[Hardaway1818]

Name : Wilson
Age : 29
Gender : Male
Profession : Vice President at a foreign bank
Home : 3-room Condo in the east of Singapore
Marital Status : Married to my dream girl, Claire (aged 25)

I am the typical Singaporean corporate climber that you will see walking along Raffles Place on a daily basis. Luckily for me, I manage to play the corporate game quite well and hence, climb pretty fast to the position of a VP in a top foreign bank at the age of 29. That’s pretty amazing as my peers are still toiling away at the lower rungs of the corporate ladder while I have more or less made it at such a young age.

Being such a high-flyer, I have almost everything going for me. Counting my prized assets would include my $1.5 mil condo, my BMW Z4 convertible, my Patek Philippe watch and of course, my dearest wife, Claire. Yes, she is the love of my life and my priceless asset.

Claire, aged 25. Young and pretty. Very pretty in fact. Tall, slim, hour glass figure, baby face, fair flawless complexion. Her long, slim legs are the best.

As you can see, we are like the “Dream Couple”, with the Chinese saying, capable husband with pretty wife.

So what has all the above got to do with the story I am going to tell? Actually nothing much, other than to brag about myself haha.

Ok enough bragging. Now the story goes……

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Time : Monday morning
Venue : Office

This was a usual Monday morning like any other Mondays. I dropped Claire at her workplace before coming into my office just before 8 am. Claire is a school teacher thus she usually reports at the school 7 plus in the morning. I like to come into office early as that is the only time when I have some peace before the rest of the people come in and the hustle and bustle of the day starts.

As usual, I was the first to reach my office. Our department started work at 9 am so usually people would start to trickle in only at 8.45 am.

I made myself my favourite cup of coffee, the aroma always perk me up. Seated comfortably in my ergonometric-designed armchair, I switched on my laptop. While waiting for the system to boot up, I picked up and run through the documents in my in-tray, left there by my personal assistant.

There was this very conspicuous envelope in my in-tray. It was in dark red. Must be one of those wedding bombs from my staff. I chucked that to the bottom of the pile and started to run through the more important documents first. Went on to clear some emails as my laptop had fully loaded by then.

Finally cleared all the important emails and documents. Glanced at my watch, 9.10 am. By now, the place outside my full-panel glass room was bustling with life. The people were all going about their usual work stuff. I had a total of 40 people reporting to me. 3 teams comprising of about 10-15 pax each, led by an AVP in each team. These were all the crème de la crème in the financial industry. Only the best of the best could work in this bank, and in this department.

I had a rival in the department, that’s George, the other VP that led the other teams. I used to report to George in the past. He was like the incumbent VP in our department, holding that position for the past 5 years, while I rose quickly through the ranks and only gotten to that rank 3 months ago. As expected, George was extremely jealous of my rise in ranks. He was 42 years old, while me 29 years old, but we held the same rank and portfolio. Who wouldn’t feel imbalanced? That was the reason why I need to work even harder to safeguard my position.

Luckily I had my very 3 capable lieutenants with me, Albert, James and Michelle. They were the 3 AVPs in my team who have been with me since day one in the bank. I basically climbed the ladder with them by my side. They were all high-flyers in their own way.

I was sipping onto my coffee while I was taking a break from the emails and documents. I was taking in the battle scene outside, from the serenity in my room. Big contrast.

That’s when my attention got back to the red envelope. Whose wedding could it be?