#dry wit

“Good Afternoon, Bailey!!” Ingrid greets her chauffeur as she enters the Range Rover, immediately slipping in to the seat and quickly dropping the heavy bags on her side which contains the files. Earlier, after her boss had told her to meet the client instead of Eve, she immediately called Bailey to drive her to the location.

She sighed in relief at the cold aircon and classical music started playing on the car’s speakers. 

“This is new? since when did you run meet clients? Isn’t this supposed to be the sales team’s job?” Bailey asked in concern as she had informed him earlier. Usually, Ingrid would either take the tube, or a cab when she needed to run an errand for her company, because they will reimburse her the fare back. But the purpose would either be for restocking the pantry, or buying loads of office supplies. Never did she once went to meet a client to negotiate with them. No, it just wasn’t her job, especially going to the countryside..

“I know right? well, unfortunately, my colleague couldn’t go. She has an issue with the client,” she said as the car started moving. “In fact, she looked like she had been crying” she added, scratching her chin.

“She probably had an affair with the client?” was Bailey’s first guess. “ Or something else, probably the client was from hell?”

“Your first guess is the same as mine... but I can’t say for sure, who knows? it might be something else entirely... but yes, I do highly suspect its the first one...” she nods in agreement. “Can we pass by Sainsbury’s after this? I need to restock the pantry... in fact, can we have tea first?”

“Of course! what good tea shops are there in the Surrey Hills?”

“Well, there is a restaurant up at Boxhill, the tea looks scrumptious!” she said as she looked at her phone.

City traffic was a little unpleasant, so she called and informed her boss, Henley, that she might be a little late when coming back to the office and thankfully he was understanding. But once they were out of the city, the drive on wards was very smooth. Bailey opens the car’s windows including the rooftop. Ingrid stands up, and pokes her head out of the rooftop window of the car, whilst Bailey stretches his hand out of his own driver’s seat window to feel the wind. A little drive in the countryside was such a lovely way to finish the working week.

The GPS instructs them to pull of the main road and onto a little lane, where they found themselves in front of a big pair of gates. On the side of the pillars was a gold plaque that said; ‘Coldwell Manor‘.

“There’s an intercom,” Ingrid says, as she got down of the car to press it. “Hi, Ingrid Hawkes of Strategic Creativenest group,”

“Where’s Eve?” 

Ingrid arches her brows, “Uhhmmm, she couldn’t make it, so she sent me here on her behalf...”

The communication line was then cut, and the gates start opening. Ingrid goes back inside the car and Bailey drives through and continue on the tree lined, gravel driveway that seems to go on forever. They pull into a perfectly round courtyard and alighted out of the Range Rover.

“Wow...” Bailey admires the house, it looks superb and grande. “I wonder if it’s haunted?”

“Pffttt....” Ingrid laughs at Bailey’s comment,  “Come Bailey, let’s greet the client...” she says as they both headed to the large double doors of the manor.

The lawns are greener than green, the house looks like it receives daily scrub downs and even the stone gravel looks like it gets a daily hoover.

Bailey presses the doorbell and both of them wait for an answer. Whilst observing their surroundings, the doors open, revealing a man in a sleek suit.

“Ms. Hawkes?” he asks.

“Yes...” was her reply, stretching her arms for a handshake, which the man took.

“Right this way...” he says, as he guides both Bailey and her inside the manor. The decors is opulent, lush and intimidating and both of them couldn’t help but admire the interior as they past the central staircase, and headed towards the back of the manor. 

She hears the hum of conversation and glanced to her right, noticing many patrons seated at tables, eating, drinking and chatting, with waiters serving food and drinks.

“We could eat here later, Bailey! what do you think?” Ingrid suggests, thinking of eating at this posh country hotel instead of the restaurant nearby which she initially suggested.

“Sure, why not?” Bailey replies.

The man continue to  guide them through a bright hallway, and into a corridor. They stop in front of a wooden paneled door and the man knocks.

He opens the door after knocking and holds it for them.  “Come in” 

“I will wait outside,” Bailey says,

“Oh, wait for me at their inhouse restaurant, do you remember the direction?” she asked Bailey, recalling the many hallways they had passed before reaching the office.

“I will guide him there, Ms Hawkes...” the man offers.

“Oh, that would be great, Thank you!” was her reply. 

Ingrid enters the office, and gazed around its luxurious interiors. “ Good Afternoon, Mr. Coldwell...” she greeted politely at the man who back was turned. 

The man stood up from his seat and turned around to face her. For a brief moment, she was lost on how to respond and was taken aback with the way he looked. Ashby Coldwell is the perfect epitome of the saying Tall, dark and handsome. She wouldn’t be surprised with her earlier speculation to be true that Eve had an affair with this guy. 

