The Segment (Completed)

29. Cool As Cucumbers

"This is ridiculous," said Richard as he flung the papers on the table and it slid towards Mr. Walters. "There isn't an allocated budget for F&B. What is the crew supposed to survive on in Paris, air?" he continued, incredulous.

"Oh, is it? Ms. Khan did not inform me of such a problem?" Mr. Walters said slyly.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that the interns were supposed to do the managements tasks as well, like allocating and approving budgets," Richard said gruffly desperately trying to control his anger.

They had less than 24 hours before they had to leave for Paris and the crew still didn't have the budget. Farrah had not breathed a word about this to him, and he was about to lay his anger into Mr. Walters' face if he had to hear one more snide or crude remark.

"Well," Mr. Walters drawled, "we can increase the budget, but it will take at least two weeks." Mr. Walters smiled feigning innocence, he turned to Farrah as he continued, "Can we post pone the trip, perhaps?"

Richard clenched his jaw, and on the other side of the table he saw Farrah mimicking his actions. Her face blank but her jaw was clenched. Next to her, George was a splotchy red mess. The only person who seemed cool and calm, was Rachel - the director of the segment.

"Now, Mr. Walters, I'm sure you are well aware that if we post pone the trip we'd be missing Princess Elizabeth's 20th anniversary," Rachel said with a calm smile on her face.

"Oh dear, I'm deeply sorry about that," Mr. Walters said with a cruel smile as he made a move to stand up. "I'm sorry Your Highness, I have to leave. Another budget meeting, you know how it goes," he said with a wink. As he walked to the door, he turns around and looks pointed at Farrah, "Ms. Khan, I'll be in my office if you need to discuss the budget."

As the door closed, the room was still in tense silence until Mr. Walters disappeared out of sight. George rolled away from the desk and doubled over, resting his elbows on his knees and exhaling loudly. "Rachel, I think I am going to commit murder," he said gruffly.

"Come off it, George," Rachel rolled her eyes.

George sat up looking at Farrah and completely forgetting that Richard was in the conference room, he asked loudly, "Is that that slimy piece of shit ever going to give up trying to get into your knickers?"

With wide eyes Farrah looked behind George and locked gazes with Richard. The pencil in his hand snapped in two. George clamped his hand over his mouth and whirled his chair around.

"My apologies, Sir. I...It slipped my mind that you were here," he stuttered, completely red in the face.

"Is this some kind of regular occurrence? I swear that every time someone says anything slightly suggestive or even downright lewd, both Ms. Khan and Ms. Khoo are as cool as cucumbers," Richard sad tightly.

"What can we say, Sir. We're used to it. Everyone wants something; more often than not they use it to their advantage," Rachel remarked with a small smile on her face.

Shaking his head, Richard scrubbed his face with his palm and his other hand still had a tight grip on the broken pencil. "Ms. Khan, pass me booking details again," Richard said tiredly. He took out his phone and dialled Stacy.

"Good Afternoon, Sir," Stacy's voice resounded in the conference room.

"Stacy, I'm going to be sending you the booking details of Ms Khan's team. Cancel it," Richard said tightly as he took in Farrah's eyes wide in shock. And the nervous demeanours of George and Rachel.