The meeting at the Opera house

The jeep blazed through the roads of Sydney. It was already 7 am and we had just left the 'Crown Hotel' and were on our way to the famous opera house for a business meeting. I was dressed in a blazing white dress which hugged all of my curves. Atop it, I wore a black jacket to give it a more professional look. My hair was packed into a tight pony and I opted for minimal makeup and accessories. Damien Jaeger sat beside me in the car, his usual self. But he looked dashingly hot, I had to admit and I stared at him from both the perspective of a proud wife and an infatuated personal assistant.

As we drove through the city, I feasted my eyes on the landmarks as they came into sight, only to run off again; the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney Tower Eye, and the historic Rocks area amused me greatly. Eventually, we headed to the iconic harbour bridge and I basked at the stunning picturesque view of the harbour and the opera house, where we were to have our meeting, which was just a short distance away.

The jeep came to a halt in front of the sail-like building that gleamed in the sunlight to welcome its visitors, "I know I should have asked this earlier," Damien Jaeger's voice cut short my moment of admiration, "But the files for H.D.R…"

"It's all set." I replied, "Liz did everything. I simply crosschecked." This time, thoughts of Lizzy Gold did not stir up any jealousy within me. She wasn't attending a meeting in Sydney with my husband after all, I was.

The driver held the door open and Damien Jaeger dropped first while I followed behind him. A fat man in a suit who was being escorted by a group of able-bodied men, the complete opposite of him, walked up to Damien Jaeger all smiles and with his arms spread open, "Damien Jaeger." He called Damien by his full name. He seemed to choke on his own voice.

Standing in front of him at close range now, he was clearly awaiting an embrace from Damien Jaeger who, instead of accepting his invite, stretched out his hand for a handshake. The fat man gave a throaty laugh and quickly accepted Damien Jaeger's handshake. He looked pleased regardless.

"Delighted to finally meet you!" He commended.

"I reckon this meeting will yield great results." Damien Jaeger said, sounding as held together as he usually was.

"Ah, wonderful, all will be wonderful wonderful results!" The fat man remarked and his eyes swiftly moved to me. His sharp eyes studied me for a few seconds before turning his attention to Damien Jaeger, "Your wife?"

"No." Damien Jaeger said without flinching and I felt a sting in my chest.

"This way then." He said and led the way to the opera house.

We walked into an exquisite looking theatre with rows and rows of empty chairs. The fat man who Damien Jaeger briefly addressed as Wong, led us to occupy some seats in the 3rd row with him and Damien Jaeger sitting side by side. Shortly after, a pale skinned woman, dressed in a fancy dress showed herself on the stage and began making a little humming sound with her throat which transformed into a beautiful singing that was soon accompanied by different music instruments from invisible musicians. As she ended her performance, my hands lightly slapped against each other with a suiting smile on my face. Damien Jaeger and his counterpart didn't seem to find the performance astonishing. In fact, they had barely paid any attention to it as they mumbled about billion dollar business ideas and plans.

A lady dressed in a blood red beret with suit and skirt of the same colour called our attention and led us away from the theatre through the sleek interior of the Opera house. Our stop was in a hall which resembled a gallery or exposition room. A coffee table and a set of chairs told me that we would be having our meeting in this room.

"I picked this setting for a little bit of familiarity." He explained, "It has a homely feel. Comfortable."

"You need little tricks like this to reduce the jiggers from signing a contract with Damien Jaeger." He said to me and having no idea what fitting response to give him, I simply smiled.

"Now if you're done with your little chit-chat, let's get down to business." Damien Jaeger said. Wong cleared his throat, sensing the serious mode his business associate was in and took his seat opposite Damien Jaeger while I took up a chair that allowed me to be beside both men.

Damien Jaeger gestured for me to open the file as he prepared to give a brief about the project and I responded promptly, waiting for my queue to expatriate. Wong saw how well the offer was analysed. There couldn't have been any room for doubts and second thinking, it was a done deal!

"This partnership will be a big deal for Australia, Damien Jaeger. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

Damien Jaeger didn't seem like he had won a million bucks, "Of course. Paradox will be glad to capture stories through the lens of your company."

"We should celebrate." Wong said and his eyes dug into me, "Alongside your personal assistant. She did a wonderful job."

Damien Jaeger cleared his throat and rose to his feet, "I'm afraid I haven't got that much time on my hands. Maybe some other time."

Wong laughed his choking laughter, "Certainly you don't. But your personal assistant right here should." He swiftly licked his lips as he stared at me with wanting eyes. I felt something making its way up my stomach. He made me sick.

"Mélie will not be available to celebrate with you, Wong." Damien Jaeger said.

"Certainly, a beautiful girl like yourself won't mind sparing some time to make a wealthy widower like me happy." He said to me, "Come on, name your price."

"Those melons on your chest should certainly cost a million dollars." He added shamelessly and before I could have time to react, I saw Wong flying through the room. His body crashed against the wall and he groaned as he fell on the floor. After a few seconds of painful groaning, he went mute. Was he dead?

"What have you done?!" I yelled at Damien Jaeger in fear.

"He kept saying nonsense so I had to shut him up." Damien Jaeger replied calmly.

"What if your punch killed him?"

He chuckled, "He has no wife to go home to, it won't be that bad." He headed to the door, leaving me indecisive about checking up on the passed out perv on the floor or following him. I chose the latter and ran after Damien Jaeger.

"Boys, you might need to call a doctor or something." Damien Jaeger told Wong's body guards as he passed them by the door. They exchanged glances and dashed into the room. They must have found Wong on the floor but none of them came out to confront Damien Jaeger about it.

"Lunch?" Damien Jaeger asked as we got into the car.

The weather had changed drastically. A storm was approaching.