"I'm here," I heard Snow say. I turned my head to the back left and watched as she ran towards us from the entrance of the company's building. I pushed my back against the sofa.
"Finally," I said. "Where have you been?"
"Sorry," Snow said, panting. "I only saw your message in the group chat when I woke up so I scrambled to look for the charity event proposals me, Bea, and Helen came up with before." She put up the tote bag she was holding.
"You three were planning charity events before?" Flounder said. "Why didn't we know about this?" He sat up properly on the other sofa to the right.
"Yeah," Snow said while walking to the cushioned chair a little bit in front of us and to the left. "Bea wanted to keep it a secret until something was approved because one, our group gets too excited about things and two, everyone has a lot to say and a lot of ideas so it would be difficult to even finish the proposal." She sat down on the chair.
"She has a point," Flounder said.
"That's fair," Zen said. They squeezed my right hand with their left hand.
"What were the things she proposed though?" Virginia asked.
"Let's see," Snow carefully emptied the the tote bag on the coffee table in the center. I leaned in on the proposals.
"That's a lot," Oceanna said. She stood up from the other sofa and started looking at the proposals.
"These were given to the company right?" Asterion asked. He stood up and started sifting through the proposals with his hands.
"Yeah," Snow said.
"How come none of it was approved?" Asterion asked.
"The company doesn't like charity work," I heard someone say. Robert, I thought. I looked up from the proposals to see him walking towards us, holding visitor IDs connected to lanyards. Everyone became quiet. Robert distributed the IDs. I reluctantly got mine.
Why now then? I thought. I looked at the proposals.
"Let's go," Robert said. "The meeting will start soon. Follow me."
"Wait," Snow said. "Just have to put these back in my bag." Zen and I let go of each other and helped gather the proposals on the coffee table.
"Thanks," Snow said.
"No problem," Zen said. Maybe we shouldn't have brought them here with us, I thought. I don't like this. I got my bag form the left side of the sofa and stood up.
"Are you okay?" Zen asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Let's go you two," I heard Robert say.
"Coming," I said. We walked past the coffee table to its front where Robert and our friends were. Robert started walking and we followed. I felt Zen's left arm on my shoulders.
"You're worried something's going to happen right?" Zen said.
"How can I not be worried?" I said. "We both know its a risk being here."
"Nothing's going to happen babe," Zen said. "And even if there is, we planned for it."
"We did but they didn't," I said. Zen sighed.
"Right," Zen said. "We just have to improvise then, if we need to."
"I guess," I said.
"We'll protect them," Zen said.
"We will," I said. I looked at where we were headed. The right side elevators this time huh? I thought. Must be where the offices are. I took a deep breath.
Focus, I thought.
"Hey Dos, hey Zen" I heard someone say. I turned my head to the right and saw it was Virginia.
"Hey," I said.
"Hi," Zen said.
"Just wanted to thank you for telling us about this charity event," Virginia said. "We appreciate it."
"No problem," I said.
"And can I ask you to promise something?" Virginia said.
"What is it?" I said.
"When everything is over with what you're doing and dealing with Maine's disappearance, please tell us what happened," Virginia said. I felt Zen squeeze my shoulder.
"We will," I said. "We're really sorry we can't right now."
"Its fine," Virginia said. "The five of us know that there's a reason why you're keeping it from us." I nodded.
"We'll be waiting," Virginia said, smiling.
"I know," I said. "No need to threaten us."
"Why?" Virginia said. "You scared?"
"Shut up," I said. She put out her tongue and ran towards Flounder who was in line for the gate to the right. Zen and I lined up for the gate in front of us. Zen stopped resting their arm on my shoulders and went behind me. There's more people today, I thought. I tapped the visitor ID on the gate. The gate opened and I walked through it. I turned around and watched Zen do the same.
"Is everyone here?" I heard Robert say behind me.
"Yes," I heard Asterion say.
"Let's go then," I heard Robert say. I turned around and followed him with Zen to my right. We quickly walked towards the third elevator on the right. It dinged open but no one was going in. Robert started running. We did the same.
"Can someone please hold the middle elevator open?" Robert shouted. "Thank you!" We ran inside the elevator, bowing to the person who kept the elevator open by pressing the button outside as we passed them.
"Was that necessary?" Flounder asked.
"Yes," Robert said. He pressed the button of the floor that we were going to. The elevator doors closed.
"We only have ten minutes before the meeting starts," Robert said. "Its always better to be there a little bit early than on time."
"That's-" Oceanna started to say.
"That's what?" Robert said.
"Never mind," Oceanna said.
"Okay," Robert said. "But I do want to apologize for the sudden schedule change. Ms. Liu and the execs are excited for the charity event so they wanted to start planning earlier."
"They couldn't wait one day?" I asked.
"No, they couldn't," Robert said. Why did change it to be this day? I thought. Is it an important day or is something happening today or are they-calm down self. You're overthinking this. I sighed.
"That's fine," Zen said. "We're all happy to help make this charity event possible in Bea's name."
"Good," Robert said. "You'll need that enthusiasm to convince the other execs."
"What?" Zen said. "I thought everyone of them already agreed to this."
"Everyone did except Mr. De Vera and his henchmen," Robert said.
"De Vera as in-" I said.
"Valentina's father," Robert said. Of course she's a nepo baby, I thought.
"Valentina's father is an executive of this company?" Snow said. "That fucking-" Oceanna quickly covered Snow's mouth.
"Yes, so you all need to behave yourselves," Robert said. "And make him agree to this charity event." I heard Snow mumbling despite the cover on her mouth. I sighed.
"For Bea," Robert said. I looked at everyone one by one.
