Demand for Love

"Just what the hell did you do?"

I'm now yelling at one of my assistants because of the mess she made just before the whole grand conference, where I'm about to present my company to the whole damn nation.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," she said as she began to kneel in front of me. "I'm just switching the flash drives, and then all of a sudden our flash drive is missing."

You read it, right?

This incompetent, messy assistant of mine just lost the whole flash drive containing the whole presentation of our company. Just how dumb can you be to do one important task and then, the next morning, your future is already tearing apart into pieces? Just great, and now she's going to drag all of us down.

"I told you a lot of times to guard it with your life, and I'm not even exaggerating in that part," I said, trying to contain my anger.

"What do we do now, ma'am?" Another assistant of mine asked, and so I turned in his direction.

Men just can't ask for anything good.

"Then find that fucking drive, or else you'll be finding another job tomorrow," I warned them before I walked away from the backstage.

I retraced the hallway we walked through and saw nothing. Before I know it, I'm already headed for the crowd of business tycoons dominating the corporate world.

"Ms. Rosie!" Someone called for my name, and so I stood up properly to look in their direction.

There, I saw the man I used to hang out with. He's Gilbert, an old suitor of mine who tried to ask for my hand in marriage, but I refused as I just saw him as a tool for my company before. The one who called me was her wife, who's literally clueless that there are ancient happenings between us.

"I didn't know you'd be here," she said as she greeted me. This wife of his is also a bit arrogant, just like his husband. What, they didn't expect that I had already reached their level?

Just wait until I surpass them too.

"I also didn't expect you to be here," I said, trying to fake a smile.

"Congratulations on the success of your little start-up company; as a woman, I'm very proud of you," she said as she smiled even wider and weirder. So fake. 

And what does she mean by little, huh? I already have my own building, while his husband's company is still leeching onto his dad's big company in the center of the city.

"Sorry to say this, but I'm going backstage right now as I'm going to prepare for my presentation to all of you," I said, and I bid my goodbye.

I thought that was the end of it, but then I felt someone grab me by my arm and drag me straight to the hallway headed to the backstage.

It's Gilbert, and what's his problem now?

"Get off of me!" I said as I pushed him away from me.

"Do you think these people could accept you and your little company, huh?" He angrily said. Is he here to belittle me like his wife did earlier?

"Well, your company got into this society," I said, trying to insult his sinking company.

"That's different; I'm from this society and you're not," he defended, and so I glared at him.

"Like I care?" I sarcastically asked.

I was about to walk away from him when he said the final straw, which made me want to squeeze him into tiny pieces.

"Go home before they find out you're a total slut," he said, and as I turned in his direction to see his face, he was already smirking like a bitch.

I scoffed and raised my phone. I wanted to hit him, but I can't be violent.

"You kiss your wife with a dirty mouth like that?" I walked slowly towards him again. "Listen, boy. You're not smart like you think right now, and you're not even on my level when it comes to marketing strategy because I get to have the real deal while your company is gasping for air just so you and your fucked-up organization can fucking survive."

He didn't say anything.

"So before you go around telling stories about me, go find some good reason why your company doesn't deserve titles such as incompetent and shitty. Got it?"

After I finished talking, I walked away from him. I finally heard him talking when I was a few meters away.

"You'll pay for this!" He shouted.

"How much?" I sarcastically asked while walking away backstage.

When I got back, the situation was already pretty calm, unlike when I left. Did they already find it?

I only realized that they still didn't have the flash drive when Kara walked in while still looking around. So Kara's the only person who wants to find our presentation?

"Did I pay for all of you just so you could sit down and relax while waiting for the right time until all of us would be damned?" I asked.

"Ma'am, someone found it already," my guy assistant said, and so I looked in his direction.

I looked in Kara's direction and called her. She immediately went in front of me.

"Yes, ma'am?" She asked, clueless.

"What are you looking for down there?" I asked.

"My other flash drive, ma'am. The flash drive that you have been looking for is already given to you, I guess, ma'am?" She happily asked, but then my eyebrows furrowed.

"Given to me?" I asked confusingly. "I thought it was already founded, but you're looking for it from me?

"There's a woman who got here earlier, ma'am. She's wearing sunglasses, so I couldn't recognize her face, but she ran to follow you in that hallway. She told us she's your friend," she explained, and then I took a sigh.

Maybe Lexie is already here. I walked back to that hallway, heading toward the crowd, as I dialed Lexie's number. It kept ringing for a moment before she finally answered.

"Where are you?" I asked in an instant.

"I'm stuck in traffic," she said worriedly, and so I stopped walking.

"You're not here at the venue?" I asked.

"I just got out of the office to get the remaining brochures, just like what you wanted," she said before she bid her goodbye as I heard in the background the moving of the cars.

I stared at my phone screen for a while before I could even process what was happening.

Just then, I heard a familiar sound of heels walking towards me, I guess. I'm not expecting that this person could possibly...

Gosh, I should stop thinking about it.

As I was about to head back to my staff to ask them, a sudden voice of a woman spoke.

"Is this what you've been looking for?" Her voice was still delicate to hear.

I know it's her, and I don't want to look around. I gulped twice before I decided to continue walking back to my stuff.

"You're still so headstrong," she said, and that made me stop again.

"I'm made like this," I answered without looking back at her.

For two years, I only heard things about her business growing and growing like hell, and now she's there behind me. She's probably looking at me. Looking at how I changed, I don't want to look back.

I can't. 

The moment I do that, it will be the end for me, or maybe for both of us.

I heard her scoff, and the next thing I know, I can hear that she is walking towards me, but just as I can feel her behind me, she puts the flash drive on the floor.

"Well, maybe that's the reason why we're like this," she whispered in my ear before I heard her footsteps receding.

I got the flash drive on the floor and looked back in her direction. She's not even there anymore; maybe she ran.

She's still mad. And so I'm still wounded.

But gosh, I missed her.

I missed everything about her.

Why did we even end up in this situation anyway?