It was a cold winter night in New York City, the snow was falling heavily, so much so that Ella could just about make out the outline of the buildings a hundred feet away from her office window. Her office however was warm both in temperature and appearance, almost like Buckingham palace, with ornate furniture and artwork fit for any royal residence. Ella stood at the window gazing out into the city and twisting a silver ring on her finger.

“I love winter” she sighed to herself.

Ella then heard a strong knock at the door, she already knew who it was, and already knew what she was going to say.

“Come in.” she announced with a smile.

A tall dark-haired man wearing a tailored navy suit walked in and smiles at her, yet with a look on his face which would lead you to think that he wanted to get this meeting over and done with.

“Miss Demos, you rang for me?” He said with a slight sarcastic tone.
“Antonio I know protocol calls for everyone to meet you in your office but I’m just looking out for your health by helping you get your steps in every day.” She said with a friendly smile.

The UN Secretary General was a traditional and rather uptight man, but over the years had been worn down by Ella’s friendly, playful attitude.

“Well thank you for your concern but rest assured I am in perfect health. Now we must make this quick, I have a call with the President regarding the situation in North Korea in ten minutes.” He said as he sat down.
“I only need five minutes.” She replied quickly.

Ella then brought up a graph on her computer screen which she swivelled so that they could both see.

“What you are looking at is a trend in the number of people under the age of thirty in the United States either studying a politics subject or running for a political position.”

Antonio adjusted his glasses and squinted his eyes at the bright computer screen.

“It’s declining, it’s very clearly declining, and I’m not surprised given this country’s current political climate. No young person wants to get into politics, they would rather make fun of politicians and complain about them.
“Yes but look at these.”

Ella clicked on another tab showing multiple graphs from twelve other UN nations, all of which showed the same downward trend.

“These trends are the same in every country I have studied so far. We need to get young people interested in politics and educate them on how politics should be run.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?”

Antonio was no more intrigued now than he was when he walked into the office, but Ella was good at her job so whatever idea she had could be worth hearing out.

“By forming a new council, a young adults UN council. One for students who are about to take on their university studies, after all they are the next generation of leaders after we kick the bucket.”

Antonio fixed his tie and adjusted himself in his seat, clearing his throat.

“Something like that would cost us a fortune.” He began, “How do you expect us to pay for travel expenses and accommodation alone?”
“We do that all the time for the UN representatives. Besides everyone takes a week off around the start of July, so it’s perfect timing.”
“Just because everyone takes a holiday that week doesn’t mean we can fork out money to pay for teenagers to have a free trip to New York. Besides if we were to spend the money on anything it would be updating our headquarters.”

Ella rolled her eyes, her boss was bureaucratic and old fashioned, he would claim that he cared for the younger generation, but his actions would show the exact opposite. But Ella knew how which buttons to press to get her own way.

“What would you rather have the world newspaper headline be on Monday?” she said smugly, “UN spends a quarter of a million on refurbishments to a relatively new building? Or… UN Secretary General primes the next generation of world leaders?”

Antonio sat back in his seat, rubbing his chin, and looking deep in thought. Ella knew he was going to be leaving his post in two years and was eyeing the Portuguese Presidency, he knew he could gain plenty of votes from the older crowd but acquiring votes from millennials would surely swing the election in his favour. There was a moment of silence as Antonio and Ella sat across from each other in silence. Antonio knew Ella was trying to sway his decision, and Ella knew Antonio knew. Each maintained an expert poker face, pretending not to know each other’s motives.

“Well Miss Demos, I suppose this would be of great benefit to young people across the world. Draw me up a plan and I will pass it on to the appropriate departments to have this new council created.”

As he finished his sentence Ella handed him a flash-drive.

“It’s all here sir.”

Ella was nothing if not prepared.

“Thank you,” he said with a surprised look. “We’ll meet next week once the others get back to me on this.”

Antonio stood up and shook Ella’s hand.

“Good luck with the president,” she called out as he walked away.
“It’s not luck I need, I need God!” replied Antonio, power walking out of the room and without breaking stride.

The doors closed and Ella turned in her chair to look out the window.

“I could do with a few gods myself.”  

Fate, destiny, or pure chance, it’s hard to say why things happen. But the events that would transpire as a result of Ella’s conversation with Antonio would show that destiny is truly real.