My Odyssey Ch. 02

Angela looked very worried and had to concede that Mastuda had a point.

"In retrospect, we have erred in rewarding Melanie adequately. We will rectify the situation immediately," promised Angela.

"That may be too little, too late," said Matsuda. "You had your chance when you thought she had made an error in the IT infrastructure estimate. Did you treat her with respect and ask her how she planned to make it work? No! You tool the word of her team and assumed she had made a mistake. Is this how you treat a key employee who has been instrumental in winning a prestigious contract?" asked Matsuda.

"Damn! He's making a great case for me. I am still in the running. But let's not get our hopes too high," I thought not wanting to get heart-broken all over again.

"I am deeply sorry, Sir. I see that I have erred in my handling of the situation," whined Angela now looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Not only did you not give her a fair chance, you chose to humiliate her in front of her whole team and your so-called leadership team, merely to indulge your own need for revenge against your perceived adversary. Essentially, you put your personal biases over your company and our project's interests. Don't know about American values, but these are not Japanese values!" said Matsuda now scolding her like she was an errant teenager.

"Damn! How did he know about all this?" I wondered and looked quizzically at Frank to see if he had told Matsuda. Frank, intuited what I was asking and shook his head, "No."

"OMG! The bastard has an informer on the inside," I thought.

"I am sorry, Sir!" whined Angela, looking pathetic.

"In the Japanese culture, loyalty goes both ways. Employers take good care of their employees and earn their loyalty. Clearly, TrueTech has failed to do so. What do you have to say to that?" asked Matsuda sternly.

"You are right, Sir! American companies have a lot to learn from Japanes companies and we wil endeavor to do so," said Angela in a pathetic attempt at brown-nosing.

Matsuda was too smart for that and he smiled and said, "But for now, do you deserve to be punished?"

Angela looked mortified but I noticed her nipples hardening a little more and an involuntary spasm, so I knew that like me, she too was turned on by the prospect of further humiliation.

"Yes Sir! I deserve to be punished in front of all your employees," said Angela in a raspy voice.

"Very well then. Let's start with some apology squats before my employees. Promise to take better care of your employees," said Matsuda.

"I promise to take better care of my employees," said Angela facing the crowd as she performed her first squat.

After about ten, she was asked to apologize to me.

"I am sorry I was mean to you," said Angela now submissively doing her squats in front of me. I loved watching her expressions. She was clearly angry she was being made to do that but like me. She too found subjugation erotic. We women can tell!

Her squats done, Matsuda's secretary came on stage carrying shaving implements.

I was beside myself!

"I get to take revenge. I get to shave and humiliate the bitch just like she did to me!" I thought happily and wide-eyed.

Angela looked like she was going to cry and yet a hitherto concealed submissive side of her emerged as I positioned her on the chair and spread her legs wide and she on her own said, "Melanie, my rival, please shave me and expose my pussy to everyone."

"Angela! Didn't know you would be enjoying this! Do you not have any shame?" I asked rubbing it in.

She shot daggers at me and said, "I do but I deserve to be shamed publicly for my mistakes."

The Japanese audience appreciated and clapped.

I was a bit pissed with myself for giving her an opportunity to gain support like that, but I hadn't seen it coming. I had expected her to be her haughty self and not be so self-deprecating.

I went about my business of shaving my rival silently but enjoyed myself tremendously and cherished every second of it. I toweled her off and exposed her naked mound to everyone for the first time.

Angela blushed profusely at seeing herself on the monitor spread out like that and I thought, "Damn she looks gorgeous. Not as gorgeous as me, of course, but gorgeous nonetheless."

Clearly, Matsuda was a fan of symmetry because next he had his secretary come up on stage with markers.

Angela too had to experience what I had had to experience – leering Japanese men and women write all kinds of indignities on her naked flesh.

She too had to present herself to the management team so they could admire their employees' creativity followed by all the employees surrounding her in a circle and laughing at her.

I could tell by how her pussy was glistening that she too had found the events immensely arousing.

She then resumed her position with us, facing the audience.

All three of us now were naked with exquisite looking Japanese writing all over us.

