C7 Moving on

Five years passed by, Tonio's limited company began to run into bankruptcy as they lost more and more funds of the organization. All efforts to manage it to a safe end didn't work out as it all failed. Frustrated by this, Antonio and Charlotte's marriage had to be put on hold until the company was out of bankruptcy.

Charlotte on the other hand did not apply for this as all she wanted was to quickly get married to Antonio, whom she claimed was the love of her life but also after hearing about the falling of the company, she reluctantly accepted to wait.

****

"We need to put a hold to the wedding." Antonio finally opened up to Charlotte.

"Okay, until when before we wed? Baby I've waited for so long for us to get wedded, isn't the company in a better shape now?" Charlotte asked with so much persistence in her voice to get married.

"I know but you need to be a little bit more patient again. We have no choice but to hold it for now. If we use the money we've gotten so far for the wedding then the company will be totally bankrupt and we'll have no other choice than to sell it. Is that what you want?" He asked her with a wounded pride in him.

"Has it gotten this bad? I won't live to be the wife of a man without company. What do you want us to feed on then? Be poor? Have a poor home and live a poor life? No, no I won't let that happen." Charlotte answered as she didn't want to live in poverty.

Antonio looked at her for a while and sighed.

"Then we just have to wait." He replied after he finally found his tongue.

"Just don't take too long if you still want to marry me." She said to him as she picked up her bag and left the restaurant without waiting for him to drop her off as usual.

"..." Antonio just sighed without having anything to say. Life was giving him a big blow and difficulty to handle situations. Love was not something he was after again; rather, he needed to channel all of his energy and strength into salvaging the situation at the company.

Antonio was running fast into depression at the downfall of the company. A board meeting was called and all the members of the board were present at the meeting.

"As we all know, the company is crashing very fast due to the losses we keep having. We have only one solution out of this mess right now." The president spoke as everyone listened to him. He was an elderly man in his late sixties.

"Which is?" The chairman asked as he was also older but a dozen times younger than the president.

"We need to sell it."

"What? Has it come to that? And when it's being sold, what then happens to the staff working here?" Another asked. Everyone just kept asking questions except for Antonio who just sat quietly as he was processing some thoughts in his head.

"We have no other option and as for the staff, they might choose to stay if they want. Whoever we are selling the company to will buy both the company and the staff or we'll either decide to use the proceeds from the sale and pay off the workers. Which one do you all decide on?"

"Let's sell…"

"Partnership." Antonio interrupted them. This was his first time speaking since they started this meeting.

"What are you talking about?" The chairman turned to ask Antonio.

"If it takes me to travel to Alaska and ask for a collaboration rather than selling this company, I will do it." Antonio replied and got up, bringing the meeting to an end.

****

In Alaska;

Antonio just arrived in Alaska as his plane landed ten minutes ago. He has already taken a drive to the hotel where he would lodge while the next day, he will set to work. He couldn't rest after unpacking as his head was throbbing him. He felt very worried and disturbed. Alaska gave him memories of five years ago when he met with the woman who stole his heart and in return, he gave her his dick.

He decided to go on a walk since the sun was down. Maybe from there he would head to a bar to clear his mind with a bottle of coke or any soft drink as he did want to be drinking when he was going to close a deal tomorrow especially since he was the one that was going to be looking for a favor.

On his way back from his walk after he had gone a very long way, he met a little girl holding a candy in her hand and crying. He just ignored the girl but something inside him couldn't let him be especially seeing her tears. The tears of a woman was something that he never wanted to see as it is his weakness and also makes him angry so he approached the little girl.

"Little girl, why are you crying?" He asked her as he squatted to reach her height.

"Today is my birthday." She replied as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"Oh wow, that's nice. Happy birthday to you princess." He said to her as he pulled her cheek to make her smile.

"Thank you mister." She replied but was still not happy.

"So what seems to be the problem? Don't you want to celebrate your birthday when you are crying? What's making this beautiful princess cry on her birthday?" He inquired of her but she didn't stop crying.

"Okay, tell me what you want so that you will stop crying." He twisted his question again to get her to talk.

"I want a puppy mister." She finally told him.

"A puppy? Okay, you will get one but promise me that you will not cry again." He told her and she immediately promised with a big smile on her face. Her smile was charming and magnetic. It looked so much familiar to him but he just felt that he loved this little girl like his own child.

"So how old are you today?" He asked her.

"I am five years old, Mister." She replied back.

"Happy fifth birthday angel. What's your beautiful name?" He asked with a smile.

"Ariel." She replied with a warm smile too.

"Ariel. Such a nice name for a beautiful young lady. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Ariel, happy birthday to you. Hip hip hip…"

"Hurrayyyy….!!!" Ariel chorused back in a happy and cheerful voice.

"Keep smiling okay? You look super beautiful with that smile." He said to her as she smiled even more.