Chapter 16 – Meeting the Dior representatives

After a quick lunch, Anna Kent opened the door of the meeting room, and Aniya entered, followed by Meredith Lion.
Aniya sat at the top of the long table and greeted with a slight smile the three men already there. One older man with short grey hair, one middle-aged man with a dark blue suit, and another rather young man dressed in a grey suit, who looked at the women arriving with a puzzled look. He was the one that seemed most interested in Aniya because, despite his glances at the other women, he couldn’t stop staring at her.

Aniya noticed and, while avoiding looking directly at him, she addressed the older man, “Good afternoon and thank you for coming here. I am Aniya Rossi. Nice to meet you.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Aniya. I am George Williamson, the attorney for Dior, assigned to the company branch in this City. This is Mister Edison Harvey, the Marketing Manager, and Mister Lucian Davis, our Executive Director. Will Mister Dan Rossi join us in this meeting, considering the subject at hand?”

Aniya answered while opening the briefcase that her assistant gave her. “No, he is more or less retired since yesterday. I am the new CEO. From what I was told, you requested this meeting because of the latest turmoil regarding your new collection. I am somewhat surprised you asked about my father, considering it was me you wanted to see.”

Lucian Davis, the Executive Director, grinned, “It is not possible that such a young woman-“

Aniya silenced him with a raised open palm while facing the attorney. “Please shut up, kid, the grownups are talking. If you wanted to speak with me, why did you need to request a meeting at my company and bring with you your Marketing Manager? The Executive Director, I think, came just as a formality, but I am rather intrigued about the true meaning behind this.”

While Lucian Davis was fuming and piercing Aniya with his gaze, Edison Harvey, the Marketing Manager, spoke with a forced smile, “Well, it was, in fact, the turmoil in our several social media accounts, together with requests from the general public for some specific items in our collection, that once again called for our attention. Every time we launched a new collection, your finger caused several of my headaches. This time, things escalated more than ever, for sure related to your success as an influencer that you gathered over the years.”

Aniya put a file over the table in front of her and answered with an inscrutable expression, “Probably because your team fails over and over on making matching sets or stand-alone pieces that young women would like. I started to do a better job when I was ten, and at twenty, my friends convinced me to use my I.nstagra.m account, ‘aniya_rossi_official’, to put photos of things I like. Two years later, here we are. Still, you are evading my question.”

At an eye signal from the now serious Marketing Manager, George Williamson spoke at the same time he opened his dark brown leather briefcase, “Despite some contradictory opinions in our company, we concluded it would hurt us more to sue you than offer you a partnership. Mister Lucian Davis, as our Executive Director and a very small percentage of the Board of Directors, wanted to take that risky path, which would undoubtedly harm our reputation far more than yours. We know also that last week you underwent a never-once-seen partnership with Calvin Klein, and this week, that partnership resulted in a remarkable stunt of publicity, with a new gadget from your company being used during their campaign. We saw a few billboards on our way here.”

Aniya raised her eyebrows a bit. “Really? I wasn’t aware it would be so soon, I thought it would take a couple of days to fine-tune everything. I suppose they wanted to take advantage of the last turmoil I caused for them. The interesting thing is that, not even as a hint, they ever insinuated that they wanted to sue me for saying in my personal I.nstagra.m account my thoughts about their last collection. Why did your company even think about doing that?”

Lucian Davis almost spit in anger, his face completely red, “Maybe because we had a tonne of work to create our new collection that you so easily slandered!”

Aniya turned to him with a condescending look. “Instead of thanking me for pointing out the flaws, you got angry and made a tantrum, then? Did you fall on the floor and kick the air while you were pulling your hair as well?”

Aniya then faced the suddenly nervous Marketing Manager, “Don’t tell me I hit the bullseye! Did he really throw a tantrum? Geez, you better look for a new job. I bet it’s difficult to work for him! He is what, the CEO’s son, and he will one day be at the reins of the company? Well, if you ever consider changing jobs, I bet I can use someone with your expertise. Now, what about if we stopped fooling around and one of you explained to me what sort of partnership you wanted? Because I think my company could benefit a lot like we are already with Calvin Klein.”

The attorney handed Aniya the file that he was holding, explaining, “This is our proposal, that we think it’s reasonable.”

Aniya delivered the file she was holding with a smile, “This is our proposal as well, and we also think it’s reasonable. Please analyse it and discuss the terms with Miss Meredith, my company’s attorney. I believe that between you two, you will compare both proposals and reach an agreement that will benefit both companies.”

Edison Harvey, the Marketing Manager, blinked a few times in surprise, while George Williamson and Lucian Davis gasped. Aniya flicked a twirl of her hair back and asked, with an amused smile, “What? You thought I was just a pretty face that knew nothing about this type of business? I was caught a bit of a surprise last week when the Calvin Klein Marketing Manager called me for a meeting, but I was well prepared for them. Why would things be different with your company? You are perfectly aware of the size and importance of my company because you definitely checked. The fact that I rose to be the CEO should be a clear indicator of my expertise. Now, if there is nothing more to discuss, I will let you talk with Miss Meredith because I have another appointment and I am already running late.”

