Teddy Bear - Cheryl Fanfic

Part 31

Dianne's POV

I immediately recognized Joe when I entered the hotel. He dresses like any other guy. Just plain simple. It's not really obvious from his looks that he's one of the richest people in this country... or maybe the whole world. He had his luggage with him though...

"Hi Joe!!!" I greeted as I walked closer to hug him. Ughh... I really missed this old man. Okay, maybe he's not that old...

He looked at me from top to bottom. "Do I know you?"

I glared at him. "Better not play that game, uncle."

He laughed. "I was just waiting for you to call me that."

I hugged him tight. I felt my phone vibrate from my pocket. When I took a look at it, I saw a text from Ian. He says he's going to be a little bit late. Well, of course, he would be.

"Uhmm... Ian says we could have dinner now. He's going to be late..." I let Joe know.

"Well... okay. What's up with him? The office is just a short drive away." He sighed. So... he didn't know Ian's on leave? I zipped my mouth.

We got a table for three and we both sat down.

"So... what do you want to eat?" He asked me.

I read the menu and it had all these fancy names in it. I closed it.

"Yeah... I think I'll just have a salad. Any salad." I said, too lazy to read the descriptions and stuff.

"What? You on a diet?" He raised his eyebrows..

"Uncle... it's just dinner. I don't want something heavy." I smiled.

"Fine." He signalled the waiter to come.

"Really... You practically ordered half of the menu!" I said as the waiter left.

"You're exaggerating... that's like 1/8th of it. Besides, Ian eats a lot. I bet he could finish all that in a minute." He said.

"Okay..." Speechless. Maybe I'd dig in later. It sounds too delicious...Hehe.

We both talked for a while and catched up with what's going on in our lives. I knew that the face of their company was still Joe. He still hasn't turned everything to Ian. He says he wants to see Ian work hard before he gets everything but I know my buddy already has worked his butt off.

"But you know... I plan to give him all of it soon. He's really a genius. It must be hard for him to handle things since he was 19 but he can do it." He leaned back on his seat.

"Yeah... but he was really stressed out at first." Yeah... because he was thrown into a slowly crumbling company then. Mental face palm.

"What was supposed to be fixed in 7 years, he did it in 4! Tell me that wasn't great." He bragged.

"Yes. I really look up to him. I mean... how does he do that? It seems so effortless to him." I said. Well... he does have his charms and his way with people that he could easily get anything he wants.

"Well.. I don't know. He has the talent for it." He smiled. I totally agree.

"But then... what would you do when you have nothing else to do?" I asked curiously.

"I'm going around the world. Try to help people. I dunno... I've been too focused on making money that I almost forgot why I'm doing it anyway. So... I'm going to do some giving back to the world personally." He said.

"You already support so much foundations..." I said. Joe held my hand.

"Honey... that's only money. It's really different when you get out there. I know you're becoming a real business woman but everything isn't about business. You'll lose your soul if you do." Wow... you could really learn some stuff from him. Yes.. I admit it. Money can be blinding and all the prestige and stuff. But in the end, it's not worth it. Because what you should be satisfying is your true happiness and not the brief greedy indulgences. Whoa... big eye opener. I'm glad that I'm surrounded by good people. In the businessworld, especially in the big leagues...ugh! Don't even wanna talk about it.