The Cheap & Dupe CEO

CHAPTER 10

Adam visited one of the research institutes to check out the progress in the 5G development. He attended the meeting of the directors. However, he kept thinking about Reena. “I wonder how she’s feeling. She must be feeling bad after going through such an experience.”

Having lived on the streets, he knew how scary they could be. If he was timid or weak, he would have been physically abused by other beggars or even the police sometimes. Teenagers who got kicked out of their foster homes especially had it rough. Luckily, he became a beggar in his mid twenties, so he was able to fend off from most of the dangers that challenged him.

“Should I call her?” Adam had her number, so he wanted to check how she was doing, but he also feared how she would respond. After all, she was an A-list actress who might probably be in a pissed-off mood right now from what the director had tried to pull. “No. Let’s not get ahead of myself.”

The field researcher was explaining everything while showing the animations on screen. “My conclusion is… while there are major benefits of 5G, there are also major negative effects it can bring on the population, especially given that we need to concentrate the towers for these high-frequency signals. So I think we should think again if we want to build 5G infrastructure along with our new projects.” 

“Side effects are the necessary evil,” the head of the department spoke. ”From 1G to 4G, all had their issues as well, but the people are too busy and brainwashed to care.”

“Yes, sir. But the effects of these waves will be on a different scale compared to other technologies. If we concentrate them in one place, forget about the birds, even humans might keep falling from getting their nervous and respiratory systems messed with.”

“Your job is to report,” the head of the department indifferently said. “My job is to decide.”

“I’m sorry.” The researcher lowered his head in shame.

“Don’t be,” Adam’s voice startled everyone. He looked at the head of the department and said, “While I respect your decision to provide high quality infrastructure to our students, you don’t need 1 GB per second speed allowing fiber optic connections in high schools and colleges. Children’s lives are at stake here, so, let’s not get ahead of ourselves and stick to 4G for the time being. We’ll see how 5G does around the world before we make a decision regarding this.”

“But, sir, if we don’t keep up with the growing standards, it might send a bad message to our shareholders,” the head of the department was speaking, but Adam raised his hand.

“Your job is to do what I say,” Adam said and stood before looking at the researcher and saying, “No matter how high of a position we may be in, if we don’t give respect to our colleagues, then it’s the same as shaming our own positions. So I don’t want to see anyone treat others with disrespect.” He patted the head of the department’s shoulder. “Insulting you wasn’t my intention, sir. Sorry if I hurt you.” Saying that he walked out.

The head of the department looked embarrassed, but he swallowed the shame and apologized to the researcher who also apologized for how things turned out.

Meanwhile, in the headquarters.

Evelyn came to the finance block and queried the receptionist there. “It’s the second of the month, but my salary hasn’t been added to my account.”

“I’m sorry, madam. I’ll check the issue right away,” the receptionist knew who Evelyn was, so she was quick in finding the issue. “Madam, I’m afraid the transaction failed due to a technical issue, so I’m sure the money will be added within the next 14 days.”

“14 days, huh…” Evelyn forcibly breathed a bit. This was the standard company’s procedure, but she would be losing 15 days interest, so she felt a bit disappointed.

“What brought Miss Secretary here?” a not-so-friendly voice reached Evelyn’s ears. She knew who that voice belonged to before even turning to look.

“I had a little issue, that’s all, Miss Lily. You don’t need to act like you’re concerned.”

“Fufu, you’re as witty as ever,” Lily closed in with a smile on her face and whispered in her ear. “It seems Adam left the building without you, his personal secretary. I don’t need to tell you what that means, right? Your bad days have just started, girl. He can only keep you for so long if you aren’t willing to provide him valuable service.”

Evelyn forced out a smile regardless of how she felt. “Thanks for your warning.” She confidently walked away.

“Hmph,” Lily went back to her quarters.

Evelyn took the lift and came to the ground floor. An employee called for her, but she was lost in thought and so didn’t respond.

She walked out. It was 12:30 PM.

She had another 30 minutes of lunch time left. She didn’t eat anything yet, but she wasn’t in the mood, either.

“Why didn’t he call me when he was going to the research center?” she was biting on her nails. “He’s not gonna fire me, or is he? After all the work I’ve done for the company.” She shook her head. “No. Even if he tries to, I won’t make it easy for him.” She was earning much more as CEO’s personal secretary than she had earned as an assistant manager of the strategy department.

Her blue eyes were looking everywhere, but their focus wasn’t anywhere. She noticed a man sitting on the roadside, playing with a street dog, with his suit lying on the side. “Is he…” she shook her head. “No. What was I thinking? There’s no way he would even let such a dirty dog get close to him.” She kept walking; however, a tall black man in a tuxedo suit crossed her path and went straight to the man sitting by the side of the road and handed a biscuit packet. “Isn’t that…” she took a few steps to the side, which helped her get a better view of the man currently feeding the dog. When she saw his face, her eyes slowly and surely widened. A breeze swept past her face, but she didn’t blink. His figure looked so familiar, but with folded sleeves, he looked like a completely different person. “A-Adam?”

Seeing him smiling and making the dog dance and roll about, her face glowed, but why the heck was a billionaire’s son playing with a dirty street dog while sitting on a footpath nonetheless?