Wish woke up, stretching her body. Yesterday, she slept pretty late because her head was occupied by Brent's words. It still made her confused. Though there was no way she could figure it out unless he told his part of the story.
She checked her phone and saw there was a voice message from her mother. Since she left her house, she hadnt called her mother once. It was a mean thing to do for her mother but this was the only way to increase their distance and not hurt each other. She played the message and her mother's comforting voice filled the room.
" Hello dear....i know you might be busy and occupied but i just had to send you a message because i cant stop worrying and thinking about you. Hope you are doing fine and they havent treated you badly...if they have tell me instantly. Ill take care of the rest. You know that i have always loved you right? Its okay to not reply back but please take care of yourself. Me and Lia will always be here for you, okay baby?...i dont want to make the message too long so ill stop for now. Goodbye and love you..."
The message stopped and a beeping sound came after. Wish tried to hold her tears from falling. Even listening to her mother's voice made her feel so pained and hurt. She missed them so much, it was hard to breathe. She quickly wiped her tears and got out of the bed.
She had to get ready for a meeting that Brent had called her for. They never really rested, did they?
The car stopped infront of the Brent company building. After reaching at the meeting hall, she met Brent. He was still discussing about some things with his secretary. The meeting was going to start in 10 minutes.
" Oh you're here..." he saw her coming towards him.
" So, what is this meeting about?" she asked looking around.
" Actually some of my relatives are coming here...they are the shareholders of our company and..." he told, " They want to know if....you are qualified or not to be my wife."
Wish raised her head, alarmed. The meeting was about testing her? "And why didnt you inform me earlier?? I would have come prepared!"
" You see...well..." brent scratched his head, " They didnt tell me till today morning and i was shocked as well. But dont worry, ill handle the difficult parts. You check these and thats it." he handed her a file.
" But..." she was suddenly nervous and a little terrified. Even though Brent would be there to support her, it was still a test to know if she was suitable or not. If she made a single mistake then the company's reputation might be ruined or worst possible case they might take their shares out and create a scandal or something.
" Wish..." brent called seeing her nervous and panicky, " This is not a big deal. You dont have to worry much. And since they are my uncles they wont leave the company."
She tried nodding understandingly and took a look at the files. This would be nothing. She should think of it as an interview. Wish had done a lot of job interviews so this wouldnt be a problem right?
Ten minutes had passed already and now they were waiting for his uncles to arrive. Wish's palms were sweating now as she fidgeted on her seat. Brent gave her an assuring look to calm her down.
" Good morning!" they stood up after three men entered the room.
" Good morning." all of them said taking the seat opposite to them.
" Hello, I am Wish lennon, the fiancée of Mr.brent." she spoke grabbing their attention.
" Oh! nice to meet you...I am Mr.Ron" one of the men said.
" And i am mr.Lindson."
" And im Mr.Miller."
They introduced each other. All three of them looked professional and intimidating. They were also silently judging the two of them. Wish could feel their stares in her bones. Why were they so judging?
"So we finally met you, Miss.Lennon." the one called Mr.ron said, " Hope you know you dont have to feel nervous. All three of us are William's uncles and we would like you to think of us as your uncles as well."
Yeah, sure it wouldnt be easy as you think to do that, Wish thought to herself smiling from the outside.
" Yeah, since you two are getting married, we will automatically be related," Mr.miller said.
" And you should be well prepared as we are going to run across each other....very often." Mr.lindson looked stricter than the others. His statement also seemed like a warning.
Brent quickly spoke to lessen the tension, " Anyways, we are grateful that you took your time to have a meeting with us. Hope you had a nice morning."
" Yes ofcourse," Mr.miller nodded," Now, we would like to start the meeting."
The first few minutes, they asked simple and normal questions which mostly William answered.
" I graduated from Business school at 22. I may not have practical experience but i still understand the business terms. With this marriage, i will work hard to help William with all the business works of Brent company." Wish spoke what she had thought inside her head.
" Hmm...." Mr.Lindson looked at her files, " Even though you have excellent grades, an inexperienced person is still a danger to a top company like Brents. Its not possible to gain experience just by hard work, right?"
Wish gulped hard after hearing his words. He really was going to make a strict judgement.
" Of course, she might be inexperienced." Brent spoke for her," But she was also raised in an elite family who owns the Lennon manufactures. She would obviously know the basics which is what is important, right Mr.lindson?"
She bit her lips uncomfortably when he mentioned that she was raised in an elite family. Nobody knew about her real situation beside Brent and his father. She would have to go along the lies till she could leave the marriage.
Three of the uncles nodded mumbling to each other. " Of course, as an elite family she would know the basics." Mr.ron fixed his glasses, " then we will start with the other questions."
