Monday, January 30, 2012

The Prince and His Harem - Ch 9 & 10

CHAPTER NINE

Meaghan hung up her desk phone after leaving another message for Ivoire.  She had been unable to reach her colleague in France all afternoon, so she left a final message.   She really needed to get the final figures in order to complete the report; hopefully Ivoire would receive the messages and email them to Meaghan as soon as possible.   She straightened out her desk in preparation for leaving, but decided to stop by Cynthia’s office and let her know of the problem with the distribution report. 

When she arrived at her office, the door was slightly ajar, so she knocked but continued to walk in.  Cynthia looked up from her desk and smiled.

Meaghan went right to the point.  “I was unable to reach my contact in France, so I wasn’t able to finalise the report.  I left a message for her, so we should have the figures emailed in tomorrow.”

Cynthia looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.  “You’ve done your best with it; just make sure to follow up tomorrow and let me know what happens.”  Meaghan thanked her and headed out the door.

On the way home she picked up some milk and cereal for breakfast tomorrow.  The house seemed quiet without Tina there, but it gave Meaghan a chance to clean up the living room and kitchen before her sister came home from school.  She was just starting the rice cooker when the teen skipped into the house.

“I’ve just started dinner, so go ahead and clean up, and you can help me set the table.”  Tina nodded, swishing her long blonde ponytail.

After dinner, Meaghan helped her sister with her homework until 9pm, and then spent some time on the internet.

The Ahmad family had its roots going back generations in Malaysian society, back to the Sultanates of Borneo.  Although only a few family members had entered the political arena, the properties and businesses owned by the family insured them a solid footing within the government. 

The man that she met was one of two siblings; a younger sister was teaching English in Korea.  They had oil holdings and palm plantations across Malaysia, along with distribution companies and trade agreements throughout Southeast Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea, and even the United States of America.  It was an impressive lineage even for a society Prince.

So why was he interested in her?

She shut down the computer, showered, changed into her nightclothes, and attempted to sleep, but it was long in coming.

CHAPTER TEN

When she dragged herself out of bed the next morning, Tina was already in the kitchen, humming to herself as she poured cereal into a plastic bowl.   Meaghan stopped and looked at her sister.

Tina had the fair colouring and delicate bone structure of their mother.  Although she was fifteen, she had the look and manner of a much younger girl.  Meaghan remembered a conversation she once had with her mother, when Tina first started middle school. 

“She’s like a leaf, that one, flying back and forth wherever the wind takes her,” her mother had said, despairing of Tina ever becoming sensible enough to find friends in school.  In fact, her nickname was “Leaf”, although it was never used outside the family circle.

As they sat down for breakfast, Meaghan looked at Tina’s fingernails, black nail polish chipping off on the edges.

“We need to redo your polish,” Meaghan said.  Tina just shrugged and continued digging into her bowl.  “Do you have any exams today?”

“Yeah, a stupid one in math class.  Who cares about algebra?”  Tina picked up her bowl and placed in the sink, then grabbed her backpack.  “I gotta go.”  She looked over at her older sister, then impishly gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head and ran for the door, giggling.

Meaghan shook her head, sighed, and headed for the bathroom to get ready for work.



~     ~     ~
At work, Meaghan focused on the pile of paperwork Cynthia had left there last night.   There was still no word from Ivoire, and she was worried, so she called the main office number and left a message for someone to contact her first thing in the morning, their time.  By then, it would the afternoon in Kuching, and they could resolve the final figures of the report.

Suddenly, there was chirp from her computer as she received an email. ‘Please let this be from Ivoire’, Meaghan thought.  She was disappointed to see it was from someone she had never received mail from, Mystisith.  The email address was from the company, though.

[Good morning.  I am your new contact for your European distribution company.  Attached please find the EOY figures you requested, and I look forward to working with you.]
Meaghan frowned; she hadn’t heard that Ivoire was planning to leave the company, but maybe she got a better offer.  She quickly downloaded the spreadsheet to complete the report, and began compiling the data.

5 comments:

  1. Ha!!! Omg I wish that was how I'd got my nickname!!

    Great story so far!!! :D
    And thanks so much for including me!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Two people in this chapter. You're working it Shuk!

    I like Meaghan. She reminds me of my best friend, except she's of Hong Kong descent.

    Rock on, my friend!

    BTW, you need to make an entrance, too!

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  3. Glad you like it! I hope you like your entrance too.

    I'm probably going to end up being some old lady mumbling down the road talking to buildings and picking up stray cats. Hee. Normally in my writing, I'm just somebody who drives past in a cool vehicle or passes out barstool advice. I haven't figured out where I fit in the storyline yet.

    Thanks for reading it! Comments are always welcome.

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  4. Nah!! You are awesome so therefore you have to be awesome in this :D

    You should be like a famous writer or something!

    ReplyDelete