216 Liz's Idea

After entering the bathroom, Liz had splashed some water onto her face, leading to her having a blurry vision which did not allow her to get a clear glimpse of the woman who had just said this statement.

By the time she could clear the water off of her face and respond, she heard the click-clack of heels walking away, before finding herself alone in the bathroom.

Indeed, that statement had summed up all the emotions she had had to face back in the boardroom.

Discrimination based on background was something common that had been occurring since centuries, and would mostly continue to occur for a long, long time.

Yet, here, there were two added reasons for everyone to want her out of that room:

They thought that she was a woman who had used her body to get here, and they felt that her background in education was not enough, at all, for her to carry out the duties of her job.

After all, personal background and educational background were two different things. A person born poor might work hard to get a scholarship in a premier institute, thereby having a great educational background. Even though they might still be looked down upon by this bunch, it wouldn't be to this level.

Yes, they definitely had enough reasons to dislike her, and step on her to make her leave. In fact, Liz could easily detect that that was the intention in the eyes of many, especially the older the ones.

Yet, there was no way that she would allow anyone to mess with this position that she believed she was worthy of.

If they were going to make her life difficult, she would endure, and wait for an opportunity to strike back. If they looked forward to making her give up, they would only taste disappointment.

Whoever the woman who had just said that was, Liz felt that she might actually have meant that as a friendly warning, even though her tone had been cold and unwelcoming.

She wondered who she was, and decided to find out later. But, for now, it was time to get back to the meeting, as this was only a short recess.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Liz nodded and wiped her face before heading back.

The whole day was spent in meeting after meeting, where all the fine details of the software project for urban development that they were going to implement in Argentina were discussed extensively.

The great thing was that she got to see Will in action, again, and she had to admit that it was pretty damn hot.

Of course, she wouldn't admit that to herself as it would make her flush, but if she was being honest, that was the word she would use.

The way he always got to the crux of every problem they were facing before decisively deciding on solutions to overcome them was a delight to watch, and she often found herself phasing out and remembering the journey here which was the most special one of her life.

When this happened, she would blush to herself, and try to quickly recover her focus before anyone could see.

Unbeknownst to her, her every action was being observed silently by Jonathan, whose eyes were so red that he looked like he had been up all night.

Beside him, Ben was actually paying attention to the meeting, but he was suddenly distracted by Jonathan shaking so much with anger that his chair moved, causing Ben to look to the side and notice the anger in the man's face.

Why was he even so angry?

He wondered this, as although he had said that before, he had meant more as an idle pursuit, rather than as one which was worthy of missing out on an important meeting and having to use the transcript to catch up later.

He was just about to turn his focus back on the meeting, but he had no option but to drop his jaw and turn around to see if he had heard wrong, when he heard Jonathan whisper something in such a low tone that only he could hear it.

"I've decided. Look at her fool face, mooning after the CEO. It irritates me so much that I feel like throwing her out right now! The sanctity of this meeting has been destroyed. She has to go sooner rather than later. Meet me after the meeting with the others."

…

The meetings finally ended at 7 PM. Even lunch had been served in the room, and almost everyone had only picked at the food while keeping their eyes on the presentation.

This…was a level of work that Liz was not prepared for, yet, but she was determined not to complain.

Yet, by the time everyone started shuffling out while shooting looks at her, she couldn't help but almost moan out loud in pleasure when she felt two strong hands catch her shoulders and begin to massage them.

Thankfully, she managed to control herself, otherwise, those looks would have reached another level.

Of course, behind her was Will, who had a smile on his face.

"Welcome to an executive's life. Usually, we're pretty free, but when there's something to take care of, we have to work really, really hard. Don't worry, the meetings are almost over. May I interest you in dinner with a glass of wine, madam."

It was almost like last night hadn't happened.

With a broad smile, Liz was about to say 'yes', but she was interrupted by a loud yawn.

This made Will chuckle and say, "Or not. It must have been exhausting. Go get some sleep. I'll order dinner to your room. In the morning, sleep in. The first meeting isn't important, anyway. Oh, by the way. I've already noticed a group forming who will start to scheme to throw you off the board. Do you need my help handling them?"

Will asked this, even know he knew that Liz would reject him. That was the individuality and strength that had captivated him, so he was pretty sure of the answer.

Yet, after thinking for a few moments, Liz gave an answer in a thoughtful tone which startled him.

"Yes."

Liz saw Will get an expression of shock as she said this, but she wasn't kidding.

She had noticed it, too, and, initially, she had been prepared to endure.

Yet, over the course of the meeting, she had gotten an idea.

This idea had actually been born from that statement from that woman in the bathroom, who had said that she had had to struggle a lot to be welcomed by them.

Was struggle her style?

Nope.

If so, what could she do?

Well…Why not be proactive, instead?

This idea had grown more and more enticing until she couldn't ignore it anymore, so, she had decided to go with it.

Looking into Will's eyes, she spoke with a shine in her eyes.

"I do need your help, but not in the way you think. Will, they're definitely going to plan something that'll make everything difficult. But…I want your help in making them think outside the box. I want them to make a gamble, which, if they win, will see me leaving on my own accord. They need to be pushed to that decision, like a gambler being pushed to bet everything he has. To have that happen, we need to do this…"