That lightened Orchid’s mood. She smiled and sipped herputaojiu, or wine, and pictured what Phoenix would say. That she fit in anywhere. Or better yet, why he liked her uniqueness.
“Tell me how your family is doing,” Orchid said. She hoped her friend’s grandmother was feeling better, and wanted to hear about their upcoming Autumn Festival plans.
After they’d conversed and the dishes were cleared, the talk turned towards work.
“So, how’s beauty strategy coming?” Star asked. Orchid thought about the seminal document she needed to deliver in two weeks.
Orchid trusted her. Star was smart, funny and didn’t hold it against her for beingwaiguoren, or foreigner.
“Honestly, I think it’s rock solid. I mean, really good,” Orchid said, correcting her use of slang that wouldn’t be understood. She was lucky that her company conducted business in English. “The problem is Eban.”
Her friend nodded. “He is very difficult.”
“He was fine with my deck when I showed it to him one-on-one, but in his team meeting, he shredded me. Um, made me look bad,” Orchid explained.
“You need a big dog.”
Orchid laughed at the expression.
“Go tell Li Wei. Or Wang Ming.”
“I need them to approve my recommendations. I can’t let them think I’m having trouble with the head of sales for our biggest region,” Orchid said.
Star tilted her head. The Chinese valued the idea of saving face. “Maybe American big dog.”
Orchid brightened at the spark of an idea. They chatted until the check came. At the exit, Orchid bought two tins of cookies, packaged in a traditional blue and white pattern. She handed one box to her friend and hugged her goodbye. The other tin, tucked safely in her bag, joined gifts she’d purchased for friends back home. She couldn’t help herself, she’d even chosen special things for Phoenix—a silk dragon tie, Chinese character cufflinks, and magazines with outrageously creative ads.
Afterdinner, Orchid lounged on the fainting couch in her hotel room and ruminated on the idea that she needed abig dog. Her network in China wasn’t that deep. But back in New York she had several mentors.
Orchid grabbed her phone and touched the icon for LinkedIn. She scrolled through colleagues’ updates, sending congratulatory notes for those celebrating work anniversaries and promotions. It made her happy to see familiar faces from home. Now, who among her contacts had experience in China? Specifically in the beauty industry? Each search included one person whom she’d been avoiding. She’d spent the month pushing away thoughts of Phoenix. She tried leaving an open mind on how to interpret his silence. Maybe he was giving her room to work. Maybe he was busy himself. Maybe he was just an ass.
She swigged a mouthful from her wine glass and typed Phoenix’s name into a browser. The search returned pages of results. Nothing personal, of course, since he avoided all social media. Instead, old industry articles appeared.Ad Agehad named counterAgency a “Small Agency to Watch” and praised its vision of building brands with a conscience. The articles commended this young thirty-two-year-old’s accomplishments. He really was something. So impressive. It didn’t hurt that his boyish grin made her heart squeeze tighter, that his habit of running fingers through his unruly hair made him handsomer than a young David Beckham, and that his presence filled whatever room he strode into.
She chose his work number from her contact list. Phoenix was her mentor, after all. It seemed quite professional to use his office line. She’d tell him about the old-school sales guy who kowtowed to her wishes one-on-one, but then mowed down her ideas in high-stakes meetings. If it came up, well, she could laugh off their romantic kiss and her attempt to talk about it at the airport.
His admin answered, an efficient presence she’d never met but whom she’d heard about during herpro bonowork with Phoenix.
“Mr. Phoenix Walker’s line. This is Liv.”
“This is Orchid Paige. I’m trying to reach Phoenix. Is he in the office?”
Liv’s pause, brief as it was, unfurled more unsavory stories in Orchid’s mind.He’d fallen for some sophisticate.He’d met a movie starlet, magazine editor, or travel blogger with smooth flowing locks, a haughty British accent and billionaire family.
“He’s not in. Is there someone else at counterAgency who can help you?” she replied in her clipped tone. Orchid imagined the dark-haired exec slinging one leg over the corner of his assistant’s desk.
“If someone named Orchid calls, tell her I’m not in.”
“No, thanks. Please ask him to call me.”
Traveling a painful yet familiar path, Orchid remembered Caleb’s casual stories about Phoenix’s ex-girlfriend. “He was with Tish forever, and then . . . he lost interest. He dumped her. She said it was like she suddenly didn’t exist. And I thought they’d get married. My brother can be a bit mercurial.” His words were a warning. But they meant that he’d recognized the chemistry between them.
Fordays following the unsatisfying conversation with Liv, there was no return call. Orchid took matters into her own hands. The next time she met with Eban and his team, she pulled out a blue-and-white tin. “Womenxiang zhexie binggan. Fenkai danshi fangzai yiqi.” They sat up with respect at her willingness to try speaking Mandarin, and chuckled at her sentiment. “We’re like these cookies, separate, but stuck together.” The icebreaker made Eban jovial. He agreed with her geographical strategy to name the Southeast as the number one priority. Over treats, they haggled an agreement to overfund his region by twenty percent in return for sky-high distribution targets. She left the meeting with handshakes, and a spring in her step that wasn’t only because of her lighter bag.
The morning before her trip home, Orchid entered the executive boardroom. The women and men who ran the China division welcomed her into the room. She strode to the front and caught the gaze of their president, sitting opposite her, at the table’s power spot.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to grow your business. You’ll see in the presentation that not only can we double your sales in China, this product line is addressing unmet needs across Asia. My two-year plan has R&D tweaking the recipe for Western countries next.”
They debated her assumptions. After all, she was recommending substantial investment. Tens of millions in R&D, media and agency fees. After one hour turned to two, the president leaned back in her seat and nodded. “You’ve done your homework. Answered every objection. Not an easy task. Congratulations, we’re aligned to your recommendations.” In the boardroom, the leadership team presented her with gifts of appreciation:bai jiu,a fiery Chinese liquor; handmade pottery from Tianjin; and a photo of their first team outing to the Great Wall.
