CHAPTER 25: THE FISH TOOK THE BAIT
That day after dinner, the four of them played chess in the living room. Ariel beat the two brothers Aaron and Amando without an ounce of mercy. When it was Cliff’s turn, the two of them kept getting stuck and in a deadlock most of the time. In the end, no one won, they were on a par with each other. This fact stunned the two brothers. That’s because their brother Cliff was always the unbeatable of all of them and whenever he played with respectable people. How come Ariel matched up to him? Thus was just so surreal.
Wow bro,you couldn’t win against her? Aren’t you the unbeatable king?” Amando asked. He wasn’t making fun of him, he was just trying to look for clues on whether Cliff decided to go easy on Ariel Since shevwas his sister and a girl at that.
“Shes impressive.” Cliff said and tapped at the tip of Ariel’s nose gently. Fine, he admits that he had thought about going easy on her in the first few rounds but then he realized that she was a formidable force so he decided to go all in on her. Ariel didn’t seem to back down so they end up being on deadlocks for the remaining arounds since neither of then wanted to relent.
“Indeed she is!” Aaron said in praise and applauded Ariel,who suddenly felt awkward and cleared her throat unnaturally.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll go back to my room first. Goodnight, brothers” Ariel said abd rushed upstairs as if something was chasing her.
“Aww, my sister Is so cute when she’s shy.” Aaron said coquettishly.
The other brothers shook their heads helplessly on seeing how their siblings were behaving. It was a harmonious scene though. When Ariel entered her room, she immediately headed for the bathroom, when she looked at herself in the mirror and saw how flushed her cheeks were, she wished she could did a hole and bury herself in. It was just too embarrassing when her brothers saw her in that state. She brushed the matter aside and soaked herself in the bathtub. She instantly felt refreshed, the fatigue that she had from running around during the day instantly dissipated and was replaced by a new energy. When she came out of the bathroom, she first clicked on her laptop and used the other hand to dry her hair using a towel. While in the process of drying her hair, she happened to see a scene she had Been eagerly waiting for. In the video, she saw Leon, Cliff’s assistant sneaking into her brother’s office after making sure that no one had noticed him. He stealthily moved to where the laptop was and after finding what he wanted, he copied the data on the hard drive that he had with him. He then arranged everything in order to make it seem as though there wasn’t an intruder to begin with. Ariel clicked her tongue in interest. The fish took the bait really fast. How impatient was he? She thought he was going to sneak in late in the night. Never–ending. Ariel saved the footage abd sent it to her First brother. Cliff had just come out of the bathroom when his phone dinged with a notification. He smiled when he checked and saw that it was from his pretty little sister. When he clicked on it, he first smiled at how efficient his sister was and how much of a genius she was. She was able to tell the enemy’s next move without visiting a fortune teller. That was so impressive.
“Brother, do I still need to go with you today?” Ariel asked Cliff in the midst of their breakfast in the dining room. She asked that because today was the day the proposal presentation was going to happen and since it was a serious matter, she thought that her brother would tell her to stay at home that day.
“Of course, just dress beautifully.” Cliff answered nonchalantly. He didn’t see the big deal in bringing her along to the meeting. Besides, he wanted people to know that he had a sister whom he doted on and offending her was the same as offending him since they would still face his wrath.
“Okay brother.” Ariel responded sweetly and continued sipping her milk tea. After they were done, they didn’t head to the company. Instead, they went directly to the hotel where the meetingvwas going to take place. They sat at the designated table and waited for the meeting to commence. Everyone presented their proposals until it reached the time for Clearview company to present theirs. A girl who looked to be in her early twenties showed up and started presenting. The proposal looked just the same as the one that was presented by Cliff’s secretary if someone wasn’t keen enough to notice the loopholes.
“Excuse me miss, don’t you think your proposal is somehow lacking important elements?” The host suddenly interrupted her.
“Er..I don’t quite catch it sir.” The girl answered fearfully.
“Where’s your boss?” the host demanded
“He couldn’t make it so he sent me here in his stead. ” the girl answered again.
“Tell him that I can’t allow you to continue presenting an incomplete proposal.” The host ordered and turned to go back to his seat. The girl was so embarrassed that she didn’t have the face to stay any longer. Anyway, why was the Chief executive officer of Clearview company always mysterious? He always sent people to represent him. It is said that he has never shown his face even once to a gathering or the company. He always controlled things from behind the scenes.The more people thought about it, the more they found it strange. Leon on the other hand, was so scared that his face was ashen. He wondered what he would tell his boss after the moment of embarrassment that he had just experienced. He wondered, perhaps Cliff caught on his scheme of stealing the proposal and made modifications prior. If that was the case, he was so dead. offend him, the more he regretted accepting to work as a mole in Cliffstad corporation. He was still engrossed in thought but when he turned and saw Cliff looking in his direction, he was so shocked that he knocked off the glass that was on the table which then fell on the floor with a crash,attracting everyone’s attention. was over. The more he thought of Cliff’s crude and ruthless ways of handling those who betray rather
“I’m sorry, it was a mistake” Leon hurriedly apologised after noticing everyone’s displeasure.
“Are you okay? be careful, what if the shards cut you deeply huh?” Cliff said softly while helping him wipe off the wine stain on his shirt with a tissue.
Leon wondered whom was talking so nicely to him. When he turned and saw who it was, he was so scared that he bolted out of the door at lightning speed.
