"Lashaun? Come on! I'm gonna be late waiting on yo ass!!"

"Shut up! I'm coming. I don't know why you even rushin'. You ain't gotta be at the airport for another 4 hours!"

"I know, but I want to get there early so I can spend time in the lounge preparing for this meeting. Now let's go!"

"Vivi girl, you need to relax. Rush, rush, rush, life is going to pass you right on by."

"Are you done, Ms. Maya Angelou?  I don't need any of your wisdom, today!"

"Keep on and I'm gonna make you get an Uber.   Let them deal with you."

Vivi stomped off towards the car. She was already dressed for business. Once she landed in Japan, she was ready to get to work and make this deal happen. She had spent the last two months brushing up on her rusty Japanese language skills. Now she was confident and ready.

Vivi remembers the day she interviewed for The Petra Group. Walking into the reception area, she was the only beautiful melanin being in the lobby. Blond-haired barbies surrounded her, all of them size 0. Vivi on the other hand, was size 'Goddess' and she carried it with confidence. After her name was called, she walked into the conference room where they were conducting the interviews.  They took one look at her and asked her why The Petra group should hire her. She already knew what they were thinking. Not having anything to lose she got real with them.

"Because you need someone with not only the knowledge but the language skills that I can bring to this position to recover from the disaster you just suffered in Tokyo. You can continue to hire 'arm candy' or you can hire someone that knows the purchasing industry and can communicate with your current and potential clients. That's why you need to hire me. And if you would have bothered to look at my resume and contact my references, you would already know that instead of judging this book of knowledge by it's beautiful cover."

Vivi had stood and stared each one of the three interviewers down. What she didn't know is that the vice president was listening to the interview process via conference call. Before any of them could respond, she did. "Well congratulations Ms. Williams. You are exactly what I need for this position. You can start tomorrow."

Now two years later, Vivi was headed to Japan to convince the Yoyoda firm that contracting with them would be beneficial and successful. All packed and ready, she had her ticket bumped up to business class so she could have lounge access. Her assistant, who was already out on maternity leave, had mistakenly booked her flight in economy class. Lounges always had better business centers and there was work that she wanted to have done before her plane touched the ground in Japan. Plus, there was no way she was flying for that long in economy. Her friend LaShaun suggested she fly first class, but when Vivi went to upgrade, there were no more first class seats available. 

Finally on her way to the airport, she relaxed a little. The traffic was light and she would be there in no time. LaShaun pulled up to the unloading zone as she didn't want to pay for short term parking.  As Vivi made her way to the trunk to get her bags, one of the handsome porters beat her to it.

"Let me get that for you Ms."

"Oh why thank you!"

"Of course."

Bags in hand, she headed to the door. The porter opened the door for her.

"Thanks again."

"Anything for a beautiful lady." He smiled at her and returned to his duties.   As she made her way to the ticket counter, she accidentally bumped into the person in front of her as she had been messing with her phone.

"I am so sorry!"

"Not a problem Ms.."

{Damn he is fine...} 

Vivi shook off that thought and went to find her boarding information. Checking in she learned that there was yet another mix up with her seat and she had been moved to first class.  Even though she was told there were no seat available when she tried to change earlier. 

New ticket in hand she made her way to security. The guy she bumped into earlier smiled as she walked past him. She quickly returned the gesture and continued on her way, not thinking anymore about the handsome man with skin the color of light warm honey.