Mr. President: You Are The Daddy Of My Triplets - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: 31- Familiar voice

They all turned around together only to find a man hugging his friend who might have met after a long time.

“Come on, guys. Elevator!” Marissa said with an easygoing smile.

“The guard will stop us,” Kate mumbled but Marissa kept walking until the elevator doors opened and the guard stepped aside to let them in.

When the doors got closed, all of them let out a long and heavy sigh.

“He is the same guard who tried stopping me, last time. What happened today?” Kate complained and Shang Chi responded to her, “Magic!” he moved his hand in the air, “Magic happened!”

They all laughed, and this time Kate had to join them.

When they stepped out, Dean was talking to someone when he found them chatting to each other in a friendly way.

“You all look happy!” he came near them.

“Yeah,” Marissa placed her purse on the nearby desk, “Anybody can get happy if you stop him by the reception for long hours.”

Though it was exaggerated, but it did work like a charm for bringing it to Dean’s notice.

“They all still stopping you?” he walked to the reception area of the VIP floor, “Don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do about it. You people go that room.”

They all obeyed him like school kids and went inside the said room only to find several other people seated.

“Who are they?” Delinda whispered. They all looked at the seats. The front two rows were empty, and a few back rows were still not filled.

There was a board displayed with the front row that said, “reserved.”

“Do we have to go to the back seats?” Shang Chi remarked while running his gaze across the room, “Let’s go folks.”

They were going for the back seats when a uniformed guard removed the reserved board and invited them to sit in the front row.

They all passed a confusing look to each other and then started settling in those seats.

“Strange,” Delinda held the armrests and trailed her hands on the velvet finish material, “Were they reserved for us? They are treating us like a VIP.”

The woman seemed impressed.

If this was some kind of meeting, then Marissa wasn’t informed about it.

Moments later, the door opened, and Joseph walked in with a friendly smile. He walked straight to his spot on the stage.

“Good morning, everyone,” he began, “I hope you all are doing well. Today you are invited officially to make you aware that you all are part of the team that will be responsible for carrying out the event. The special thing about this event is not our President or the guests across the globe…” he trailed off with a chuckle, “Well! That is also one of the reasons… but the main reason is to hire all home-based business owners and give them a chance to showcase their work in front of the big business divas. Once you catch the eye, the world will be yours to rule!”

The whole room erupted with loud clapping. Marissa liked this initiative. She was under the impression that caterers were the only ones who were running small businesses.

There was a huge list displayed on the projector where she could see, event planners, furniture providers, caterers, and mural artists.

“All we want from you people is honesty and a long-term commitment. The ones who will be able to impress our international clients will get the chance for further work along with us.”

There was again a loud cheering after the announcement and the room buzzed a little with slight chattering.

“Did you notice something?” Shang Chi whispered to them. They couldn’t respond to him properly because of sitting in the front row.

“What?” Marissa whispered back.

“All of them are wearing cards except us. We are the ones who didn’t get them,” His hushed announcement made all of them turn around to have a look at the other participants.

He was right. They were the only ones without cards.

“We should talk to Dean I guess once this meeting is over,” Marissa patted Delinda’s hand and kept looking straight. She didn’t want to give any bad impression to Joseph about herself or her teammates.

Hardly five minutes must have passed, when the door swung open, and a lady entered, flanked by her guards.

The room fell silent, all eyes turning towards the newcomers. Marissa shifted uncomfortably in her seat and exchanged uncertain glances with her friends.

They had the same expressions on their faces.

Joseph who was holding the mic, frowned a little and asked the lady, “Yes? Any problem Ms. Mala?”

The lady’s hawk eyes kept searching for something… or maybe someone until her eyes landed on Marissa and her teammates.

Mala nodded at Joseph and gestured towards the first row, “I think we have a problem here. Let us take these people out of the room then you can carry on with your speech, sir.”

Before Joseph or anyone else could say anything, she headed to Marissa and gestured for a guard to come closer.

“I’m sorry but you all need to follow me outside.”

“Why?” Kate hissed at her, “Do we look like criminals?”

“I’m sorry ma’am. That we can decide outside this room.”

Delinda who wanted to kick that lady shook her head in exasperation, “This meeting is for us. At least, let us attend it, and then we can talk about it afterwards… like civil people.”

Mala curved down her lips and gave them a sarcastic grin, “Let you attend the meeting? Without your cards? Do you know I can hand your sorry ass to the police for coming inside the building without any authorization …” They all were talking in suppressed voices and the audience sitting there had curiosity on their faces.

Joseph got down from the podium and headed towards them, “What’s the problem? You people are disturbing me in between my speech.”

“Let me tell you,” Kate said haughtily, “She thinks we are terrorists.”

“What?” Joseph turned to Mala who had bloodshot eyes by now, “Ms. Mala…”

“Sir. If they are innocent, then please ask them why they left the reception area when I asked them to stay there and wait for me.”

She did have a point. Joseph threw a questioning gaze towards all of them and then raised his hand, “Ms. Mala. I can take care of this. Please leave.”

“Sir. I have already reported them. Please send them outside so that we can investigate them,” The stubborn lady was not ready to listen to anything. Marissa wasn’t uttering anything, but the situation was not ideal for her.

When she was walking towards the elevator, she didn’t know there would be consequences. She just thought that she would be allowed to enter the VIP elevator just like last time.

“Bring them out. They breached the security by breaking a rule,” the mule-headed lady wasn’t even ready to listen to Joseph.

A guard held Marissa’s arm a little too tightly and started dragging her towards the door.

“Hey! Leave me!” she cried.

“Leave her!” Shan-Chi and Delinda protested. Just then they all heard a heavy, dark voice from the doorway, “What is going on here!”

Marissa’s heart missed a beat when she heard this familiar male voice.