A Twisted Tale

New Developments

Valerio and I walked back to the room. Everyone waited for us to share our decision. After we brought them all up to speed, the two older men agreed with us. Mark however was unusually quiet.
Charles remained back in the hospital to discuss a few terms of the merger with Piero.
Valerio offered to drive me back to the hotel but left in a hurry as he had to attend to an urgent matter at the office.
Mark and I were left to our own devices. The drive to the hotel was very silent. Mark refused to say anything beyond single syllables.
"Okay, spill it. What's the matter with you?" I asked as I sat down on the bed and massaged my calves.
He sighed loudly, sat down beside me and said " I don't think this is going to work out. Think about it. He has to get married to inherit his father's company. Nobody would take a single man with a questionable choice in girls very seriously. The name Webb Inc. carries weightage. And you have been in the eyes of the paparazzi for years now. They know you are family. Valerio marrying you would only add to the hype on this merger and speed up the process of him inheriting the company. And he will be in your good books to make you say yes. You can't trust him blindly Meera. I have this sense of unease that you'll get hurt someday. And I don't want to see you hurt. That's all I'm saying."
"Maybe you are right. Maybe you are wrong. Whatever it is, you know me well enough to know that I'm not stupid. A few cheesy lines and good looks will not melt me. Come on! I live with you and sleep next to you. So by now I'm immune to all the good men cuz I'm around the best." I said bumping my shoulders with his.
"My my. You are actually making it sound like I have an effect on you. But you are right, when you're around the best you don't look at the rest." He said.
I laughed loudly and said "It's my fault that I stroked your ego and that is such a childish attempt at rhyming!"
He hit me with a pillow and the edge of the pillow landed in my eye. "Ouch! That hurts like a bitch." I said and started rubbing my eye.
"Oh my god. I'm so sorry." said Mark as he pulled my hand away. "Here, let me see" he said, as he came closer to me. He gently put his fingers on my eye, pried the eyelids open and blew into my eye. His proximity, the smell of his Cologne and also his fingers were causing my heart to speed up. I could feel his breath on my lips as he looked into my injured eye. Yes, I sleep on the same bed as him but I'm usually passed out and thus, don't feel a thing. Now, at this precise moment, I felt strange. I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach. I wanted to close my eyes and inhale his scent. I took a deep breath to steady my racing heart. He too must have realised the effect he was having on me as his breathing deepened and his fingers moved away from my eye and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
His eyes held so many emotions that I felt like I was drowning in them. He opened his mouth to say something " Meera, I....." and the doorbell rang.

We immediately moved away from each other as though we were doing something wrong. Which wasn't the case. Just reminding myself that. I went to answer the door and found Valerio standing on the other side. "Can I come in?" he asked.
"Sure. Come on in. Make yourself comfortable." I said.
"Everything went by smoothly at work?" I asked.
"What work? Oh that. Yeah. Nothing major."  Replied Valerio.
"We're holding a meeting with the board of directors tomorrow about the merger. Charles is getting people to work on the tender offer so that it can be ready by tomorrow." He said sounding irritated.
"Given how we both are major companies with good brand recognition, neither of us would be willing to be absorbed, am I right?" I asked thoughtfully.

"That's what I'm here to discuss. I propose a consolidation and not a merger. And I'm banking on the board to directors to back me up on this. Dad has brought this company up from the ground and the last thing I want is for it to be absorbed into Webb Inc. Like you said Meera, neither of us are willing to be absorbed. So, I want Mark and you to discuss with Charles about a consolidation instead. That way both of us have a win-win situation." He concluded.

Mark spoke up for the first time after Valerio walked in. He said "The would be expensive. We have to create a new brand name and a brand image. That would mean us having to re-establish the trust factors among our buyers and more importantly investing a large share of our assets as collateral. If that doesn't work out, we're going to fail in this new venture. And I don't invest in failing ideas. So I deny your proposal and instead ask you to let your father and mine move ahead with the merger."

I heard enough and knew that the testosterone levels in the room were spiking up. I stood between the two of them and said "Okay. Let's look at exactly what we want out of this arrangement first. Neither of us are willing to merge. We're not okay with consolidation. Both the companies are equals. Ultimately we're aiming for profit and most importantly in your case Valerio, you want your father's hard work to be recognised. I suggest a partnership. We'll draft a partnership agreement on who takes responsibility for what and who gets what out of this partnership. Our families will still be tied together. That's what Piero and Charles want. We'll give them that. I'm sure they'll not say no to this proposition." I finished and found Valerio staring at me with respect.

We continued to discuss the matter further in a lot more detail now that the two men showed interest in it. The whole conversation went on for nearly forty five minutes where we discussed equities, losses we would incur and the percentage of profit both the companies would make.
My stomach chose that precise moment to growl rather loudly.

Valerio stopped the conversation mid-sentence, looked at his watch and said "It's late. We better grab some dinner. Meera, there is a really good Italian restaurant nearby and I know you love Italian food. Would you like to join me for dinner?" I answered with a yes, turned around to look at Mark and ask him if he'd join us and before he could respond, he got a call from Charles. Mark put him on hold and told "You guys go ahead. I'll talk to dad and Piero about our proposal."

With that, he turned his back on us and continued to talk on the phone while Valerio and I headed out.