Ashby makes his way around his massive desk and slowly walks towards her. She smiles out of respect, hiding her admiration, as she observes him. He’s lightly tanned, showing that he must play a lot of outdoor sports. His light brown hair looks like he tried to styled it but given up halfway. His eyes were cold blue, but bright and way too intense, and the stubble covering his square jaw does nothing to conceal the handsome features beneath it. 

Ingrid stood up straight, and went straight to business. The man might be ‘painfully’ handsome, but her red flag radar was so strong she could almost guess what type of person he was. He wore a cloak of conceit and entitlement as well as he wore his sleek suit. The way he looked at her, with one brow slightly upraised as though he was superior to her in every way and expected her to bow down at his feet . But in the meantime, she’d give him the benefit of doubt.

“So where do we start?” he asks, as he pours himself a drink at the side.

The good thing about this was that she had dealt with this imperious behaviour before and had unconsciously equipped her with the ability to handle self-entitled brats and their rubbish from men like him.  She quickly sat down and took out the heavy folder out of her bag and placed it on top of the coffee table.

“You’re a little early...” he comments.

“I see... I’m sorry that Eve could not make it, but I am here on her behalf. If you could just go through with me with these documents and sign them, I will be out of your way...” she states, there was no harm in being frank. In fact, it was obvious that it was Eve that he wanted around, and not her.

“Of course,” he said as he takes out his pen and reaches for the first batch of documents. 

Ingrid messages her boss to inform him that Coldwell was already going through the documents but stops halfway when he spoke.

“Your company seems to have a strong reputation, I have read great things about it Ms Hawkes. Although, seeing you know, I have to say those articles maybe because of their beautiful employees.

Ingrid cringe as she arched her brow. “That is kind of you to say, Mr. Coldwell, but I assure you, looks has absolutely nothing to do with how well the employees of Strategic Creativenest  do their job. Everyone is very good and competent at our jobs, as I’m sure you’ve seen with Eve-”

He smirked, as he his blue eyes deliberately examined her face. Thank goodness he didn’t go beyond that. 

He clears his throat and leans against the sofa. “Yes, actually. Eve has been... quite obliging,”  It was hard not to miss the overtone in that comment. It wasn’t her concern how Eve chose to conduct her business. What mattered was how Ingrid handles her own business. 

“I see... well, I’m not from customer service nor do I work at a 24-hour concierge,” she strongly implied to him. “ So if you will continue to read through the documents and sign them, or is it perhaps better if I leave and have someone else pick them up?” Feeling not only violated by his stare and the low toned response that was seemingly supposed to be sexy, Ingrid knew it was time to get the hell out of here.

“You can call me, Ashby,” he maintained the arrogant smirk as he looked at her. “And I don’t want someone else. Eve has done a good job so far, but I know you’ll do better. Let me take you out to dinner tonight, I’m sure having your presence will help fast track the documentation process.

Ingrid lost her professional smile, and gave him the look of contempt she had picked up from Tom, the CEO.  “Yeah... that’s not going to happen...”

“Why not?”

Ingrid looks straight at him, her cold blue eyes, meeting his, not faltering. “Do you have a yacht?” 

Coldwell smiles, thinking that she has given in.

“Of course, is 8 pm alright? I’ll pick you up at 7?” he says.

“Good... how tall are you by the way?” she asks.

“6 feet...”

“I see... well, before that, I need to a hardware store to find a large sack, is there one nearby?” she inquired

Coldwell arches his brow. “What do you need a sack for?”

“ To put you inside after I murder you and throw you into the ocean, sounds good?” was her deadpan response. 

Coldwell looked at her coldly, and then chuckled after, shaking his head. He didn’t really know how to respond to her macabre statement.

“This conversation has gone into inappropriate territory, Mr. Coldwell, so for the sake of professionalism and my company, I’m going to end it now and say goodbye. I’m sorry that I am not able to help you today,” she got up from her seat, and turned on her heel leaving his office without further interference. Although Ingrid felt the unpleasant feeling of being watched, as she and Bailey got into their car and drove away.

                                                        ********** 

When Ingrid arrived back at the office, her boss immediately called her in. Puzzled, she puts the pantry groceries down and walked over to Henley’s office.

“Yes, Henley?” she poked her head inside, before entering, only to find Tom Hiddleston seated at her supervisor’s seat, whilst Henley sat opposite.

“Hello Mr. Hiddleston, such an honour for you to drop by!” she beamed at him which annoyed him. She quickly sat down at the seat adjacent to the table, and prepared herself for Tom’s lengthy sermon. 

“What happened at Surrey Hill?” Tom began.

“ I delivered the documents just like I was asked to do...”

