Music Rec: Strongest by Alan Walker ft Ina Wroldsen.
Pushing all distractions to the back of her mind, Avery got out of the car and slamd the door behind herself. Slipping her car keys into her pocket, she found her way to the lobby and walked straight to the receptionist’s desk.
"Welco, Ma’am. How can I help you?" the young man behind the desk asked, a polite smile on his face.
"I’m here to see Archie, sorry, Mr. Donovan. The current chairman of the..." Avery trailed off, seeing the mocking smile starting to form on the receptionist’s face. "Do I have sothing on my face, Sir?" she asked.
"Not at all, Ma’am," the receptionist replied. "You just requested to see the chairman. Do you have an appointnt?"
"I don’t," Avery replied, and the mocking smile on the forr’s face beca more prominent.
"Ma’am, I’m so sorry but you can’t see—"
Avery cut him off. Of course she knew it wouldn’t be that easy to see a man of his status, and she didn’t need him reminding her of that with that mocking smile on his face.
"You can call his office, right? Tell him it’s a representative here to deliver a gift from Mr. Arthur McCAllum," she stated.
As she knew the probability of Archie allowing the receptionist to allow her up was little to nothing, she intentionally avoided leaving her na. There was a possibility that he would instruct the security to throw her out just so he can get so excitent at the sight of her humiliation. And she could not afford that.
She needed to see him and force him to repair the damages he just made. Revealing that she was dating Brian to Mia, who had in turn taken it upon herself to reveal the news to the other top executives and employees of The McCallum Group, was going to cause a lot of trouble for her and the company. He could settle whatever scores he had with her, but not at the expense of the company. So after venting her anger, she would force him to apologize to Mia and tell her he had lied about what he said.
He could look for amusent elsewhere and stop troubling her like she was his personal entertainnt doll. However, she would not be able to do all these if she failed to see him.
Hence, the reason for her lie.
The receptionist cleared his throat, "Uhm Ma’am, we can’t call the secretary’s office unless we have a really important guest. Why don’t you ask your boss to call the chairman from his side?"
Avery shook her head, not bothering herself to correct the man. It was understandable that he thought that given her style of dressing—a sky blue shirt and black pants, coupled with a pair of office heels—which probably gave the impression that she was a secretary on an errand for her boss.
"And how are you sure I am not a really important guest, Sir? You might get reprimanded for disturbing the secretary office for an unimportant guest but if you ignore an important guest for fear of that, do you think it will end that easily without losing your job?" she asked, her voice oozing with confidence. Confidence that was rooted in the use of her brother’s na. Archie Donovan might be her nesis and one of the few people she hated in this world, if not the only person, but the only reason she tolerated him apart from his power, was because he respected her family. He extended a helping hand to Emma whenever she got in trouble and respected Arthur like real best friends did, disregarding the power difference between them. She was sure he wouldn’t turn down a visit from Arthur.
She waited with bated breath, engaging in a short staring contest with the receptionist who looked like he wouldn’t budge. But it looked like the man really did see reasons with her words earlier, as he was quick to lower his gaze.
"I will place a call to the secretary’s office now," he said, taking a few steps away from her to get to the desk phone.
He was gone for less than 45 seconds but when he ca back, his expression had changed drastically and a wide smile sat on his face.
"Sorry about that, Ma’am. I was able to speak with the chairman’s assistant and he asked to bring you in personally. Your na please?" he asked, extracting the visitor’s log book from beneath the table.
Avery swallowed. "McCallum. Avery McCallum."
The receptionist who had bent his head to write the na, jerked his gaze up when he heard the na she ntioned.
"Miss Avery McCallum? Heiress–in–training of the McCallum Group?!" he questioned, his voice loud enough to attract the attention of the other receptionists.
"It’s...," Avery replied, a tinge of hesitation and fear underlying her voice. Did the receptionist recognize her? Or had Archie broadcasted and blacklisted her na from his corporation? The latter was more plausible, since it was hard for employees of a Corporation as big as this to pay attention to her own company. Not that the McCallum Group was small, but compared to A Corporation, now changed to A² Corporation, they were nothing. But about Archie broadcasting and blacklisting her na, she wouldn’t put it past him to do that. He had done much worse.
"No!" the receptionist’s enthusiastic voice snapped her out of her negative thoughts. "Why didn’t you tell who you were earlier, Ma’am?"
As the man talked, he pushed away the visitor’s log book before him and walked around the desk to et her.
"What are you saying, Sir?" Avery asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
"Sir?!" The receptionist’s face widened in surprise. "Don’t call ’sir’, Ma’am. I’m so sorry for not recognizing you earlier and allowing you address with respect. I will lead the way to the chairman’s office."
Avery’s confusion grew.
"Did you not hear well? I said my na is Avery McCallum," she said.
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