Chapter 498 - Orion Enterprise annual meeting (11)

On the main floor stage, announcers called out top five teams.

The people were pleasantly surprised (especially ladies) to see that Director Martin is there on the stage as part of the team 'Orion'.

…

Stella and Edward were on the second floor. On one of the big screens nearby, they saw live stream from main floor stage and their two daughters there. From that point, two of them paid attention to the award ceremony.

"Something interesting will happen…", Edward told Stella.

He got Stella's attention. "How do you know?"

"She asked me who developed software for scavenger hunt. I don't think that was a coincidence."

"I see… let's watch and see. If they planned something, it will be good." Stella loved seeing her daughters work together. Especially lately it seems they are rapidly changing, becoming stronger and more independent while relying on each other. She was looking forward to this… whatever it is.

…

On the main floor, Sophia was in her chair and she looked at Felix on the stage, thinking that he is the most handsome man in the world. Her mood dropped a bit when she realized that she is not the only one thinking that.

Felix lifted his arm to move a strand of his hair up from his forehead causing number of ladies to scream from excitement. Among the screams, Sophia overheard exchange of two women behind her.

"Oh, my… Director Martin is so suave!"

"Yes, he is… I think my panties got wet…"

Leah patted Sophia's hand which was curled into a fist, trying to comfort her, but Sophia didn't feel that pat at all. She was overwhelmed with a sense of urgency to announce her relationship with Felix. 'First thing tomorrow morning, I'm sending that email to every employee! Women get two emails!'

Sophia always thought that men are shameless when trying to get attention of opposite gender. Only now she realized that women can be just as shameless.

Of course, there was a lot of comments about other two men next to Felix. And about JoAnna and Sarah as well. Most of the people recognized Hill sisters, so comments about them were more in line with what's appropriate. However, guys got quite a bit of 'love' from the audience.

The announcer didn't delay much. He was talking about end time for each team and announcing rankings between five teams on stage from fifth spot above and giving awards designated for that team. The awards were mix of products from Orion Enterprise and gift cards.

Bryan, from Venus team was not on stage. He was on the side, waiting to get a prize, but he didn't want to go up and mingle with those three women. He had quite a bit of beer and found a chair to sit.

Samantha, Nea and Denise from Venus team were standing on the stage, pretending that they are surprised… but not pretending that they are excited about the possibility of a dance with Director Martin. Their longing gazes directed at Felix were genuine. They still didn't come to an agreement which one of them will dance with Felix, even after multiple attempts. Neither of them wanted to let go of her chance to come near Director Martin, so no matter what solution they found, nothing worked because losers would complain, outvote winner and demand a different way of finding a winner. That cycle continued until announcer called them on stage, and they still didn't make any progress.

Sarah never told Sophia who are members of the cheating team, but when only two teams were left standing on the stage, and Sophia saw three women ogling her fiancé, she didn't need any more pointers toward the offenders. Seeing their inappropriate behavior even while on stage, Sophia confirmed her decision to deal with them in the morning.

Announcer delayed saying who is the winner, by giving in fillers and background of each of the member from application. For team members of Venus team, he said that they are from financial and software development department. For team Orion he was confused that four out of five are not employees at all, and their information was lacking. Then he realized that fifth member is popular Director Martin whose dance is part of the first prize, and he decided to focus on him. While he talked about Felix, crowd of women squealed from excitement again, causing Sophia to have a headache.

And then it was time for the big reveal.

Sophia wished to go on stage and smack those three lecherous women… but she knows that is not appropriate. As a woman, yes… but as a CEO no. And right now, she is in a role of a CEO. She is setting up an example for all employees. She took few deep breaths to calm herself.

When announcer said that winner is team Orion, thee women from Venus team could not hide their shock and disappointment mixed with confusion. They were sure they will win, especially Samantha. How did this happen?

Announcer didn't give much attention to them. Another person came from the side and handed them their rewards.

Brian stumbled on the stage, took his reward, glared at his three teammates for few seconds and stumbled back down. He moved toward the area which serves beer on tap. Isabella didn't miss this. She excused herself and went to follow after Brian.

Samantha, Nea and Denise accepted their rewards, moving stiffly as robots, obviously dazed but they didn't leave stage. Three of them could not understand how come they are not winners. They didn't have all clues solved, which means there is no way they are in top five because of their performance in scavenger hunt. If Saya didn't tamper with scores, how come they ended up in second place? And if Saya did tamper with scores, how come they are not in first place? Something was not right, but they could not figure out what is it… and Director Martin is right there, only few steps away. But still out of reach. They were confused and shocked and didn't move.

The big question was brought up by the announcer: how will team Orion handle the dancing part. Winning team gets to pick a representative to dance with Director Martin, and Director Martin is in the winning team! Announcer concluded that one of the ladies from the team will dance with Felix and asked if they decided which one of them will be.

Sarah took the microphone. "…as you can see, neither of two of us is an employee. We believe that this is an event for employees, and even though we will accept the honor of being called winners of this event, we don't think that we qualify to accept the dance with Director Martin. Instead, we decided to let him pick a dance partner, with condition that person is an employee of Orion Enterprise."

Sarah kept the microphone away and stepped back.

The whole main floor was silent for some time until announcer came to his senses. "It seems that winners want to make a change to this last part and let Director Martin pick a dance partner from the employees. Director Martin, do you agree?"

Felix responded with a small nod. At the same moment lower floor erupted in screams.