In this way, they did more questioning about basic stuffs. it had already been about 45 minutes since the meeting.
" It has really been a good month for us since the shares increased by a huge percentage after your marriage news came out." Mr.lindson said more to the other two uncles than them.
" The new plan of increasing the shares and publicity was a good idea, but....through a marriage proposal?" Mr.miller tried to hide his smile turning to the other uncles.
" I guess even the Brent company needs publicity nowadays." Mr.ron said making them laugh lightly.
Wish could sense William being tensed after their jokes. The way they said made it look like Brent company had become lower in reputation than before. It also sounded like they were humiliating the company. The uncles had a very condescending tone. She felt upset by their talks finally getting courage to speak up on them.
" As you can see from the data," the three men snapped their heads at Wish looking through the files, " Brent company's shares were always constant for about ten years besides this year which increased doubly. The company never had problems with future loss and it definitely didnt have this year. So, if you think Mr.brent decided to this marriage proposal to increase the shares out greed then you should think properly. Also, if it werent for Mr.brent's outstanding ideas to keep the company at no.1 then you wouldnt have been getting more number of shares then your invested money."
By now, the room had gone silent and William was surprised by her sudden attacks that were all accurate and undeniable. He could feel a surge of pride rushing in his body.
" So instead of being grateful of Mr.brent and the company, my dear future uncles, you seem pretty dissatisfied. I also see that the three of you uncles havent done much contributions for the sake of the company." this made the three of them tensed as they shifted on their seats. " If you are at least grateful, i would like to expect one contribution from each of you by the end of this month." She finally raised her head, facing them with a kind smile, " What do you think about it?"
They all cleared their throats, one fixing his glass, one loosening his tie and the last picking the papers.
" Of course, we are grateful for Mr.brent and the company. I dont know why do you think we arent?" Mr.miller forced a smile.
" And we will make a contribution without you telling us. Its an easy thing anyways." Mr.ron joined and finally Mr.lindson spoke, " We will now make our leave. This is it for today's meeting. And thank you making it very enjoyable." the last word came off more as a sarcasm.
Wish and William waved them good bye as they left the room, now remaining only two of them.
" It really was enjoyable, dont you think?" Brent asked her with a smirk to which she smirked back, for the first time.
---
After the meeting, Brent was back to his office to finish some work. Wish had gone back to her apartment to take a light nap. The tiring week really exhausted her so much. She looked at the clock, waking from her nap. It was 6 pm now.
" Brent is probably still at the office." she said to herself. It made her feel like she had to visit him, for an unknown reason. Without thinking for a second, she got ready and headed to the Brent company.
As expected, he was still in the office engrossed in his works. Knocking on his door twice, she waited for his reply.
" Come in!" his voice was heard from inside.
She slowly walked to his desk and placed the coffee she had bought on his desk. Brent had to take double glance at her. " Why are you here again?"
" Just....to thank you." she avoided eye contact.
" Thank me? for?"
" Well, for defending me at today's meeting."
" Oh...i was responsible for it anyways."
" I know.....yet."
He stopped his work and looked up," I also need to thank you.."
She stared at him surprised.
" You also defended me and....my father back there."
"Oh...." she remembered how she spoke up for the company. " It was because they were humiliating the company and your father. Mr.brent is a really nice person, he doesnt deserve those humiliations."
Brent smirked, nodding at her words. " You really like my father. I wish you would treat me the same way."
Wish sighed, looking the other way, " there you go with your flirting, this is the reason why i dont treat you the same."
" then should i be nice from now on?"
She rolled her eyes, " Its not just about being nice-"
" then?" he cut her with that intimidating tone of his.
" Stop with that tone..." she scrunched her brows. She hated when he acted like this out of nowhere. " i will be heading then"
" Wait." he stood up, walking to her.
" Now what?"
He stood right infront of her. His tall figure had to make his head look down at her with that serious face. Wish didnt know why but she always felt intimidated by that look of his and she hated it herself.
" Is that the reason why you postponed the marriage?"
She was taken aback by his question. Why would he ask it out of nowhere? She just wanted to give him a coffee and now it had turned into another tensed situation. How would she even answer the question?
" Your not going to answer?"
She looked towards the windows avoiding his gaze. There was nothing to answer about.
" Or is it something more?" he continued asking," i know its not because you want to help your mother financially. You are a lot smarter than that Wish. I know it."
He kept adding comments, making Wish uncomfortable. Of course he was gonna notice that Wish wasnt marrying to help her mother financially when she was a graduate student with excellent grades who could find a decent job in any company she applied for. " I dont think you need to know."
Brent tilted his head with her answer. As always she was brave to speak what she had to. With the same look, he leaned forward towards her.
" If so, you have to kiss me. On the lips."
.