As soon as the reporters left, cheers went up in the whole company.
Reyona just got to the base of the staircase that leads to the elevator floor.
She turned and smiled as everyone downstairs and on the second floor came out of their offices and started clapping.
"Yes yes. That is right. Give it up for the best boss anyone can ever have," Phil said in the tone of a hypeman as he took the centre floor and gestured to Reyona with a courtly bow.
People hooted and clapped more.
As the clap was dying down, Phil turned to Reyona and said, "I just want to say this once and for all. Because if I did not say this now, I might forever regret it."
People started snickering when he put on a showmanship expression and went down on one knee before Reyona.
"Boss, I am in love with you."
Laughter went through the crowd as he raised his hand in supplication to Reyona. "What do you say, milady? Do you believe that I am in love with you?"
Reyona got into character and looked down haughtily at him as she said, "No, you are not. Now, get up before you embarrass yourself, dear."
"Yes, you are right. That was beginning to get uncomfortable," Phil said as he quickly stood up with a comical look on his face.
People laughed again and Samantha rolled her eyes heavenward even though she had a smile on her face.
"Now that my inappropriate love has been rejected, I just have to say this." Phil began on a more serious note. "You are the most incredible woman I have ever had the privilege to work with, boss. The strongest too. After my mother"
Everyone laughed as Phil bowed again and stepped aside.
"Now that Mr. Cherry here has started this, I just want to say that you are a role model to me, boss. Never forget just how amazing you are," Samantha said.
Everyone clapped again.
Just as she stepped back, Charlotte came forward and said, "You treat people right. You have never made me feel like I and my opinions don't matter. Working for you has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.
Just like that, Reyona's staff started saying one thing or another they loved about working for the company.
Reyona's smile widened more and more as more of her staff members came downstairs and more of them proudly told her how much she meant to them.
Even two of the security men ran in to ask if they could add their own quota too.
People laughed and the floor was given to them.
The first of them, Samuel, said, "You are the first boss I have ever worked with that doesn't make me feel like I am just a fixture or a statue that comes with the company. You genuinely care about us. You even asked when you saw my expression after I received a call from my wife the other day, and when I told you the problem, you took care of it without deducting it from my salary. I just want to use this opportunity to thank you once again, ma. No amount of malice would make this company fold in Jesus name." He said passionately and everyone chorused, Amen!
Reyona's heart was full to bursting by the time the last person finished speaking.
She looked around at them all and she was overwhelmed by the gift of men that she had been bestowed with.
Apart from those who left, these people around her had given her their best, even when everything looked bleak for the company.
She knew she could never thank them enough.
Yet she tried.
"You guys. You… this is really incredible. I know I can't thank you enough for your loyalty. For your…" She heard notifications from several phones around her.
Some of her staff looked at their phones, and they hurriedly focused back on her but she could see the repressed glee on their faces.
With the recent developments, she had become super sensitive to notifications like that, so she asked immediately, "What is it?"
"Our dear reporter is getting what he deserves already," Samantha said with glee as she brought her phone forward.
She clicked on it and increased the volume of the clip.
Reyona wouldn't stop being amazed at the rate at which things like this could get out. She could see that the clip started when Steve was talking about how people like her got to where she was by cutting corners. Reyona smiled when she heard her insinuating tone as she responded to him.
She winced a bit when she heard herself mentioning Sehima Hasanova. If she had thought of it well, she knew she wouldn't have ordinarily done that. But at the moment, she was the most powerful woman in business that Reyona could think of. Insinuating that a woman like that got her position by sleeping around was really a killing blow for Steve.
So Reyona was not surprised when Samantha said, "The comment, boss. It is the best part."
Already, there were tons of comments on the post.
Comments lambasting Steve for being such an asshole.
Women were so enraged that he would even dare to insinuate that all their hard work was for nothing and they only got anything by sleeping around.
Some commended Reyona for her poise, and many declared they would have slapped his rotten teeth out of his mouth.
Many revisited the slander about Reyona as they linked it to what Steve said.
One commenter said, "I told y'all then that that video could be a doctored one meant to ruin a well-to-do woman like her. Men like fucking Steve would always be threatened by women's success."
Another typed "Death to Asshole Steven. Death to Dynamic TV"
Reyona shook her head as Samantha scrolled to many other platforms that had reposted the clip.
Though it was a bit underhanded, Reyona was satisfied with the outcome of that encounter.
It could have gone all wrong, and then her company would have been under fire again because of a bastard with a camera.
Camera!
A thought struck Reyona just as she was about to disperse everyone.
The camera angle!
"Let me see that again real quick," she said to Samantha.
The latter quickly showed her another repost.
"See that? Everyone is talking in favour of...
Reyona was barely listening as she watched the clip again.
The person holding the camera captured Steve from the front.
Though the person was careful not to show Reyona, a part of her shoulder showed.
That means the person was one of them.
The person was behind her!
"That video. One of us took it. Who was that?" she asked suddenly.
The excitement among her staff ebbed a bit as they looked back at the clip and pondered what she said.
They all looked at each other with the same questions on their faces.
Who did it?