Chapter 5 - Five Years Ago (1) Morgan's Enterprise

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Hi Readers,


Please do not skip the following chapters as these are crucial information to know for the development of the story in the later part.


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*5 years ago*


Juliette Leclaire's POV


"Juliette, don't forget how hard it took for your father to get you into Morgan, make sure you get a good internship position under Rogan and get as close as possible to him," My mother nagged at me over the phone over the same instruction since last night.


This was the last thing I will ever need as I braced through the windy chills of the autumn while trying to balance myself on these god-forsaken stiletto heels that I have completely no experience in taming them.


"Mum! Seriously! For the nth time, I'm telling you, I'm just here to learn things as an intern, I'm not here for gold-digging!" I snapped back at my Mum annoyingly and hung up on her.


I can't believe how hard my mother was digging at the Morgan, and the thought of her wanting to "sell" myself for the Morgan was just infuriating. If they hadn't snitched behind my back on my internship placement, I would have long protested them from doing so.


I checked the time on my watch, and recomposed myself, "Ok, I'm sure a hot cup of beverage would help."


While my vision darted for a cafe, I saw a frail elderly beggar shivering in the cold by the street. I thought to myself the chill must be unbearable for her, so perhaps the least I could do is to buy her a cup of hot beverage.


I entered a cafe nearby and made an order for both of us. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any worse, someone bumped into me from my back while I was waiting in line for my coffee and that nearly made me fell over my heels. I turned around, feeling thoroughly annoyed at the rudeness of this lady who just cut into the line. But before I could even give this lady a piece of mind, she was already wailing and blowing her nose at the man who queued behind me, "How could you leave me just like this?! I really love you, why won't you just give me a chance?!" I cringed at how her face was smeared with drips of mascara stains as she wiped her tears and snorts with her bare hands, she looked like an absurd mess.


The man appeared defenceless and obviously embarrassed as he backed up from the woman, "Miss, please... could you please watch your volume."


I wasn't surprised by what was happening, after all, a suave looking man like him falls no short of such drama.


He then rolled his eyes in exasperation and turned around to leave, but the woman was relentless, she grabbed onto him from behind and continued to wail, "No! Please! I'm carrying your child, you can't do that to me!"


Seriously?! No woman should be treated this way, and no man should ever do this to a woman!!
A look of disdain from everyone swept across the entire cafe as they narrowed their judging eyes onto him and the tussle that was still ongoing between the both of them. So did I.


I decided to take justice into my own hands. Without much thought given, the heat from the injustice I felt towards the woman spurred me to do something irrational. I picked up a cup of coffee off the counter and stormed my way towards the man.


"Hey! That's not how you should treat a woman!" I shouted across to the man, he turned around and that's when I treated him to a splash of coffee.


Everyone gasped at what happened. He jumped a little and fanned his white shirt to relief the scalded pain from the splotch of hot coffee on his chest as he exclaimed with a confused look, "Ouch! What was there for?!"


I was horrified by what I have done, at the heat of the moment, I didn't realise I had picked up a piping hot cup of coffee. My jaw dropped and my eyes were widened in shock for a second before I quickly apologised profusely to him, "Oh my god! Sir, I'm sooo sorry! So sorry!"The woman who was leeching onto him came berating at me instead, "What the hell are you doing?! You...!"


Before she could even strike at me, the man pulled her back from me and then a tall built man in a full black suit came storming into the cafe in a flustered manner as he apologised to the man, "Sorry Sir, I came late." Within a split second, he managed to drag the lady out of the cafe.


I quickly grabbed a pile of the napkin to wipe off the coffee stain on his shirt in a frantic manner."Miss, it's ok, you don't have too..." The man sounded gentlemen enough in his tone to relieve me from the embarrassing state that I was in as people glued their eyes on us.


Then he raised his voice a little, "Miss, please!"


That shook me up as I gasped in horror when I realise the stain got even worse! I have wrongly grabbed a pile of a used napkin with mustard sauce on it.


Oh my god! I'm dead! I'm dead!


He swallowed a lump down his throat and sighed as he placed his hands on his hips, speechless at the mess that I have landed him in.


"Ok..." I was thoroughly embarrassed by my own clumsiness and I just wish to jet out of the cafe at this instance. I turned around to grab my two cups of coffee on the counter and headed out of the cafe in an apologetic manner.


Rogan Morgan's POV


Just my luck...


When will this crazy woman stop appearing in my life? It's not the first time I have encountered such ladies whom I don't even know trying to lap up to me, but this lady here is really one hell of a kind... She just doesn't give up even after being arrested a few times for harassing me. To say that she has my child when I hardly even know her is just way off the limits!


I sighed at how my day started to be when I just wanted to grab a cup of coffee from the nearby cafe while waiting for my chauffeur, Jim, who needed the washroom badly halfway through our drive to the office.


I was of course in no mood for a coffee anymore after looking at the mess that I was, I couldn't wait to get back to the office and get myself changed.


