Sievidace

"Sure Baby, I will be there on time. Don't worry", consoled Henry as he smiled to himself, standing alone in the air-conditioned cabin well-lit with white hexagonal lights attached to the ceiling. He stood opposite the coffee brown-colored wooden table having a pen-stand, housing four black pens, at the center of the table. There was a black rocking chair on the other side of the table.

"David Miller, Charted Accountant, Johnsons Medical Instruments", said the light blue triangular nameplate with the name along with the designation engraved in bold white and cursive handwriting. "Baby, listen to me. How will I forget our first anniversary? I will manage. You relax.", paused Henry, as he heard a commanding male voice from behind, "Hello Henry!"

The tall and slim man, white and handsome, with brown hair and dressed in a navy-blue coat over his white shirt with vertical light blue stripes, smiled at Henry as he came walking inside and took his seat. He seemed to be in his late twenties. "I will call you later. Bye!", informed Henry, hanging up. David opened the file and nodding to himself, skimmed through every page.

He closed the file and concluded, "All set, Henry. Finish the presentation and leave at 2 PM…It is essential and is due today…"

"David!", called Henry at which David looked up at him.

"I need an off today. It's my first anniversary with my girlfriend. She has planned a great surprise for me. I hope you understand my important day today…", requested Henry.

"Yes! It's already an off after two in the noon, right?", asked David, shrugging at him.

"No, I need the whole day, please", clarified Henry.

"That's not possible. You are still an intern and ought to learn and practice a lot. I cannot let you go just like that. Come on, Henry! You are my candidate and are supposed to be the best performer. I hope you remember that the best performer will be selected after a month. Would you like to miss this golden opportunity to work with the number one Medical Instruments company in Los Angeles?", asked David.

Henry shook his head. David turned on the laptop, on the desk, and leaned back on his seat, frowning at the screen.

"But, sir, it's an important occasion. How can I miss it? Would you miss such a memorable day with your girlfriend?" inquired Henry.

The scene of a beautiful young girl, with black hair, tied with a red hairband and in a red frock, flashed in front of David's eyes. He stood up from his seat. He frowned at Henry as he came to the other side of his table. The poor young intern's neck swelled in fear.

"Girl-friend girl-friend girl-friend…Don't you have any better work?", screwed David. He continued, "Go die anywhere. Why should I care about your career? If I advise you, you are back answering me. How could you ask about my girlfriend? Henry, remember that I am your boss and you are just an intern here." The door slid open as he hurried outside, with Henry apologizing from behind.

Elsewhere in the busy city, a multi-storeyed building, almost touching the sky, christened "Madison Technology Solutions" stood as the only landmark of the locality. A gallery hall of around thirty young employees, dressed in jeans and their new clean identity cards, were busy gossiping curiously.

"Damn it! We have been waiting for the past fifteen minutes. Where is our damn soft skill trainer, guys?", spoke out a young man, getting up from his seat in the center of the hall and looking around at his peers. The others nodded while a girl from the last row stood up and announced, "Guys, I heard that she is coming from the Boston branch of the company."

While everyone else reacted at her, bulging their eyes and throwing their mouths open, the first guy remarked, "Wow! Is she landing here directly from the airport? "The interns roared a great round of laughter, restraining the windows from vibrating.

Meanwhile, a taxi parked in front of the company, on the road. A young woman, in her late twenties, in a light pink shirt, black formal pants, and a grey coat, got out of the car. She looked up at the company and smiled, as her pink lipstick highlighted her face of golden complexion. The blonde dusted her hair, which extended till her shoulder, as she walked inside, dragging the luggage along.

"HI! I am Grace", said she, smiling at the receptionist. "I am the soft-skill trainer transferred to this branch from Boston", continued she, showing her ID as well.

"OK", acknowledged the receptionist, rushing her fingers on the keyboard and scrolling, as she stared at her big desktop's screen.

"OK, so you have been sent to train our employees here for the next six months, right?", queried her, nodding and smiling, in return.

Grace nodded at which the receptionist informed her to go to gallery hall number two on the third floor. She rushed to hold the lift opposite the receptionist's desk.

As soon as she reached the third floor, she walked into the first room which was labeled as a storeroom for employees. It had a suitcase or two. She quickly placed hers next to a yellow fancy kit bag. She tore a sticky note from her handbag, wrote her name, all in capital letters, and stuck it in her bag before she left.

"Good morning, ma'am!", greeted the interns, as she entered the most awaited gallery hall. She smiled at them and gestured for them to settle down. As she connected her laptop to the projector, "Hi guys! Call me Grace!", introduced her. The freshmen stood up and once again, greeted her, "Good morning, Grace!"

She chuckled, signaling them to settle down and feel easy. The training schedule was projected on the screen." OK. So, the topic for the first three days is Personality Development, according to your Madison Training Academy's curriculum. "She grinned at her curious audience, with all eyes on her and excited to get started.

"Before directly jumping into the lessons, I would like to add,", said she, sitting back on the rolling chair placed on the stage. She continued, "Add two points which I bet will be useful throughout your life. "

She pointed at a guy from the second row and in the middle. He stood up, as she threw a question at him, "Tell me your short-term and long-term career goals."

He chuckled, mocking," Grace, what do you mean by my goals at this point? I have already graduated from the prestigious University of Washington. I am now placed in one of the top MNCs in the US. My life is thus settled. So, no more goals! "The others laughed.

"Do you all agree with him?", asked Grace, giving a puzzled glance, as her rich black eyes glittered at the audience. They nodded at her.

