The Emergence of Raphael Gauthier

CHAPTER 8: FRIENDS AMONGST FOES

“Don't let me repeat myself! Why are you all standing idle and who's this funny dude?” Mrs Louise impassively mouthed, glaring her eyes against the three.

“So sorry Ma'am. He's the new intern and I needed to put him through…” Celine said in a frightening state. The atmosphere without a doubt felt the blaring weight of her voice. All production staff stiffened their faces and maintained their work posture.

“And so what? What's my damn business with who he is? Come on, he's just a mere intern. Your luck is that the other two junior staff are supervising the production process. I would have had you and Pierre dealt with,” she said with red in her eyes as she stormed out from the production department. Her tone was stern and cold.

Celine kept an apologetic gesture. Raphael and Pierre boldly stood staring back in her face.

Raphael's heart was filled with lots of scoffing as he beheld her displaying her Hollywood condescending tantrums.

“Who's she?” Raphael unavoidably asked his two newest buddies.

Celine breathed out to catch her breath. She was scared that Mrs. Louise would have her punished like she usually does to the staff at every slightest provocation.

“Chevalier, she's bad news. Don't fall into her bad books,” Celine sincerely requested from him.

She wouldn't be blamed for looking out for the newest intern staff, moreover, he doesn't know his true identity.

“She's Mrs Louise. The HR younger sister,” Celine further responded whilst staring around to be certain no one was eavesdropping on them.”

“The HR has successfully employed four of her relatives. Miss Louise, the Account Manager, and the two uncultured receptionists on the basement floor.”

She carefully gazed around again to be certain no eyes were fixed on them. “There have been speculations that Mrs. Louise, Mrs Elise, and the account manager have been embezzling the company's funds for a while. The few staff that tried to expose them got sacked before he could garner enough evidence,” she explicitly expressed to Raphael whose eyes were fixed on her. 

He gazed at Pierre who nodded his head as a hint of approval to what Celine had said.

Instantly Raphael was engrossed with anger. The business his grandfather had built over decades.

This like-minded family chose to steal from. Should he blame his grandfather for being lenient? How would he? For heaven's sake, he has been battling with heart challenges and hasn't been at his best in overseeing his company like he should have.

‘I'll make them pay! It'll become their nemesis.’ Raphael mumbled his heart but strived to keep his cool to avoid his buddies deducing how pissed off he was.

He would have gone ahead to divulge his real identity to Celine and Pierre but needed to finish what he started. ‘Raphael, they must not know. At least not yet,’ he convinced himself to stay on track for the shortest time before his identity was made public.

He also noticed how firm Pierre was when Mrs. Louise came around to pull her mannerless stunt, he didn't flinch whatsoever.

All he did was stand and glance back at her. There was something uniquely strange about him that Raphael hadn't unraveled yet.

Raphael gazed around and noticed the levels of bottles strategically placed closer to the production team. “Why are there different types of bottles?” Raphael calmly inquired, drawing Celine lost attention back to reality.

Celine cleared her throat as her nerves had finally subsided. “The most popular champagne bottles are mini, which is usually 20CL. Look carefully you will see them thoroughly kept beside the team wearing blue outfits,” Celine continued with her tutoring speeches.

“We also have a standard bottle; which is 75CL. About six to eight glasses would contain it if poured. The production team in red are the ones who fill up the standard bottle which has the highest number of counted bottles in the production site because it sells faster than mini bottles," she kept unleashing her educative words.

Pierre stood like a bodyguard savoring the entire lecture episodes from his friend Celine.

Raphael didn't want her to stop either, she was good at what she did, and from how she demonstrated, the passion was imprinted in her.

She inhaled and exhaled calmly before she continued. “Dear Chevalier. Also, we have magnum; about 150CL, which is usually the biggest champagne bottle size. The production team on green are the ones in charge of filling them up,” her voice sounded firmly to Raphael's ears.

She winked at her two junior production manager co-colleagues who beamed at her to continue with her teachings whilst they kept an eye on the production team.

Thus far, in over one hour of finding his feet inside his father's company. He has made two good friends and has deduced a distinct family that has successfully monopolized the delicate departmental roles to their advantage.

Raphael, without being told, needs to smartly get prepared against them before they inflict more damage that The Lion Winery Industries mightn't recover from.

The bigger question is how would he swiftly accomplish this as time seemed not to be Raphael's friend. Or has it suddenly become too late?

*********************************

Stamford Luxury Suites woke up with abrupt news of an emergency Staff and management meeting. All they knew was the founder would love to engage the staff in a prompt meeting.

Most of the staff didn't have the guts to be absent from the meeting unless you're strictly assigned to duty on that fateful date. Other staff despite their schedule must be present or get sacked.

“Honey. Do you know why the owner called for a meeting?” Mrs. Emma Moreau had to inquire from her husband who sat nervously beside her. “No dear. We're all as shocked as you are. Most times he usually passes information to my desk to disseminate. He stunned me with no clues of his intentions,” Mr. Laurent responded, gazing around the meeting hall in sight of other staff as confused as he was.

Indistinct words increased. Questions built up amongst themselves on why they were being summoned. They all couldn't wait longer to grasp what their overall boss had in stock for them.

Within five minutes, Mr Guillaume ambled into the hall in his glory. Light-skinned man, about 5'9fit, somewhat in his mid-50s. His demeanor was mild as he found himself in front of the puzzled staff.

The staff greeted him accordingly and he reciprocated with demanded courtesy. Laurent and his wife tried to unleash forced smiles from their cheeks to calm their nerves with the abnormality attached to the so-called impromptu meeting.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you all for making it despite the short notice. I don't take this for granted. You all have been incredible in the success story of my business and I applaud you all for your inputs and values,” he genuinely praised his staff. In return, they all chattered and smiled. Only if they knew the set of words yet to be unleashed from his mouth.

“I've decided to relocate to the Asian continent and focus solely on my other booming investments over there. Henceforth, one of the staff, that you all know will become the next owner of Stamford Luxury Suites,” The staff's eyes widened in shock.

Mr Laurent blushed uncontrollably. As the General Manager, he's the most rated person to own the company. “Honey, it seems like today would be a great day for us,” he happily said to his wife who joined in building excitement.

Mr Guillaume had a pause in words and gazed at the seated staff, that would likely be the last time he'd address them as their overall boss. His subsequent set of words would change the fate of the company and the staff itself.

“It's with my utmost respect to introduce to you all the new owner of Stamford Luxury Suites. It's no other person but…”

“Raphael!” he screamed his name with his mouth wide open.