We were then asked to do our apology squats in unison and the employees were asked to chant, "Shame!"

Oh my God! I had goosebumps all over as we did our squats to an unrelenting chorus of "Shame! Shame!"

After a dozen squats or so, Matsuda bid us to stop and asked us to face him again.

"Time now for my decision," he said and my heart skipped a few beats.

"This is one of the more difficult decisions I have had to make," he continued.

"On the one hand, our Japanese tradition is risk-averse and we favor approaches that are safe. Tried and tested, as TrueTech would say. Moreover, we definitely do not approve of disloyalty among the ranks.

On the other hand, there is a need for us to be innovative. Be innovative or perish, seems to be what the tea leaves say. Too often, we have lagged the competition in this regard. Question is, can we hold true to our Japanese traditions of loyalty and respect and still be innovative?

On the face of it, Melanie has been disloyal and should not be rewarded for it. However, as I mentioned earlier, she has been an extremely loyal employee but the company failed her. Even if there's a possibility that TrueTech could adopt her approach, there is no doubt that they will be mired in bureaucracy and risk-averse behavior which will put this entire project at risk.

So, having weighed all the pros and cons, my management team has decided to back Melanie but with some modifications and additional conditions of course," he concluded.

I couldn't help but jump with joy and went over to hug Frank and then bowed before Matsuda and his team, happily forgetting about my nudity.

"Wait. All parties have to hear and agree to the conditions. Your celebrations may yet prove to be premature," he cautioned.

I looked worried again.

Matsuda said, "The problem I am trying to solve is to how ensure co-operation between the two companies. I know how vendors can trip each other up, so I want to safeguard myself against that. My offer is to award Melanie's company 10 Million a year, reduce 25 Million a year from the TrueTech contract, hold back 5 Million a year from Melanie and 10 Million a year from TrueTech. That will be incentive to co-operate completely and fully. If at the end of each year, I find that you have co-operated to my satisfaction, then I will pay you the money that was held back minus any penalties. I will set up a review board that will investigate complaints about overt as well as covert cases of non-co-operation. Each incident will carry a penalty," said Matsuda.

"Agreed!" I said enthusiastically, for I had every intention of co-operating fully. It was in my best interest.

"I will have to take the proposal to my leadership team," said Angela.

"I understand and respect that. Bear in mind, that Frank has been very loyal to you in his negotiations. I could have docked more from your contract and saved some money from the project, but Frank convinced me that I was better off with increased chances of a successful project and happy vendors would increase those chances. He could have negotiated more money for his new company, but he did not. You are really getting a great deal, Angela. I would pitch it very strongly to your leadership, if I were you," said Matsuda.

"I will, Sir! But just in case, I am not able to convince them and they are willing to take on the complete project based on the current contract, without asking for any more money, would that be acceptable to your company?" inquired Angela hopefully.

"I am afraid, this is a 'take it or leave it' deal. If you are not able to convince your management, then your portion of the contract will be awarded to someone else. My lawyers have assured me that we can do that," said Matsuda.

If I was jumping for joy previously, I was now ecstatic. I could have done cartwheels around the stage. The contract was in the bag.

I bowed to Matsuda and said, "I am deeply touched by your trust in me. I will never let you down, Sir!"

"Well, wait. I have more conditions," said Matusda and I again looked terrified.

"You will agree to full and complete audits by auditor. I just want to make sure you are spending the money legitimately and not endangering the project," said Matsuda.

"Agreed!" I said relieved.

"But please bear in mind that innovative companies such as mine will need to be nimble and unconventional. Whereas, I agree with the intent of your requirement, it is in both our interests that my company remain agile and creative and not be encumbered by too many processes," I added.

"Agreed. We will make sure that we do not hamper you," said Matsuda.

"Next. I could have easily negotiated down your share of the contracted but I did not. I expect you to run over your estimates, given that this is cutting-edge technology and surprises are inevitable. I want you to focus on making the project a success and not have to worry about the money. But, a year into the project, I want to start moving my other IT applications into the cloud, leveraging what we have learnt on this project. I want to do that on a T&M basis using the same billing rate that was used for costing this project," he continued.

