Chapter 8 The Proposal

Melvin stomped away from the table. And Andrew shoulder's sagged as he let out a breath.

Elaine picked her bag. "I should leave."

"Don't worry about him. He'll be back."

She raised a brow, the same colour as the fiery red of her hair. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." He nodded, then looked around for a waiter. "What would you like to eat?"

"Erm, I don't know. I just--"

He stared at her, memories of her unwillingness to speak while he had been in the room with Dr. Chupra returning. "If it's about the bill, this is a treat for me. Think of it as an apology."

She rubbed her temple. "But you already paid for my glasses."

"No, for Melvin's insensitive comments. He can be a bit--"

"Rude?"

"Stupid. A little bit of both. I admire him but so wish he would stop behaving like a petty little child."

A waiter appeared at the table and took their orders. She ordered exactly what he did.

The dream of a night with a refreshing face was now fading, soiled by Melvin's bad temper.

"So, why didn't you want to tell me about your headaches from your old glasses?" He could have ignored it but the thought that she was keeping things from him plagued him.

Her eyes widened, magnifying the light green colour of the lens as her brows rose. "That was confidential."

There was his fiery Elaine. His? Was it right to use that on a woman he'd barely met.

"I happened to overhear it. I am only curious as to why you didn't think I should hear it."

She dropped her head and rubbed her temple again. "I... I didn't want you to think that I would be inefficient with writing your book because my eyes were a little strained."

"Is that it?"

"Yes." She nodded as the waiter arrived with their meal; corn bits with steak and vegetables-- a delight his mother had introduced him to.

"Not that I would be the one actually writing the book. I'm a sort of agent but I didn't want you to feel like I couldn't do it. I could. I can but I'm not..."

She sighed and a soft laughter arose in his lungs and bubbled to the surface. "I think I understand you, Miss Johnson. I often hide my flaws and show the best of myself to others because if they really saw what was beneath, I'm afraid they would run."

She laughed too, more to herself. "What kind of flaws do you have?"

"Here's one." He picked up his fork and stirred his vegetables together with his corn. The food was a salad where the corn was served separately and was harder than your average sweet corn. "My brother needed me at a meeting because I am the more resourceful half of us but I left him to his own devices knowing that he would fail without me."

"If he were my brother, I'd leave him too." Her eyes hardened in the direction that Melvin had walked. She bent her head over her meal and mumbled a few words.

His mother often chided him for not saying the grace before he ate.

"Oh, I assure you. Melvin is not as bad as he seems. He only gets this way when things don't go his way. As I had pushed him into going to the meeting alone, I guess I am partly to be blamed."

"I don't think so." She cut off a piece of steak and held it in the air as though she was observing it. "It's one thing for things to happen to you and it's another thing for you to happen to it."

"Yet, I can't help feeling that I pushed him into this mood. Sometimes, my capacity for revenge scares me."

"You think that's a flaw?" She dropped her knife "That you would put your brother in his place?"

"It's more about how far I am willing to go to get my pound of flesh. What about you Miss Johnson, do you have any brothers?"

"No."

"What about sisters? How many women have your parents raised?"

"None." Elaine shook her head. "Just me. They're dead."

"Oh." His mouth rounded. "Please, accept my condolences. I didn't--"

"It's fine. They've been dead for a long time and I don't think about them too much." She took a forkful of corn into her mouth and chewed.

"You should try eating it with the vegetable. It has a very unique taste."

She stabbed the vegetable and some corn. He watched her face lit up with delight as she chewed. He was right. Her eyes twinkled when she smiled.

"Oh my. This is amazing."

They ate in silence for a few minutes. Close to the end of his meal, he faced her. "Alright, I am ready to hear your book proposition now."

"Great." She sat up with a tight smile. "So, ROI Penn is proposing that we write a book about you and your company that will be beneficial."

"How so?"

"Well, for one, it will bring more publicity for your company. If media houses know that a CEO of a big company, like you, wrote something, they would want to take it up."

"Ah, that explains why they always try to stick the microphones down my throat."

A laughter escaped her lips and he smiled, glad that she had caught on with his humour.

"Yes, they just love to hear what you say and think of it this way. A book is like a business card."

He watched her own body move, animated by the explanations and he could see that she really loved and believed what she said. The passion was there on her part but he did not share her passion. "Miss Johnson, all of these are noble and awesome achievements but I do not believe that I need to write a book."

She sat still, as though someone had dumped a bucket of iced fish over her. "Maybe I didn't explain it well."

"No. Your explanations were clear and I understood them perfectly. I just don't think it is the right business move for me or Swernbach Corp as a whole."

"But I just--" She began, faltering. "It won't cost more than 1.5% of your marketing budget and it is bound to raise publicity for your other projects."

"You sound so confident."

"I was prepared for this. Over the last year, Swernbach Corp has spent over 187 billion dollars on marketing as whole, with climbing marketing cost each year. All we're asking for is less than 1.5 percent we'll generate more publicity than you can dream of."

He picked up the last piece of steak on his plate. "I'm impressed at your research but left to me, I wouldn't take you up on this offer."

"Oh." She seemed to shrink into her chair and her voice took on a mousy tone. "Thank you for listening then and for the glasses and the meal."

All the life seemed to have gone out of her at that moment and she was back to the timid tense woman that he had taken to the hospital. He hated to see the transformation but he knew himself how many rejections he faced daily in his bid to keep the Swernbach company afloat and ahead. In his case, a loss in one of their companies might be a win for another and he had his family to cheer him on. All she probably had was this book. He couldn't kill her spirit about it.

"However, it isn't my decision to make. I--"

"What isn't your decision to make?" Melvin's snide words drowned his.