Suddenly, I Am Rich

”How many orders did we have for the whole week, Joel?”

The next day, Gray was back in his office. The morning sunlight filtered through the blinds on his windows, casting faint lines of light across his desk.

He was reading a few documents on his table with his laptop open on the side. Meanwhile, Mara sat by a smaller table near the window. She had her earbuds in and was quietly tapping at her keyboard as she handled yet another exchange with Jet2.

Joel, on the other hand, was sitting across from Gray. He had a notepad in his hand. He flipped through a few pages before looking up at him.

”We’re close to 600 orders now, Sir. That was all in just a week,” Joel muttered. ”To be exact, 593.”

Gray leaned back in his chair, his brow rising slightly.

”Just six hundred?”

Joel gave a small nod.

”Yes, Sir. That was already a lot. Considering the problems that we faced, that’s an incredible jump. The feedback’s been positive too. People noticed the delivery improvements, and some even mentioned our drivers by name.” Joel smiled a little.

”Your ’new recruits’ seem to be leaving an impression on the customers.”

From the side, Mara smirked without looking up from her screen.

”I’ve heard them talking about it. Dante even asked the other staff if it was normal for customers to tip them. When they said yes, he sounded so happy.”

Gray chuckled at it. For some reason, he could imagine that image.

”Oh well, they deserve it if that was the case. I’m just surprised that they’re actually doing their job right. People notice it too.”

Joel nodded.

”We are happy too, Sir.”

Still, despite that good news, Gray couldn’t help but feel a little uncertain.

[Mission: Achieve 700 completed online orders for a week. (593/700)]

[Reward: $20,000| +2 influence.]

[Time Limit: 27 hours left.]

”...”

That was still a little problem for Gray.

Gray drummed his fingers lightly on the armrest of his chair. 103 orders. That wasn’t too far off, but it wasn’t exactly small either.

A slow day could ruin it, and if he missed the mark by so little, that would be a heartbreak.

Gray leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk as his mind thought through quick fixes. They can do promotions, bundles, and maybe some kind of limited offer.

It was their first week, after all, so customers were still testing the waters.

Then it clicked for him.

’Discounts...’

It was nothing too drastic and would just be enough to push a few customers to buy.

’This should be it,’ Gray quickly turned to Mara.

”Mara,” he suddenly called out for her name, his voice cutting through the tapping of her keyboard.

Mara quickly paused what she was doing. She pulled one of her earbuds out and glanced over.

”Yes?”

”Check if we can still manage to run some discounts on the online store,” Gray said. ”It doesn’t have to be big, but just something that would nudge people into trying us out.”

Mara blinked at him for a moment before setting her laptop on her lap.

”Alright. I’ll go through our numbers and see what we can afford. Give me an hour.”

”Good.” Gray nodded before turning his gaze back to Joel.

Joel straightened up in his chair as if he already expected another task.

”And Joel, keep this momentum,” Gray told him, his tone steady but laced with determination.

”But tomorrow, I want more push for our online store. Promotions, word-of-mouth, posters, whatever you can do to let people know we’re running offers tomorrow. Make sure the staff gets it across, too. Don’t let a single customer leave without hearing about it.”

Joel hesitated for a moment before giving him a nod.

”Yes, Sir. I’ll see to it.”

From the side, Mara raised her brows slightly at Gray’s sudden enthusiasm, then went back to her work with a faint shrug. Joel too was a little weirded out by the urgency. However, he still took it as nothing more than Gray being happy with how things were going on their store.

After all, their first week’s numbers were something to be proud of.

But for Gray...

[593/700]

[27 hours left.]

It was still too early to be sure.

”Good,” Gray finally let out a small sigh before leaning back on his chair again. His gaze flicked toward Joel, who was still sitting upright like he was waiting for his next instruction.

”That’s all for now, Joel. We’re done here,” Gray informed him with a calm voice. He smiled and gave him a nod, ”But before you go, I want to talk to the four.”

Joel nodded immediately.

”Understood, Sir. I’ll call them.”

”Thank you.”

Just like that, Joel stood up and fixed his things. He took the notepad and tucked it under his arms before leaving the office.

Once outside, he quickly called for the 4 men, who were eating some snacks and drinking some juice in the staff room.

The four were working since earlier, so Gray told them to rest for a little bit before delivering some goods again. Fortunately, a lot of Jet2 riders have been going to their store too, so it wasn’t much of a big deal if they rested there for a couple of minutes.

”Sir Gray is looking for you all.”

”Boss Gray?”

”He’s looking for us?”

”Come on guys, let’s go to Boss!”

A few minutes later, the door of Gray’s office opened, and one by one, the four walked in.

Dante was at the front, with Marco, Luis, and Ricky trailing right behind him.

”Boss,” Dante greeted Gray with a deep voice before bowing his head a little.

The four looked much more disciplined now compared to the first day Gray met them.

”Hello, guys,” Gray greeted with a small smile. He motioned to the seat in front of him before putting his hand firmly on the desk.

”Take a seat. I have a task for you.”