Once he was right in front of Sato and Fumika, he extended his hands. "Hello, nice to meet both of you! I think you both had me mistaken for my twin brother CEO Jones. I'm Tanaka Jones or Tanaga's twin brother," he said with a warm smile plastered on his handsome face.
Sato then nodded, "I see! So you're Mr. Jones' identical twin who supposedly drowned in the middle of the ocean with your mother. Who I heard is also alive, and previously caused some commotion between the family," he said with a raised brow.
Tanaka extended his hand, and Fumika bowed once again before accepting Tanaka's hand. "Nice to meet you as well, sir Jones. My name is Fumika, and I'm President Jones' secretary."
When Tanaka heard that she was the secretary, his eyes brightened, and he smiled widely.
"You're his secretary? That's such good news! Thank you for coming back. I can't believe that my prayers were finally heard, and here you are."
Sato looked at Tanaka intensely before introducing himself. "I'm Mr. Sato and the current assistant of President Jones and former assistant of CEO Jones. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jones!"
Fumika was curiously staring at Tanaka's demeanor. He was so sweet and polite, while his twin brother was cold and aloof. The only similarities they had was their birth parents and their identical faces.
"Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, what do you all have for me? As you already know, my brother and sister-in-law are in Europe right now, I will need your help. I hope both of you can assist me with my duties."
When Fumika and Sato heard what he said, they looked at each other, then looked at the doc.u.ments they had.
"Right! President Jones did mention that they were going to Europe. I'm only here to drop off these doc.u.ments, and I'm to follow them. Fumika is supposed to be in charge of you, but here are the doc.u.ments," Sato quickly said as he handed over the stock of files to Tanaka and bid him goodbye.
Fumika nodded to Sati before shyly placing the doc.u.ments down at his desk, before saying, "If you need anything, I will be right outside."
She then quickly walked out of the office, trying to catch Sato.
Unfortunately, Sato was long gone by the time she made it out of the office. Fumika let out a sigh, knowing there was nothing she could do. This was her job, as secretary to the President of THJ Group Marine Division. She simply accepted it, went to her desk, and began working.
===
Meanwhile, Koji and Alden were having breakfast at a hotel's restaurant. Alden was delighted that Koji was also in Houston, knowing that he wouldn't feel shame showing up at the THJ Group with Koji.
Koji, on the other hand, was not in the mood to eat. He wanted to go to the office and see Ashley. Unfortunately, he couldn't leave Alden. He knew he was going to go with him, and the only reason for that happening being that they were business partners.
"So what brings you here?" Koji asked Alden, thinking it'd be better if he knew his motives.
Alden, who had been eating, stopped for a moment. It took quite a while before he answered.
"I came from a convention in Florida, where Ash- no, President Jones and I met. Now, I have a business proposal about becoming a distributor in your company. I was going to have a meeting with her the day after, but I found out that she came back here. So here I am! "
He replied before he continued eating.
"Is that so? Well, that's a good idea. Have you sent the proposal to her? Can I see it while I am here?" Koji asked as he played with the food on his plate.
He couldn't understand why, but he had a feeling that business wasn't the only reason Alden was there. Ashley maybe his target and Koji didn't like it. He decided to go back to his hotel room first and call the office to determine if Ashley had arrived back at Houston.
"President Sanches, I'll just go and check some emails before going to the THJ Group Office. I'll give you a call when I'm done and ready to go," Koji said.
"Okay! I'll finish my breakfast and go back to my room to rest for a while. I also have a lot of work that needs to be fixed, and I also need to send my proposal," Alden replied.
Koji just nodded before leaving quickly. He couldn't wait to get to his room. Just inside the elevator, he called the office.
"THJ Group Marine Division, President's office. Fumika speaking, how may I help you?" Fumika asked.
Koji smiled when he heard Fumika's voice. "Hi! This is President Hanada from Japan calling. I only wanted to know if President Jones is back? I'm in town, I plan on visiting and I wanted to make sure before I went if the President is in the office. "
Because he did not mention Ashley's name. But he only mentioned President Jones, so Fumika assumed Koji was talking about Tanaka.
"Good day, President Hanada. Yes, sir! President Jones is in the office now. Would you like me to inform him that you are coming?" Fumika asked as she was ready to inform President Jones of his visit.
"No! It's okay, don't tell the President. I would rather this visit be a surprise. I just wanted to check if the President was in the office before I came. All right, I have to go now, goodbye, and many thanks! " Koji hung up the phone, now getting ready to leave.
As he was about to leave his room, he suddenly remembered Alden and wondered if he should tell him or not? Eventually, the first choice won since he was a businessman through and through, so he called Alden's number to inform him of where he was going.
===
Moments later, he and Alden were in a rental car driving to the office.
When they arrived at the THJ Group office, the security guard immediately recognized who President Hanada was, so he quickly opened the door before bowing and greeting them.
"Good day, president Hanada; good day, sir?" He didn't know how to address the other man, so he just called him sir, the proper way of greeting the unknown.
Koji was kind enough to greet him back as he passed by. "Thank you! Good day to you as well."
However, Alden was another matter. He was too stuck-up to greet the security guard. For him, anyone beneath him didn't deserve to be greeted back.
He just followed Koji and chose to ignore the measly security guard.
Koji knew the way to the President's office, so he didn't need any guidance going there.
When he arrived, Fumika was busy when she heard the door open and she saw Koji walk in with another man.
She greeted them as they passed by. Koji greeted them back, but the man beside him didn't. When Fumika looked up to see the other man who didn't greet her back, the man that felt as if he didn't need to. She glared at him with a scowl on her face.
Alden and Koji didn't notice, and both of them headed to the President's office door.
"What a jerk!" Muttered Fumika under her breath as she sat back down and continued with what she was doing.
Koji lightly knocked on the door.
Tanaka heard it and looked up from the doc.u.ment he was completely focused on.
He replied. "Come in!"
Koji pressed the handle to open the door but when the door opened, all three people were stunned and stared at each other without uttering a word.
The President wasn't who they expected.
Tanaka was the first to get his senses back and spoke as he made his way to greet the people who had just arrived.
"Hello! How may I help you, gentlemen?" He greeted them as he approached the two.
"CEO Jones! What a surprise to see you here. I thought you were in Europe to handle some business matters. When did you come back?" Asked Koji as Tanaka reached them.
Once Tanaka heard what Koji had called him, he realized that he had mistaken him for his twin brother. He wasn't sure if he should've corrected him or let him believe in his Tanaga. Yet he also remembered Tanaga suffered through memory loss due to the accident. So he decided to find out who the two people were.
"Gentlemen, I'm sorry but I can't seem to recall ever meeting either of you. Would you mind introducing yourselves?" He asked as he acted lost and confused to make them believe that he was Tanaga.
Koji's brow rose and stared at Tanaga. He was confused, wondering if he was serious or just playing with the two of them.
Alden, on the other hand, didn't get it since he didn't know that Tanaga was in an accident and lost his memory.
So, he quickly stretches his hand for a handshake. "CEO Jones, I'm President Sanches. We had a collaboration back in the Philippines. Don't you remember?"
"Oh! Yes, of course," was all Tanaka said before turning his attention to Koji. "And you are?" He asked curiously.