Icing on the Cake

Chapter Ten

You may not be able to choose your lot in life; but you can choose how to handle your lot.
Maria Fontaine.

It was noon already the next day and Jaden was in his hotel suite. He was sitting by the desk in the room, trying to conjure up ways to improve his dad’s business. Lily had called him the previous day when he had gotten back from Sylvia’s home and he had requested that she should send him some of the business files, records, and reports. He had gone through them later in the evening and had started studying them immediately he got up from the bed in the morning.
The reports were not satisfying. It was said in the reports that as at last year, the business started falling. The profit had reduced drastically and the progress was at a snail’s pace. He had continued reading to determine the cause of it and was yet to conclude. Although, he suspected it was because the company had not been producing new products. The company manufactured household products, electronics, automobiles, and even computer games.
As Jaden started jotting down new ideas and themes for games, his phone rang. He continued jotting, ignoring the call. But the phone rang again and again so he got up to answer it. He looked at the caller’s ID and answered immediately.
“Hey K, what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just the usual stuff. Business is normal. The cash’s still flowing in and the ladies too.” Keith answered.
Jaden laughed. Some people never changed. “That’s good for you.”
“What about you? You’re sounding stressed up. Hope your princess isn’t giving you any problem?”
“Nah, she isn’t. Just that I didn’t sleep well last night. I had to do a little work.”
“Is it about the business?”
“Yeah.”
Keith smiled. “Welcome to the stress world, man. You’ll get used to it in time anyway. So, did Lily call again?”
“No, she didn’t. But she sent in the business files and reports. I told her I wanted to look at them. That was what I was doing last night.”
“Oh. How’s the report?”
“Not good at all. The business seems to be going down. No new products since last year and it seems the customers are tired of buying the old ones. The new car model produced last two years wasn’t satisfying and the customers didn’t buy much of it.”
“Wow! Why didn’t they mention that to you?”
“That’s what I also asked myself. But I remember my dad telling me that when he’ll hand the business over to me, it would be without problems. So, I guess he was trying to work it out before calling me in.”
Keith chuckled. “Your dad never joked with his words any day.”
“Yeah, and he hasn’t changed.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?”
“I was trying to come up with new themes for the computer games and a new model for a car. At least, when I go home, I’ll call a meeting with the managing board and everyone’ll bring their ideas.”
“That sounds good. It’s like you’re a pro at this. What were you running away from all this while?”
Jaden snorted. “Don’t flatter me please; I’m not one of your ladies.”
Keith laughed. “Talking about that,” he said, “how is Sylvia?”
“She’s okay. We’re going out for dinner today.”
“Whoa, whoa, Jade. Where did that come from?”
Jaden laughed.
“No, seriously, this is the first I’ve heard of this.”
Jaden didn’t reply.
“You’re serious, Jade.”
That wasn’t a question, but all the same... “Yeah, I am.”
“Wow!”
“What?”
“You’re in, Jade. This could lead to the real thing, you know?”
“It’ll be quite an adventure.”
“You’re crazy. This is not a game. You can’t just do this for the fun of it. Sylvia in particular, will hate you for that.”
“How?”
“You’re asking me how. Okay, tell me your plan. You’re asking her to dinner just when it’s days before you leave that place and you’re taking all of this as an adventure? Then, what are you going to do if she falls in love with you? You’re going to leave her?”
“Well, point of correction; I’m not taking all of this as an adventure. And stop ranting; I’m not going to fall in love with her. And I don’t think she will.”
“Whoa! Breaking news, Jade, that’s exactly what I see happening.”
“But not what I see happening.”
“Be serious man, this is no child’s play. It’s your life, your future.”
“Keith.”
“Yeah?”
Jaden blew out a breath. “We’re just going to have dinner together, just the way you have one with a business client, no strings attached. I’m attracted to her, quite alright but it’s not going to lead to the real stuff. I’ll know exactly when to back out.”
Keith was silent for a while. He knew Jaden was strong-headed when it came to certain things but he didn’t want to believe he was strong-headed about this in particular. He heaved exasperatedly. “This doesn’t make sense, Jade.”
“Nothing’s going to happen, K.”
“I just want to believe you. I don’t want you regretting all of this, or worse, getting hurt.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m looking out for you. You could still back out now. There are lots of ladies here you could have fun with, don’t just do it with Sylvia. I’ve not seen her face-to-face anyway, but I know she’s not the type to be used and dumped.”
“Yeah, she’s kind of spec... different,” he quickly corrected, although Keith already noticed his slip.
“Well, I’ve done what I can. The only reason I’m surprised is I never thought you were as stubborn as this, even worse than a goat.”
Jaden didn’t plan on laughing but the short laugh escaped through his lips before he could call it back. “Rascal. Well, me too, I never thought you had such amount of perseverance.”
“Miracles happen.”
“Not to punks like you.”
“Oh please, go back to your business reports. And send my greetings to Sylvia.”
“You couldn’t even give me an idea to solve the problem.”
“Don’t expect me to; I need to save mine for my own business. I wouldn’t want people buying your products while I’ll just be suffering in the corner.”
Before Jaden could reply, Keith ended the call. Jaden muttered an amused curse and threw his phone on one of the sofas. He went back to the desk and sat down, trying to remember what he had been thinking of before Keith’s call.