I strode my way out of the cafe and then I heard the same familiar voice of disaster. It was her, the one who treated me to a splash of coffee.


"I hope this can help warm you up a little," She crouched down and handed a cup of coffee to an elderly beggar.


"Thank you, Miss, thank you, this is really kind of you," The beggar thanked her profusely.Her eyes lit up as she returned the beggar with a smile. I don't know why but I didn't have a single doubt about her kind gesture. Perhaps it was sincere, and hence it was heartwarming to still see a kindness act prevails amidst this bustling concrete urban jungle.


Juliette Leclaire's POV


I took a quick sip from the remaining half cup of coffee as I stood in front of the gigantically tall Morgan Enterprise building. The indescribable colossal presence of the building already made me felt weak at its mercy.


"Alright, Juliette, you can do it. Just be confident." I gave myself a quick pep talk. Then I took in a deep breath and steadied my confidence stance before I entered the elevator. However, all my effort to recompose myself just fell apart when I realised the man that I splashed coffee onto earlier on is just a stone's throw away from me! I couldn't control the gasp of shock that pushed its way out of my mouth. Thanks to that stupid gasp of mine, it caught almost everyone's attention in the elevator. I quickly cupped my mouth and I tried to hide behind the side profile of this considerably huge man that was sandwiched between me and him. Thank god the elevator reached the 80th floor at this moment and a slew of people started moving out of the elevator. I crotched my way out of the elevator as I hid amongst the rest, praying hard he would not spot me. As soon as I stepped out of the elevator, I was ready to jet my way straight to the conference room that all interns were told to report to.


"Excuse me, Miss," a light tap fell on my shoulder and that froze me up. I turned my head around with much reluctance.


"Oh, I'm glad that you managed to get your shirt cleaned up!" I faked a look of surprise before I continued to apologise, "I'm really sorry about the coffee thing earlier on."


"Erm...What are you talking about?" He raised his eyebrow at me, looking baffled.


On a closer look, I realised he wasn't the man that I bumped into at the cafe, even though they both bear a strong resemblance to each other. I was pretty sure that the man I met back at the cafe had a pair of hazel eyes while this man before me had a pair of blue eyes.


"Oh, silly me, I got the wrong person, you looked really a lot like the man whom I just met earlier on, I thought you were him for moment," I explained myself, feeling really awkward.


He leaned over to me and that startled me, after all, whose heart wouldn't throb at the sight of this 6.8ft tall man with a face of well-pronounced features and a chiselled jawline of masculinity. Then he cleared his throat and whispered, "Erm... The back of your skirt is not zipped."


Oh gosh!!!


I was thoroughly embarrassed and I scrambled to pull up the zip at the back of my skirt. To my horror, I couldn't zip it up at all because the zip line had been split open.


He seems to be aware of the unspeakable sticky situation that I was in. He placed his work bag behind my back and offered to usher me to the receptionist counter to get help.


"Good Morning, Mr Morgan, how can I help you?" The receptionist greeted him with a wide smile as we approached the counter.


Mr Morgan? Is he the Rogan Morgan that my mother has been harping on all day? If so... then isn't he the CEO of this company?! Oh gosh, there goes my first impression on my very first day of work, I'm screwed.


"Morning Mindy, could you... erm... get this lady a skirt?" He asked.


Mindy blinked hard for a moment at his request, but I guess it didn't take long for her to figure out the situation I was in.


"Yes, sure, this way please, miss." Mindy took a file and covered my back as she ushered me to the nearby changing room.


Thank god they have extra skirts in the company, Mindy explained to me that they always have extra skirts because I'm not the first one to experience this. After all, working skirts with tight hemline are really a "pain" to wear in.


When I came out of the changing room, Mr Morgan was not in sight anymore. What was in sight was the clock on the wall that says I am only two minutes apart from being late to my reporting venue!


Without hesitation, I quickly charge my way to the conference room. I pushed open the door and apologised profusely as I made my way in because a line of interns was already seated opposite a panel of management executives. The sneers on their face made me felt as though I was fashionably late for my first day of work.


"Don't worry, you're not late. Please take a seat, Miss... Leclaire? Did I get you right?" A man flipped through the papers on his desk and looked up at me with a flash of welcoming smile.It's him! Mr Morgan! The guy who saved me from embarrassment earlier on!


"Yes, I'm Juliette Leclaire." I nodded in a flustered manner as I sat down, grateful that he has once again saved me from an awkward situation.


Then the man sitting next to him cleared his throat and announced, "Alright, with everyone here now, let's begin with the briefing before Mr Morgan, our CEO will join us shortly."


CEO? Isn't he already here?


I narrowed my eyes onto the position title in front of Mr Morgan, and it says, "Mr Romeo Morgan, Chief Operating Officer".


Oh now that explains, this must be the younger twin brother of Rogan Morgan!
Wait a minute... If Romeo is the twin brother of Rogan, that would mean Romeo looks just like Rogan, and so... does this mean the man that I splashed coffee onto is none other than... Rogan?! The CEO of the Morgan Empire?!


