Heather took off her sunglasses and observed the crowd of people gathered around for the Chris McLean Young Business Leaders Development Program. She had checked into her hotel room earlier in the day, and now she was waiting outside with the other attendees to be led into the conference room.
Well, it looks like I don't recognize any of these people here, she thought. Actually... She furrowed her brows as she noticed a somewhat familiar looking figure and then froze in her tracks.
The person turned around revealing a combination of: tall, tan skin, and emerald green eyes. Heather couldn't help but let out an exasperated sigh when she saw it was him. "Are you kidding me?? Not you again," she grumbled.
"Hola Heather, good morning to you too," Alejandro replied. He was surprised to see her there.
"Shove it, Al," Heather snarled. Alejandro grimaced at hearing the word 'Al' but pretended that it didn't affect him. "Oh, don't look too excited to see me, chica," he smirked.
Heather felt her face turning tomato red with anger. She'd only interacted with this Ale-whatever guy three times, and she'd already decided that he'd made into the list of the top 10 people she despised the most.
"I know what you did," she glared at him.
For some reason, Alejandro thought that the way she pursed her lips and how her eyes resembled shooting daggers when she was mad to be quite cute. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, chica, I've done a lot of things," he replied calmly. Actually, Alejandro knew exactly what Heather was referring to, but he chose to play dumb.
Heather took a step closer towards him. "Don't play dumb with me. I. Will. Crush. You."
Alejandro's mind went somewhere else. "Oh? I didn't realize you were so keen to get on top of me," he smirked.
Heather bawled her fists and her mind raced to think of a comeback. Before she could reply, Chris McLean walked up to the front of the crowd, a microphone in his hands. "Alright everybody, please make your way inside," he boomed into his microphone.
"Oh my god, it's Chris!"
"He looks so much shorter in person than on TV!"
Heather rolled her eyes at the remarks of her fellow attendees and made her way into the conference room, sitting in one of the middle rows. She sat there awkwardly with her hands crossed as people around her were chatting amongst themselves, shaking hands and introducing themselves to one another. She noticed Alejandro who appeared to be flirting with some of the other female attendees in the room. What a surprise, she thought, rolling her eyes. Ugh, why am I even looking at that stupid jerk!
"Alright everyone, please take your seats," Chris said. The room turned silent.
"Welcome to the Chris McLean Young Business Leaders Development Program!" Chris continued, whilst waving his hands in a dramatic up and down motion. "As you know, this program is exclusive, so congrats on being selected this year. Over the next couple of days, you'll learn all the skills and secrets to help you as a young business leader and take your business to the next level!"
Chris continued talking, giving some sort of speech about his life story and journey to becoming a talk show host and entrepreneur. Heather found herself feeling bored, and she blocked out most of the words he said.
"We'll now begin with our first activity. This will be an icebreaker for you guys to get to know each other, as well as test your public speaking skills. You all have 15 minutes to prepare a 5-8 minute pitch about your business for a hypothetical one million dollars. For inspiration, you can talk about your vision, goals, any challenges, opportunities, and what you would do with the one million dollars. Oh, and try to actually make it interesting," Chris smirked.
Heather sighed. She didn't mind public speaking, but this activity sounded borderline cringe. So much for a holiday, she thought to herself.
30 minutes later
Heather scrolled through her phone, distracted. So far, most of the presentations had been straight up boring and she had found herself zoning out.
"Alright, next up we have Alejandro Burromuerto from J&B Co," Chris said, a bored look on his face.
Alejandro walked up confidently to the front of the room. He pulled out a USB and ejected it into a computer. What is he doing? Heather wondered and then rolled her eyes when Alejandro's powerpoint presentation appeared on the projector screen. What a show off.
Alejandro began his speech and whilst Heather hated to admit it, his presentation was actually good. In fact, it was probably the best so far. He was a confident public speaker, the delivery of his speech was engaging and his powerpoint was nicely done with various graphs, charts and images. Heather was actually impressed that he had managed to put all that together in the 15 minutes. Surprisingly, he was also the first person to say that he would use the one million dollars to set up a charity dedicated to womens' health.
When Alejandro finished, a loud applause erupted in the room and Heather found herself slowly clapping along.
"Gracias," Alejandro smiled, as he looked around the room. Suddenly, his eyes met Heather's. She quickly looked away.
"Nicely done Alejandro!" Chris exclaimed as Alejandro walked back to his seat. "Alright, next up and for our final speaker, we have Heather Kasuga from Illuminate. Looks like we have two jewellery businesses here," Chris smirked.
Heather stood up and walked to the front. She began talking about how she started building Illuminate from the ground up when she was still in college, and her vision and plans for her business. She then held up her necklace for the audience to see as an example of one of her brand's products. There were some 'ooh's' and 'ah's' among the attendees.
Alejandro watched as Heather gave her speech. He found himself mesmerised by her poise, her drive, and the passion in her eyes when she spoke about her business and how she had built it at a grass-roots level. He thought back to the interview of Heather he had watched and thought her to be even more well-spoken watching her in person.
When she finished, the audience politely clapped. Heather grumbled and went back to her seat.
"Great job, chica," Alejandro whispered as Heather walked past him.
"Oh I know I did a good job," she retorted. Alejandro let out a small chuckle and shook his head a little. This girl.
***
It was now the afternoon after lunch break and Chris was introducing their next activity.
"Our final activity for today is all about humility, an important characteristic for any business leader and a trait some of you clearly don't have," Chris smirked. "For this activity, you'll be headed to the park next to the hotel and you'll be..." Chris paused for dramatic effect. "...selling lemonade. Each of you will have your own lemonade stand and you'll have the rest of the afternoon to sell as many cups of lemonade as possible. Any questions?"
Heather rolled her eyes. This could not just get any lamer.
2 hour laters
Heather stood at her lemonade stand with her hands crossed. Two hours had passed, and she had only sold 4 cups of lemonade.
A woman walked past. "Ma'am, would you like some lemonade?" Heather tried, to no avail.
"Lemonade?" She put on her best fake smile to another passer-by. A young boy looked tempted, but his mother dragged him away.
This is so pointless and a waste of time, she grimaced. Whatever. It's not like I need to learn how to sell lemonade for my business anyway.
Heather glanced around to see how the other program attendees were doing. Her eye caught Alejandro, who seemed to be having the most luck and who had a group of girls gathered around his stand. Of course he uses flirtation to get all the female customers. She rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, someone just buy my lemonade!" she screeched.
Alejandro heard Heather's voice and chuckled. He put down what he was doing and made his way over to Heather's lemonade stand. "Need a hand, señorita?" he smirked.
"If you're here to gloat you can just shove that stupid lemonade down your throat," Heather snapped.
"Such a witty remark from such a fiercely intelligent woman! I am both humbled and intrigued!" Alejandro exclaimed. "But actually, I'm not here to gloat. Quite the opposite in fact, I would be humbled to be of assistance should you require my services."
"Well don't you worry your pretty little head, I've got it all under control," Heather retorted confidently.
"Pretty head? Ok then, I won't worry my pretty little head," Alejandro replied, a smug look on his face.
"Ugh, it's just an expression! And I didn't mean it like that!" Heather could feel her cheeks glowing red again. She put her hands on her hips to contain herself and started walking away.
Alejandro watched her in amusement - Heather was walking away from her own lemonade stand. A few moments later, Heather realized this and headed back. "Ugh, why are you still standing here?" she scoffed.
"Alright then, me and my pretty little head will be on our way," Alejandro smirked.
"Arrogant jerk", Heather mumbled under her breath as Alejandro walked off.