Arrangements

4

4

Seven missed calls.

Not from dad's secretary but from dad himself. He rarely calls me directly. There must be a problem. So, I immediately call him back.

"Dad..."

"Where are you? Chairman Winter is here. He wants to personally talk to you. Come over here." And the call ends quickly. As usual.

"I'll expect a good result," I say to one of my department's team leaders.

"Of course, sir. Thank you for the lunch, sir." He says.

I nod my head to the rest of their team as they bid me goodbye.

I walk out of the restaurant and head to the parking lot. Our department building is a mile away from the main building where my dad's office is.

I hop in my car and start the engine.

Why would tito want to see me? This better be not about the wedding again.

I accelerate more the car when I'm already out in the main road. I hurriedly drive to dad's office.

I park my car to the basement and enter the nearest elevator. I swipe my company ID against the scanner and click my dad's floor. Only authorized people are allowed in my dad's floor, so the scanner is intended only for entering his office.

When the elevator opens to my dad's floor, I immediately recognized tito's secretary. He greets me and I do the same.

Dad's secretary opens the door to dad's office. I see tito and dad discussing.

"Hi. Good afternoon, tito, dad." I greet and they look at me. Tito immediately approaches me and gives me a handshake.

"Long time no see, kid." Ahh, I missed tito. He was more fatherly to me than dad.

"Yeah. It's really nice to see you again, tito. You're looking younger," I joke. Our little hi and ho is interrupted by dad's fake cough which reminds me...

"Oh. Uh, tito, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Karl, thank you for accommodating me. I'd like to talk to Leo in private. Will that be fine with you?" Tito pats my left shoulder and dad just nods.

"Of course," dad responds.

He stands up from his couch and sits on his office chair.

"Okay then. Show me your office, kid." Tito commands.

I nod and open the door for him.

Before I finally go out after tito, dad calls my name and gives me the look that warning me to watch my words with tito. I nod my head as response, assuring him that there will be no serious problem after our talk.

I ask dad's secretary for the key to my office. Ever since I lost the presidency in our electronics company and was transferred to a lower department, as punishment regarding Claire, I haven't used this office again.

"Tito, how have you been?" I ask happily as he sits down on my couch in my office.

"Not good, kid." I think he is kidding but his face tells me that it's the truth.

"Why?" I sit down across him after dad's secretary serves tito's snack on the table. "Is there a problem?"

"I came here to ask you one question. Don't worry, it's just one simple question."

"Hm... Ask me."

Tito fakes a cough first. "What do you think about the wedding?" He asks and reaches out for the cookies in the table.

That is not a simple question. It's a hard one. I smile first and take a time to think about what to answer. Tito rests his back while waiting for my reply.

"About the wedding..."

"Son, I want you to be honest with me. Anna is my only daughter. I hope you understand." That makes me gulp. I don't know if he said that to make me be honest or to pressure me to comply with the plans.

"Tito... Ever since Anna broke up with me..."

"I know, son. Trust me, I know everything about that. I just want to know, for now, your thoughts about the wedding. It'll be next month already. So I want us to be clear before the wedding day comes."

"Tito, why? I mean for what? My words don't matter anyway."

"They do. Your words always matter to me. You know... my daughter has been through a lot of things that you wouldn't want to know. I don't want her to suffer again just for the sake of our companies."

"If that's true, tito, why do you want us to get married? Anna doesn't love me, and so do I. This wedding is obviously for-"

"Enough." And I shut up. I straighten my posture and tito stands up. "Thank you for the cookies. And thank you for your honesty, kid. That's all I need to hear from you." Then tito heads to the door to leave but I stop him.

"Tito, what are you planning to do now?" I inquire.

Tito smirks. "There will be no need for plans, Leo. There will be no wedding." Then tito opens the door himself and goes out.

Does that mean that there will be no merging of our companies too?

"Wait. Tito, what do you mean?"

"What do I mean? You're not possibly thinking that I'll entrust my daughter to a man who doesn't love her, are you?"

"But tito, how about our companies?"

"I had high hopes in you. This isn't simply about our merging. This is for my daughter's sake," tito explains. "My son, Michael, will give you an update right away. He will settle everything with the dismissal of our mergence."

No. God! God! God, save me! Dad will surely kill me.

"Tito, please think about it again." Please!

"No. Look, Leo, I came here because Anna asked me to reconsider your marriage. She knows you don't want the wedding. She was even more concerned about you. I'm sorry, son, but you made the decision yourself." Tito explains.

If there will be no wedding, then there will be no merging. Meaning I can't be freed from dad. No! No way, that means giving up on Claire. Claire is my only reason why I'm into this merging because dad promised me my freedom if the mergence succeeds, and obviously, what all I want is Claire.

"Tito..." I call again. "I..."

"What?"

"I... Anna. I still... Between the two of us... It's just that..." Damn! I still can't openly tell what I feel towards Anna. I still can't bring myself to it.

"Please... Tito, let's stick to our original plans."

Tito shakes his head but I know he is thinking about his decision again. "Fine. Come to our house tomorrow. I'll show you something." Whoa. Thanks, God!

"Sure! Thank you so much, tito."

I feel dismayed. I am not comfortable talking about how I still feel for Anna, and I don't want to involve it in this.

I am suddenly reminded of our old days, they surely ruin my mood every time I think of them.