After two seconds of waiting, Aniya got up and went out of the meeting room, with her assistant right on her heels. Lucian Davis faced the serious woman at the table that was reading the proposal. “Did she just leave? Just like that?”

“Yes, she did. She gave you two seconds to speak. No one said a word, so she left for her appointment. I started working here yesterday, but I already know that Miss Aniya doesn’t waste time. I see several points similar to our proposal. What about if we discussed the ones that are different?”

George Williamson asked while looking at the file that Aniya gave him, “Shouldn’t Miss Aniya be here to discuss the terms? What if we can’t agree on something?”

“That would be unfortunate, but I believe that won’t happen. I did some research before coming, and I am very aware of the incredible number of followers Miss Aniya has. It almost rivals the number of followers in your social media accounts. She won’t lose much if we don’t reach an agreement today, but your branch would have a lot to explain to your headquarters if, by stubbornness or stupidity, you damaged the work of such a worldwide brand. If I am not mistaken, I saw a few official statements on your headquarters’ social media accounts promising a few internal changes. Maybe they will begin with your branch, considering it was here that it all started with Miss Aniya’s visit to one of your shops.”

The three men immediately turned pale, and Meredith Lion continued reading the file, pretending not to notice the impact her words caused.
In Aniya’s office, she was at her laptop, showing one particular encrypted file to her assistant, who was looking at the names with her jaw dropped, unable to believe how many people suspected to be Werewolves existed.

Aniya pointed to the monitor and spoke after sighing, “I know they are a lot, but I already have two friends checking these names and trying to contact them to warn them about this list. We need to do our share and contact the names on this file. Maybe you can contact them with an offer for an internship, or a guided tour, and I can take that opportunity to talk with them.”

“Wouldn’t that be extremely dangerous, Miss Aniya? I mean, sure, we can take enough measures to hide the true purpose of their visit, but we have way too many people working here, and-“

Aniya turned off her laptop and spoke as she was getting up and grabbing her purse, “That’s why we have to be careful and… Oh! Darn it!”

Turning her back to her assistant, Aniya asked with a worried tone, “Do I ruin my dress? Please tell me it’s not ruined!”

“No, it looks perfectly normal to me. Why? Is something wrong?”

Aniya walked slowly to the door, puzzling Anna Kent, who never once saw her walking like that. Before opening the door, she explained, “I need to stop in the bathroom to change my pad. I don’t understand. It’s normally just a few drops in the first two days, but as soon as I got up, I noticed I needed to change it. I put on a pad as soon as I arrived, just in case, and I can feel it is almost full!”

Anna whispered, “It might have something to do with the change, Miss Aniya. The same thing happened to me in the beginning, but then I started taking the pill and my schedule changed. It’s now one week after my last change. It’s safer that way, and you might need to do the same.”

“Shoot, I never liked taking that. It ruins my mood.”

Anna Kent muffled laughter as she was opening the door, “Pfft!… If you say so, Miss Aniya.”


Anna Kent signalled to Davis through the small privacy window to stop in front of the coffee shop where her friend was already standing, leaning on the wall and looking at his phone. Anna opened the window on the left side of the limousine and called for him, making the young man jolt and look around to search for who was calling his name. When he saw Anna waving at him from the inside of the luxurious limousine, he approached with a puzzled look, and she opened the door for him with a big smile.

When he entered and closed the door behind him, he became immediately apprehensive by seeing Aniya, looking at her phone and raising her head for a split second just to give him a slight smile, making Anna take care of the introductions, “Miss Aniya, this is Jack Holland. Jack, this is my boss, Miss Aniya Rossi.”

“I am… hum… glad to meet you, Miss Aniya.”

“Hello, Mister Jack. Make yourself comfortable while we go meet my friend Lisa. I am sorry if I won’t be able to entertain you during the ride, but I have some comments that I need to answer. Anna, Miss Meredith just sent me a message. Everything is already taken care of with the Dior people, so you better be ready for a meeting with her tomorrow. I believe you can take care of everything in my absence because I have to go meet some people with my father.”

Noticing the grimace on Aniya’s face when she spoke about those supposed friends of Dan Rossi, Anna questioned, “You don’t seem too happy with your plans for tomorrow. May I ask why is that? And is there something I can do to help?”

“Unless you want to come with me so that we test if they can detect your… particularities, it’s probably better if I go alone.”

Anna Kent covered her mouth with both hands to stop a surprised scream, and after glancing at the closed smoked privacy window that separated them from the driver, she whispered, “You mean, you are going to meet-“

Aniya raised one eyebrow, silencing her surprised assistant. Jack Holland kept on looking at each woman, not understanding anything. Anna tapped his hand and made a slight smile, reassuring him, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing. What about if you told me what you did today? In return, I can tell you about one funny meeting we had, and how Miss Aniya shut up one certain Executive Manager.”

Hearing that, Aniya burst into laughter. “Ahahah! Gosh, I almost forgot about that bloody idiot look when I called him kid! The stupid fool was undressing me with his eyes ever since we entered that room!”
The Flesh-Eating Werewolf
Detail
Share
Font Size
40
Bgcolor