Chapter 3: The Golden Boy
This must has been the 100th time Tammy has predicated her own engagement, it just made Mei feel a little sad for Tammy.
Jim, Tammy’s long time on and off boyfriend, is great. They met back in College, dated for a couple of years, broke up and went on with their own lives. It wasn’t until 5 years ago Tammy saw Jim at a reunion party and the old flame sparked again. Jim’s gentle, reliable, and a little nerdy in a good way, just the right kind of guy to keep Tammy grounded. Jim’s from India and his Indian name is just too difficult for Mei to pronounce so she always calls him by his English name. Like any typical smart Indian boy, Jim went to medical school and is currently working on his residency at a local hospital.
All Mei knew was that Jim’s parents were not too excited about his white girlfriend. They had tried very hard to twist their boy’s arm into a semi-arranged marriage. That of course caused some tension in their relationship and almost brought it to an end. But that was 3 years ago; ever since then, their relationship just kept growing stronger and sometimes Mei kept forgetting that they are not already married yet.
“So what made you so sure that this time he’s definitely going to propose?” Mei tried to hide her empathy, at the same time playing along to act excited for her.
“Well, he called last night and said he had a big surprise waiting for me when he gets back…” Tammy looked down on her hand and Mei could see she’s imagining a big shiny rock sitting on her ring finger.
Mei is happy for Tammy; she deserves someone who loves her and takes care of her and shares his last name with her. Actually everyone deserves that, including herself.
The brunch was cut short by a pedicure appointment that Tammy forgot to mention. And the rest of the Sunday afternoon was uneventful. Mei finally texted Dan back, and have not gotten any replies. She was trying hard not to be too pessimistic about work, or Dan or life in general. After all, she’s a successful single lady in the city, and everything she has she worked very hard for, that’s some accomplishment that a lot of people look up to.
As dreadful as it could be, Monday came, and then 10 o’clock came. The tension in the conference room at Darren & Wilson’s Cooperation is thick enough to be cut by a knife. To such a high-profile international IT company, this 2-million dollar CNR project is a drop in a bucket. But to Mei this is the biggest career jump she’s been waiting for every since she started here 8 years ago as a programmer. She worked her way up little by little, she put in her long hours and unpaid overtimes, and finally the opportunity came for her to lead a project from proposal to end, not to mention it would be something really nice to add to her resume.
“Good luck Mei.” Roy, One of her teammates tapped on her shoulder and whispered when passing by to find a seat around the conference table. Everyone in her team knew she wanted that job, and they also knew she’s the best qualified candidate for it. Mei tried to tell herself all the worrying was for nothing, but somehow just to maintain the smile on her face is drawing out all her energy.
Finally the door opened, and Mindy walked in. Mindy is a short and heavily build lady in her late 40’s. She’s intelligent, decisive, and very efficient; in another word, a great boss. She has no kids and could be harsh with her employees who took too many leaves when their kids are sick, but overall she’s sincere and most importantly, not keen to a style of micro-management. Mei looks up to her and can picture herself be in her position 5 years from now, that is, if everything goes according to the plan. As Mei tried to pull out a big smile to welcome Mindy to the room, she saw someone came in right behind her.
Dressed in a dark blue suit and a gold tie to match his wavy blonde hair, a guy (or a boy?) who could not possibly be over 25 walked in to the room. He’s thin and tall, athletically built and handsome, well dressed enough to be on a magazine cover or to make people wonder about his orientation. His appearance made everyone in the room felt uncomfortably under dressed even though the company dress code is almost a beach casual. “Who is that?” Mei heard people started whispering to each other; obviously this was a surprise to everyone.
“Good morning all,” Mindy took the center seat and motioned the suit model to sit at her right hand. Oh this is not a good sign, Mei thought to herself.
“As you all know, we are putting together a team to work on the CNR proposal and project development if we were to win the contract. This is a high-profile effort due to its potential for future expansion...” Mindy took a pause just long enough to give Mei a meaningful look, “And the company senior leadership has decided to point Mr. Broderick to be the overall project lead.” Mindy gave a hand gesture toward the boy who’s sitting comfortably at her right, and he nodded slightly to the group with a gentle but determined smile.
Everyone in the room looked surprised, and the burning question on everyone’s mind was obviously “Where on earth did this Mr. Blondie boy come from? Or who the underworld is he?” Mei was not too surprised that she didn’t get the job; ever since she saw suit-N-tie came in she knew her chance at this project was terminated. Actually she was a little relived to finally receive the verdict and be released from the torture of waiting. Closing her notebook as quietly as she could, Mei was getting ready to leave the room at the first chance she could grab and go find a corner somewhere to lick her wound.
No matter how hard Mei was trying to hide her disappointment, it’s obvious everyone started to feel sorry for her, including Mindy, she changed her tone and announced in a soft, almost empathetic voice, “Mei, you will be the deputy on this project, assisting Mr. Broderick. Please put together a brief on where we are and fill him in with any background info you have ASAP.”
Wait, what? Mei couldn’t believe what she heard, if it wasn’t embarrassing enough to hand her job over to some pretty no-body in front of the group, Mindy has to humiliate her to make her the assistant to this … the word that keep popping up in Mei’s mind since the minute she saw him was “The Golden Boy”. I mean come on, who in that young age could be walking into a company to lead a multi-million dollar project without any help from Mommy or Daddy or whatever connections he’s got?
Before Mei could respond, she saw golden boy reaching out his hand to her and again with a perfect smile: “I’ve heard a lot about you, Miss Li; it’s nice to finally meet you in person. Please, call me Jesse; I certainly cannot wait to hear about your thoughts on the project. ”
