"She got you good, James." Micky spoke as soon as Misha left the room, wiping tears of suppressed laughter off his eyes.
"Shut up," James was in no mood for laughing. Neither would he ever concede defeat to a lowly intern - scratch that. He just made her a full-time employee less than 24 hours ago.
"Why did you have to be so cruel, though?" Micky's calmed down a little and asked, but received only a glare in return.
The CEO's mind started to race again. Bullying her into a corner of the office - literally - didn't work. Giving her an impossible task didn't work either. The way she looked so happy after delivering her 'exclusive summary' - Can't this girl ever get anything right? It's an EXECUTIVE summary, damn it - bothered him. He could have sworn that he heard her humming as the door was closing. And to think that this evil girl was still out there - in HIS office - basking in blissful ignorance was unacceptable.
'But firing her now just won't do…'
:Buzz:
James checked the notification on his phone. Five minutes till the meeting with the Creative Team for the new movie the company was planning for release in the following year.
"James."
"What is it now?" The undermined boss asked irritatingly.
"Why don't you take her to the meeting?" Micky was grinning.
"What the-"
Then something clicked in his mind.
Micky, his younger cousin, was an aloof goofball at times but James didn't keep him around for no reason. Despite their polar opposite characters, the younger one was often the one who understood James the best.
"I see." Smile returned on the face of the CEO.
That's right. He will take the disaster girl to a meeting she had no right to be in. Just her being there - someone who's joined the company only a week ago as an intern, would ring alarm bells for everyone at the meeting. There was a reason why he brought that sly Marissa Caldwell to his office.
Although employees thought James didn't care about 'lowly workers,' it didn't mean that he was clueless to office politics. He had eyes and ears, and ever-so-friendly Micky was one of his few trusted members who could mix in with any workers and report back.
James knew pairing Caldwell with Misha would tick the older girl off. If that incompetent Misha suddenly gets the privilege of attending an exclusive meeting for one of the hottest projects the company was working on, she'd make more enemies. That's right. James didn't have to deal with this girl directly - not now. Let the others turn against her first.
Precisely five minutes later, James entered the meeting room with confused Misha on his tail, clutching a notepad to her chest like a comfort blanket.
To the nervous girl's surprise, her boss pulled out a chair for her and made her sit next to him. More than a few eyebrows were raised, and when Misha's eyes met with them - not knowing exactly what to make of it - she raised her eyebrows too.
On the way, she was told to just accompany him, sit quietly, and write down notes of what's being discussed so it can be used as a meeting summary at the end.
She was thrilled. As someone who prides herself in having a good eye for details, she felt she could ace this task. She was going to make sure that everything was recorded clearly.
The meeting was frantic. Ideas floated around the room freely. As fearsome as James Thorne was, he had cultivated a media production culture that thrived on creativity.
Until he spoke, that is.
"Right. Thank you for all your inputs. I've weighed the options now. I trust Ms. Porter to pick the correct cast, but I want Ben Collins for the leading role. And-"
"That's stupid."
Ms. Elaine Porter, the Casting Manager for this project, would later recall the moment - "It was as if all of us in the room suddenly connected. There was this transcendental bond, an emergence of collective consciousness. We could all hear what everyone else was thinking, and we all prayed in unison - please, let a blackhole open up right on this meeting desk and suck us all in."
"Excuse me?" James shot back, immediately.
Misha got a little scared, but she steeled her resolve. From what she had observed during the past two hours, contrary to how he appeared outside of this meeting room until now, Mr. Thorne was a surprisingly open-minded man who was willing to listen to opinions of his creative team. If she shrank now it probably wouldn't reflect well on her, she thought.
"Ben Collins has nothing going for him except good looks. He's a horrible actor and his only good roles were where he didn't have more than twenty lines. Boomers like to think that he's popular with young ladies, but frankly, we are talking about girls aged twelve to sixteen here. I haven't seen anyone in MY age or above like him."
James leaned back on his chair, keeping his eyes fixed on Misha's.
"And from the sound of it - I'm sorry if I'm wrong because I haven't read the full script - the movie will feature quite a bit of gore and se…se…se…"
Misha stuttered, then came to a full halt. There were twenty-two people in this room waiting for her to say-
"Sex."
A savior - Ms. Porter - chimed in and said the word for her.
"Thank you."
"Please do continue," the kind lady encouraged her.
"Erm… yeah, so in short - with Ben Collins we are making a movie featuring an actor that only young girls like, but with a rating that will keep them away from cinema."
Misha took a deep breath in, unsure whether to regret having blurted out her unsolicited opinion or if it was her first real contribution to the company.
After a short pause that lasted less than three seconds, the CEO turned to Elaine Porter to ask.
"Ms. Porter, your thoughts?"
"I agree," to everyone's surprise, the Casting Manager didn't spare a second to answer the question, as if this was something she had in mind all along but wasn't able to say.
"I do respect your opinion, thank you, Ms. Porter."
James gave her a nod of appreciation, and glanced at Misha.
"So, that concludes the meeting for now. Ms. Seo, please read out the meeting summary."
'Now is my chance to shine'
The young lady got up from her seat and held her notes in front of her, cleared her throat, and began her narration.
"It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. Twenty-two people have gathered to engage in a…"
"Stop," Mr. Thorne raised his hand, closing his eyes.
"Skip the unnecessary parts and just get to the final summary," he ordered.
"Right… ahem… In summary, Mr. Thorne had chosen Ben Collins to be the main lead, a very misguided judgment which left everyone in the room puzzled. However, he demonstrated great adaptability and open-mindedness when he was shown the error of his ways. Ultimately, the idea of casting Ben Collins was thankfully dropped, with Ms. Elaine Porter providing the final confirmation as the Casting Manager."
"I knew there and then," some years later, Elaine Porter took another drag on her cigarette recalling this moment, "that this girl was going to be something special."