Chapter 316 - A Launch Date...

Meanwhile, Tanaga couldn't wait for the plane to land. As soon as the stewardess opened the door, he didn't bother waiting for his bodyguards to tell him whether it was safe to embark or not. He couldn't understand why, but he wanted to see Ashley badly.

Since Sato was now Ashley's assistant, Tanaga was not accompanied by one - not even a secretary. He only had his four bodyguards with him, so they only needed one vehicle at this time.

As soon as he was seated at the back passenger of the car, he quickly made a call to Sato to check if Ashley had arrived.

"Uhm, hello... y-yes!" That was all Sato answered since Ashley was in front of him. 

"Good, reserve a restaurant for our lunch later. Does she know that I will be arriving today?" Tanaga asked seriously. 

"Y-yes!" Sato couldn't answer appropriately because Ashley was looking at him with wide eyes and signaling if the one he was talking to was Tanaga. 

Sato just nodded at Ashley. She decided to go inside the office so that he could answer Tanaga properly. As long as she's standing right In front of him, he would not be able too.

Tanaga seemed to notice that Sato couldn't answer properly. It came into his mind that Ashley might be around, so he just decided to end the call. "Remember, book a restaurant and choose where she likes to go. I gotta go - I'm almost there." Then he hung up without even waiting for Sato's reply. 

"Oh, God! Sir Jones' grumpiness has come back. What's this? What happened to make sir suddenly go back to his old self?" Sato was mumbling to himself while walking to the office.

Just as he was about to enter the President's office... "Oh! I almost forgot – that guy has ordered me to do something!" Sato shouted and ran back outside to find a restaurant to reserve. 

==

No sooner than she sat down, Ashley's telephone on the desk rang. "Ma'am, there is a call from our branch manager in Tampa, Florida. It's line 1," Fumika declared with a sweet voice full of respect.

"Okay, thank you!" Then she hung up to press line 1 to talk to their branch manager in Tampa. 

"Good morning, President Ashley Gusman speaking. How may I help you?" 

"Good morning, President Gusman. This is John Stone from the Tampa office. I was wondering if I could bother you for a moment?" the other line said. 

"Sure! I got a few minutes before the huddle – what is it?" Ashley replied, not sure if she could help or not. 

"Uhm, I just wanted to ask if you're available to attend an [1] IMPA convention. It is to promote our company. I received the invitation a while back, but since there was no appointed president here in the USA when I received it, I just put it aside." 

"Understood! Could you email me the details, please? I will let my secretary get back to you on this one. Thank you for informing me." Then Ashley bid goodbye and hung up. 

As soon as she finished talking on the telephone, Sato entered the office with a cup of coffee. He put it on Ashley's desk and stood up in front of her, waiting for her command. 

Ashley, who just opened her computer, stared at Sato. "Why are you standing there? Go to your desk. I'll just call you if I need anything," Ashley declared, her forehead creasing out of annoyance. 

Sato's eyebrow rose and was about to speak when his phone rang. 

"Answer it. That might be your boss," Ashley uttered irately before going back to what she was doing. 

Sato picked up his phone swiftly. Ashley wasn't wrong – Tanaga was the one calling. 

"What, have you reserved a restaurant?" Tanaga asked without even greeting. 

"Yeess!" Sato said in a sassy tone while walking out of the office. 

Ashley got more irritated when she was sure that it was Tanaga. She was irritated because Tanaga knew her number, yet he was not calling her. She now knew that he was asking about her. 

In a few moments, Sato came back pouting. He clumsily sat on the chair while looking at Ashley without talking. 

Ashley looked at him and saw him pouting like he wanted to say something. 

"Hey! What's your problem? Why are you pouting like that? Has your boss given you a lot of tasks? Why the hell did he even bring you here now that he keeps on giving you tasks?" She then went back to what she was doing. 

Sato's patience was wearing thin. "Ma'am, don't you really want to talk about what happened between the two of you? Wait! I forgot to ask for something. You and sir's baby - is it a boy or a girl?" Sato sadly asked. 

Ashley suddenly gazed back at Sato. She just remembered that the employees of the THJ group had no idea about their kids, and she suddenly felt terrible for Sato as he had been part of their happy days with Tanaga. 

"Sato, I'm sorry. Come here, and I'll show you the picture of my babies. Call Fumika first so that she could also see them." Then she picked up her phone to show him her twins. 

Sato stood up hastily and put his head outside the door to call Fumika. "Hey, girl! Come here! Ma'am Ashley has something to show us. Lock the door when you enter so that no one will disturb us." Then Sato walked beside Ashley before Fumika could arrive. 

Fumika followed and locked the door so that no one could intrude on them. If by chance, someone would call, she could just answer it through Ashley's telephone. 

Everything was set, and Ashley was about to play the video of the twins until… 

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[1] IMPA (International Marine Purchasing Association) was formed in 1978 by a group of senior purchasing executives who wanted to create an industry 'voice' to represent the interests of the purchasing profession within the shipping and promote close cooperation and understanding between buyer and supplier.