Diamond Pumps

2. CEO and single

Delia pulled over and switched off her car. She got out and grabbed the cupcakes box from the front seat.

"Delia!" An old man with white hair waved his hand. He was sitting at a table in the garden, drinking coffee.

Delia smiled. She locked her car and headed toward the gate. She opened it and walked toward the table where the man was seated. "Hi father."

"Oh, you brought the cupcakes again?" He laughed after she kissed his cheek. "Eleanor is going to be mad at you."

"You can keep them in the fridge and have a cupcake once in a while." Delia put her purse on the table. "Did Ash come here today?"

"We haven't seen him in a few weeks." Grandpa Ketchum cocked his head. "He hasn't been calling much too."

Delia licked her lips. She smiled instantly when she saw Eleanor Ketchum come through the front door with the tea.

"Delia! You're here!" Mrs. Ketchum put the tea tray on the table. "Oh, the cupcakes."

"Once in a while." Delia glanced over her father-in-law. "Okay?"

"I'll start by one now." He opened the lid of the box and grabbed a vanilla flavored cupcake. 

"We're glad you came anyway. Where is Ash?" Grandma asked happily.

"He must be in his apartment." Delia grabbed her cup of tea.

"How is he doing?"

"You know Ash." Delia sighed. She crossed her legs. "He's all the time stressing so much about work..."

"Like his dad! Oh, my poor baby."

Ash's mother leaned back on her chair. "Not that kind of stress. He wants to be CEO so bad."

"Let him be, then!" Mr. Ketchum shrugged.

"I can't!" Delia laughed. "I can't hand him over the office just because he wants to brag to his friends about being CEO! Ash is not ready. I don't want him ruining what his father has fought his whole life for."

"Just tell him he's CEO. You can run the business from behind."

"That's not right!" Grandma Ketchum gasped. She told Delia, "Maybe he should get married and have a family of his own. Do you know any girls?"

"Seriously?" Grandpa looked horrified.

Eleanor looked at her husband Philip. "Ken married Delia when he was twenty-six!"

"He found her on his own! We can't make Ash marry someone we pick."

Delia raised her eyebrows. "We can't."

"But if he gets married to a woman who is familiar with business, he'll have someone by his side who helps him and supports him!" Grandma argued. "Delia can't be there for Ash forever!"

"I can't." Delia wished she could retire, honestly. Sometimes, she just wanted to be the CEO's mother; organize tea parties and do charity work.

"And we can't either! We're old people."

"Hey, I'm healthy."

"Says the one who can't stop eating cupcakes." Eleanor shot her husband a glare and looked at Delia. "You should find him a woman."

"No, she won't!" Philip snapped. "We don't do arranged marriages in the Ketchum family!"

"You're making a big fuss about it." Grandma waved her hand. "Delia would just suggest a girl. Ash can date her or not."

"He's more likely to say no." Delia crossed her arms over her chest.

"He's lonely!" Grandma sighed, frowning. "It's why he's just so mad all the time!"

"If I think a bit more about that..." Ash's grandfather looked a bit disturbed.

"But that apartment of his must be cold and empty!"

"Ellie! Please stop!"

Delia shook her head. "He comes to the villa and asks the housekeeper to make him food! He's always around the corner."

Grandma frowned. "He needs a woman by his side so bad."

"It's not about women! Ash wants to be like Ken, that's what!"

Delia looked down at her hands.

"I know what I do is wrong..." She looked up, now both her in-laws looking at her. "And what I've done is wrong, but I was thinking about the business and I was worried we'd lose everything."

On Ken's deathbed, Delia convinced him to put everything in her name. Ash was only eighteen and Delia was scared he'd be foolish with the business. His father had expanded the corporate and they were the top in the industry of luxury gold jewelry.  Delia wasn't born as a business lady (she used to be a model) but it was her or no one. Ken's parents were officially retired and Ken was their only child.

After getting the master degree, Ash asked Delia to hand over the office and retire, but she refused.

"He's not ready." Delia spoke in a low voice. "He's still a baby. He's not ready."

"If he gets married..."

"You think?"

"Can you two stop this?" Phil groaned. "What's the worst thing that could happen? MariGold going bankrupt? It's not like we're dead already! We won't let that happen!"

Grandma looked between her husband and her daughter-in-law. "If he's CEO and single, he'll become the target of all greedy women in the Johto region!"

Delia frowned. "Ash is so charming. All girls will go after him!"

"No, they won't!" Mr. Ketchum slapped his forehead. "He'd get a girlfriend like any other guy!"

"Wait, do you think he can't get a girlfriend now because of me?" Ash's mom gasped. "Am I ruining things because I don't let him run the business?"

"Nooo!" Grandma tapped the table with her hand. "Girls will go after anything that smells money, and trust me, Ash smells money right now!"

"I'm done." Phil grabbed another cupcake.

"I don't want my grandson to be a target." Eleanor sighed. "They're going to play with his head!"

"This is suddenly so scary." Delia panicked.

"Wait a minute, you two!" Philip put down the cupcake. "Who even said Ash is single? What do you even know?"

"..."

"..."

Delia gulped. "He never said anything..."

"You never asked him!" He exclaimed. "Worse; he could be scared of your reaction!"

"If he's dating someone, we could only be happy for him." Grandma nodded. "They can get married in a year or two. It'll be fine. Delia can retire then."

"Is this about Ash dating or him not being ready for business?"

Delia shrugged.

"Both?"

"Then, I don't want to be part of this conversation anymore." Ash's grandfather grabbed the cupcakes box and headed back inside.

Eleanor and Delia kept looking at each other.

"So?"