Please Be Mine

Alejandro decided to expand the business, eyeing some of the best places to build hotels and resorts for travelers locally. Uncle set up a meeting with his business colleague in Manila and Baguio. We are ecstatic to meet these investors as Uncle James is fond of them.

I accompanied Alejandro as usual to finally close one of the biggest deals the Vida Corp had. He will be meeting one of the scariest businessmen and the top investor in this project. Mr. Paloma wants to expand his business locally and internationally, eyeing Visayas and Luzon since he already owns NCR.

Alejandro prepared himself for this meeting as he was excited and believed he would get it. He is not just my buddy, but a brother to me. I know everything about him as to his dark desires. Alejandro is already thirty - eight years old and still single as he doesn't believe in love and commitment.

"Hey, buddy! How was your morning?" I asked him as I reached our table for our breakfast.

"Great buddy! I'm ecstatic about this meeting." He said, smiling as he sipped his coffee.

"Yeah! I'm sure you can close this deal as you used to." I said, sipping on my coffee too. I trust him he can pull this off.

We finished our meal immediately before the clock ticked eight for his meeting. I laughed as I watched him smiling, going out of his room. Yeah! That's Alejandro, the young business tycoon who can pull off everything.

As we entered the conference meeting room, Mr. Paloma wasn't there yet, which is a good sign since we first arrived, rather than the meticulous business tycoon. After fifteen minutes, Mr. Paloma entered with a stoic face just like Alejandro used to do when he was a bit nervous. For him, don't show weakness even when you are about to give up. Mr. Paloma is a bit scary with his whole package appearance and intimidating entering the room.

The meeting started perfectly as Alejandro delivered the business plan. Everyone agreed and applauded him. They said it was perfect and good to start, but things got messy when Mr. Paloma commented about Alejandro physically based on his judgment, but not about the business proposal. He gave an outstanding grade for his business proposal but criticized him in front of other investors.

"I love your business proposal, Mr. Smith, it is really perfect. The theme, place, and everything." Mr. Paloma said. Everyone supported and agreed to give Alejandro a good sign.

"Thank you, Mr. Paloma." Alejandro answered.

"But, I'm not sure about you! You are too young for this business. I don't think you can pull off and expand this business as we are expecting. I'm honestly adamant to drop millions." He said, intimidating Alejandro, which he hates the most. Alejandro always separates his personal life from business. Intimidating him is one of the things he listed on his no no list.

"I don't think you can judge me by that, Mr. Paloma. With my thirty - eight years of existence, and fifteen years managing our business, I could say I can expand any business I'm interested in." Alejandro answered directly to Mr. Paloma.

"But you are still Junior for this business even if you have been working on it for fifteen years. I also managed my business for twenty - eight years, local and international." Mr. Paloma said, making the other investors lean on their chairs as the conversation was getting interesting. I could say Alejandro is already beyond pissed, but he professionally smiled at everyone.

"Okay, Mr. Paloma. I'm sorry if being a young entrepreneur is not a good sign to do business with you." Alejandro answered, accepting defeat to this cranky businessman in front of us.

"Thank you, Mr. Smith. I hope you can find more business partners and be more diligent." He said before picking up his stuff and standing to leave. What does he mean by more diligent?

"Not to mention Mr. Paloma. Thank you for joining us today and I'm sorry for the inconvenience!" Alejandro maintained his posture, thanking him even if he was damn pissed and needed to vent out.

He had never been humiliated in his life in front of anyone. Alejandro was the one who expanded Vida Corp to become Corp. Recently he just invested in Australia for farming. He wants to have an imported organic shop in the Philippines. He bought ten hectares of land in Australia for farming and to take care of cows. He even wanted to buy another land near the mountains for a ranch. If I were a woman, I would fall in love with him not because he is handsome, but because he is capable of everything. Alejandro is already a complete package, but sadly, he is not into commitment, and here comes Mr. Paloma, who judged him as incapable of doing business. That sucks and he is totally pain in the ass to say that!

Everyone stands up as he leaves. We take our seats as we continue to discuss the changes to prolong the work out of the plan as we need one or two more investors to fill in the gap, Mr. Paloma declined though he had already promised Uncle James to invest and he was the one who suggested doing this kind of business in Cebu before chasing Palawan and Subic.

Alejandro is not famous as a businessman here in Cebu as he doesn't want people to recognize him. Uncle James is the one famous because he was the one who started to open the INN, expanding Vida before until Alejandro made it to a Hotel and Resort up to the present, but still uses Uncle James as the front line. I look at Alejandro who is trying his best not to vent out. They agreed to what he suggested before the four investors left.

"Alejandro." I called him as he stood up ready to leave.

"Ah! Yeah! Let's go. I need to breathe fresh air, Rex!" He muttered, grabbing his stuff. I followed him where his feet led us. He entered one of the sizzling restaurants.

"One bottle of beer after a meal, Rex?" He asked. I nodded, ordering my favorite rib eye medium rare steak.

"Sure buddy, best for a bottle of beer." I answered. I watched him sit back leaning on his chair as he crossed his legs.

If I were in his shoes, I would not just be pissed at him. How could he underestimate someone's ability because of age? Age is just a number, but ability and talent are something that is not measured by age. Maybe Mr. Paloma is intimidated by Alejandro's appearance.