable due to their sudden increase in the past three years and the EHS complaints have been frequent lately. Also, she said to thank you for the change of branding and advertising strategies, which have increased sales in both the food and textile sectors."
He sighs and picks up the document on the table again, "Alright, so if the concern is about the waste management, I was going to talk about it in today's board meeting, but I'm in no way ready for the meeting today, so reschedule it for tomorrow by ten o'clock. What about the issue with the retired and deceased alumni?"
"Yes, the issue has been successfully sorted out. Here is a copy of the reports concerning them. Originals have already been handed to Records Management," she pulls out some documents from the file and hands them over to him.
He collects the documents and begins going through them. "Alright, you may go."
"Yes, Sir," she answers and turns back to exit.
"And also, call Mr. Neil from Accounts and Mr. Jude from the planning departments to my office."
She nods and exits the office, closing the door.
"Hmm..., we really lost a lot of workers these last three years. Most of them, due to illness, are from the textile sector." He browses through the documents, checking the details of the cause of death. "Maybe I should do more than just the insurance scheme. I need to make these workers stay as healthy as possible to reduce the death count. But how?" he thinks to himself.
A knock comes from the door, and it creaks open. A man with a chocolate skin tone and another with a white skin tone come in. "You called for us, Sir?" the chocolate-skinned man asks.
"Yes, I did, Mr. Jude," Luka says as he puts down the documents in his hand. "Have a seat."
They both take seats opposite the CEO.
"So, Mr. Jude, I intend to embark on a new project. An upcycling facility to reduce and reuse waste. For now, I need you to prepare a brief introduction for this facility and have it on my desk by morning tomorrow, before the meeting." Luka says with a blank expression.
"I'll do my best, Sir."
"May I make a suggestion, Sir?" Neil asks.
"Let's hear it."
"While embarking on an upcycling project would be for the good of the company, I'm afraid we don't have that type of funding for now, Sir. So I suggest we join hands with one of the existing upcycling companies and revisit it when we have garnered enough funds." Neil suggests.
"It seems we are on the same page. That is the plan, I'm just rather planning ahead." Luka responds.
Neil nods, "Okay, Sir."
Then Luka turns back to Jude, "So, you know what to do."
Jude nods and stands up, then exits the office.
"So, Mr. Neil, I'll be needing the statement of accounts document from the alumni situation and..."
And so, Luka continues the conversation with Neil. Afterwards, he continues the review of documents.