MELTING MY CEO HEART - Season 3 Episode 3

After a very short and unpleasant meeting where Liz was the subject of naked glares that actually didn’t affect her much, the two went to the restaurant in the hotel to grab lunch.

The main reason why the meeting had felt unpleasant was that Liz was very disturbed that she had no clear plan regarding how she was supposed to proceed next.

Even during lunch, her mind wasn’t on the food. It was a buffet, so even though Liz served herself a full plate with the various delicacies of South America, she just couldn’t bring up the interest for it.

Seeing her disinterestedly playing with her food, Will sighed before quickly wiping his hands and saying, “Come with me.”

“Hmm? But I’m eating.”

“Yeah, right. You haven’t eaten a morsel in 15 minutes. Come on.”

Saying so, Will caught Liz’s hand and led her outside the restaurant, before placing a call and going to the exit.

There, there was a Ferrari waiting for them. A man handed Will the keys, and he helped her into the car after opening the doors which weirdly opened up instead of to the side.

Liz stayed silent, but honestly, she was a bit unhappy that they were going on a joy ride when there was something so pressing to handle.

When the engine purred into life making the iconic sound of a Ferrari enter her ears, she couldn’t help but remember Derek and wish that he was here, as he would have loved a ride in this car.

Will had noticed her disinterest, but he just smiled to himself before checking the map on his phone for one last time before starting to drive.

The two drove in silence through beautiful streets filled with posh buildings, but slowly, the sparkle and jazz started to fade away and be replaced by peeling walls, simple people and pothole-ridden roads.

Liz hadn’t been focusing very much till now, as her mind had been on the problem that she had to solve.

However, seeing the streets which were actually quite familiar to the ones where she had grown up, she focused her eyes and took in the expressions and postures of the people walking near them.

Seeing the swanky, shiny car, some directly spit on the ground, while others just averted their eyes. A few showed curiosity regarding why someone privileged might be coming to this area, but they just minded their own business.

It was as she had thought: these were the slums of the city, where none of the ultra-developed buildings and well-off citizens were visible.

The houses here were old, and overpopulation also seemed to be an issue: multiple groups of people were crowded in small places, and their faces showed the hardships they lived with.

Finally seeing Liz perk up, Will said, “What do you think about all these people?”

Frowning at the question whose purpose she couldn’t understand, Liz said, “What do I think? I think I don’t know why we’re here. You can find slums like these all over the world- even more so in second- and third-world countries. So, why are we here?”

Chuckling at her open-ended answer which didn’t reveal anything about what she truly thought, Will said, “To change their lives.”

Hearing the pretentious statement, Liz furrowed her eyebrows and said, “Really? Do you mean by donating some inconsequential amount which they will never get to see? Or by setting up some bogus foundation which will allow the rich to escape taxes while also siphoning that money away for other purposes?”

Chuckling, Will answered, “Is that all you think the Elite do?”

Putting one hand on her mouth, Liz realized that she had spoken without thinking. These were conclusions she had drawn long back, and she had just spoken them out forgetting that the one she was talking to was also part of those whom she had just talked about in an admonishing tone.

Seeing that she wasn’t answering, Will glances at her and said, “No, Liz. They are why we’re here in the first place. You haven’t gone through the document about why we’re coming here, have you?”

Whoopsie.

Indeed, absorbed in all the pending word, Liz had forgotten to see the details of the project which had brought them all to Argentina in the first place.

Seeing her expression that was like a little schoolgirl who had been caught for not doing her homework, Will laughed and said, “It’s ok, we did have a lot of other tasks to finish. Happle was invited by the Argentinian government for a very ambitious project: real-time mapping and analysis of those in high-population areas for reform planning and employment generation. It’s a mouthful, but basically, we are going to use the ultra-modern drones and cameras we had developed for the military to effectively map as many inhabitants here as possible, while also using artificial intelligence to assess their capabilities and what jobs they are capable of.”

Hearing this, Liz’s eyes widened.

Ambitious was one way of putting it, for sure.

“Th-that’s possible?”, she asked, unable to believe it.

“Of course. I forgot that you haven’t received clearance yet to see the real capabilities of our technology. I’ll get it approved later. Basically, we’re here to change these peoples’ lives, Liz. Today is one of the few days that I’m genuinely happy that I have this job.”

As Liz’s eyes narrowed on hearing Will’s wistful tone, he glanced at her and said in a serious tone, “I wanted to show you this to make you understand what kind of responsibility you have on your shoulders, just like me. Sure, finding that culprit is a priority, but when you put it in perspective with the lives of all of these people, doesn’t it seem almost…trivial?”

So that was his purpose.

As Liz turned around once again to see the poor and tough living conditions of those around them, she realized that he was right.

Yes, that was important and needed her attention, but in front of the importance of this task, did it rank that highly?

Definitely not.

More than anything, this thought made Liz relax and get back her confidence by distracting her, which was exactly what she had needed.

Turning around again to see her boyfriend, who had done this so thoughtfully just to help her, she really felt like stopping the car, closing the hood, and getting on top of him right here and now.