Chapter 6

Aleia's POV

I was packed today with work, I had a series of meetings to attend and I wasn’t even sure I could go to all of them.

Luckily for me, my assistant has stepped up and she is more competent than ever. I like her better now. I came into work at my usual time and there she was in her seat, all prepped and ready to work. It made me remember the conversation we had the other day after I gave her my advice.

I was in my office clearing off some reports when I heard a knock on my door, I wasn't expecting anybody. And my assistant should have called to let me know if I had a visitor.

"Come in!" I called out to whoever it was.

The door opened and my assistant came in looking all kinds of timid, I wondered why she was looking that way. I thought we were past her being scared of me.

"Trina? What are you doing?" I asked her.

She twisted her fingers which showed signs of her being nervous and all of that but I didn't pay attention to that. I was annoyed at the interruption and she knew better than that by now.

"I...I am s...sorry miss halls. But I just wanted to discuss something with you" she said nervously.

"Couldn't it have waited till I was done for the day?" I asked her.

She shook her head before standing straighter like she had made up her mind to talk to me.

"No ma'am, I wanted to talk to you now" she said, sounding a little brave but I could hear the tremor in her voice.

"Very well, sit down" I motioned for her to sit and talk.

It was clear to me that whatever she wanted to say was very important so it made me curious to hear it too.

"Well you see..." She trailed off looking down like there was something interesting happening on the floor.

I rolled my eyes, I didn't have time for this school girl bullshit she was doing

"Well what?" I asked impatiently.

"I wanted to ask if..." She trailed off again.

I sighed, dropping my pen on the table. A sign that I was done dallying around with the whole talk.

"I don't have time for this. If I wanted someone to waste my time, I would call triple A." I snapped at her.

She sat up straight and stared right at me and from my expression, she could see that I was dead serious.

"Well miss halls, iwantedtoaskifyouwouldpleasementorme? She said in one breath.

If I wasn't friends with Melissa as long as I have, I would have missed that.

“what?!" I asked her but not from lack of understanding but from the question.

"You want me to mentor you?" I asked her again.

She nodded quickly.

"I thought about the advice you gave me the other day and it got me thinking. I have spent so long chasing relationships when I should have focused on building myself and making a name for myself. So who better to teach me if not you?" She said,

While her praise made me want to smile but it didn't ease up on the fact that I have never mentored anyone before.

"So what career path do you want to take?" I asked her.

"I studied real estate and hotel management," she said.

Hmm, that was a good one.

"Then why are you working here?" I asked her again.

"It was hard to find a job here in the city and when I saw the advert for the job of personal assistance, I jumped on it."

It was a very good course and I could use her help if I was looking to expand into that area, I was looking to expand and I haven't gotten around to it.

"Happened to most of us, huh?"

"Yes it did"

I didn't want to jump into anything with her till I was sure she knew what she was doing, investing money in bad business is a real thing and I don't want that to happen to me at all

"I will think about it and in the meantime, brush up your knowledge on real estate just in case" I told her.

She squealed with joy, forgetting that she was still in my office. She stopped midair when I cleared my throat, earning a sheepish look from her.

"I am so sorry" she squeaked out.

I waved her off telling her it was fine.

She left quietly, closing my door.

I didn't waste any time in bringing out her file from the cabinet.

Name: Trina Davis

Age: 29

Graduated from Princeton with honors and the best in her class. She had an outstanding score and yet she was working as a personal assistant. It was obvious she was smart but she couldn’t use it because she had no connections. If I was going to venture into estate management then I would have to employ her then introduce her to one or two people who would help her grow the business into a full blown investment.

While I was going through her file, I called Melissa and asked her to come down to my office right away. She was my chief financial officer and she was the only one good enough to advise me based on my investments and the good for this company.

I leafed through the file and texted on my phone as I waited for Melissa to come, it wasn't long when a knock sounded at my door.

She didn't wait for me to usher her in; she just strolled in like we shared the office. Typical Melissa.

"You asked for me ma'am?" She asked formally.

"Why yes I did, have a seat" I gestured towards the chair in front of her.

She rolled her eyes at me and took a seat.

"You know I can fire you for such a disrespectful act?" I asked her.

"Oh cut the bullshit!" She snapped.

"You started it!" I reminded her.

"What's going on?" She asked this time.

"Take a look at this" I told her, giving her the file. I waited patiently for her to leaf through it.

"Holy shit!!!"

"We have to hire this person, who is he?" She asked.

I handed her the files but I didn't include the first page which bore the personal information needed to identify the candidate.

