Theo
I'm in a room full of people who are crying. Everyone is sad. It almost feels like a competition, Who's the saddest, who cries the loudest?
God I hate family meetings, gatherings, what ever they're called.
I pull out my laptop and start scrolling down the emails I had recieved. There were a lot today, as expected.
I opened the first one I had recieved from HR today. It seemed not very important so I figured this would be the first thing to take care of. Today has been unproductive this far.
Subject : APPOINTMENT OF A NEW EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CEO
TO
MR. THEO CHARLES AMBROSE,
THE EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT MISS ALICE JULES VIDAL HAS NOMINATED MISS JANAINE MAYA EVANS AS AN INTERIM FOR THE NEXT 3 YEARS, AS A MATTER OF RECORDS WITH THE HR.
WITH ALL DUE CONSIDERATIONS, IT WAS FOUND THAT MISS JANAINE WAS FIT FOR THE DESIGNATION AND HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE INTERIM EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT.
SHE'S EXPECTED TO START WORKING WITH AND FOR YOU (THE SOON TO BE CEO OF AMBROSE GROUP OF INDUSTRIES) WITHIN A WEEK OF YOU TAKING YOUR POSITION
WE HOPE THAT YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH HER IS ENJOYABLE.
MARTHA CRUST
HR DEPARTMENT
AMBROSE
ENCLOSED : PDF CONTAINING DETAILS OF MISS JANAINE
As soon as I downloaded the pdf on my laptop, I was distracted by a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Damien, my elder brother. He had tears in his eyes and disappointment on his face.
"I'd expect you to keep work aside atleast for to-day. I'm saying atleast"
"Damien, I get your sorrow. But I have to take care of things now that he's gone"
"You sound like you got exactly what you were asking for"
"He was my father too" I spoke through gritted teeth. I only said that and left before he could spit back some emotional nonsense.
I went to my old bedroom and continued with checking all the emails. Most were from the Registrar of Companies. My ascend from the Board to the CEO was approved and some mails were related to the shareholders accepting me as the new CEO. All the paper work was taken care of. Now came the mundane part, setting the first impression.
I had to sit in front of my family members and seem as sad as I can to gain their acceptance.
I had to go and give the board a speech, where everyone assumes that I'm here because I'm the son.
I have to give the stakeholders a speech, practicalty beg for them to still count on us, in a very formal way.
I put aside the laptop and fell on my old bed. It creaked as I fell over it.
This room does feel like home. The ceiling has glowing stickers of planes and stars. The windows here are small. But the room is well lit. The bed side table has a picture of me, Damien and Krissy on a small boat.
I'm preparing to jump in the lake while Krissy, my younger sister is fishing. And then there's Damien smiling at the camera. We used to be happy kids.
The room is a light blue and smells of old wood and sweet humidity. I sat up on the bed to take it all in. There was a picture of dad and me on the wall. Dad isn't wearing a suit, indicating that the picture is an old one. I might have been 10, we're both playing table tennis.
It's been 17 years then since then and I'm sitting alone in this room feeling next to nothing as I'm just a couple hours away from attending my dad's funeral. It's been four days since his death. But him being a business icon, we had to take our time with things and also send his body to the forensics. I like to not think about forensics. The reports indicated a natural death, that's all I have to know.
