Chapter 8
“Good morning, sheikh,” Basil’s employees greeted him as he entered the conference room. Mariam walked in after him and closed the door.
“Morning,” he replied as he sat at the head of the table. “Shall we begin?”
“Yes, sheikh,” Mariam replied. She switched on the projector and began her presentation. She was reporting the company’s progress within the last month, its profits and losses. Basil found himself unable to concentrate on what she was saying. He found himself thinking about his earlier conversation with Janet.
To his surprise, he had spoken to her about his late wife. The words had left his mouth before he could stop them. Strangely enough, her words had brought him comfort. She wasn’t as bad as Basil had thought. His daughter had even warmed up to her. He was still surprised that Sanaa didn’t want to lose Janet. She had looked so distressed when she found out that Basil had fired Janet.
“What do you think, sheikh?” Mariam asked.
“What?” Basil hadn’t heard anything Mariam had been saying. His thoughts were filled with Janet, annoyingly .
“We need to increase the amount of oil we import,” said Mariam.
“Okay, send me a detailed report of the idea. I want to know if we have enough staff to handle the workload, how much profit it’ll give us, everything.” Basil rose to his feet. “Meeting adjourned.”
“Yes, sheikh,” Mariam replied.
Basil headed out of the conference room and returned to his office. He sat down in his leather chair as soon as he got into his office. Mariam walked in a few moments later. She closed the door behind her and approached his desk.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Fine, why?” Basil leaned back into his chair. Mariam stood in front of him, dressed in black, posture straight and expression stern.
“You seemed a bit distracted during the meeting.”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Basil crossed his hands over his chest.
“Okay. You have a meeting at 12:30 with Brodo Petrols and a business call at 2:30,” Mariam said to him.
“Alright,” he said. Mariam nodded before she walked out of his office.