237 Unresolved Problem


    I was too overwhelmed by the positive responses and reaction that themercial had received to even focus on anything that Julianna said during her presentation. That wasn’t such a bad thing because I already reviewed her presentation and knew all the key points that she wanted to get across to the judges.


    “Well, I’m d that everything ended fine...” Jeremyment before he reached up both his arms and stretched.


    “You had no idea how much work I had to do to get us that meeting. Everything better turn out fine...” Julianna muttered darkly.


    The presentation ended with overwhelming sess. The judges liked ourmercial and were also in support of ourunch and marketing ns. What that meant was that we didn’t need to make any edits to themercial. To me, that was the best news of all because that meant that we didn’t need to waste any more time in reshooting or reediting anything. Most of all, that meant that themercial that we hade up with was perfect enough.


    I felt extremely proud of what I had managed to achieve. We were still very far from winning thepetition, but this was another milestone that needed to be celebrated. The team members chatted happily as we made our way back to the office. Ace called for a meeting immediately when we arrived back at the office to go through the next steps now that ourmercial was ready to beunched.


    As I sat in my seat at the meeting table, I listened to Ace discussing the marketing with the relevant team members. Now that the design and production of themercial were over and done with, there wasn’t much that I needed or could do. The project had moved on to the next phase where Julianna would be taking over to work her magic. That meant that I would have some spare time to catch my breath after sprinting to get my part of the work done.


    Although I was motivated to work, I was d and looking forward to the break. The smile on Jeremy’s face and how he leaned back slightly in his seat told me that he was probably having very simr thoughts. My eyes shifted to Ace who still looked as engaged and stern as ever as he continued shooting questions at the marketing team regarding their n. I suppressed a sigh when I realized that as the CEO and the head of Project Alpha, Ace wouldn’t be any less busy than he was before.


    When the meeting came to an end, I quickly made my way out of the meeting room. Ace had another meeting with the marketing team. Apparently, he wasn’t impressed with the details of their ns and needed to work with them more closely. I didn’t have much on my te anymore for work; however, I had a huge problem on my hands. Since it was decided that the meeting with themittee would be brought forward, I had been so focused on preparing for the presentation that I didn’t have time to think about Ace’s birthday present.


    I never forgot about the fact that Ace’s birthday was the day after the meeting and that I needed to decide on a present for him and also get it. However, I just didn’t have the time or the focus to do that. Since Ace wanted me to present to themittee members, I had so much to do for the presentation as well as making sure that everything was well prepared for the meeting. Honestly, I was stressed, and I wanted to make sure that everything was going to run perfectly. In fact, I made sure of everything three times to prevent any potential failure orst-minute disaster. As a result of that, I did not manage to decide on Ace’s birthday present.


    .....


    What should I get for him?


    The same question came back to haunt me, and once again, I didn’t have an answer. The key difference this time was that I was running out of time. Ace’s birthday was alreadying up tomorrow. Because the day coincided with the party that we had to attend together for business, I didn’t have anything nned to celebrate his birthday. It would be such a failure if I didn’t n anything special for him and also didn’t get a birthday present for him.


    Suddenly, I felt extremely stressed and depressed. The only time that I had left was now. I checked the time before making my decision to leave the office early. I have to find a birthday present for Ace today no matter what.


    “Where are you going, Rina?” Jeremy asked me when he saw me packing my things into my bag.


    “Oh, I have an errand to run so I’m going to leave early for today,” I replied without going into the details.


    “I see. I guess that’s a wise choice. It’s been a while since we can leave early. Might as well take advantage and enjoy it while we can,” he replied with a grin.


    “Yeah, I’m sure Julianna and the rest of her team is extremely busy right now,” I said.


    “Of course. Ace is going to grill them until he’s satisfied with their ns,” Jeremy replied with a helpless shrug of his shoulders.


    “I’ll leave first then. See you...” I said before slipping out of the room.


    I need to go to the mall or somewhere to get Ace his birthday present!


    ...


    After traveling to thergest mall in the city, I stood randomly on the first floor in front of therge directory on disy. My eyes scanned through the text that exined what each floor had for sale. Not knowing what I wanted to buy for Ace and not having any great inspirational ideas, I dragged myself to the directory in search of a ce to start my hunt.


    What about men’s fashion?


    I could get Ace something that he could wear. That might be a conservative choice that was on the safe side. I wasn’t knowledgeable about IT gadgets at all so that won’t work out for me. I guess men’s fashion would probably be the right starting point for my search.


    –To be continued...