“Yes, you did, and?” he said, asking her to continue.

“And because he was taking too long, I offered to have someone else pick it up the next time,”

“Alright, then?” he motioned for her to continue.

“ Then he asked me to go on a date, and I rejected him,”

Tom nodded as he crossed his legs, and leaned back against the chair. “Very good, that’s very professional of you Ms. Hawkes, but what else did you tell him?”

Ingrid kept quiet and kept the jovial smile in her face.

Without warning, Tom slams the table hard with his palm, almost making Ingrid and Henley’s heart jump out of their body and angrily says to her “You threatened to murder him and throw him to the ocean, did you not? Ms. Hawkes?!!”

“Yes, in fact, I did” she said proudly.

“Do you even take anything seriously?!” he says, whilst gritting his teeth.

“Of course I do...” she claims, and Tom nods at her answer, until...

“I was serious about murdering him and throwing his body into the ocean!” she adds after a long pause.

Tom throws his hands up in the air in exasperation, whilst Henley tries to stifle a laugh at Ingrid’s actions towards the client. Her attitude towards unpleasant people was no secret in the office.

“Oh, gawd, Hawkes... what am I going to do with you?!” Tom complained as he pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated with this woman in front of him. Scolding him was encouraging more of her nonsense to continue. He knew he should try another approach.

“But he was so inappropriate!” she reasoned.

“Yes, but you didn’t have to threaten him with murder, Hawkes! That could have been a lawsuit aimed either at you or to the company!” Tom emphasized.

“Well, what’s done is done, so what now?” she declares in resignation.

Tom inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down. Whilst Hawkes looked at him blankly. With a sigh, he began to speak. “He threatened to take his business elsewhere if he won’t be properly accommodated,”

“We’ll  accommodate him then... just have a male employee pick up those papers...  ” she stated. 

“He dropped Eve this morning, and has asked that you take over the paperwork, documentation and closing of this project, and all future transactions he’ll be making with us. The fact that his business remaining at our company was contingent on you saying yes, was definitely implied. He doesn’t want anyone else,” Tom emphasizes the last part.  “In fact, I’m surprised he still wants you after you threatened him with murder...”

Ingrid scowled, “ So you’re saying that if I refuse, he walks away?” 

Tom nods and replies, “We lose a good client, yes...”

“First of all, I am not part of the sales team to handle such matters!” Ingrid began. “Second, I was just there to have him sign those bloody papers... Third, He is probably doing this to ‘SPITE’ someone in our own office!” she paused, not wanting to name Eve. She knew well that being chosen to handle this project was Coldwell’s way to try and spite his ex-lover, or whatever him and Eve were. “ Coldwell is a huge sleaze Mr. Hiddleston! He goes around hitting on women. I’m not sure what sort of thing he had going on with one of our employees, and honestly, you telling me all these makes this situation that much worse. So my answer will be, NO! ”

“ Just take one for the team, Hawkes...” Tom tries to reason with her.

“No... It came from your own mouth that it was professional of me to reject him. How can you ask me to still work with that man after that?!” 

“Then what do you suggests we do?” he says, crossing his arms, waiting to see if she had anything better in mind.

Ingrid thinks for a while, she knew she had to make some sacrifices, but was hoping that Tom would at least do something about Coldwell’s inappropriate behaviour. After a minute she tells him what she had in mind. “I will do it, but that’s it. I won’t handle any of his future business,” she stated firmly.

Tom nodded in agreement, despite her troll-like behaviour, he could actually talk some sense in her. 

“In one condition,” she adds. “ I want to have another employee come with me during the meeting,” 

“You got it,” Tom agrees, it was a reasonable requests for this situation after all. “Thank you for taking one for the team, Hawkes. Your efforts aren’t going unnoticed.” he added.

“Sure...” she replies coldly and nodded at him, before walking out of the office. It still felt unfair that Tom seems he would rather please the client than protect his own employees. Money and Power talks after all. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but she was just a little fly, a vermin and she didn’t matter. She was just a pawn that he uses to get his way.

Tom felt uncomfortable at the glare she had given him before she left Henley’s office. It was as if she was judging him. And for some reason, he suddenly felt guilty sending her back to Ashby Coldwell.  

A/N: HI GUYS!!!! I really want to apologize for the late update, I wasn’t really in good health the past few months, but I haven’t stopped writing. In fact I have a lot of drafts waiting to be completed and published. What happened was more of a physical exhaustion which resulted into creative constipation and writer’s block, but I’m trying my best to write and tell my stories and I will try to update more often!

I hope you enjoy this one, as I’m getting the next chapter ready

By the way, if you want to read the previous story, here it is, Troll (Odd Women Series) - TWO