1.

The golden-brown-haired lady walked into the office with two large brown envelopes in her hands. She took quick steps to the table of the expecting older man.

She placed the envelopes on the table, and they both began bringing out the files that were inside as they skimmed through each of them.

Her legs felt wobbly from standing too long, so she took her seat on one of the chairs facing the older man. She adjusts her skirt and puts her hair in a ponytail.

After a moment the man asked. “Joan, anything yet?” His eyes were on her, expecting a response.

Joan looked up from the file she was holding and shook her head with a little furrow on her brow. “Nothing yet, Dad,” she answered and went back to looking at the file.

Her dad sighs.

“Let’s keep looking, there could be something that we could find that would get us out of this mess,” he encouraged, and they kept looking through the remaining untouched files.

A knock was heard.

“Come in,” Gary answered, loud enough for the person knocking to hear.

A young man in casual wear, with a troubled look and a small enveloped letter, came inside his office, closed the door, and walked towards Gary and Joan.

“There’s a problem, sir,” the man spoke, and that made both father and daughter stop to take a look at him, worry evident on their faces.

“What will that be, Robbie?” asked Gary when he took the envelope Robbie handed over to him. He looked at the sealed envelope and back at Robbie before opening the envelope to see its content.

He took out the folded paper and read its content, his eyes widened, then met with Robbie’s troubled ones.

“They di—”

“Yes sir, they did.”

Gary stood up and threw the paper on the floor in anger. Joan watched her father’s reaction, then stood to pick up the paper that lay on the floor. She read through it and could feel her heart race faster than usual.

She turned to Robbie. “They have to be joking,” she said. There was a crack in her voice.

Robbie shook his head. “They are not, ma’am.”

Joan shook her head. “They can’t do this. They… they can’t just make such a ridiculous request,” she stated, placing the paper on the table. “Yes, we are struggling since the Kingswell project, which turned out to be a disaster, but we are still holding up,” assurance lacing her tone.

She turns to her dad, who looked sad and defeated.

“We still have some resources to keep us going. W—we are on the verge of bankruptcy, but we can still hold on, right, Dad?” She asked for clarity, a look of hope, but the sadness on her dad’s face told her otherwise.

“Joan dear,” he walked closer to her and touched her hair. “We used up the rest of our resources to try and make an alternative, but it failed too,” he explained, and she gasped in shock.

‘Why wasn’t I aware?’ She wanted to ask but thought it wasn’t the best thing to say now.

She shook her head and paced around the room, trying to think of what could be done to save her dad’s company. She stopped abruptly and walked closer to Gary.

“We still own a bigger share, right? We can use some of our profits to keep up for the time being, then refer some of our employees to other companies on a temporary basis depending on when we’ll be able to get back on our feet.” She turned to Robbie, who shared the same look as her dad.

“I don’t want them to suffer because our company is, they have families to feed,” she continued, trying to evoke a positive reaction from both men.

Robbie bowed his head, unable to say anything. Her eyes went to her dad, and he looked like he would break down in tears.

“Joan, I am sorry, but we have just a little share from the company.” He broke the news to her. “I don’t know how that happened, but the Reliso Company was able to get a majority of our shares.”

“And they want more?” She asked in disbelief, to which Gary confirmed with a nod. “That’s ridiculous.” She threw her hands in the air. “They possibly wouldn’t just want a failing company except there’s something to gain,” she stated.

“What more could they want? Power? If they don’t notice, this company lacks that,” Gary explained.

“No, not that.” She shook her head, and then realization hit her. “It’s something else.” A smile crept on her lips. “And I think I know exactly what they want.” She picked up a document and the letter.

Gary, already sensing what his daughter is about to do, asked, “You’re going somewhere, Joan?” She nodded in response, the smile still on her lips. “You want to meet them,” he didn’t ask.

“Trust me, Dad, I know what I am doing. Just let me handle this my way, please,” she begged when she saw the sullen look on his face. “I’ll try my best to fix this, and things can get back to being the way they have been,” she tried to assure him.

Joan wasn’t sure about the actions she was going to take, but she hoped things wouldn’t go bad.

“Robbie, you heard all that we said. Go make a report on that and put the right team together so that you start work as soon as possible,” she said, and he nodded before leaving. “I’ll see you soon, Dad.” She went to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

*** Two weeks later ***

Robbie didn’t bother knocking when he burst into Gary’s office looking really panicked. He walked up to Gary, who had a little furrow on his brow when he saw him.

“What’s the matter, Robbie? You were supposed to k—” He was interrupted by the opening of his office door again to see Darken Reliso, the son of Henry and Ansel Reliso, in his usual expensive Gimanni dark blue suit, clean cut and shining pair of shoes.

He had that annoying static smirk on his lips and kept his right brow up. He was holding a document.

Darken walked slowly into the office and stopped just as he was in front of Gary; he nodded in greeting and let himself sit on the chair in front of Gary before placing the document he was holding on the table.

“Good day, Mr. Anderson,” he greeted coolly. The arrogance could be heard in his tone. He looked up at Robbie, who had been glaring at him right from when he stepped into the office. “Can you excuse us? We have some business to finish,” he smirked when he said the last part.

Robbie made no move to leave, so he rolled his eyes and looked at Gary. “Can you te—”

“What are you doing here, Dark?” Gary interrupts him.

Darken frowned and sat up on his chair. “It’s Darken, not Dark.”

“Same thing. What are you doing here?” Gary asked, sounding annoyed this time.

Choosing to ignore his words, Darken placed his hands on the table and raised his chin up. “Now I see where Joan got her feistiness from,” he remarked.

“What do you mean by that?” Gary asked, a little furrow now on his brow.

“You’ll know soon; just tell this man to leave us to talk,” he side-pointed at Robbie.

“He is my secretary, so he has to be present in every meeting I have with anyone,” Gary defended.

Darken looked up at Robbie, then laughed hard before composing himself. “Too bad good people are too stupid to see who truly is against them,” he remarked, and before Gary could say anything, he continued, “Anyways, I came here to seal off the deal I sent two weeks ago,” he stated.

“Your offer is ridiculous,” Gary remarks.

“What choice do you have? Anderson Tech is going through one of its worst recessions, and you are already bankrupt. Soon some companies will come to buy you guys off and probably turn your company into a children’s playground or something better,” he joked. "Maximizing its full potential."

“I better watch my words if I were you, Dark,” Gary warned, still glaring daggers at him.

“It’s Darken, and for heaven’s sake, sign the document already. It will be okay if we take over some shares of your company rather than a stranger whom you don’t know of, unless…” He wriggled his brows.

Gary got an idea of what was in his mind.

“No!” he protested.

“Well then, sign this paper, or you’ll just end up losing.” Darken points to the document on the table.

Gary looked at Robbie, who had a defeated look on his face; he knew he was in a deadlock here, and as much as he didn’t want to agree with Darken, he was right.

The Resilos might be annoying, but at least he knew them and could probably get back the company if things get better in the future. He still has a little share from the company.

He looked at the front page of the document and signed on all blank spaces and flung it at Darken. “Don’t think you can come near my daughter.” He pointed at him, a warning look on his face. “Stay away from her,” he warned.

Darken stood to his feet with a triumphant smirk. He grabbed the documents from the table and started walking out of the office. “We’ll see about that.” He did the peace sign and closed the door behind him.

“It’s over,” Gary cried.