Not all women would have made that poor choice. To tell you the truth, I was actually surprised that Jennifer made it. She was a successful lawyer with an independent office where she managed several interns.
She was undoubtedly a strong and powerful woman, but last night she let her brain sit on the sidelines and made the wrong choice based on God knows what.
I poured some coffee into my specially ordered morning coffee mug and sat down on the balcony to breathe in the cool air of an autumn morning.
My mood improved with each sip as I came to the conclusion that Jennifer couldn’t have been that dense. Surely some scenes were cut out in editing, and I didn’t see them. I mean… The men who came as contenders in the fight for the bachelorette's heart were all of high quality. That particular reality show production didn’t accept the obscure men I saw in some of the other shows. Their process of casting must be very thorough and difficult. Maybe that's one of the reasons it was my favorite.
I guess I always felt that any of the contestants could have easily been me.
A neat and pleasant looking person who has experienced and undergone things in his or her life, but for some reason, has yet to find true love.
Yep. That really could have been me, since it all sounded painfully familiar. Maybe too familiar.
It was ten-thirty in the morning. Time for the development team weekly meeting I initiated.
"Alexei, please give me an update on the defects in the new version of the software," I started with the regular protocol for my meetings, asking Alexei, the head of the quality assurance department, for his input.
"There are currently ten low priority defects, nine medium priority defects, five important ones, and two critical issues."
"And those critical defects are the responsibility of which programming department?" I turned my gaze from one department head sitting around the table to the next, waiting for one of them to take responsibility on his own.
"Mine." Ethan stretched one of his famous smiles across his face. "It's sitting on my team's 'to do' list. So, what are you going to do to me?" He waved his hand dismissingly, his satisfied smile making his face even more beautiful than it already was.
"What will I do to you?" I raised an enquiring eyebrow at him as I tried to understand the meaning of his question.
"Yes. The critical issues are my responsibility, so what are you going to do to me, now that you know that?" He shrugged.
"I won't have to do anything to you, because you're going to fix them by the end of the day, right?"
"Today?" He, too, raised an eyebrow.
"That’s right. Because you're a champ. The best of the best. No one can do what you do, remember?" I sent a naughty smile in his direction and waited for him to soften up.
"I see you were listening when I explained all that to you last week." Ethan leaned back in his seat.
"Indeed, I was listening to you."
"Oh, who are we kidding? We both know I'll do anything you ask of me, Naomi. I can't help but want you to be proud of me." His answer caused a few eyebrows around the table to rise, yet I ignored it. I ignored him, or at least tried to do so and move on with the meeting as planned.
Ethan was one of the most beautiful men I ever saw off-screen, and being a model, I got to meet quite a few hotties, yet he easily topped them all.
His I don’t give a damn attitude always caused me to fantasize about sexually harassing him in the elevator, but I knew he was off-limits. He was subservient to me, so I knew that despite him being only three years older than me, single, smart, witty, dark-skinned, and hot as hell, a romantic relationship with him would lead me straight to the unemployment line and not to a wedding chapel.
The remainder of that meeting was fairly ordinary. I noted the list of up-coming developments, and then we put together the best possible schedules, taking into account the priority for each one so that we could meet the goals that were set before us.
"Thank you, everyone, now get to work." I tried to end things with a positive tone, but it seemed that Ethan thought he should have the last say.
"Keep working," he corrected me as he closed his laptop and didn’t make any eye contact.
"Sorry?" I put my hands on the table and stared at him. I thought with determination, but I wasn’t so sure anymore.
"You asked us to get to work, Naomi, and that implies that in your eyes, we haven't been working up until now. Honestly, it's insulting and offensive, and I think we all deserve an apology from you."
"Ethan, I..." My heart pounded hard. I didn't know what I should say to get out of the verbal mess he put me in. "I didn't mean to offend anyone, you know that, don’t you?" I turned to the others in the meeting room.
"But you did, boss." Ethan stood and raised his hand. "Who here got offended by Naomi's words?" He looked around, waiting for others to join him, but I was glad to see that he was left there alone with his hand raised, as everyone else simply shook their head and went out, demonstrating disinterest in what just happened.
"Oh well." Ethan shrugged. "So, I was wrong. As it turns out, you're fine. My bad." He winked flirtatiously at me.
"Ethan, I swear... One day... I swear..." I sent a blank threat to him.
"One day, what, Naomi?"
"One day... I mean… One day I'll... Oh, screw you, okay? You know what I mean, and if you keep messing with me like that, that day will come. I promise!"
"Is that it? Is that your witty comeback? One day? I must say I'm disappointed, and a little offended, so if you don’t mind—"
"Ethan?"
"Yes, boss?" He always emphasized the differences in classes between us by calling me so.
"Do me a favor and fix the critical defects by the end of the day. Otherwise, I, you and the entire team will have to stay here over the weekend."
The dining room was located on the first floor. I only had one corporate table, and that table sat only six, which is why Nick and I built an organized table for the weekdays, making sure one of us was always early to save the other a seat.
"Sorry, ma'am, this seat is taken," Nick joked as I came to sit beside him.
"Forget being silly just now, I need to talk about last night. Adam? Brian? What are your thoughts?" I immediately raised our favorite topic of conversation, and as expected, we drifted into a loud debate on the matter.
"You can't find love in these kinds of shows." Kailee, who was the customer relations department management, was already seated at the table and intervened in our conversation. "That's not a way to get to know each other in-depth."
"I actually disagree," Remy, the director of customer support and implementation said joining the discussion as he pulled up a chair for himself and sat down. "I believe that the ability of the participants to get to know each other isn’t the problem. The format of the game almost forces them to get familiar in-depth. The only problem, as I see it, is that it's aired as a TV show."
"Explain," Nick said with his mouth full, waving his stacked fork at Remy.
"The format in question is dating and waving one candidate after the other in front of the bachelorette, until only one is left. That's not a fundamentally bad format, but since all this is broadcast nationwide, there will always be a doubt whether the contestants are there for the girl or the glory." Remy signed his explanation and loaded a whole meatball into his mouth.