Chương 15: Shareholders

"Ah Emilio. You've finally made it." said one of the gentle men greeting Emilio when he we arrived at the table.

"Mr. Garcia. It's to see you again. Like wise Mr. Gonzalez, Perez and Hernandez."

They all rose to greet and shake his hand while I stood there in silence waiting for them to greet me.

"Ah yes. Where are my manners?" said Mr. Garcia turning to me and smiling kindly, "My name is Antonio Garcia, and you are?"

"Marianna," I said shaking his outstretched hand, "Marianna Rodriquez."

"Ah. Miss Rodriquez, you are a Miss am I correct?" he asked politely and I smiled.

"Yes I am a Miss. I am not married."

"Ah. Come. Sit. We have business to attend to." he said gesturing for me to sit, and I did between him and Maria, and I smiled feeling their comfort and warmth.

The other three men also politely greeted me and shook my hand and introduced themselves, and they were all so sweet and kind.

The atmosphere was calm and cool, and even Emilio seemed relax and comfortable and was even laughing.

The men tried their best to include me and Maria into the conversation when they could, and we all talked, laughed and had a good time.

It felt like a lunch amongst friends, and for the first time in my life I felt comfort and belonging.

The lunch meeting sadly came to an end and we all said our good byes hugging each other, and I left the restaurant with my hand linked with Maria's as Emilio stayed back a few minutes longer to chat with the men some more.

"I'm really glad you came Maria. I had such a nice time. I thought that it would have been like a replay of the other night, but I am glad that those men aren't like that at all."

"Yeah me too. I actually really did have a nice time as well. Thanks for inviting me." she said and I smiled, "I'll get going first okay? I'll see you at the office."

"Okay. See you." I said waving her off and waited for Emilio to arrive.

"You ready to go?" he asked coming to stand beside me, and I nodded.

The car quickly came around and he allowed me to get in before him and we were off back to work.

"Hey Emilio?" I asked and he looked over at me humming.

"Hmm?"

"You never really told me about your family?" I asked, and I saw his smile faded into a look of anger as he scowled.

"That is none of your business!" he snapped, and I furrowed my brows and pursed my lips in confusion.

Huh?

Where did that come from?

Didn't we like bond or something?

Hmm.

Serves me right.

"I'm sorry sir. My mistake for thinking that we would have been passed this." I said whispering the last part, and once more I turned to look out the window.

After we arrived at the company he got off before me and with long strides made it to the elevator and didn't even bother to hold the door for me by the made it.

"Fucking asshole!" I said angrily hitting the elevator.

I let out an angry huff and marched over to Maria and she watched me walk over with a raised brow.

"What happened?" she asked and balled my hands into fist.

"I swear that Mister Emilio is such a jerk. Is he diagnosed with bipolar disorder or something? I mean how can one person's mood change so fast? I thought we were passed that."

"What happened?" she asked again and I sighed.

"To tell you the honest truth, I don't know. One minute he was asking me about my self and we were bonding over that, then the next minute I asked him about his family only for him to snap at me and now he's mad. I swear every time I think I have that guy figured out he comes and surprise me."

Maria gasped and I looked at her confused.

Was that gasp because she was on my side or on his?

"Marianna why would you ask him about his family even though you know what happened."

"I do? Huh? Wait wait I'm confused. What happened?" I asked genuinely confused and she sighed.

"You really don't know huh?" she asked and I shook my head no and she sighed once more, "well his dad died a year ago and that's when he took over. Things haven't really been the same with him because he blames himself for his dad's death and he grew distant from his mother and younger siblings."

"Oh" I said softly as I took all the emotions in "I-I never knew. I feel so awful now God dammit!"

"It's okay. It's not your fault that you didn't know, but now that you do know just be careful with your words from now on okay?"

"Okay." I said softly still feeling guilty as I walked away to the elevator.

No wonder why he reacted that way to the question.

I get that it was such a touchy topic, but he could have just informed me on the situation instead of lashing out.

I sighed as I exited the elevator, and walked by Emilio's office briefly taking a glass at him and I saw him on the phone with his back turned to me and his jacket on his chair.

I felt a sense of remorse and sympathy for him as I watched him some more, but teared my eyes away from him and made it to my office.

I hadn't been assigned any more tasks as yet, so I just decided on reading a book or browsing the internet before I had to go, since he had another meeting in a few hours, and I wasn't required to go.

It was only Wednesday, but I needed a drink already.

God help me to get through the rest of the week, for I will most definitely need it.