Catherine sat, her eyes fixed on the document placed on the table for her. Everywhere became silent, her father's gaze set on her as he waited for her to sign what seemed like the beginning of her new life faze.
"Bradley Bentley sent this document to me, this is the only option we have left, my dear. All we need is your signature on those marriage proposal papers and then our company will go back to normal." The voice of her Father rang in her ears again. Her hands clenched on the pen in her finger, she did her best to suppress the anger surfacing, yet, her effort was futile.
"Wait, so I'm supposed to sign these papers in agreement to a marriage to who?" Her lips almost trembled as she asked again as if to confirm properly.
"William Bentley," Her father stated again.
"And for the well-being of the company?"
"Yes, exactly."
"WILLIAM BENTLEY? Son and current CEO of Bentley maple syrup company?"
"Yes, dear."
She slowly kept the papers back on her father's desk and stood up slowly while trying to process everything.
"So you hid the company's dilemma from me and out of the blue you invited me in here and apologized to me just because you wanted to ask me to sign a marriage document for the betterment of our company?"
"Yes, dear."
"You have got to be kidding me." She said between gritted teeth, her eyes glaring at him. That was the last word she said as she angrily stormed out of her father's office without arguing any further or even letting him say a word.
"Catherine..." McKellen called but the door had shut behind her, the sound of her storming footsteps echoed. As the echoes of her footsteps stormed on her way out, anger kept surfacing.
McKellen watched as Catherine walked out of the company, his memory flashed back to two days when Bentley came with his offer.
He had sat behind his front desk in his office glaring at the files and documents in front of him with disappointment written all over his face.
For the past few months now, the records he has been getting from the company's accounts have been very bad and it seemed like it was just getting worse.
He was in his office, ruffling through some papers and searching through documents when his secretary entered. "Good morning, sir, here are the documents you requested for."
His secretary had a bunch of folders in her hands. She quietly walked out of the office after delivering them. With his hands resting on his forehead, McKellen couldn't stop brainstorming ideas that could lead to the betterment of the company.
It was becoming frustrating. He had tried everything possible in his power to fix everything but to no avail.
He walked over to the mini-bar in his office poured a glass of wine and took a sip on it while he just rested on the couch thinking seriously about why the company was losing funds drastically.
He immediately got up from the couch when an idea popped up in his head. In his mind he assumed this was it; finally a solution to the company's problems. He would finally have peace of mind after this.
He rushed to his lower drawer and ransacked it aggressively. He searched through the older folders relating to the company's sales and purchase records with his finger sliding through the paper, he carefully assessed what was recorded but still, it was all giving the same records he was brought back to square one.
He grunted and angrily threw his glass to the wall and it slammed and shattered into pieces. He punched his fists on his desk multiple times while grunting in frustration and anger.
His secretary walked in on the whole drama and she just stood there in shock not knowing whether to involve herself in all of this or not.
With a tight grip on the letter that she just received to deliver to him, she stammered in fear with her words. "Err... Sir... Sir... you received a letter from Bentley maple syrup." she shivered in fear as she wasn't sure why McKellen was angry and she knew he wasn't always like this.
"Leave it on my desk and leave please," he spoke with his back facing her and his fists still on the desk. McKellen was becoming very frustrated at all of this and soon enough it would get to the media which would do more harm than good.
McKellen ran a business that processes, prepares, and sells honey and products made from honey. He is the CEO and a very well-known millionaire and businessman and has earned a livelihood from the business that was handed down to him by his father. He could not afford to let the business fail in his hands.
At this point, he would go to any length to get the 'McKellen Sweet Tooth,' running on its normal course.
He picked up the letter that his secretary had brought to him and wondered why Bentley Maple Syrup sent a letter. What do they want now? He opened up the letter and read it.
"From Bentley Maple Syrup to McKellen Sweet Tooth. I humbly want to invite you to a personal business meeting concerning the well-being of ourselves and our businesses. The time, date and location will be communicated to you at the lower corner of the right-hand side of the letter." His eyes went to the end of the paper as he read inwardly.
[Tomorrow by noon. Location: Bentley Maple Syrup Company. Thank you and I await your response.
Signed; Bentley MS.]
'What did he mean by the well-being of our businesses and ourselves? I don't really have any special relationship with him.' Mckellen thought to himself.
Hours had gone by and office hours were over. McKellen drove straight to his mansion and met his wife in the sitting room with newspapers in her hands, sadness, and anxiety plastered like a mask on her face.
"Honey, thank goodness you're home now." she walked over and hugged him while helping him with his suitcase and his suit. She carefully placed them beside her.
"Honey, have you seen the news? It's everywhere." Her voice was breaking as tears began to form in her eyes. She handed the newspaper to him while she sniffled and wiped her tears. He glared at the newspaper headlines.
"McKellen Sweet Tooth is falling apart." he continued to turn the pages of the paper aggressively. He let out a sigh of disgrace and tiredness and tore the newspaper into pieces.
"Gertrude!" He called on the maid. "Clean this up." He wrapped himself around his wife. "Honey, everything will be fine, I have it all under control I promise." he tried to sympathize with her.
Charlotte the wife of Micheal Mckellen is very supportive of her husband in whatever decision he makes. She has been his right-hand woman since day one. She didn't want anything to happen to their reputation as they were very well known.
She could not even imagine what their life would be like if they completely went bankrupt. "What will people say, Michael? What is going on? What went wrong?" She said with tears in her eyes.
"It's all over the news now, people have started talking and rumors are spreading. Very soon the paparazzi and goddamn interviewers won't let us rest. This is horrible please tell me everything will be alright." she looked him straight in the eye and never cut her gaze.
"Love, trust me when I say it's just a phase and it will pass. I'm on it and so are the financial officers. Everything will go back to normal soon okay?" McKellen was saying but was interrupted by a voice. When they turned, Catherine, their daughter was walking in slowly towards them.