Grace smiled and motivated them, "See, this is the mistake you freshmen do. It is essential to set career goals at every stage of your life. For instance, growing within the organization, building your innovative start-up, or specializing in a particular technology. Your profession is a life-long learning process. The hard work you did back till you reached this point of your career, must continue throughout your life."

They smiled and thanked her for opening their eyes for they had never given it a thought.

She then took out a dairy milk chocolate from her pants pocket and asked them what it was.

"Come on, Grace! We know this. Just a yummy Cadbury chocolate!", answered a cheerful girl, cheering from the third row, after which the others laughed. Grace too joined them for the next couple of seconds.

She finally came to the point," OK. So, anybody would correctly identify this as a Cadbury chocolate. But here is where you must think differently and make a difference. For instance, who is leading in the chocolate manufacturing industry?"

"Cadbury!", shouted a guy in the front.

"Exactly! So, think in this manner. How did Cadbury manage to beat its competitors? Think this way guys, come on!", concluded she. She stood up and sighed at the screen behind her.

"Let's watch a motivational video now!", announced she, at which her students applauded and whistled.

David was sitting in a room illuminated by yellow light. His fingers jumped between the white and black keys of the piano to play a slow and melancholic song. His eyes were flooded with tears as he peeped outside through the window to fake a smile at the crescent moon. "Why me?", thought he.

He was interrupted by a cute whine emerging from the entrance of the room. He turned to spot a cute little beagle wearing a locket whose dollar said 'D'. He smiled, gesturing with his left hand, to come inside. Hanging its tongue out, it barked like a baby screaming and ran towards its master.

"Hey Jack, stop!", cried David, as it jumped on his lap and began licking his clean-shaven face. He hugged Jack which rested its head on his chest and continued whining. He massaged his pet's body.

"Would you like some treats?", offered David.

Jack looked up at him with his glittering royal black eyes. David chuckled and kissed it. He left it on his couch and waved it an adieu. As he made his way towards the kitchen, lit with a small yellow bulb, he smiled at Jack following him, sniffing the floor all the way.

He opened the leftmost corner shelf at the entrance of the kitchen and grabbed a big yellow silky packet with a dog's cartoon painted on it. He whistled, filling the little white bowl with its yummy dinner. No sooner did he place the bowl on the floor that Jack began attacking it with its growing teeth.

David smiled at its cute and childish eating style. He suddenly turned to the balcony and happened to see a beautiful girl, standing on the neighbor's balcony. Her hair flew to the rhythm of the cool breeze accompanying the little snow outside. He came walking towards the balcony, smiling at Grace who was busy closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. He observed the rosy shade of lipstick on her pink and attractive lips. His eyes were all over her to note the dark pink frock which she wore.

Meanwhile, at Anna Bars and Restaurants, there lay a big red poster at the entrance, announcing, "25 years of Mr. and Mrs. Adam" in dark white within a light red heart. The lawn in front of the five-star hotel was decorated with red serial lights and had bouquets of red roses.

The first floor, reserved for the night bar, was turned into a party hall that night. It was filled with men in blue and brown suits, women in red, pink, and blue gowns but only a handful of kids. The couple blushed at each other, especially Mrs. Adam who displayed all her white teeth with a thin grey line of braces as she chuckled. She looked gorgeous even in her late forties with her brown boy-cut hair and a grand red party gown with white embroidery designs on it.

Mr. Adam turned at the grandfather clock, behind them. He bulged his eyes reading that there were five minutes to twelve. He looked at the empty table. Removing his wife's hand from his shoulder, he yelled, "Where is our wedding cake?"

An elderly spectacled dark and stout gentleman came running. He breathed hard and apologized," Sorry, Mr. Adam. It may take a little more time..."

"What the fuck is wrong with your staff?", yelled Mr. Adam, grabbing the manager's collar.

"Calm down, Honey", reassured Mrs. Adam as she massaged his chest.

"Mr. Dany, don't you know that I am a senior member of the Californian Secretary of state? I preferred your restaurant only because of the award you guys bagged the last year-The Best Restaurant of Los Angeles, food-wise", argued the enraged secretary.

"I regret the issue, sir…", apologized Dany who was interrupted by Mrs. Adam," What is the purpose of regretting, my dear? It's our auspicious moment. We have come here to celebrate it on time."

"Oh Jesus! Have I committed any sin that my wedding cake is getting delayed?", worried she.

"Alice!", called out Dany.

A young girl, in her twenties, in her plain black mini skirt and black shirt in shirted, a white apron around her waist, and a toque Blanche on her head, came running upstairs.

"Where is the damn cake?", shouted Dany, bulging his eyes at her.

She gulped, as she whispered to him, "Dany, the master chef is ill. He baked the cake halfway and has been sleeping till now. Above all, it is a special order tailored for the Adams party. None of us have a clue about how to complete it. It's a unique and complicated order placed by Mrs. Adam. I am blank, I swear!"

Mrs. Adam sat back on the couch and began weeping aloud, grieving, "Why do I feel that things are not the way I want them to be? Why is the cake not ready? "She wiped her tears and turned at her husband, worrying, "Is the missing cake a sign that I will lose you soon, Honey? "At that, she broke down. Her maid sat beside her and patted her back but all in vain.

"Hey you, listen to me", threatened Mr. Adam, concluding, "I don't know what you will do or how you will manage the crisis or whatever cock and crew story you will be cooking now. All I want is our wedding cake to be here in..." He looked at his smartwatch and touched it which then displayed, in dark green, two small lines and a five followed by seven-the two separated by a colon at the center of the black screen.

He completed, "In another three minutes otherwise I will sue your hotel. I will cancel your license forever. Mind it! You are making your customers upset especially a VIP customer like me and whatever I am planning to do is thus legal. Watch out!"