'Absolutely, Sir!" I said happily.

"Adjusted for inflation, of course?" asked a concerned Frank.

"Agreed," said Matsuda smiling.

"I am happy you convinced Frank to join your venture. That gives me more confidence," said Matsuda and I agreed happily.

"So now we come to the challenging part of how to get the two companies to co-operate. It starts with you three. I need the three of you to become best friends. That journey starts now. So, Melanie, please show wipe Angela clean," said Matsuda as his secretary came with a sponge and two small buckets of water.

By now, I had decided to comply with all his instructions without protest, so I shrugged, picked up the washing implements and knelt before my adversary and slowly wiped her legs and her pussy clean. Then I did the same to the legs behind her. I then stood up and cleaned her back and her butt. I continued to stand behind her and sensuously wiped the rest of her clean, caressing and fondling her breasts as I did that, much to the audience's appreciation.

Predictably, Angela was asked to return the favor.

She too did her job slowly, relishing each moment and took the time to fondle me and kiss me as she did it.

Now the question of who would wipe Frank, came up.

I resented letting Angela perform this intimate act and yet, there was a part of me relishing the prospect of my adversary subserviently cleaning up my to-be boyfriend.

It irritated me that Frank did not protest or offer to clean himself, but I already knew that he was a perv. He was unlikely to pass up this chance.

The next instruction took me by surprise, despite all that I had undergone that day!

"Now, Melanie, go down on Angela," said Matsuda.

Both if us exclaimed, "No!"

"You have come this far. It will be a shame to give up now," said Matsuda cruelly.

The bastard was right.

I led Angela to the chair, positioned her so that her legs were spread wide and knelt before her and started licking her slowly.

This was my first time doing it to a woman and I later learnt that it was Angela's first time too. We were both embarrassed as hell, but insanely turned on by it too. The fact that I was going down on a previously hated rival, added to the humiliation and eroticism of the situation.

Luckily, the events of the evening had gotten Angela so turned on, that it took only a couple of minutes of licking and sucking her before she convulsed and climaxed.

Predictably, she was asked to return the favor. Oh, my God! It felt so good to have a woman do that to me. We women are so gentle and delicate about it. We know when to slow down and when to increase the tempo. I looked at myself on the monitors and blushed at seeing myself getting serviced on screen and in front of an audience.

Frank looked appreciatively and I was happy to see that.

Like Angela, I too was insanely overloaded and much as I wanted to prolong the ecstasy, I couldn't and it wasn't soon before I shook like a leaf and had a mind-blowing orgasm. Like, I had done. Angela too toweled me off, while looking into my eyes.

Matsuda was right. This was helping us become better friends. The events of the day had already caused to develop a respect for each other, but intimacy took it to a different level altogether.

She raised me up and gave me a passionate kiss on the lips and the audience cheered wildly.

Now, it came to Frank.

Matsuda thought for a second and asked, "Melanie, would you mind if Angela gave Frank some relief?"

"I I wouldn't like that, Sir!" I stammered.

"That's good. Glad I asked. I don't want to do anything to imperil the friendship that's developing between you two," said Matsuda and Frank resigned himself to having an aching dick a little longer.

"I have some other conditions, but we don't need to detain our employees for that," he continued.

"Well, dear employees, what you have witnessed today is something really extra-ordinary! We have seen innovation and disloyalty, betrayal and then co-operation. Angela, Melanie and Frank have all acted reprehensibly but have faced the consequences of their actions admirably. They have been stripped and shamed in front of all of you and yet borne their humiliation with repentance and dignity.

Going forward, you will treat all of them with the utmost professional respect and no mention of today's events will be made," he cautioned and all the employees voiced their assent.

"Now, please give them a standing ovation," commanded Matsuda and they did. We were embarrassed but yet honored by their applause.

"Now you will come on stage, one by one and bow before each of them before leaving," he said.

The employees all lined up and one by one, stood in front of each of us and performed a formal bow expressing their respect. It would have felt great if we had not been naked.

After they had all emptied the room, we faced Matsuda again and gave us copies of the contract and said, "I have signed it. It's now up to you to sign it or not."

