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“Alright,” I replied. It was a fifteen-minute drive to the office of the building council, and I’d rather spend them calming her, but I agreed.
When we arrived, I recognized Rebecca’s car in the parking lot, and I reached to wrap my arms around Mira to protect her. Rebecca had political connections, and she had buried many businesses. She spread rumors about me, and my reputation would have been tarnished if not for my uncle’s influence and my credibility.
Mira was just starting to like me, and she would hate it if she knew I had a past with her enemy.
“I’m fine,” Mira said, pulling away from me as we walked into the building.
Before we entered, we could hear voices. They were arguing, and a lot of them were not on Mira's side. Mira opened the door and took one step inside.
“I have something to tell you,” I decided to come clean before Rebecca had a chance to manipulate the situation.
“What is it, Ward?” she asked as the noise in the room died down, and everyone became silent. I could see fear and respect on the faces of everyone seated. I was awed at the way Mira commanded the room without saying a word.
“We’ll talk about it later tonight,” I said, and she nodded.
Many of the people in the room might have been against her before she came in, but now they were on her side. They struggled to make space for her so she could walk to her chair. The sound of chairs scraping the floor as people stood up for her made me have a new respect for her. Rebecca was seated with a smirk on her face. How could I have been attracted to that despicable woman? She looked older than her age, and there were now a few wrinkles on her face.
After we all took our seats, the minutes of the last meeting were read by the secretary. New issues were brought to the floor, and it was time for Mira to speak. Even the drop of a pin could be heard.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I stand before you today with a heavy heart,” Mira started. “My firm, M&M, never takes on any project that would disrupt the peace of the community or endanger society. Every project we ever had, a percentage of our income went into the development of the community and to charity. That is how much I love my community. So how am I supposed to feel when the community turns against me?”
A few people started mumbling. Others nodded their heads in agreement with Mira.
“I am heartbroken,” Mira continued. “And I’d like to know why the building permit to one of my projects was revoked today.”
Rebecca stood up and introduced herself.
“I’m Miss Rice, and as many of you know, I am the manager of the community welfare committee,” she said arrogantly. “It was brought to my notice that the noise from your construction site is too much and that it was disturbing the peace of the community surrounding it.”
“Why wasn’t I notified before the license was revoked?” Mira asked.
Rebecca started to speak, but Mira cut her off.
“Miss Rice, that question was directed at the chairman,” Mira said.
Rebecca’s nose flared up, and she jutted out her jaw, angrily.
The chairman stood up. “I’m sorry, Miss McBride,” he began. “I was informed that you didn’t take any measures to control the disruptions.”
“How would I know this when I wasn’t informed?” Mira asked.
“Miss Rice, didn’t you send an email to Miss McBride?” the chairman asked.
“I…..” Rebecca stuttered. “Well, I did, but—” She stopped abruptly. “She already knows she’s making too much noise, and the lights went out on the block last night, so what were we supposed to do?” she spat out angrily. “She knows these things.”
“But did you send her a written notice?” the chairman asked again.
“Well, we just got the complaints last night, so we—. We got ahead of the problem, so no. I don’t think we did a written notice. We did inform them, though.”
Even the chairman looked embarrassed as Rebecca struggled to put together her reasoning for terminating Mira’s permit.
“Given that the manager of community welfare can’t seem to recall sending a written notice to Miss McBride, we will take a vote,” the chairman said. “Please raise your hands if you want Miss McBride to continue with her office building permit that had been revoked.”
Rebecca started to mutter under her breath. The chairman threw her a cursory look, and she kept quiet from that moment on.
“Who is in support of Miss McBride getting her building permit back so she can continue her project?” the chairman asked again.
All hands went up except that of the chairman and Rebecca. She picked up her bag and stormed out. The chairman followed behind her like a schoolboy running after his lover. That’s when the setup had been clear. They were working together, but they’d clearly been outvoted.
