"It may be to you, but still I apologize on his behalf." said Michael sincerely as Jennifer smiled.
"Well we should get going now, I will see you later Miss Honey." said Michael as he smiled.
"See you later." replied Jennifer with a smile as Michael left and made his way to the stage.
"We should also get going as well, I will be you later Jennifer." said Natasha as she smiled and held Joy's hand.
"See you later Natasha." said Jennifer as she smiled.
"Bye Miss Honey, see you later." said Joy as she waved happily at Jennifer as Jennifer waved back at her.
"See you later Joy." she replied as she waved at Dom as well.
Leaving only she and Nine alone. She turned to look at Nine as he appeared to be ashamed and embarrassed in her opinion and she did not know why.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him, she had expected him to leave as well since the other members of the family were already making their way to the stage, but well here he was.
"I want to apologize for Charlie's behaviour and all the things he said, I feel so embarrassed that he embarrassed you like that." he said as he looked away.
"Hey, you don't need to apologize at all, you already told me what he's like and I was more than ready." said Jennifer.
"Besides, I have to admit that I fueled his questions by entertaining him, I should have ignored him but I didn't. Let me just tell you now that I have a bit of mischievousness." said Jennifer.
"I grew up with a sister so I know how tiny sibling squabbles can escalate, I just wanted to tease him, I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed." said Jennifer as she smiled.
"No, you didn't, if anything, thank you for defending me." he responded as he looked at her and smiled causing her to smile.
"Your welcome, how can he get away with always teasing you like that?" asked Jennifer as she laughed and Nine felt some way hearing her defend him.
"Anyway, we can talk about this later, you should get going." said Jennifer as she smiled hearing the mic being tested.
"You're right... I'll see you very soon." he said as he nodded.
"I'll be seeing you, you'll just be up there." she said as she pointed to the stage and smiled as he smiled as well before leaving.
...
"It's unfair, how come everyone is blaming me for doing nothing wrong? All I said was the truth." whined Charlie as a microphone was being fitted on his suit.
"Oh shut up Charlie, you're such an idiot sometimes, you're lucky the microphone is not on yet or else everyone would hear the nonsense you are spewing out of your mouth." said Michael as he too was getting his microphone fitted.
"What is going on here boys, what are you arguing about?" asked Margaret as Nine walked on stage.
"Don't mind us Aunt, it's just Charlie being his usual self, you know how he is." replied Michael as Margaret shook her head.
"Well sort it out now, or save it for later because we have less than a minute." she replied.
"Everyone be on your best behaviour and don't mess this up because I'm sure that Father will be unable to spare you if you ruin this for him." she said as she fixed up Ernest Jr's tie.
"Is everyone here yet?" asked Ernest as he walked to the stage and Lulu fitted his microphone for him.
"Yes father, everyone is here." replied Margaret as Ernest caught sight of Nine and frowned.
"And just where have you been? Why are you so late?" asked Ernest as his tone was far from pleased as he looked at Nine.
"I'm sorry grandfather, there was some bad traffic." explained Nine as Ernest nodded.
"Alright, fine, at least you're here now." said Ernest as Lulu finished setting up his mircophone.
"We have less than a minute, where is everyone going to stand?" asked Lulu as she took a step back.
"Alright, father will obviously stand right in the middle of us all, then to the right, me and Ernie will stand beside him and to the left, Lulu, Michael, Charlie and Nine you guys stand beside her in order while Natasha, Dominic and Joy stand beside us okay?" asked Margaret as they all nodded.
"Yes." they all replied.
"Okay, now chop, chop everyone, the curtains are about to be lifted and our mics will be on in five seconds." said Lulu as she signaled to the DJ five seconds with her hand as he nodded and smiled giving her a thumbs up.
"Oh and no speaking unless asked to." said Lulu while they stood in their places and her words were directed towards Charlie specifically as he frowned and scoffed.
"Whatever." he replied as Michael ruffled his hair.
"Relax and look good, this is going to be on live tv." said Michael as he fixed his tie and Natasha set Joy in between she and Dom so she would not feel left out.
"Then why ruffle my hair??" he asked as Michael laughed.
"Ladies and gentlemen may I have your attention please." came the DJ's voice from the microphone as the music stopped playing and all eyes were on him.
"Thank you all, we are about to be formally addressed by the White family, all you reporters better get your cameras out, and without further ado, here are our esteemed hosts, the Whites." announced the DJ with a smile as the curtains were pulled up revealing them all standing with bright smiles on their faces.
The silent crowd erupted with an applause as all cameras were shined brightly into their faces.
"Thank you everyone, thank you all for being here, esteemed guests, lovely family members, valuable friends, cherished employees, it is such an honour to see all your lovely faces here today." said Ernest as he smiled.
"I am so happy today to host you and to see you here together to celebrate with us the joint event of the new A-corp skyscraper and the fifty year anniversary of this company." said Ernest as an applause began again.
"I cannot believe it... can you? It has been fifty years, fifty wonderful years of watching this company grow from a mere idea to the well known enterprise we have here today." said Ernest proudly.
"It makes me so happy to be able to see such a milestone with my entire family. With my children, with my grandchildren and even with my great granddaughter." said Ernest as his proud words caused them all to smile.
"This is actually a very sentimental moment for me." said Ernest as he smiled and looked down as cameras flashed taking several pictures.
"I can vividly remember the early days of this company. I was the only employee, we did not even have a building, I used to move from door to door, house to house advertising my services, and now you can't even ask someone about our services and they won't even know." said Ernest as they all laughed.
"It makes me proud to be able to see all this growth. I remember as a young boy growing up in very troubling times. I was alive during the second world war, I was a very young boy, the grandson of immigrants from Japan, so imagine how my life was." he said.
"My grandfather had emigrated from Japan with my grandmother, they had run away to live their lives together." said Ernest.
"Life was tough, my grandfather did any menial jobs he could find to provide for his family. He had two children, a son and a daughter, and he would do anything to provide for them, even in the most exceedingly difficult times, and as his motto was 'strive till you cannot strive anymore, for only in hard work and dedication will you see success that matters to you.'" he continued.
"He passed off those same beliefs to his children, especially my father. My father grew up and got married to a very lovely woman my mother. She had the prettiest brown hair, and lovely wide brown eyes that I luckily inherited." chuckled Ernest as everyone laughed along with him.
"My mother was raised by poor farmers, so she too came from a background of poverty. My father had to drop out of school since there was no money to continue and he was the first son he had to start work early in order to aid in providing for the family." said Ernest.
"By the time I was born, my father worked in a factory that produced bottlecaps. The hours were long and the wage was small, but at least he had a steady source of income and on rare off days he would work extra as a builder. My mother stayed at home to take care of me. She was the most beautiful woman in the world to me, she cooked, she cleaned, she loved me unconditionally, there was nothing I said I wanted to do that she did not say I could accomplish." said Ernest as he smiled.
"Due to how hard things were, my parents decided that having one child to take care of was more than enough." said Ernest.
"I often felt lonely without siblings, but my aunt got married to a travelling salesman, and so my cousin and I Cornelia were very close, we grew up together, we spent every summer together with out grandparents, she was and still is my sister." he said as he smiled at Cornelia who was in front of the crowd and she smiled back.
"We loved going to to spend the summer with our grandfather because he would tell us stories of his life in Japan and he would insist that we never adopt American culture because no matter where we lived we were Japanese by heart, but we are talking about a man who as soon as he arrived here changed his last name." joked Ernest as everyone laughed.