The café had ordered for a large amount of ingredients so the supermarket offered to deliver them with company’s van on their behalf.
“Amber, you should go with John for the delivery and also make sure to find out what they need next so they don’t place the order to another mart” the manager instructed
She got into the van and after fifteen minutes ride, they pulled up in front of the café and she got down from the van as Emily and Eddy walked out of the café. She observed that they were familiar and tried checking well but John opened the van and signaled to her to come closer.
“They look so familiar, who are they?” she murmured and tried walking into the street to check the car well but a speeding car made her fly off the street and before she could walk back in, Eddy’s car already left.
She finished setting the orders and also took new ones as the manager requested before they went back to work but she could not get the familiar scene out of her head.
“The car is extremely familiar, the people that passed too were extremely familiar. It better not be what I am thinking” she thought as she went about her work.
*****
Charles and Joseph met at a bar at night to catch up with their daily activities and what they were up to and also have some fun since Joseph was bored.
“You should be preparing for your wedding, why are you coming to bars every time?” Joseph remarked as he pulled out a stool
“You should have fun while you can. I really envy you because you have nothing to do while I am stuck in the office all day” Charles sighed as he poured another round of the faint red wine into the his cup containing some ice cubes
“The day of doing nothing might soon be over because I will be going to the company soon” Joseph responded
“What of your older brother? Will he step down for you?” he asked raising his brows
“He has no choice but to step down. It’s not like it was ever his place, he was just placed there temporarily till I am through and I gave him a luxury of three extra years so it’s time he returned my property to me” stated Joseph as he dragged a cup near to pour himself a glass
“That’s true, it never was his property but do you think he will want to give it up? Come to think of it, your father gave him that place because it was not doing well and needed someone to take the blame but he was smart enough to turn the situation of Shellhouse around. I wouldn’t allow anyone take it away from me forcefully if I were the one too” he revealed
“Now that you have said it, I can’t help but think of it that way. If he tries to fight me then I have no choice but to show him who the real owner is” Joseph blurt out as he took a sip of his wine
“It seems your sister is in love with him though, she was all over him the last time you visited” he said to Charles who paused at the revelation
“Stephanie? She’s in love with Tom?” Charles asked in disbelief
“Yea, it seems so. You had better keep in her check because she’s investing in an empty purse” Joseph chuckled
“She doesn’t fail to amaze me, her standard is extremely low” Charles spat out and scoffed
****
The buzz for the wrong order incident finally died down with the agreement to deduct every loss from Tom’s paycheck but the office was tense. Everyone was working on their toes but that didn’t rule out the gossiping aspect as they were wondering why the chairman is so harsh on him even though it was not his fault.
He decided to cool off his head and walked to the café to get some coffee when he ran into the women that came with his mom the other day. Since he had no issues with them, he just walked by to place his order when he overheard one of them making jest of his mom once again.
“She seems to be in a tight spot, it’s like the chairman will soon oust her son out of the company” the woman on a short wine hair remarked and her friend chuckled
“She had always behaved like she’s the woman of the house when she’s just someone who cooks and clean the house. She never fit in our class because this classiness can’t be bought, you have to be born with it and unfortunately she was not. The moment the chairman kicks the son out without a penny then she will see for herself that she’s worthless” the friend added
“Come to think of it, I kind of pity her. It’s been sixteen good years and the chairman have never registered her as his wife. She’s still on paper as his mistress but the chairman accepted the son so it would not affect him that much even though they will find out sooner or later that he is not the father since he’s bringing the second son as the managing director of Shellhouse” the first woman pitched in and her friend gasped at the revelation
“He’s bringing the second son in? How did you know?” the friend muttered with a low voice
“What do you mean? My husband is one of the shareholders of this company so the chairman reached out for his support. He wants my husband to be one of his followers who can support him when the time comes. He might be starting as a managing director now but he will surely crawl up with a high speed and become the CEO of the company as his father had planned” she explained
“Chairman Holland is a cunning tortoise, I have to say” the friend said with a sigh and they sipped their coffee while Tom just passed by after dropping the paper he picked at the desk in disguise.
He ordered his coffee and went back to the office with so much anger rising within him. He knew this day would surely come but with the look of things, it seems he will be stabbed from the back and if it happens that way then it means his hard work went down the drain, he only worked for nothing.
He loosened his tie to release his pent up anger and he continued with his work before looking for ways to get himself an insurance when a message popped up on his mail.
It was from Lawrence Manon himself.
“I heard you turned down the invitation because you didn’t want to reveal your face, that’s saddening because I saw a very big potential in your works that will last for a lifetime. If the reason is not serious then I will want you to reconsider, the future is brighter and longer than you can imagine. You can always contact me through my employee if you end up changing your mind” Lawrence said in the mail to him and he sighed at the temptation blinking in front of him.
He decided to put all pride aside and just look for Amber to propose the contract to her once again to see if she was still interested since she no longer work at her company. It might be easy for her to work for him outside the company.
He requested for her information and he trailed the address and got to the supermarket where she was working. She was already preparing to go home when he suddenly showed up in front of her and she was too stunned to speak.
“I must have surprised you a lot seeing how you are speechless” he said not sure of what to say to put her at ease.
She didn’t want to give him the upper hand on no matter what brought him to her so she quickly braced up and upped her shoulder to keep her guard.
“I don’t think I have a reason to be tense by your presence, don’t you think so Mr. Tom Holland?” she responded and that struck him weirdly
He was used to her calling him CEO Tom but seeing how she just dropped the formalities, they were indeed done with each other.
“Well you have no reason to be tense as you have said but I would like to have your attention for some minutes. Are you free?” he asked with a cool head
“I am through here so sparing a few minutes shouldn’t be a problem” she replied with a shrug and ushered him to a seat by the side of the store after picking up two cans of coffee to offer him and the other for her.
“I see you haven’t gotten another job, it must be a competitive world out there” he remarked as he opened the can of coffee
“I got offers but they were not up to my standard. Working with you must have raised my standard a lot seeing how I refused all their offers” she lied and he smiled a little
“You are a professional so of course you deserve a high standard” he muttered
“What brought you here though? It’s not like you to waste your time” she said cutting to the chase
“I came here to ask if you can still reconsider our contract. It is not an order, threat but a plea of persuasion” he revealed and she was taken aback for a bit but she quickly adjusted herself
“I thought we already concluded on this?” she blurt out
“I know we did but I just can’t think of anyone but you. I really need this and I will make sure that you are not hurt by it” he pleaded and she sighed.
For a slight second, she was tempted to accept the offer but quickly snapped out of the fantasy. She had already determined in her mind that she won’t bend to such an offer even though she was in a very red situation financially, it still doesn’t feel right with her.
“I don’t think we have anything to talk about regarding this issue because no matter what, I cannot bend to this offer. I appreciate you for having me in mind but I will gladly decline and I hope we don’t have anything to discuss about this issue anymore” she said and stood up
“I will like to go visit my manager and turn in the report of today’ sales” she added and he stood up too with a disappointed look
“Thank you for your time” he said with a frustrated voice before walking him out and turned to pick up the report.
****
He was about to shower as he got home when his phone rang with Amber as the caller. He was very eager to pick it that he grabbed it with a speed of light.
“Miss Amber?” he said trying not to sound desperate
“I will take the offer if it still stands” she said with a very sharp voice that he couldn’t believe his ears.
He took off the phone from his ear and glanced at his screen to be sure she was the one before replying.
“Sure! The offer still stands” he said with a smile.