Chapter 490 - Orion Enterprise annual meeting (3)

As the event progressed, speakers took turns showcasing achievements of their departments and giving a glimpse into future plans and products.

Of course, only products which made good profits in last four quarters were featured. To the delight of his newly formed fan club, Felix made an appearance for every product from his department which made to company's top-profits list. And there was quite a number of them.

Edward was also one of the speakers, but he managed to club three products into one presentation. That allowed him to appear once instead of three times.

The event went smoothly. Sophia gave a closing speech and instructed everyone to look for people down the hallways, on their way out, who can point them to corresponding shuttles. Company provided shuttles for attendees to take them back to the HQ building where team events and food will be provided.

HQ building was organized similarly how it was for Christmas party. Main floor had seating, and food available, as well as music which blasted from DJ booth. Second floor also had food and seating.

People were organized in teams and some attended short meetings on the upper floors, there was company-wide scavenger hunt, trivia and many other activities. It was very lively.

In the back of the building there is a garden where employees can relax and take a break during work hours. But now it was lined up with stands offering beer on tap, as well as freshly made food which came out of large ovens and from the smoking grills such as pizza, kebabs and corn.

Sarah, Aiden, JoAnna and Jeff went to CEO's office to meet with Sophia.

"Bella!", Sarah exclaimed as soon as she stepped in the office. She rushed to Isabella and gave her a big hug.

"Isi!", JoAnna was half a step behind Sarah.

Jeff didn't get a chance to hold JoAnna back, and a second later there was a three-girl hug in the middle of CEO's office.

Aiden didn't mind much, but Jeff was on the verge of collapsing.

Jeff extended his steps and pried JoAnna's arms out of that hug, pulling her close to him. "Hello, Isabella.", he greeted her in his official chilling tone.

JoAnna pouted in protest, but her objection was ignored.

Isabella laughed, pretending not to see Jeff's hostility.

Jeff interacted with Isabella online, and he was always polite. Only when JoAnna was present Jeff became unfriendly. Isabella knows the reason, and there is nothing she can do about it at this point. She can't change the past, and even if she could… she probably wouldn't. She has no regrets.

Felix joined shortly after, followed by David and they all chatted.

Felix was the main topic of discussion, they congratulated him for all the achievements.

Sarah asked about battery charger which came in the backpack as part of the freebies, and Felix confirmed that it's a product which came out of his design laboratory. Sarah praised him and said that she will definitely put it to good use.

It was Felix's first time to attend such a big event. On top of it, he had to present in front of so many people. He was overwhelmed, but at the same time happy that it all ended well. Best thing out of all of that is that Sophia is proud of him. Felix had a sense of achievement and he could feel his confidence rising: he is worthy to be with Sophia.

Not long after, Sophia got first batch of reports related to the event. The attendance was record high, and so was people's satisfaction. Employees are optimistic about company's future and they have faith that their leadership is taking them in the right direction. Sophia beamed while looking at the numbers presented. Everything was great.

People voted for favorite parts of event, and it was glaringly obvious that most votes were given to Felix's presentations. Many employees provided additional comments expressing their interest to transfer to the department led by Director Martin.

"Great work, Felix!", Sophia exclaimed. "It is normal that people want to work for the department with highest profits, it gives them a sense of job security. But you made these profits possible. You should be proud."

Sarah and JoAnna glanced at each other and giggled.

"What is it?", Sophia immediately noticed that her sisters are acting strangely. They should be congratulating him, not laughing about it.

"Do you have statistics on the gender of employees who want to work… under him?", JoAnna asked while trying to suppress her laughter.

Sarah gave thumbs up to JoAnna for her choice of words.

Sophia looked up details of report and her face darkened.

"How many are females?", Sarah grinned.

"Over 97%...", Sophia mumbled.

Felix felt that he is in danger. He was not sure why, but Sophia's mood changed to worse, and somehow, he knows it's related to him.

"Don't blame him…", JoAnna started pacifying Sophia seeing that she is about to blow a fuse.

"Yes, yes… you should be proud that such a handsome man is by your side.", Sarah quickly added following JoAnna's example.

Only after hearing JoAnna and Sarah did Felix realize that current Sophia's mood is because he attracted attention of female employees. He cleared his throat, "They only want to join because of profits. And maybe they are interested in electronics… and things…"

His pacifying attempt was so clumsy that Sophia started laughing. "I'm not upset at you. I'm upset at all those women for daring to dream about you… but let them dream for a bit longer… soon we will send a companywide memo about our marriage. That will shut them up."

They all relaxed seeing that Sophia is in good mood and the atmosphere became cheerful again.

Sarah and JoAnna silently agreed that two of them marrying will not deter most of the women, some might find him even more attractive when they find out that he is manly enough to get CEO's affection. But they didn't want to spoil current mood. Sophia will find out sooner or later… later is better.

Isabella took a note that when you are a CEO, you have the power to affect everyone's mood.

Sophia continued going through the reports, and everything looked great. The only slight smudge in the report came from department responsible for security. Sophia's expression was troubled, and Felix didn't miss it.

"What is it, ma chéri?", Felix was next to her in few swift steps. He didn't like to see Sophia bothered by something.

"I'm reading report from security… it seems we had at least one incident mentioning lecherous women on the floor for VIPs."

Jeff pulled JoAnna closer to him. "I told you!"

"Did you see something?", Sophia looked at Jeff anxiously.

"I didn't see anything. I just felt it.", Jeff explained while pressing JoAnna's body closer to him.

"I see… Report only says that there is mentioning, not that it actually happened…" Sophia exhaled in relief and then turned to her assistant. "Leah, let's increase security around restrooms and changing rooms for the rest of the event and alert all of them to watch for this."

Leah confirmed that she will handle it.

No one realized that this report about lecherous women started because security overheard Jeff's warnings to JoAnna when she was heading to the restroom.

Sophia finished with reports and asked Leah what is next.

"You have 47 minutes until your next appearance on main floor.", Leah confirmed while looking at Sophia's calendar on her tablet.

"OK. I will use that time to take much needed rest." Sophia looked at her sisters. "You can go down, there are food and games."

Jeff pulled JoAnna out of the office swiftly. He could not move her away from Isabella fast enough.

Aiden and Sarah followed.

Felix sent David to bring him change of clothes from the dry cleaners and went to join Sophia in the back room.

"What will you do?", Leah asked Isabella.

Isabella shrugged. "Stay here, I guess. I can play on my phone while I wait for Sophia. I'm obviously not welcome around Jeffrey, and I don't want to make them split up because of me."

Leah nodded in understanding. She doesn't know why Jeff is hostile toward Isabella, but it's not her place to ask. "Do you want me to bring you coffee or tea?"

Isabella's eyes lit up. She was obviously happy with Leah's offer. "Coffee, but only if you will join me. I don't like to drink alone."

"Sure. I will be back in a minute.", Leah smiled and went to get two coffees.