Chapter 14

Shawn followed me to see if I was fine. “What happened?” he asked. 
“My previous boss is here.” 
“Who is he?” 
“Bishopp Cussto” I answered. 
“Bishopp Cussto is your old boss. Wow talk about the coincidence. MWD is one of our competitors when it comes to investor hunting.” 
I can’t believe what is going on. Would it be rude if I leave? I can’t leave; this was supposed to be a great night. But I can’t help Shawn while avoiding the boss I called ‘A big fat cappuccino man’ and quit my job like that. I have decided; I am going to leave. 
“Shawn, I think I should leave.” 
“What? No, you can’t leave now.” 
“I can’t stay. I told you how bad I react when I am under pressure. I am going to cost you this hunt.” 
“You will be fine. Trust me ok.” he talked me out of leaving and so I stayed. 
We went closer to the man of the hour Ron King. Ron King is an old man at the age of 76. His hair is fully gray and he is a bit taller than me. He is a bit over weight but the black suit he is wearing makes him look like one of those cool grandpas. Ron King was busy talking to all those people when we came close. We greeted him, and he greeted us with his graceful English accent. 
“Mr. King, how are you doing?” Shawn approached Ron King like his long time friend and he threw his hand in for a shake. Ron King took Shawns hand. 
“Shawn Davis, it has been a while. Where have you been hiding for the past few years?” Ron King asked Shawn. I realized that Shawn and Ron King had known each other before this hunt. Shawn answered the question “I finally accepted the job my old man had been offering me.” 
“Oh, so you are here on behalf of DC.” Shawn nodded his head. Ron King looked at me and asked Shawn “Who is your friend? It’s a face I have never seen before.” I jumped in to introduce myself. 
“Mr. King It is an honor to meet you.” I threw my hand in for a shack and acted like I have known his story my entire life. 
“Thank you dear. What your name?” Ron King asked me. 
“Princi Jona, sir. I am one of the high managers of DC.” I answered. 
“Please call me Ron.” he offered. 
“It’s a beautiful house Ron.” I made a compliment. 
“Thank you. My wife made me promise that I would take good care of this house when she passed away.” he said it not with a sad face but with a smile. 
“Oh, I am really sorry sir.” I gave my condolence. 
“Call me Ron.” he suggested again with a big smile. Shawn spoke of nothing during my conversation with Ron King. He continued “My wife Abby and I bought this house when we got married. And she cared for her like a living thing.” 
I interrupted him “The house is a ‘she’” 
“Yes” he laughed “Abby was a feminist and she refers to all things big and small as ‘she’. I can show you around if you like.” 
“I don’t think we should take your time…” I tried to be humble but Ron King insisted. So he took me and Shawn for a private tour. Ron King showed us everything. There was one room it had nothing but oil paintings of him and his entire family. On one wall there was a painting of one woman in a very large frame. 
“Is this Abby?” I asked. 
Ron looked at the painting for a while and answered my question “Yes. Isn’t she a beauty? I don’t know what I did to deserve her but mostly I don’t know what I did to loss her like that.” 
“How did she pass away?” I asked again. 
“It was 15 years ago when she got diagnosed with breast cancer. She was a fighter; she was the strongest person that had ever lived. But a year later she lost the fight.” Ron’s eyes filled with tears as he looked up at his late wifes’ painting. 
I looked at the painting in great sorrow. Abby had a bright smile on her face in the painting. She was wearing a beautiful gown with glowing jewelries. She is quite tall but the shoes she was wearing made her even taller. I wondered what the last 15 years had been for Ron King. Losing the one person you love and you want to spend the rest of your life with is not an easy thing. As the other painting in the room, it was not hard to guess that Ron and Abby had a happy family. From the paintings, I can tell that they have five children, three boys and two girls. 
“How long have you been married?” I asked because I was getting really interested in this family and for a moment it was like both of us forgot the purpose of tonight. 
“I have known her since middle school. But I never had the courage to ask her out. We passed to high school and I still had no courage. But one day she approached me, she wanted me to help her with an assignment you see and I used that opportunity to take her out. At first she wasn’t sure if it was a date but once she realized that she had fallen for my nerdy charms I got my courage back. So we dated for 12 years and got married when I turned 30 and her 29. We were married for 3o years before she passed but that doesn’t mean I stopped counting. I always celebrate our anniversary with all our children. This year is our 46 year anniversary. You should come.” 
Shawn was right. The King family are very interesting. “I accept.” Shawn said. 
Ron King continued “You know: the one thing me and her had a disagreement on was her love for beer.” 
I interrupted him “If you don’t like beer then how come the only drink that is being served here is beer.” Ron King answered “Like I told you, I would love to keep her memory alive and she somehow got me hooked on beer.” 
I just can’t here enough about them. I raised my apple juice as if it was beer and made a toast to the King family. 
After the long tour, we went back. Everybody was confused about the where about of Ron King, had they not know that we were already securing the investment. I forgot about Cussto until he saw me. We were still talking with Ron King, Cussto came running at me. 
“Ms. Jona” he screamed. 
“Hello Mr. Cussto” I said with a cold tone in my voice. 
“Wow you are here with the Davis Company. How did that happen?” He wouldn’t even let me get a word in, he continued “Mr. King, do you know who this girl is? She is the girl that made a huge scene when she quit from MWD. You know, she was my assistant and she hated her job…” he just continued talking. I see what he is trying to do. He is trying to make DC look bad by making me look bad. He is saying that I am a bad employee and I got a job at DC because DC doesn’t care about who they hire. 
Cussto talked for six minutes and finally I blew up. “Are you seriously judging my working habits? What about yours. I mean have you ever wondered why I quit that day. It was because you gave no respect to any of your employees and you never let me do my job. You are disrespectful and a waste of time. I had to go across town bring your stupid cappuccino every single day with my own money only because I was afraid I would lose my job. And that is the only reason any person in the right mind would work for you or your company.” 
When I was done talking I realize that everyone was staring at my direction and all including Cussto, Shawn and Ron had their jaws down. I was so embarrassed. I buried my head down and walked out real fast almost as running. I went to the balcony to breath. I can’t believe what I just did. 
How am I supposed to face Shawn now? What am I going to do? He asked me to come here to help him work and I totally ruined it. About thirty minutes later, Shawn came to the balcony. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at him. He came close and stood next to me. After a while of silence I decided to apologize. 
“I am so sorry Shawn. But I told you that I should have left the minute I saw Cussto.” 
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” I felt worse when he said that. 
“I really am sorry!” I continued “With Lucy Chaw and now Cussto, it’s like my past is interrupting my present.” I turned to him and said “You should never take me to another hunt.” 
He cracked up “Are you kidding. I am going to take you to every hunt.” 
“I am confused. Didn’t I just cost you the hunt?” I asked. 
“No, as soon as you left the room, Ron King looked at Cussto disgustedly and said ‘I am glad I never invested in your disgraceful company. DC should have the decade’s investment.’ and he shook my hand” 
“Are you serious? We won because I said that MWD was disrespectful?” I couldn’t believe what Shawn was telling me. He said “Yes well that and you kind of made a good first impression and Ron King is all about first impressions.” 
I felt at ease “Well in that case you are welcome.” We both laughed. 
Shawn looked at me for a while and with hesitation in his voice he said “Maybe we should celebrate this win with a movie and maybe lunch or dinner. You know since DC won.”