KEREM
I haven't left my orange juice all day. I go from orange to isotonic drink constantly, coffee makes me gag. Although I am a coffee addict to start the day, this time I have heartburn and still have the effects of the alcohol like a sledgehammer that comes from the palate and hits me on the head from the inside.
I also wear sunglasses without missing a beat when it's convenient. Elijah hasn't been here today, possibly he'll show up after lunch once he's rested. I've lost that opportunity, so I think I'll go to bed early today...in fact, I can't wait to go to sleep, I just think about it.
The situation around me requires me to pay attention since it has to do with the direction that my money will take, added to the opportunities that it may have a return.
"I need you to evaluate this" I ask Neville, handing him the folder from one of the companies that has now been presented. It is a virtual wallet that seeks to partner with banks so that users can operate through it with QR, but the financial and growth projection that is on the itinerary is very complex for me right now, that my head seems to have the intention of bursting.
"Sir, we've already passed this one. The boys are exhibiting now, but we have already defined that we will not go with this company."
"Why?"
"Go through a few pages on the tablet screen until you reach the one that indicates Weaknesses and another where resolutions on our part are indicated."
"Go," he shows me and then reads. "Basically, the company does not make novel contributions to the market it is currently operating in. Most of the main banks are already allied with virtual wallets or have their own attached to mobile banking. It is also not feasible that they are working with bitcoin, that currency is fluctuating and has no support, at the moment not with bitcoins."
"Well..." I keep checking and I think about it again. "We are a technology capital firm that does not work with the currency that is itself the daughter of technology and virtual models."
"This is not the case, it is not viable, sir. It is my responsibility to put ourself first, perhaps the alliance with a bank is better for them than our work in capitals."
I nod and hold my head.
"Get me an appointment with the people from the books and streaming media app."
"That's also a problem."
"Why?"
"Well, they are with Massera Capitales."
"Oh damn. That old man is unbearable. And the son is a criminal, is he still in jail? Or has made bail already?"
"He is in a type of prison on probation at home. His father sent him to prison just as a lesson for a couple of days and then returned him to his home in Italy where he is serving house arrest on bail."
"Hmm. That's interesting. Can you make an appointment with Massera Senior?"
"I don't think you're suitable for prestigious matters for our own firm, it's my duty to tell you about it."
"Thanks for your announcement, but I want that appointment. We have to take advantage of the fact that the old man is here in the United States. Ask him if he already has lunch plans."
"It's possible."
"At least one cup of coffee in the afternoon."
"I'll try, sir."
"Fine," I assert, putting him in his place. I find it a waste of time to continue listening to the people in front of me once I decide that I will have nothing to do with them at all.
I go straight to a bathroom to wash my face and let my temperature conservation bottle with the squeezed orange juice rest on the stone and I wet my face with both hands in a fountain, trying to get the cold water to wake me up.
I hold my hands to the edges and observe the reflection that the mirror returns to me. While I'm here, I'm not wearing my dark glasses, so I'm getting a first-hand look at the purple croissants I'm wearing under my eyes due to exhaustion.
I hadn't had a drink in a long time like I did last night, I absolutely lost control of my own impulses and myself.
I left out everything that reason recommended to me, I did what I never thought I would do. I still have the memory, despite the fact that nobody said anything at all about what happened with Juliet. I haven't come across her either, I just asked Thammy through a message if she was already doing her daily job of teaching my son and she told me yes. I suspect she'll walk similar to me too, but she hasn't had that much to drink so the exhaustion isn't the same from what I think.
I can't get it out of my head.
I was drunk, but not drunk enough to not remember that I kissed her and after that, we both fell fast asleep and locked in a hug that then changed things when I woke up to find that Neville is very good at doing his job.
So much so that I couldn't even enjoy the fact that my inhibitions were corrupted by alcohol and I felt the stupid need for her to remain captured by my arms.
If my assistant didn't do his job so well, I would let her do something stupid that I would later regret.
Like now.
I wonder if people who commit stupid things without mediating their prejudices are really happier than I am.
"I don't know if Toni agrees with the idea that they get their hands on their projects and their work, we work hard to ensure that both he and his wife grow."
Mr. Massera is a man in his seventies, already on his way to eighty, but his head remains clear. He has known how to control himself even with all that power and money confer, it is not an easy task to lead a life that implies a good interaction between the poles that each of these imply more the interior of each one or the private life that it is decided to carry.
I admire his career and who he is, but the years do not come alone and sometimes children also make their mistakes with which they drag others down.
He seems not to be aware of it, he just walks from one place to another with his fortune and with a relentless security team that is closing the doors of every room and building where this man enters.
"Your Capital firm and mine have been competitors for a long time, but we believe it is necessary to reach an agreement. The growth of this company can mean a change for the entertainment industry as a whole to the knowledge economies."
"What does your firm have that mine doesn't?
"We have funding from several companies that became unicorn companies."
"Uh huh, so?"
"And we want to ensure that the company that you represent for Antonio can also be one with our drive."
"You know that this company with or without you, with me or without me in fact, will achieve it sooner rather than later."
"Of course that's doable," I warn. "We do not doubt the capacity it has and the potential that..."
"Stop giving compliments. Just admit that you want a slice of the pie that will come from that company."
"Sir, I " I think I'm stumbling in my story, but he interrupts me and fury wells up in me. I hate when people do something like that to me.
"You don't have something that gives me quality. Or do you have it? Give me more than money to convince me and I'll consider passing it on to my team."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"A purpose, I don't know, you have to convince me of something."
He's a bastard because he's managing to reverse the roles, turn around what I came here to do. I did not come to bid offers, I came to invest. And now I have to be on the other side.
"What do you really want?" I insist, furious.
There is a smile on his face that leaves me somewhat annoyed. I don't like him at all. Suddenly there is noise from outside, like giggling and shouted comments. Someone is laughing out loud and I know who it is, it would be unmistakable to me.
Until they stop at the door of our meeting room where we have improvised a coffee this afternoon.
And the door opens.
Thammy comes with Ali, Elijah walks past and pins himself to the ground looking left and right as Neville's yell is heard from outside:
"You can't go in there!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Thammy says with my son in his arms. She takes a step back, as does Elijah, however, as Juliet enters, she trips and falls to her knees.
"A-aayy!"
I hide my face in my hands, elbows braced on the table.
I hope they do not say that they know me, that they do not say it.
Until Juliet blurts out while trying to stand up with Elijah's help:
"Excuse me, Mr. Deniz! And excuse me sir... old man! Excuse me! We're going now!"
Holy God of Spent Investors, have mercy on me with this woman!