Chapter 107 - Security enhancement (2)

Next morning, Sarah got an invitation from Jeff to have an online meeting at 11 in the morning to discuss her proposal.

Sarah joined meeting from her study room. There was three more people present. They are people who currently handle security for White corp. Sarah met with them last Friday, so they are familiar with each other. Sarah's opinion is that they are competent people who know their work, but they lack knowledge about latest tools and practices.

In the meeting she discussed her proposal and answered questions they had. Once the meeting was over, Jeff asked Sarah to stay online, while others left the session.

"Based on this, we will need to develop new scripts, enhance existing tools and customize at least four tools which we are currently not using. Is that correct?" Jeff summarized Sarah's proposal very well.

"Yes.", Sarah confirmed.

"How much time do you think it will take for this work?"

"I can do it in about two months." Sarah answered honestly.

"How about someone who is not you?" This was Jeff's fear. He already saw how quickly Sarah completes her tasks.

"I will need to explain what needs to be done, so that integration is seamless. But how long it will take to develop, it will depend on the skill set of that person." This was the best answer Sarah could provide Jeff.

"OK. Thank you for the information. I let you know my decision shortly."

"No problem, thank you." Sarah logged off and thought that the meeting went rather well.

When she got out of the study few minutes later, she found that Aiden in on the phone with Jeff. She gestured with her hand for him to go to the study, so he can talk. 'I think we need two study rooms. Maybe the exercise room can be made into a second study. We are not using it for exercising anyway.' The exercise room has a hardwood floor, and one wall was a mirror. Sarah was thinking to add some exercising equipment, but she didn't get to it, so it was still completely empty.

After some time, Aiden got out of the study. He looked at her and smiled.

"What?", she could tell that something is going on.

"Patience, you will get a call from Jeff soon. Or do you want me to spoil it for you?"

Sarah was not known as a patient person, "Yes, spoil it for me. What is it?"

"He thinks your proposal is... ", Aiden paused.

"What???", Sarah wanted him to finish his sentence.

"This is insiders' information... you need to pay for it."

"Seriously...", she rolled her eyes. Every time he mentions payment, they end up in the bed. It's not that she does not like it, but he does not need to make it sound like it is a treat that she needs to earn.

"I didn't say what I want", he innocently said, noticing change in her mood.

Sarah exhaled, "Fine. What do you want?"

"Make me a dinner." Aiden noticed that Sarah does not cook much, even though she is capable of making delicious dishes. He enjoys eating her food and hopes that she will cook more. At least for him

She was surprised by this simple request. "Oh, OK. I will. Tonight, after I'm done with Viv, I will go get groceries and make dinner. Does that sound good? "

"Yes", he approved.

"Now what is it?", Sarah wanted to finally find out what Jeff said about her proposal.

"Jeff thinks your proposal is good. He is looking into resources."

"Resources?"

Aiden tilted his head, "You didn't think you will work on that by yourself, right? That is not why you joined White corp. You will need to hire few people, form a team and drive efforts."

"Oh, hire people? I don't know how to do that." Sarah felt anxiety building up. Hiring people? Forming a team? All that sounds troublesome.

"Don't worry... There is a training you can take, and I'm here to guide you."

"I see...", Sarah felt relieved.

"Once you form your team, you will mostly guide and supervise their work. Your time will be divided about half-half between that security enhancement and working with me.", Aiden was not happy that she will work away from him on something else.

Sarah took a deep breath, "I need some time to process what you just said."

"Don't worry, you will do great. And don't forget that I'm here.", he hugged her, and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you."

"Stop thanking me with words and start planning for dinner.", he reminded her.

"You are right. With all this what you told me, just making instant noodles will not be good enough.", she flashed a smile.

He looked at her in disbelief. "You are kidding, right? It better be a nutritious balanced meal, otherwise it does not count."

Sarah pouted, "You are worse than JoAnna! She nags, but at least she does not ask me to cook for her."

"You accepted it as a payment. Now you must deliver on it properly.", he tightened his hug.

"Fine, I will.", she kissed him, and turned away to get ready for her outing with Vivian. Her phone buzzed with notification. Sarah checked it and saw that it's a notification from the bank. She has automatic notifications set up for any transaction larger than $1.000. Sarah checked her account right away, since she does not expect any payment. She saw a payment of $10.000 from White corp. with a memo 'performance bonus'.

"Aiden...", she turned towards him. "What is a performance bonus payment from the company?"

"Since it's not time for annual or mid-year review, it can only be payment for the project you worked on last week." He answered knowingly.

"Is this amount, right?", she showed him her phone.

He checked her phone, and responded, "It was a small project, so it should be about right."

"You are saying that payment is higher for bigger projects?", Sarah could not hide her surprise.

"Yes", he confirmed with a straight face.

Sarah did quick math in her head... if she averages two projects a week, with $10k each... that is $20k a week... with a year having 52 weeks, that is more than $1M a year in bonus! And that is if she works on small projects only!!! Sarah felt that her head is about to explode. She opened and closed her mouth few times, but no words came out. After spacing out for some time, she went to get ready for her meetup with Vivian.