178 The FMC fundraiser 4

The evening progressed well. The band on the stage was playing light tunes, people were chatting, and the overall atmosphere was great.

During dinner, Chairman Lee is at table number one and he regretted that he didn't sit at the table with the number five or at least at number four.

The number one table is good as well, but those other two tables are hosting donors who have higher donation budgets. Each company is making donation budgets based on their profits (it's related to the amount of tax benefits), and he is currently entertaining guests ranked as third on his list.

When he checked the party-attendance records for the donors, the highest-ranking donor with a good chance of not sending proxies was Coreworks Inc. so he placed them at his table.

Coreworks Inc. is the third one on the guestlist (sorted based on the profits). The second one is Novabank (at table number four) and the first is the Alpha group (at table number five).

And now that Chairman Lee looks at this, Coreworks Inc. has its COO present, Novabank has its CFO (aka Andrea), while Alpha group has its CEO (aka Nathan). All three big-shots sent the decision-makers.

He wondered Why is Liz at the table with the CEO of the Alpha group? She was supposed to be at table number three. Well, no one is complaining about anything and everyone has a spot, so he reminded himself to focus on the representatives of Coreworks Inc.

...

At table number three…

Dr. Snow could not help himself from glancing toward Elizabeth. He knows that she was supposed to be at the same table with him. How come she is with Max? Dr. Snow is not sure how, but he knows that Max did something. That guy is a manipulator and bad news.

Of course, one person seated at his table has an assignment from her boss to keep her eye on this potential troublemaker (aka Dr. Snow).

"Are you interested in talking with Mr. Anderson?"

Foxy's question surprised Dr. Snow.

"Excuse me?"

"I noticed that you are looking at him.", Foxy explained.

Dr. Snow recovered from his shock and he smiled. "No, no…"

Foxy is not the one to let him off the hook easily. "Are you looking at the young lady by his side?"

Dr. Snow blinked. "Excuse my manners, I didn't introduce myself. I am…"

"Dr. Christian Snow.", Foxy cut him off.

He nodded knowingly. "You heard about me?"

Foxy pointed toward his left chest pocket. "It says on your nametag."

Dr. Snow was not sure how to respond to this. He scolded himself for assuming that she knows him. These are all business people and unless they end up sick or hospitalized, they don't associate themselves with medical workers. But he still does not know who the woman is. "May I know with whom I am speaking?"

"Nicolle Foxwell. I am from the Alpha group and I can arrange for you to talk to Mr. Anderson if you want."

Dr. Snow's eyes darted from Max to Foxy before asking: "From the Alpha group? Why are you not at the same table?"

Foxy smiled slyly. "Maybe I wanted to sit next to a handsome doctor?"

"Yes, every meal is much more pleasant with a good looking company.", another woman from the table chimed in, not hiding that she was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Dr. Snow was visibly uncomfortable. Are these women flirting with him? Ah, good looks are troublesome!

...

At table number four…

Rhonda was glancing around the hall during her meal and smiled happily at the sight of everything going smoothly. So far, this event is a success!

She saw that Liz changed tables, but she has no objections. It was chairman Lee's idea to put Liz and Dr. Snow at the same table and the only thing that Rhonda could do is to arrange for three people to sit between them. Of course, that does not mean that it's not easy to swap the name cards, but she assumed that no one will be childish to do so.

Employees had designated spots with their names on the cards, while companies had up to three spots each with the company name specified.

Rhonda's smile widened at the sight of Max and Liz who are sitting next to each other. Of course, Rhonda recognized Max from the time when she entered Liz's office and she caught them kissing. Liz and Max are talking to others at their table, but Rhonda could see that when their gazes meet both of them are sincerely smiling.

'Ah, young love', Rhonda sighed.

Rhonda noticed that someone else at her table is looking that way.

"Are you interested in neurosurgery?", Rhonda's question surprised Andrea.

Andrea peeled her eyes from Liz and Max and looked at Rhonda. "What makes you think so?"

"You are looking at Dr. Williams. She is the neurosurgeon at our hospital. If you are interested, I can arrange for you to talk to Dr. Williams. She is a nice and friendly person. Very capable."

Andrea's gaze moved to Rhonda's nametag before she responded: "I see... Thank you for the information. I noticed that she is friendly with Mr. Anderson from the Alpha group."

"You mean Max?"

