The door of Douglas's office was pushed open, and his right-hand man asked for permission to enter it. Douglas was sitting in his chair behind the table, calculating some numbers.
He permitted the man without looking up from his work.
"Has the ship loaded?" He asked, still engrossed in his work.
"Yes, sire! The ship is ready to leave the port."
"Good!" he replied distractedly.
The man was supposed to leave now that he was done with the task he had in hand, yet he lingered there in dilemma.
Douglas's hands paused as he noticed that. He looked up at him and asked, "What happened? Do you want to say anything?"
The man looked a bit hesitant, but then said, "Yes, sire. We just have received a piece of bad news."
Douglas's lips pressed together tightly at the mention of bad news.
"Have we faced any losses?" He asked.
The man shook his head. "No."
Douglas leaned back in his chair in relief. "Then what could be a bad news?"
"The losses we will face in the future."
