Chapter 47

Soon, the auction ended and Sean, Leo, Athena and Gloria stood up to leave, they avoided using the front door since it was clustered with reporters and the leaving guests whose fans were also waiting to catch a glimpse of. Seeing the door from the inside that leads to the lobby which would lead to the reception of the hotel, they strode towards it. On getting there, right before Sean could open the door, they heard whisperings and it wasn t hard to identify the voices, one was Frank and the other was the auctioneer.
"You have to understand, there is no way I can pay a million dollars for that machine," Frank was saying.
"I m sorry Mr. Jones but there is nothing I can do, everyone heard you make the bid, it would be hard saying otherwise. Mrs. Brick is the vendor and as she heard you make the bid, what will I tell her when I don t give her the exact amount that was bid on her item? I have a reputation to keep."
"A million dollars is too much for that thing, it s not even worth it."
"You should have thought about that before making the bid," the auctioneer accused.
"Come on, don t tell me that you don t actually know what happened, I only made that bid to trap Athena, she was ruining everything, you saw how she was only adding five dollars to every bid I made. I knew Sean would be the one to pay for the bid but I didn t expect her to be smart enough and stop bidding by then."
"I understand you, Mr. Jones, but you should also understand that it s not my fault that you got caught in your own trap."
"Ugh," Frank groaned, "please, there must be something you can do."
"Okay, I can t take this anymore," Leo whispered and pushed open the door, the duo stopped talking immediately they saw him, as well as Sean, Athena and Gloria who came out after him, "what s going on here?"
Frank ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair and glanced away. "Nothing sir," the auctioneer answered with a smile.
Leo looked from him to Frank and then back at him, "what do you mean by nothing? I can see you harassing my designer and you tell me it s nothing?"
"Um…" the auctioneer was at loss, he looked at Frank who refused to meet his gaze and he looked back at Leo, "actually, sir, he um…he wants to cancel his bid on the sewing machine."
"Oh, I see," Leo nodded, pretending to be worried, "but that s impossible, everyone heard you make the bid," he said to Frank.
Frank stopped acting invisible and glanced at his boss, "I know sir, but I really didn t budget a million dollars for the machine, I…I can t pay for it," he avoided his gaze as he admitted his flaw.
"That s too bad, what should be done now?" Leo asked, he pretended to ponder as he looked from Frank to Sean with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I have a million dollars to spare," Sean said, when Frank glanced at him, he smiled, "I can give it to you."
"Wow, how generous of you, Sean, you have saved the day," Leo smiled.
"Actually, I m not being generous, Leo," he looked at his friend, "I m a businessman."
"I see, what do you want then?" Leo asked and everyone listened to hear his terms.
"Well," Sean cleared his throat, "I believe the dress Esperanza wore tonight was designed by you," he was saying to Frank, "and Leo said the dress is in making and would be distributed in a few days, I want half of your shares in the sales."
"What?" Frank almost shouted, he couldn t believe his ears.
Leo chuckled, Sean is indeed a businessman, "well, he has stated his terms, what do you say, Frank?" he glanced at him.
"That s not acceptable sir, I would prefer he lends me the money and after the first barge, I would pay him off," Frank suggested.
"What s the gain in that?" Sean asked, "I don t invest money where I won t generate a profit."
"Fine, I would add five percent of the money when paying back," Frank added with clenched teeth. He was already embarrassed enough that he was in this situation and yet, Sean doesn t want to make it easy for him.
Sean chuckled, "if I do business of five percent, then I won t be in the stage I m in now, my offer still stands, take it or leave it," he shrugged then wrapping his hand on the small waist of Athena, he started walking away with her but he stopped after a few steps and turned to Frank, "you have until ten am tomorrow morning to decide, otherwise the offer is off." He smiled and walked away with Athena, he could feel everyone s eyes on them and he could also imagine Leo holding his laughter, he chuckled softly at that and didn t even bother to look back.
When they got to the car, Athena hadn t said anything; she got into the car and rested her head on the car seat. Her eyes were closed as she replayed everything that happened tonight. Obviously, Sean has orchestrated everything before asking her to play along, what she doesn t understand is his game, what does he hope to achieve? He could have easily given the money to Frank and take the five percent if he really wants to make profit, why must he insist on having an equal share on his earning? Fashionista would take their own shares from the sales and he still wants to share Frank s own, does he want to render him penniless? Besides, how much would he make from the sales that would amount to the amount he has in his accounts or the amount he makes in a day? Everything was confusing to her, why does he want Frank penniless? And why now that she had announced that she wants to go back to him?
Sean sensed the quietness in her and said nothing, he knew a lot was going through her mind and he doesn t know if he wants to know what. But still, the urge to know was driving him insane, what is she thinking about? What has she speculated in her mind about what happened tonight? What does she see him as now, an enemy? A monster? After all it won t be bad if she sees him as that, he is on the step of rendering the man of her dreams penniless, but why is he even doing that? Obviously, nothing would have happened if she hadn t admitted to him of wanting to go back to Frank, who knows, maybe if she sees he doesn t have the money to take care of her, she wouldn t bother going back.
But what is he thinking? She had been with him since she was sixteen and he owns nothing then, nothing even a sofa, but she stayed with him, what makes him think she wouldn t do the same? No she wouldn t, he concluded, her taste has changed now, there is no way she would agree to go back to the life she once lived, right?