"I am ready to sign now, Sir!" I said enthusiastically and proceeded to do so.

The contract was then given to Angela to take to her leadership team.

Matsuda then said, "Now for the non-technical aspects of the contract. You and Angela will attend a status meeting with my leadership team here every month."

"Of course, Sir!" I said as did Angela and we looked puzzled as to why that was worth mentioning.

"In the nude," added the pervert.

We looked wide-eyed. This itself had been hard enough, but every month?

"This is not related to the contract. You already have the signed contract. It will merely improve our working relationship. Besides, it will make it more interesting," he added.

"Yes!" I heard myself saying.

"Yes!" said Angela, not wanting to be the one to hold out. Neither of us could keep the excitement out of our voices.

"And tomorrow evening, I have a party for some of my top clients. You will both attend the party," said Matsuda.

"In the nude, Sir?" I inquired.

"Very good! You learn fast. It's a bdsm party, so there will be more than mere nudity," he added.

"But my husband? What will I tell him?" asked Angela.

"Oh, he is invited too. As is Frank," said Matsuda and showed us an invitation card.

I couldn't believe his gall. He had our names and a narrative about how two corporate rivals would be punished for fighting and taught to become friends.

I looked at Frank who looked wide-eyed, his excitement palpable. He looked pleadingly at me imploring me to agree.

"In for a penny, in for a pound," I thought as I said, "I am in."

Angela was still not sure.

"Can I think it over, Sir?" asked Angela.

"Come on. Surely you don't need your leadership team for this. Learn to trust your intuition and decide," teased Matsuda.

"Well I would like to discuss it with my husband, Mark," said Angela.

"Fair enough. Call him. Put him on the speakerphone," said Matsuda.

Angela looked wide-eyed as she realized that Matsuda wanted her to call him right then and there.

She called him reluctantly and luckily he picked up and said, "Hi honey! Let me guess, you have to work late tonight."

"Oh, I wish it were that simple sweetheart! You may want to sit down for this," said Angela reluctantly.

"Honey you are worrying me. What is it. Are you ok?" asked a very concerned Mark.

I was beginning to like this guy.

"Well I am in a jam. I will explain when I get home but right now, I am kind of being blackmailed into participating in a bdsm event tomorrow. It is all safe and all that and there will be no sex. Plus, you will be there. And the bastards want a decision right now," added Angela, sounding anxious and flustered.

"BDSM?" asked Mark incredulously.

"Yes! Can you believe it?" asked Angela.

"But is it safe? They are not going to hurt you?" asked Mark concerned.

"That I am sure. These are just kinky Japanese businessman out to have some fun. They will be using toy whips and all that and have promised me that I won't get hurt. You know Melanie, my colleague I told you about. She will be there too, getting punished with me," said Angela.

"But you hate that bitch!" said Mark, not realizing he could be heard by me, obviously.

"Well," said Angela looking embarrassed, "We are in the process of becoming better friends now."

"Sweetheart, I don't know what to say!" said Mark.

"That's what a decent guy would say. Unlike, Frank who is only too willing to have me publicly humiliated," I thought, giving Frank a reproachful look.

"But you know best. If there's no way out then I guess you have to do what you have to do," said Mark.

Thanks for understanding, honey. It won't make you think any less of me?" asked Angela biting her lip.

"Oh no, Honey! Plus, I am sure it will turbo-charge our sex life. I already have a boner thinking about it," said Mark, excitedly.

"Men!" I thought and again looked at Frank reproachfully.

Angela looked embarrassed as the reality dawned on her that her relationship with Frank was forever changed.

"In fact, I am standing nude before my blackmailer right now. Would you like to see that?" asked Angela surprisingly and inexplicably.

Till today, I don't know what possessed her to do that. Maybe she was upset with Mark for acquiescing so readily. Maybe she wanted to wrest some control by doing that. Maybe she was just getting drawn into the world of kink. I didn't know. Nor did she, when I asked her later about it.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" asked Mark incredulously.

"See for yourself," said Angela impetuously as she turned it into a video call.