299 Contagious Optimism


    “Ace…” I called his name softly as I approached him.


    I stood up on my tiptoes and ced a sweet little kiss on his lips. Ace seemed slightly surprised, but he did end up smiling charmingly my way. That felt like one of the best rewards that I could ever have asked for.


    “Good luck at work. I’ll be seeing you soon…” I told him with a smile.


    “No need to rush yourself too much. There’s still time,” he replied.


    “Should I get you coffee or something when I get in?” I asked.


    “No need. Let’s hope that we can get some proper lunch instead…” he replied as he headed for the door.


    I watched as Ace left and the door closed behind him. Being left alone in his ce felt slightly lonely and for a moment I had the urge to quickly get dressed and rush to the office. Instead, I took Ace’s advice to take my time and rx a little. I did wake up too early in the morning so I did happen to have some time on my hands. I wondered how Julianna and her team were fairing after what appeared to be quite a heavy night of drinking and partying at that bar. If Ace was going to be in the office early, then Julianna and her team better get there earlier.


    Suddenly, I felt the urge to stretch and raised my arms over my head before twisting my waist to enjoy a good round of stretching. I didn’t want to admit it, but things were going to get busier at work. In fact, I suspected that Ace and the team would be busy all the way until the official end of the project and the announcement of the Ashfordpetition winner. Hopefully that winner would be none other than us but to make sure that that would turn out to be the case, everyone probably had to keep pushing up until thest minute.


    While taking a quick shower and dressing up, I began thinking about what I could possibly do to help Ace and the team. My role was quite limited now because the scope had progressed out of my hands. I was sure that there would be many things that I could learn just from observing and being present. I could learn many things from Julianna and her team on marketing and also many things from Ace on how he managed a project of this scale.


    .....


    The weather outside was decently nice when I finally stepped out of the building. Although Ace had told me that he didn’t want anything and hoped that we would have time for a proper lunch together instead, I suspected that a proper lunch or a lunch of any form my not being out way. To be safe rather than sorry, I decided to drop by a café to get us coffee and something that we could munch on for lunch. I had a hunch that things would get very busy for Ace today and didn’t want him to skip out on his meal.


    Despite the little detour, I still arrived a little earlier than the official start of the workday. Manyrge groups of people had gathered in front of our office building and also in the lobby as well. I didn’t need to hear the conversations that they were having to know that they were talking about theunch of ourmercial. Project Alpha really was a big thing every year and this year the project received even more attention from the staff probably because of Ace’s announcement to step down after itspletion.


    I was sure that everyone who was paying any attention has seen ourmercial from at least one of the many channels where it was being disyed. In case anyone is able to miss out on that, thepany had made sure that all employees stepping into the office would see themercial at least once by having it y on therge screen in the lobby on repeat all day long.


    The overall mood was cheerful and festive. It felt as if we had already won thepetition although thest and final phase had just started. As I walked along in the lobby, I could catch various parts of the other employee’s conversations. Most werepliments and overly optimistic things. It felt great to hear that ourmercial could motivate the rest of the people working at thepany as well.


    “We should book out a ce to celebrate our victory way in advance…” a woman who seemed to be around my age said to her colleagues.


    “That’s right. We’re definitely winning again this year,” another replied.


    “How can we not win with amercial like that. I heard that Ace has been working on it himself every single step of the way too…” a man chimed in followed by a loudugh.


    I found myself smiling a little as I silently walked past them towards the elevators. The mood would only get more festive when we actually win thepetition. Suddenly, their optimism made me feel so certain of the result of thepetition. The elevator quickly brought me up to the CEO’s office where I knew that Julianna and Ace must be manning the war room in case something were to happen.


    If I had anything to fear about the effects ofst night’s party on Julianna or any of her team members, all my fears were all unnecessary. I entered the war room to find Julianna and her team in perfectly functioning condition. In fact, they seemed even more focused on the work at hand than ever before. Julianna sat in front of manyrge monitors as she seemed to be monitoring the performance of themercial. She looked perfectly sober and had a slight frown in between her brows as she focused.


    “Good morning…” I greeted everyone politely.


    “Good morning. Are you feeling better?” Julianna asked without tearing her eyes away from the monitor that she was staring at.


    –To be continued…