Chapter 63

63 63. Mark and Gaby

“No!” Alex firmly answered William’s request. “You have a lot of work here! How dare you ask for a vacation!”

“It was not vacation, dad! I have to meet Paula in person to settle an important matter!” William insisted that he needed to go to Tokyo as soon as possible. “I want to fix my mistake before it’s too late!”

“Will, I don’t like this. You always put your private life before work. Do you realize that you have to settle the contract with Mark? He wants a meeting today and you have to make him sign the contract!” Alex didn’t want no as an answer. He thought that his son was too soft in handling business matters.

On the other hand, William didn’t like his father’s way of thinking. Family matters were number one. He promised himself not to be a person like his father who always put work before everything.

William shook his head and sighed. He wanted to snap at his father but he knew that was not the way to deal with that old man. “If he signs the contract, can I take days off?” William asked, glaring sharply. If Alex rejected his offer, he would surely leave even without permission.

“Sure! I will give you a week!” Alex smiled faintly, agreeing that was the win-win solution.

“Deal!” William bit his lower lip and tightened his grip on the rolled documents in his hand. He shared glances with his father one more time and then left his study without looking back.

Outside, his mother was waiting for him expectantly. However, William was reluctant to share anything with her but warm greetings. He knew Lisa was working hard, together with Alex. No, she had been working hard since forever. She deserved retirement from company problems.

“How was the discussion?” Lisa asked out of worry. She knew that her son was faking a smile.

.....

“It was great! You know that dad was always the best!” William replied with a wide smile, trying to look natural and convincing.

Lisa smiled sincerely, finding that William had grown up. He became even wiser unlike a year ago. Of course, he was going to be a father soon.

“Will you stay for lunch?” she asked him. “Vanessa will be home in no time. She wanted to meet you so badly. You know, she was reluctant to go to school this morning.”

William burst into laughter. Vanessa was such a nosy girl. He knew why she wanted to see him so badly. She must have wanted to know about his love plan to win Paula’s heart. She insisted that she was the best consultant for relationship problems.

“Mom, I really want to stay longer but you know that I have to work,” William refused the offer regretfully.

Lisa smiled, trying to understand the situation. Alex was a little hard on William since he was about to leave everything to their son.

“Take care, son! Come to me if you need help!” Lisa hugged her son tightly and gave him a peck on his cheek.

William said goodbye and left the mansion with a burden in his heart. He thought that his father was greedy and quite hypocritical. Alex was the one who forced him to marry Paula. But, when he wanted to fight to keep his marriage, Alex was reluctant to cooperate.

Okay. He couldn’t help but work harder and satisfy his father. No choice!

It was Saturday, but he still needed to work since Mark’s schedule was too tight. If he wanted to do it on weekdays, he had to wait for weeks or even months.

When he arrived at Mark’s office, the sun was quite high. He didn’t put his coat on since the weather became warmer. The smell of fresh air in the yard soothed his heart, lessening the burden a little bit. He continued to walk to the main building and directly went to the meeting room.

Inside, there were Mark, Gaby, and an assistant, already waiting for him. They exchanged warm greetings and readied themself for the discussion.

“What I want to know is, why don’t you choose to build a simple hotel business? Just like your company’s usual project,” Mark asked in a professional manner. He was not sure William could handle such a new concept.

“The location we were about to choose was a little bit far from the city. The visitor will find it hard to buy their daily needs and even some local gifts. Then, our company wanted to present a one-stop holiday spot. We wanted to accommodate a short-term visit as well,” William answered convincingly.

Mark’s questions were not the ones that were easy to answer. But, William tried his best to satisfy him. It took almost an hour when Mark’s side finally ended the discussion. William excused himself to go to the bathroom.

He washed his face with warm water, trying to recollect his drained energy. Afraid of losing big fish, he tried to prepare for the worst. There was no guarantee that Mark would agree to invest in the new concept. He exhaled deeply, fixing his appearance, and went back to the meeting room.

However, when William was about to enter the room, he accidentally heard Mark and Gaby’s conversation-a serious one.

“Mark, you don’t do it! Don’t sign this agreement just because you owe him your son,” Gaby pleaded. “Look at this concept! He is too young and inexperienced. Will you invest this much money in gambling?”

“Gaby, if I lose this investment, I can get the money from my other investments. But not with Alan. If he didn’t kindly help Alan, maybe I will lose my son for the rest of my life,” Mark insisted that he planned to sign the agreement no matter what.

Gaby shook her head in disbelief. “I know. So, it was like ... this lucky young guy got a large ransom money ....” Gaby massaged her forehead and said again, “Fine! You can do anything you like. You prefer a son anyway, not a daughter. On top of it, he was Regina’s son. Your one and only love-”

“Gaby! Stop your nonsense!” Mark exclaimed.

That’s when William decided to step into the room. Mark and Gaby immediately stopped their argument. The warm smiles plastered on their faces. William had to admit that they were so talented.

They exchanged conversation as if there was no problem at all with the deal. However, when Mark was about to sign the documents, William stopped him.

“Mark, I changed my mind,” William said with a flat expression. Mark and Gaby were stunned for a moment. “Don’t sign it!”