As the door flapped open, the man who strode into the conference room with an aura of unspoken confidence was none other than the guy whom I dreaded him to be, the guy whom I spilt coffee onto!


There was a momentary stiffening air of stillness when he entered into the room with a trail of secretaries behind him. We couldn't help but straightened our back and held back our breath at his commanding presence. Perhaps it was the reverence that people had for him that made us reacted this way to him, after all, he is a legendary genius in the realm of business. But he was none other than a wrecking ball of bad news to me!


My panicky state of mind ran through countless possibilities on how screwed up my internship experience is going to be, just because I have offended the wrong person on the very first day of my job, and that wrong person just had to be the CEO! *Plays daunting music*


"Welcome to the Morgan Enterprise," His deep velvety voice echoed throughout the room as he stood tall at 6.8ft in his leonine statuesque. Even though I find both Rogan and Romeo shared the same voice quality, but somehow Romeo sounded mellow and amicably charming in his own ways, while Rogan sounded powerful and that supreme feel he exudes makes me feel uneasy.


I wasn't able to concentrate on whatever he said because my mind was pre-occupied with worries of being identified by him. With the strong desire in my mind to fly under his radar, I have unknowingly slid down the chair till I have become a ridiculously obvious target instead.A rush of cold shiver travelled down my spine when he locked his eyes on me.


"Now it's time for deployment. As mentioned in the official email sent out to all interviewees before today, every interviewee will only be given two minutes to present yourself and your choice of vocation. You need not run through any basic information about yourself because we already have a copy of your resume. Please also understand that the deployment of your vocation is solely based on the merit of your presentation today."
The first candidate's presentation was already remarkable, earning a panel of nods. It set the mark for ferocious competition thereafter.


Let the hunger game begin...


Initially, I came here with the scripted intent to adhere to the task that my mother entrusted me with, but now I had to have a change of plan.


Unlike others who were vying for a spot in the CEO's office, I was desperately gunning for a position away from the radar of the CEO, any position in fact, even if it's the position of a janitor. I don't care even if I had to be an oddball.


When it was finally my turn, Rogan suddenly broke his silence and flipped through my data as he said with a flash of a smile, "Ms Leclaire... First-class honour from Harvard's business school with an almost perfect GPA score, I'm interested to know what you can offer."


That flash of smile was full of vigour, yet a peculiarly sinister one too. It was definitely different from the welcoming smile that Romeo had.


His sudden attention towards me sent an instant wave of darting death stare from the pool of interviewees around me. It was a jaw-dropping moment for the panel of management executives too.


Oh no... Why me? Is he throwing me under the bus to take revenge for what happened this morning?


I swallowed a lump down my throat as I wiped my cold sweaty palms against my skirt before I presented myself, "I would like to apply for a position in the office of Chief Financial Officer because the CFO is a strategic business partner within the corporation. So I believe it is the most comprehensive place to learn all the essential fundamental operations that goes behind its crucial role in a company's success."


"So are you saying that learning the operations is more important than learning how the company is led to achieving success?" Rogan leaned forward and laid his elbow on the table with his hands clasped together as he narrowed his piercing eyes at me. His question shot across to me like a dagger that sent my knees weak and feeble. I could already hear the sneers coming other candidates, like a flock of vultures who couldn't wait to cannibalise me at such opportunity.


Crap... I didn't mean to insult his importance as the CEO in this company, I just needed an excuse for my escapade from him. God... please have mercy on me.


Think... think... think!


With the ticking "time-bomb" in front of me, my mouth struck opened as I whizzed out a slew of crap off the top of my head, "Of course not, Sir, please do take me in the wrong way. The leader of the company plays an important pivotal role in the company's success. Mr Morgan, I'm full of admiration for your leadership style that is well known in the business realm. However, I also believe the unique leadership style of a successful leader like you cannot be simply replicated without the full understanding of the running of the company foremost. It would be an utmost honour for me to be able to follow your tracks, but for that to happen, I must acquire a solid foundation, and the CFO's office would be the best learning field for me."


A still air of deafening silence ensued after my explanation. Then he revealed a smug before he started clapping, "Great, I want you working in my office."


I gasped at his decision in shock and so did the rest in the room. The searing dissatisfaction from the contenders who were dying to get into the CEO's office ensued from Rogan's decision.What?! No way! I was definitely sure that I said I wanted my ass into the CFO's office, not the CEO's office!


Romeo cleared his throat and that simmered the searing dissatisfaction, before he continued, "I'm glad that the Morgan Enterprise can have such aspiring yet humble apprentice who is willing to start learning from the fundamentals. If I may, I would really like to grant her wish to enter my office. If she can prove her strength and performance in the CFO's office, it wouldn't be too late to transfer her to the CEO's office eventually."


Thank god Romeo spoke up for me, he truly is my saviour!


Rogan contemplated for a while before eventually agreeing to what Romeo suggested, "Alright, I guess the lady's wish has to be respected."


"Thank you, Sir!" I exclaimed in joy while heaving a sigh of relief in my mind.

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