Chapter 15

JAY'S POV
"Good day, Mr Harley"
"It's so great to have you back"
"We've been expecting you" Oh have you? I tried to keep my smile in place as greetings flowed from one person to another. It had been four years since I set my foot into the Harley's enterprise but not much had changed. A man practically ran up to us as we got to the reception,
"Mr Harley, it's so nice to finally meet you" his smile was worth a million as I shook the offered hand. I couldn't recognize his face and Noah sensed it,
"This is Mr Davis, he's in charge of most of the affairs here" Mr Davis gave me a broader smile and I was compelled to return it, sincerely this time around.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr Davis. How have you been holding up?" The smile dimmed a bit but he professionally wore the mask again. I could understand what he must have been going through, it wasn't easy to deal with the evil twins. Noah nudged me to pay attention and I tried to catch on to what Mr Davis was saying,
"....there's going to be a board of directors meeting to announce your appointment as Chairman of the organization. It will be held in a month's time so I'd suggest you come in twice or thrice a week to get acquainted with how things work over here" he kept on going but I had exceeded my attention limit and I drifted away from the conversation. Appointment as the chairman? What about my business back in California?
"Have a nice day, Mr Davis" Noah ushered me into an office that was supposed to be mine as he bid Mr Davis farewell. A lot of things was going as I had planned but I still had hope. Noah asked for coffee and sat down in the chair opposite mine,
"You weren't paying attention when Mr Davis was talking" I shrugged and he continued,
"You need to know how the company works, Jay" I nodded. I really didn't care about the company's affairs, I was more concerned about the reunion which was in two days.
"Let's take a tour of the building then, I haven't been here in forever you know. It wouldn't hurt to see the changes the twins had made in my absence" Noah gave me a look that I chose to ignore.
I was going to deal with the company's affairs later, for now, my main focus was on having fun like I had planned, then I'd move to developing means to convince my mum to allow one of the twins take over the company even if she hated them as much as they hated me.
The elevator was close to my office and it made me feel good. At least I wouldn't have to walk past so many people before I got to it.
"Chloe called the other night" Noah said as we had ridden the elevator halfway in silence, Who was Chloe again?
"The real estate woman?" Noah asked when I looked at him in confusion. Oh, Chloe Drew, the real estate woman.
"What did she want?" Noah scoffed,
"What else if not you? You really have to settle down and stop engaging in one night stands, Jay" I rolled my eyes, why else did I come for a decade due reunion if I didn't have plans to settle down?
As the elevator stopped at the top floor, my phone rang and I excused myself and went to the corner to talk to my best friend, Daniel.
"Yo, man, Where have you been?" He asked the moment I picked up. I remembered I hadn't heard from Daniel ever since he left the party.
"What's up man, how is the fam?" He chuckled,
"They're all good. How's Mrs Angela and the twins?" I started calling Peter and Pauline, the twins back in high school and now, Daniel calls them that too.
"I haven't seen the twins but mum's fine. She even looks so much prettier than the last time"
"I'd stop by to see her later tonight or tomorrow. My aunt hasn't let me out of her sight since I stepped into the house last night"
"Mum has been like that too, watching my every move like a hawk. I'm surprised she allowed me come to the company today"
"You're at the company? That was fast." Noah tapped me on the shoulder and cleared his throat to signify my attention was needed.
"We'll talk later, hotshot. I have to go do some business man stuff. Have you spoken to California? How are they fairing?" Noah shifted from one foot to the other and I pointed at the phone to show him I was almost done. He gave me a stiff nod and walked down the hallway towards a door, I presumed, led to the conference room.
"... everything is good. I spoke to Camille last night, they're handling everything perfectly fine. There's a document that requires both our signatures though, I'll bring it by the house later" I muttered a thank you coupled with a talk later buddy and hung up.
"...things are going to be different from here on out. Mrs Harley had made it clear to every one of us who would be the chairman when she steps down next month" Noah waved him over as I walked into the room and I took a seat next to him and Mr Davis who oddly still had that broad smile on.
The meeting went on what seemed like forever and series of "Welcome back" "We're glad you'd be the successor" "How's California?" "You look way different than we had hoped, that's good" "Are you married yet?" That last question was what made me wave off the remaining salutations and headed for the elevator with Noah in toll.
It felt good to be back in Los Angeles but I reminded myself the sole reason why I had flown 9 hours and what my real intentions were. The reunion was in two days, in two days time, I would know the first step to take in accomplishing my mission.