Andrea was surprised that someone who works in the administration of the Franciscan Medical Center would call Max in such a familiar way. If Rhonda is younger, Andrea would think that she is talking with Max's ex, but Rhonda is definitely not Max's type. "You know him?"

"Yes. He comes to visit Dr. Williams at work, so I had a chance to meet him."

Andrea's eyes flashed in surprise. She leaned closer to Rhonda and asked in half-whisper: "Are they dating?"

Rhonda looked at Andrea who is ready to gossip and she rolled her eyes internally. Does Andrea think that she was born yesterday?

Rhonda leaned closer to Andrea and responded: "You should ask one of them."

…

At table number five…

Max and Liz didn't pay attention to other tables. The two of them were chatting with the people at their table and only the two of them were aware of their knees touching under the tablecloth. It was a small secret that put a smile on both of their faces.

Liz was confident that this is the most enjoyable business-event in her life, and she knows that all that is because of Max. He makes everything better.

For Liz, the dinner passed in a flash.

She took a deep breath and spoke to Max with an expression that showed that she is not happy about it: "I need to mingle and chat with people."

If it's up to her, she would sit the whole evening by Max's side, but she knows that this is an event where she needs to talk to donors, and if she is sitting with Max, others will not come to talk to her.

Max responded with a small nod. "Go and do your thing. I'm not going anywhere."

Liz looked at Max and admired his response which told her that she can focus on her task and that he is supporting her. She had to break their eye contact because the desire to kiss him swelled inside her and this is definitely not the place for kissing.

"Mrs. Wilson is eager to talk to you.", Liz reminded Max.

"Nathan will handle her.", Max said with a straight face.

Liz stifled a laugh. It seems that Max threw his father under the bus.

"Does he know about Tyler?"

Max shook his head. "There is no need. I told him that Mrs. Wilson is admiring his work at the Alpha group and that she is looking forward to talking to him. He is usually nice to people for about five minutes before he finds his exit."

Liz was happy with this response. They exchanged a few more words before she left her seat reluctantly.

Max watched Liz walk away and it didn't take more than a few seconds for one woman to approach her. Shortly after, two men joined, and another one… and within a few minutes Liz was surrounded by donors who took turns asking questions.

Some of them were Nathan's friends, and most of them approached Liz because they saw people crowding around her. But whatever reason they had, Liz smiled and spoke eloquently and many of them decided that the neurosurgery wing is a good reason to invest money in the Franciscan Medical Center.

On the other side of the event hall, Nathan just finished his talk with Mrs. Wilson. He had a feeling like he is talking to his fangirl (and he is not wrong). His impression is that she is a nice lady, but a bit overenthusiastic, and it drained him mentally, so he went to the bar to get himself a drink.

Nathan took a sip of his drink and reminded himself that other than talking to Mrs. Wilson, he has one more task to accomplish before he can relax with his buddies. And this task requires chairman Lee and Dr. Snow to be together.

Max and Nathan familiarized themselves with the hosts of the event before attending it. Every good businessman is prepared with information about the people he is about to meet. When they went through the profile of Dr. Christian Snow, Max told Nathan about the flower incident which got Liz sent home early.

Just as Max suspected, Nathan was not happy about it. "Other than making repeated attempts to seduce our Elizabeth, he also got her into trouble with the chairman of the hospital?"

Max was surprised by Nathan's choice of words: 'OUR Elizabeth!?'

Max is not sharing Liz with anyone, but he does not want to bicker with Nathan about this now. He needs him as an ally.

"Dad, this is not a one-time thing. The chairman is using that incident against Elizabeth on various occasions to remind her that she should be obedient."

Nathan snorted. "How is that her fault?"

"Exactly! It seems that the chairman is not aware that Dr. Snow is the one who ordered flowers, or he is ignoring that on purpose because he favors him."

Nathan shook his head in disapproval. "Chairman is favoring Dr. Snow over our Liz? Let's see how long that lasts. From where did that scoundrel order flowers? Do you have the details?"

Max smiled. "Accidentally, I do…"

Nathan looked at the note Max gave him and paused. "You did this on purpose. You want me to talk to chairman Lee about the incident and expose this doctor."

Max didn't deny it, and he was unable to hide his smirk while explaining: "You are wise. Based on my data, chairman Lee respects seniority and he is slightly biased gender-wise. That is why if you expose Dr. Snow, it will have a bigger effect. Also, you will score points with Elizabeth…"

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