"Fine," I said. The stopped and its doors dinged open. Robert stepped out of the elevator first, followed by the rest of us. We were greeted by a high ceiling room with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The floor was made out of black and gold tiles. The theme of the floor, I thought as I looked at the black and gold painted walls. There was desk in the middle that made it apparent that the room was split into two sides. Robert quickly walked towards the left side of the room. We tailed behind him, walking as fast as we could. The lady behind the desk bowed as we passed by. We passed several doors and stopped in front of the door at the end of the hallway. Robert knocked on the door.
"Ms. Liu," Robert said. "Its Robert. I'm with Bea's friends." Robert pushed the door open. He signaled for us to go in first. Virginia hesitantly went inside the room, followed by Flounder. Oceanna and Asterion went in together while Snow walked in alone. I took a deep breath and put on the best smile I could. Zen and I walked in the room. We were greeted by the glaring sunlight that passed through the four glass walls across of us that made up the pentagon shape of the room. We walked right towards the two seats available at the end of the long rectangular table. We sat down and saw that Maxine was seated at the other end. There are about twenty other execs here, I thought. She nodded at us. Zen and I nodded back. I heard the door close behind us.
"Welcome everyone to this exciting meeting," Maxine said. She stood up.
"Today we are here to plan a charity event for our deeply beloved Bea," Maxine said. "We are joined by her friends, Dos, Zen, Snow, Virginia, Flounder, Asterion, and Oceanna." I looked around at my friends and nodded at them. We stood up and bowed. We sat back down.
"Excuse me Ms. Liu," one of the execs said. "If I'm not mistaken, this charity event is not yet approved as during the last execs meeting, the majority vote was no." Maxine smiled.
"I already talked to the director about this and she gave us special permission for this charity event," Maxine said. "She considers Bea as the greatest loss the company has faced due to the mood and morals she has taught this company. Do you want to challenge the director's decision?"
"No, Ms. Liu," the same exec said. "We'll gladly help with this charity event. We'll make it as good as my daughter's past charity events." Valentina's father , I thought.
"Thank you," Maxine said. "Let's start planning shall we."
"Uhm," I said as I raised my hand.
"Yes Dos?" Maxine said. I stood up.
"We were wondering if you'd let us lead the event ourselves," I said. "With your guidance of course." Murmurs erupted from the execs.
"And why should we let you?" Maxine said. I took a deep breath.
"Because we know Bea the best and we know how she would want this charity event to happen," I said. "We even have her old proposals here."
"Old proposals?" Maxine said. I looked to my right and nodded at Snow.
"Uhm, yes," Snow said. She held up the tote bag.
"May I see those?" Maxine said. Snow looked at me. I nodded at her. She quickly walked past the execs towards Maxine. She handed the tote bag to Maxine. She bowed, quickly walked back to her seat, and sat down.
"Thank you," I whispered to Snow.
"You better explain later," Snow whispered. I nodded.
"The content of these charity event proposals are well thought of and promising," Maxine said. "Why didn't any of these reach me?" The murmurs from the execs stopped.
"Ms. Liu, the execs found that what was proposed in those were dangerous," Mr. De Vera said. "We were only thinking of Bea's safety."
"Its true," the exec beside Mr. De Vera said.
"Do you all agree?" Maxine asked. She looked at all the other execs. Some nodded immediately but some hesitated. She flipped through the proposals.
"Feeding the homeless, bonding with the children of orphanages, a benefit mini-concert," Maxine said. "These are dangerous to you?" The execs bowed their head except for one.
"Yes," Mr. De Vera said. "We don't know what those people are capable of. Bea's a superstar."
"Children and the homeless?" Maxine said. "Mr. De Vera, did you ever think that they would've been more scared of us because we'll be bringing armed guards to accompany Bea?" Everyone went silent waiting for Mr. De Vera's response.
"No Ms. Liu," Mr. De Vera said. "I did not."
"So can we move on from this matter?" Maxine asked.
"As you wish," Mr. De Vera said.
"Very well," Maxine said. "I see that you're a co-author here Snow?" Snow stood up.
"Yes, ma'am," Snow said. "Helen as well. The three of us worked on the proposals together but all of the ideas came from Bea."
"I see," Maxine said. "Do you have any news about Helen?" Snow looked at me. I shook my head.
"No ma'am," Snow said.
"That's unfortunate," Maxine said. "Also your friend being unable to attend today's meeting." Snow nodded. Maxine smiled.
"But I give you permission to head the charity event, seeing as this was your idea in the first place and it is best to follow what Bea would've wanted as this is in her name," Maxine said. Yes! I thought.
"Zen, Dos, and Snow will be the co-heads of this charity event while Asterion, Oceanna, Flounder, Virginia, Robin, Pan, Rammie, Scorpius, and Maine can pick the committee they want to head," Maxine said. "Any objections?" The execs were silent. The exec beside Mr. De Vera tried to put their hand up but Mr. De Vera stopped it with a glance. Scary, I thought.
"Thank you Ms. Liu," I said and bowed.
"Who are you calling Ms. Liu?" Maxine said. "Its Maxine." I smiled.
"Thank you Maxine," I said. She nodded.
"I give the floor now to you three," Maxine said as she sat down. I turned to Snow.
"Please just go with what we're going to propose," I whispered. "We'll explain why later." She nodded. I turned my attention to Zen and smiled. Zen stood up.
"We have already decided where this charity event will happen," I said. "We will be holding it, at a carnival." The execs looked at me with confused faces.
"Bea's brand is all about having fun right?" I said. "Where better to have fun and enjoy oneself other than in a carnival where you can, watch shows, play games, ride different attractions, and eat all the food you can."
"Ohhhhhh!" one of the execs said.
"That's smart," another one said. Chattering between the execs about different ideas started. Maxine looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. We're coming to get you back Bea, I thought.