"Trina," I said simply.

"Yes, you are right. Trina would call and find out who he/she is" she stated completely obvious.

"No Mel, the owner of the file is Trina" I told her calmly.

"No!" She sounded shocked.

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Wait, why are we arguing?" I asked her.

"I don't know but you mean to tell me that Trina is incredibly smart and she has been your assistant for years?" She asked.

"It baffled me too but it is exactly what I thought" I told her.

"So what are you thinking?" She asked.

"I am thinking of venturing into estate management, as you know the property I purchased years ago is worth millions now and this would be the best time to sell it."

"Yes, you are right but where does she come in?"

"I am glad you asked, You see, once I sell the land, she is going to be taking credit for that and I would be introducing her to people in that line of business and she makes her money and name from there" I revealed my idea.

"That is very good, then she can help you acquire properties" she concluded.

"Yeah, exactly that." I nodded at her.

I am in total support of that but don't you think you should wait before giving her this huge opportunity?” she asked me.

She had a point, I couldn't dive into this just yet but I could at least let it play out.

"Oh I know that but I was thinking of giving her a test. Mr. Hank told me he wanted to sell his beach house the other day and he has not found a buyer yet so we could start off with something small. What do you think?" I asked her.

"What did you do?" She asked me instead.

"I texted one of my clients who is looking to buy a beach house to come in about thirty minutes" I told her.

I was very pleased with myself, if she could from the top of her head make him buy the beach house then I would know that she is really good. Mr. Thompson is one of the toughest business men I have ever worked with. We got along because we both liked transparency when dealing with people.

"What?! Are you sure about this?" Melissa asked.

"Yes I am sure, if she can handle Mr. Thompson then I am sure she can handle anyone in business" I told her.

"You want her first client to be Mr. Thompson? Are you out of your mind?! That man would eat her up and spit her out!" She raised her voice a little.

I could understand where she was coming from, the first time I told Melissa to give Mr. Thompson an update on his stocks. He stared at her so intently that she started shaking. I was glad that it was just the both of us in the conference room or else she wouldn't still have her respect in the company.

But now they are best of friends and that day is often used as a joke.

"Yeah but look how well you picked yourself up and continued with the presentation" I reminded her.

She stopped the presentation, sat down and took a gulp of water while we waited for her. I was looking amused and the same couldn't be said for Mr. Thompson. He simply stared at her like she had grown two heads instead of one.

She finished her water and took a deep breath before standing up and executing a flawless presentation. Mr. Thompson overlooked the drama because she really was good at her job.

"That day was funny, huh?" She said smiling a little and she remembered the incident.

"Yeah it was," I agreed with her.

"But still, don't you think Mr. Thompson is a bit too much?" She insisted.

"He is too much but she has worked with me for years so handling herself should be the last thing on her mind, the first thing is to make that sale before the end of today" I told Melissa.

She looked at me before nodding. My methods might be a little extreme but she will get it done and by the end of today, she will get a huge amount of money.

Just as we concluded, Trina came in to tell me Mr. Thompson was in the conference room.

"Too late now" I told Melissa.

"Okay, I picked up the file containing the pictures of the beach house and handed it to Trina. It wasn't that surprising since she carries all my files to the conference room.

We all went in to meet Mr. Thompson, he stood up to shake my hand just as I greeted him.

“Thank you for coming" I stated.

He nodded and took his seat.

Melissa and Trina both took their seats and I waited till everyone was settled till I dropped the bomb.

"Mr. Hank hired Miss Davis as his Realtor for the meantime and she would be the one making the sales. Mr. Davis over to you" I motioned at her.

I have got to give it to her, she recovered faster than I would have if I was ever put in this kind of position.

"Yes, um..." She looked at me.

I simply gestured to the file she was holding and she nodded.

"Well, Mr. Thompson. I am glad you showed up..." She started to say.

I looked at Melissa who seemed surprised and impressed at how well she was handling it.

"I know you need a beach house and we all know that it is very important that you acquire it as your property. You don't have to wait till you are retired before you get your dream vacation house. It has a strong pouch, a good fireplace, and a modern kitchen with a good marble top. It has five bedrooms with enough space for everyone and guests too. Every room has their own bathroom and there is absolutely no need to share with anyone. The view is lovely, it is facing the ocean which can give you quite a bit of fresh air every time and the back view consists of nature. You would enjoy buying this house." She said,

Impressive and she only glanced at the file just once, she is good. She is really good.

