Is this destiny?

Next morning, Felix woke up early.

He was watching Sophia's sleepy face for some time while thinking about their conversation from previous night. He realized that it's not fair to blame her for taking over all tasks on herself. It's his fault for falling into such a sorry state so that she felt the need to step up. The only way for him to prevent Sophia from overworking herself is that he shows that she can depend on him. And she can't depend on him if he is careless and does not take initiative to do more things.

She was sleeping peacefully. Felix placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and scooted out of the bed carefully, making sure not to wake her up.

He put a plastic bag over his left arm and took a shower. Luckily, Felix is ambidextrous, so he didn't have much issues completing his morning routine, except that he had only one hand available, so it took longer than usual.

When Sophia woke up, she found him in the study, going through documents that she kept on the side previous night.

"Good morning, ma chéri!", he greeted her.

"Good morning…", she smiled. "Your hand is better?"

"Much better… I'm going through the list of positions for new house which you created yesterday… I don't see a driver."

"You think we need one?"

Felix and Sophia spent part of the morning discussing process of hiring people for their house. They had to cut their talk short because Sophia was going to office to attend few meetings in person. By the time she was ready, David arrived with breakfast. Sophia excused herself, saying that she will eat in the office and left.

Felix closed the door behind Sophia and turned to the energetic young man who was eagerly waiting to hear what Felix has planned for him to do. In case Felix didn't make any plans, David had few suggestions ready.

David didn't notice Felix's dark expression as he slowly approached him while asking: "David, do you know who your employer is?"

David happily responded. He knows answer to this question. "Yes, Mr. Martin. Miss Hill got me a job to be your assistant."

Felix shook his head. "She hired you for a job, but your employer is me. You work for me. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"

David shook his head.

"Your job is to assist me when needed. Not her. Not anyone else. Me. If you think that I'm behind on some tasks, it's your job to remind me and to help me catch up. Do you understand? We rise together, and we fall together." Felix didn't forget that Sophia told him about David's betrayal. David told Sophia that Felix's presentations are not ready!

David nodded vigorously. He was not sure what the context is, but he knows where his allegiance should be.

"Good. Now help me prepare those presentations. I will give you content…", Felix walked to the study, and David followed after him.

After this, David did a good job, showing loyalty to Felix.

…

Two days later, it was the day of Orion Enterprise annual meeting. Meeting was scheduled to start early afternoon, and early evening was reserved for social events and team building activities. Late in the evening there was a party.

Many employees who traveled for the meeting had an option to stay three more days and work from HQ building in the morning. Afternoons were filled with various knowledge exchange events as well as fun teamwork strengthening activities, while evenings are left for socializing. Partying mostly. At the end, all employees who traveled to Seattle for this meeting expressed their intention to stay and participate for the whole four-day company event.

Isabella arrived early that day to attend the annual meeting. As Sophia's mentee, she accepted the invitation to shadow Sophia during the day. It's a good learning experience. She will also stay three more days to observe Sophia while working and to see what events and activities are part of this four-day event.

In regard to taking over her family business, Isabella is making a remarkable progress. She surprised everyone with her great results in business management courses. Her father is very pleased. Lambert started giving her occasional tasks at their company and approves of her performance. Isabella still has a lot to learn and to improve her confidence in managing her company, but she is definitely getting there.

Jeff and JoAnna arrived previous evening. They are staying in JoAnna's apartment. Sarah and Aiden joined them that morning and four of them plan to go to the meeting together. Neither of them is an employee, but they are going to attend as Sophia's special guests.

Stella and Edward will also be there. Edward is one of the presenters.

That morning, Felix was a nervous wreck. His hand healed mostly, bruises were fading away and he didn't need to bandage the whole thing anymore. Just a gauze over the sutures was enough. But for some reason, he felt that it's hurting much more than first day.

Felix never spoke in front of so many people, and just thinking about it made his stomach turn and throat dry.

Sophia noticed his anxiousness and tried to coach him. "You can imagine your audience naked. Or imagine that they are potatoes. Or imagine that there is no one… Or just look at me. We practiced this, and I know you got it. All your presentations are perfect. While you talk, you can look at me and imagine that it's one of our practice sessions… and no one else exists…"

He liked that option, and reminded himself to look at Sophia and to pretend that no one else exists.

David also came with some words of encouragement, but Felix ignored him. It was morning, he was nervous, and that David was too energetic. They headed to office together.

Leah, Sophia's assistant, met with Sophia in her office with a list of things that needs to be verified before annual meeting begins.

Felix headed to his office and David followed him.

Not long after, Isabella arrived. She went straight to Sophia's office, because that is why she came, to see her work. Isabella tried to stay out of Sophia's way while watching her work. She asked occasional questions. Leah and Isabella clicked well right away. They went to grab a coffee while chatting excitedly.

While Leah and Isabella went out, Sophia used that as an opportunity to rest in the back room. Before heading to bed, she texted Felix. He was in her office within two minutes.

"Are you done with your preparations?", Sophia asked him when she saw him getting cozy next to her.

"I'm ready. Now I only need to calm my nerves… and there is nothing better than this.", Felix pulled her into his embrace, buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath.

She smiled. "I got the alarm set for twenty minutes… just in case we both sleep off."

He mumbled something and then everything was quiet.