The following morning Mason was in his office when his manager walked in, with the grim look on his face Mason could tell he didn't come bearing good news.
"What's up?" Mason asked him.
His manager placed his phone which he was holding, in front of Mason. "What is this?" Mason asked as he picked it up.
"It's a social media post about you," his manager said.
"Trevor, if there is something wrong, then just say it already," Mason said with impatience. He didn't have time to start reading what some blogs had to say about him, the media has always found a way to say something about him, and he wouldn't be surprised if they've found something else to say this time.
"Just open it and see for yourself," Trevor said.
Mason reluctantly clicked on the post and the headline of the post made his blood boil with rage.
"Is Mason Taylor Gynophobic?" This was the headline of the article with a picture of Mason by the side.
"Mason Taylor, the CEO of Mivada, is the subject of several rumors, not only about his sexual identity but also about his masculinity. Some believe he is gay because he has never been seen with a woman, while others believe he is impotent and thus remains single and unattached. Mason Taylor, on the other hand, is a wuss. It is said that his mother's mysterious death emasculated him, affecting his masculinity. This explains his inability to approach a woman, let alone date her. Regardless of the fact that he has money..."
Mason threw the phone on his desk in anger, "how dare they bring my mother into this?!" He barked in anger.
"What the fuck is this even supposed to mean?! Who wrote this rubbish?"
"We don't know yet, the IT guys are already working on finding out where it was posted from," Trevor said.
Mason took a sip of water from the glass on his desk, trying to calm himself down. "Has any of the board members seen this?" He asked.
"Some of them have, and they are not happy about it."
"People would always find a way to spoil your image, no matter what you do," Mason said in a cool voice. He was angry, but he knew anger wasn't going to help him at this point. He needed to find a way to nip this in the bud.
Trevor came and sat down opposite Mason, "have you given a thought to our last discussion?" He asked Mason.
Mason raised his head to look at Trevor, "if you asking if I have decided to get married, the answer is no!"
"But Mason, you need to think about it, this is the only way out of this situation," Trevor said.
"Maybe for you, but definitely not for me. Getting married isn't a solution."
"But the board members are getting restless, they need to be assured that their CEO is responsible, and not some joker like the media portray you to be."
"And the way I can assure them that I'm responsible is by getting married? Are we in the 19th century or something?" Mason said with a humorless chuckle.
"Mason, this is serious. Your grandfather was the one who set the rules himself, every CEO of the company must be married, it's one of the rules of the company."
"But that was years back, this is the 21st century, things don't run like that anymore. Being married doesn't determine whether or not I would be able to run the company. The board members should be more concerned about my skills and not my marital status."
Trevor was quiet for a moment, then he said, "this article was posted by midnight, people have been retweeting it and since then our stocks have dropped."
"How badly?"
"Just by a few percentages."
"It will go back up," Mason said with confidence.
"We can't wait until things get worse before we act Mason, we need to give..."
"As long as the solution you have to offer doesn't involve marriage, I'm down for it."
"Getting married is...."
"I don't want to hear it!" Mason interrupted Trevor.
Trevor seeing there was no way he could get Mason to listen, got up to leave. "I will go and check on the IT guys and see if they found the source of the post."
Mason responded with a nod and went back to work.
Not long after his manager left, Mason's phone started ringing, his grandfather was the one calling.
"Hey Pops," Mason said into the phone.
"Mason, I want to see you at the house by 6 pm," his grandfather said in a stern voice.
"Pops, I have an engagement by that time, how about we meet another...."
"I'm not asking you, Mason, make sure you are here by 6 pm."
Mason wanted to say something else, but his grandfather had ended the conversation. The man might be old, but he still called the shots. Mason groaned out in frustration because he already knew what his grandfather was going to talk to him about.