Mr. Thompson was nodding his head like he liked what he heard. When she closed the presentation all that remained was to discuss the price.

"I will take it, how much will it be?" He asked her.

"20 million dollars," she said.

Now it was my turn to be shocked, the price Mr. Hank wanted to sell his beach house was a solid 10 million and she just raised the bar. This was what I looked forward to in a business minded lady.

"That is good, I will write a check and send it to Miss Hall," he said finally.

Trina looked relieved and I gotta say, she just made herself an extra 10 million and I was sure she didn't even know it.

"Thank you sir, I will be in touch" she told him.

I shook his hand and he nodded at Melissa before walking out of the room.

"That was awesome!" Melissa high-fives Trina.

"Yes, that was impressive," I agreed.

"Thank you," Trina replied.

"Now, let's move this to my office and call Mr. Hank" I told them.

We walked back to my office and they sat down as I made the call.

"Hello" his voice echoed.

"Hello hank" I greeted him.

"It’s a pleasure to hear from you, Aleia. To what do I owe this call?" He asked.

"I think you would be happy to know that Miss Davis sold your beach house," I told him.

"She did? Who is Miss Davis?"

"My assistant"

"That's awfully nice of her, how much did she get it for?" He asks.

"Ten million," I told him.

He went silent for a second.

"Really?!! It’s not even worth that" he confessed.

"I know that but she is really good at what she does, which is why you would be paying her 20% of the money" I stated.

"Why 20%?"

"Because the house was not worth that much but she hiked the price up so her price should be hiked too"

"Well that sounds fair"

"Okay, I will wire the money into your account as soon as it gets here"

"When you do that, I will send my assistant with the papers"

He hung up.

"I have two million dollars to my name?" Trina was the first to break the silence. Melissa just smiled at the whole situation.

"Twelve million" I corrected her.

"What?!"

"You have twelve million to your name"

"Huh?"

"You sold the house for Twenty million. Correct?" I asked her.

"Yes," she answered.

"And the original price you saw there was ten, who do you think the other ten was for?" I asked her.

"The house was set for ten million?" She asked, completely shocked.

"You didn't see that?!" I asked her

"No, I just mentioned a price from the top of my head," she said.

"Congratulations, the top of your head just made you a millionaire," I said, smiling at her.

She stood still for a minute processing the information I just gave her and out of nowhere she started crying.

I panicked for a moment thinking something had happened but she was laughing at the same time. So I assumed she was shedding tears of joy.

"Oh my God! Twelve million dollars?"

"Twelve million dollars in my account" she said repeatedly.

It was going to be a while so I went back to my report while Melissa caught up on my scotch as she watched the drama.

"How can I ever repay you?" The question was directed at me.

"You asked for mentorship and I just gave you one," I told her casually.

“What? I thought..." She started to say but I cut her off.

"But you thought I was going to make you read books? I asked her.

“Yes" she nodded.

"You were wrong," I told her.

"What do I do?" She asked.

"Well, you can start by taking us out so we can go and enjoy ourselves" that was from Melissa.

I rolled my eyes, what great financial advice from her.

"That is more than enough for you to get your own house, a car and business cards. You can as well change your wardrobe. You have entered into the business world so no more wearing jeans to work anymore" I told her.

She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off "while you are at it, hire me a new assistant" I finished.

"What?!" She asked, perplexed.

"Since you are now a millionaire, you don't have to work for me" I told her.

"No, I still want to work for you. It would really help me a lot." She pleaded.

"Fine but those other conditions stay," I said.

She nodded, thanking me continuously before I chased her away with a glare.

"That was a nice thing you did for her," Melissa stated.

I looked at her drinking my expensive bottle of scotch, I raised a brow at her.

"Oh don't look at me like that!" She said,

"Like what?" I asked her.

"That careless look, you did what few bosses would do for their employees" she told me.

"Mel, this is what I wanted when I finished college but I had to go through a long way which I don't regret but I saw the kind of potential she had just from looking at her file and I found myself looking back to when I was her back then."

"I know, we have come a Long way, huh? She asked me.

“Yes we have and I don't regret taking the long route to success" I told her finally.

"Yeah, me neither"

It has been a long time since I thought about all the things I went through when I first started my company. It felt like just yesterday that I started in my dorm room planning on how to start. When I started, I had my reading table and my room was my company building.

I was awake most of the night trying to figure out my operation research and Melissa helped me. If she wasn't there to remind me to eat or bathe, I would have forgotten the need to take care of myself. I was really glad to have her in my life.