CHAPTER 5

Six years later…

Thirty-two-years-old Jordan Cunningham stepped out from the back of the black Mercedes Benz car that he rode in at the driveway of The Oceanview Resort Hotel and Spa after giving instructions to his driver on a Tuesday morning.

His secretary, Mason Brown stood beside him, who is typing on his phone.

“Mr. Brian, the hotel manager is on his way, sir,” Mason informed formally.

“Has everything been completed here?” Jordan asked.

“Yes, Mr. Cunningham,” Mason immediately answered as they went up the steps. “A meeting with the CEO and the chef of Aurora, the hotel’s main restaurant that just recently signed the contract will follow after two hours.”

“Mr. Cunningham,” the hotel manager greeted formally, bowing to him as he held out his hand to shake. “Welcome to The Oceanview. It is an honor to meet you.”

Jordan shook his hand, returning the greeting. His eyes then strayed towards the employees who are all lined up at the lobby and bowed at him in greeting.

“Don’t let me keep you from your work,” he said to them patiently. “In behalf my family, thank you so much for deciding to stay in the establishment despite our takeover. Rest assured that you will keep all the benefits and privileges that your previous employer had given.”

The employees murmured their thanks before peacefully leaving the lobby to go back to their work. The moment they are gone, Jordan turned to the manager.

“I’ve been reviewing the status of our facilities and I am disappointed to say that it is not to par to our standards,” Jordan started as he walked ahead of them. He started dictating to Mason the observations he had seen. “But I must credit the professionalism of your staff, Mr. Brian. I’ll be taking down notes to bring them back to our main office to be implemented as well.”

The hotel manager could not stop expressing his thanks.

For the next two hours, Jordan had managed to tour half of the hotel property and by that time, Mason had over a hundred items on his list.

“Please request from your Engineering Department to have all the plans of the resort delivered to my office by end of the week,” Jordan said. “I will have my team of architects and engineers’ study on it for the upgrade I am planning here. By that, I want to have it started right away.”

Mr. Brian led them towards the hotel’s main restaurant and signaled for the waiters to served them some snacks and refreshments.

“Is my next meeting here, Mason?” Jordan asked a few minutes later after checking his watch. He reached for his phone in his pocket when he heard a message notification. “By the way, please follow up with regards to our room reservation here.”

“I’ll do that, Mr. Cunningham,” Mr. Brian volunteered.

Jordan watched as the manager walked towards the doors of the restaurant. He saw just in time for someone to enter and the manager greeted him warmly, shaking his hand. Jordan’s eyes narrowed as he took note of the tall, dark brown haired, wearing a tailored fit executive suit like him, that he presumed he will be meeting. The man exhibited an air of arrogance in an aristocratic way, and he knew just be looking at him that he is a man cannot be easily dealt with.

One thing that amused him however is the fact that his secretary is also male, who is following behind him. Something that he seemed to share, and he glanced at Mason, to see his secretary narrowed his eyes at the man behind the executive as well, studying him carefully.

“You must be from Aurora,” Mason started to speak formally, standing up and extending a hand to the tall man in front of him. “I am Mason Brown and I spoke to your secretary, Thomas. This is my boss, Mr. Jordan Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham, this is the President and CEO of Deli Gourmet, operator of the restaurant, Aurora. His name is Mr. Grayson St. Claire.”

Jordan stood up and extended a hand to the man, studying him quietly.

Grayson St. Claire was also looking at him in silence as he gave a firm handshake.

“Please to finally meet you, Mr. Cunningham,” Grayson greeted patiently. “My apologies that I had to postpone our meeting from last week due to an event that I cannot get out of.”

“There’s no problem,” Jordan responded calmly.

The two took a seat on the table and Jordan had realized that both are unconsciously appraising each other. Or more likely just him because he had a feeling that Grayson St. Claire seemed to have somewhat an upper hand on him. That he seemed to have an idea of who he is.

You have an effecient secretary I see, St. Claire, Jordan thought sarcastically as he watched Grayson took a folder from Thomas. He threw Mason a glare and knew that he had also seen the way they were appraised by the two arrivals.

“The chef of Aurora will be joining us later,” Grayson informed them as he took out the contract that he had signed from the previous hotel operator. “She had to take a commercial flight coming here since she had some important business to attend to back at home.”

The two executives then proceeded discussing the contract of the main restaurant that Grayson had signed when it was still under a different operator. He laid down the list of items that he is renegotiating, to which Jordan had immediately said yes to some.

“I will have my legal department review some of the clause, Mr. St. Claire,” Jordan responded when Grayson presented another item, marveling at the skills of the executive in front of him in reviewing the contract by detail. “Give me two weeks to get back to you on those items and I can assure you that whatever will be the decision, both parties will benefit from it.”

“I’ll hold on to your word, Mr. Cunningham,” Grayson answered. He nodded to his secretary and handed him the papers. “There are also some concerns that my chef had brought up to me when she went here a couple of weeks ago to check the area. She wants some renovations and upgrade to the dining area as well as the kitchen. Is it alright if we can check on it so I can get back to my designers?”

“The concern of your chef is very timely as I am planning to have an upgrade for the facilities as well,” Jordan answered as they stood up and he let Grayson lead the way. “We can have the works done for you from the drawings your designers will be giving us.”

“That’d be great,” Grayson said as he took out his phone when it was ringing. He sent an excused look to Jordan before answering the call. “Hey. Did the plane just land?”

Jordan turned to Mason, who is reviewing his notes.

“You suddenly had a competitor, huh, Mason?” Jordan asked jokingly.

“I can assure you that I am efficient as he is, Mr. Jordan,” Mason answered with a light snort. He glared at Thomas for a while. “I’m sure whatever he can do, I can do twice as much.”

“That’s why I prefer you over any female staff,” Jordan chuckled.

“Sorry about that,” Grayson said a few minutes later as he rejoined them. “Maya just landed on the airport, and it’ll be around two hours before she will arrive. They were diverted to another strip since there was some technical problems at the other one.”

“I’ll be staying overnight, Mr. St. Claire,” Jordan assured lightly. “You don’t have to worry over it.”