CHAPTER THREE

...

At Wright publishing, things were going smoothly as always, ever since Wright Junior assumed the position of chief editor of the silver line books. But his dad, Mr. Andrew Wright, was always so hard on him. Even though it was all for good reason as he always claimed.

Wright Junior found it difficult to understand why his dad was always unsatisfied with everything he did. He made sure a day didn't go by without him comparing his son with his younger brother's son, Tony Wright who was presently occupying his dead father's position as the managing director of Wright publishing.

Mr. Andrew hoped that one day, his son would be responsible enough to take over the company.

But in return, Wright Junior never wanted anything to do with his father's company but he also never had any intentions of being another disappointment to his father. Despite his numerous failed attempt in pleasing his dad, he was still determined not to give up.

"Is this how you intend to run the company when I retire?" Mr. Wright yelled angrily, slapping his palm hard on his brown polished desk "How could you lose Fredrick too? First it was Rose Benedict and now, Fredrick. I gave you a simple task, simple task of meeting with the bestselling Author of our generation, winning them over to our side and what did you do? You blew it." He stressed furiously. Getting up from his chair, Mr. Wright moved away from his desk and walked closer to his son.

"Dad everything was going according to plan." Wright Junior defended but not prepared for the slap that landed across his face. He stood there with his hands on his left cheek, absorbing that painful Sensation and not having the courage to look his father in the eye.

"Stupid child, when will you grow up, huh? Take-" Interrupted by the knock on the door, Mr. Wright couldn't hide his fury as he yelled at whoever was at the door to come in.

Wright Junior turned to see who it was. "Very convenient." He muttered to himself.

Tony, his cousin, stepped into the office; he walked majestically towards his uncle and handed a document to him.

Mr. Wright collected it and plodded back to his desk; he sat on his chair and opened the document on the table.

Tony turned and gazed at Wright Junior, who was now standing beside him. "HI." He greeted with an annoying grin plastered on his face.

Wright Junior ignored his greetings and gave a silent snigger.

Tony, on the other hand was pissed by this gesture from his cousin so, he took his gaze from Junior and landed it back to his uncle who was giving an approving nod while reading through the document.

Tony took few steps forward, away from Junior and said "I've contacted Rose Benedict as you requested. I was able to convince her to publish with our company. Although she was a little reluctant but how could she refuse my charm?" He smiled.

"Ha, ha, ha." Mr. Wright laughed "That is the kind of news I want to hear. Well done" He told Tony. Winning back his fierce compliment was his son, who was gritting his teeth in anger "Take a look at your cousin, Junior. Won't his father be happy in his grave? He has only one heir and that heir is responsible but look at me I have two and none of them are ready to be responsible." He complained, shaking his head out of frustration. "Your cousin was able to do what you couldn't do." Fixing his attention back at Tony, "What about Fredrick?" He asked curiously.

"Sir, he's still a little stubborn." Tony replied.

"Ok. If anything changes please let me know."

"Yes sir."

"Thanks for the document, you can leave now." He dismissed, not suffering to look at his disappointing son. But as Junior was about to take a step out of his father's office, he heard his father say, "Not you Junior."

Junior retraced his step to his former standing position and stood there. Looking at his dad made him so angry, he clutched his fist together as a method of staying calm.

Tony had one final look at his cousin, seeming happy with the scene, he smiled before stepping out of the office.

"Never make excuses for failure, that's not how I trained you to be. See it as an opportunity to create something, something mind blowing." He said with a face that almost made the word impossible to come out. "This company is our legacy, your legacy. You don't want me to hand it over to your cousin, do you?" He asked rhetorically. He walked over to his son and held him on the shoulder, "You are a fine writer and a competent editor, so don't throw that away." Mr. Wright continued, patting him on his shoulder. He retreated his hands and turned his back "Act right like a Wright would and get yourself a secretary, I wonder why you fired the last one." He added finally, making his way to a milk leather sofa in the left corner of his office.

"Yes dad, I'll do that immediately." Wright Junior replied.

Mr. Wright cleared his throat and waved his hand on the air as a sign for his son to hurry out of his office, which he did almost immediately.

Wright Junior stood in front of his father's office beating himself quietly, even though he couldn't figure out what went wrong with the deal; he knew it wasn't too far from sight. He took one step forward and standing in front of him was his cousin.

"Still here?" Junior asked.

"Of course, my office is right over there." Tony replied pointing at the office right after Junior's father 's office.

Wright Junior knew his cousin was just rubbing in the fact that he was a V.I.P in Wright publishing. Junior smiled with the attempt of hiding his irritation.

"I'm curious, how did you lose those clients? I could remember how passionate you were about them." Tony voiced with every intentions of pissing off his cousin, but in all this, he wore a serious face.

"I don't have time for this conversation Tony." Wright Junior said walking pass him.

"Hey bro, it's just a harmless question. You can let your guard down." Tony added mockingly.

"The last time I did that, I lost two important clients." He paused and replied "I don't know what you did Tony cause you were the only one I told. But, I will find out soon enough." Junior assured him lacing it with a stern look that sent literal chills down Tony's spine.

"What!" he exclaimed "You blame me?" he said placing his hands on his chest and then puffed out a sigh of disgust.

Wright Junior turned to face him; he opened his mouth to prove his accusation but, just then, he held back the words from coming out when he remembered his father's advice. "Never make excuses for failure." And right now, he wasn't intending to make one.

"I'm not passing blames Tony, I only made a mistake and I will rectify it." He told him confidently. "Now if you must excuse me, I've got work to get back to." Junior informed before walking away.

~~**~~**~~

From the moment Amanda stepped through the front door, she fell in love with the house Bridget got for her, she toured round the house and she appreciated it a lot. From the white painted walls to the brown marble tiled floor, The apartment had managed to gain Amanda's approval.

"The floor is exquisite, the rooms are spacious, the furniture still smells new and the neighbors; most of the ones I saw before reaching here are old but very friendly." Amanda commented as she walked towards her friend.

"Yes, like Mrs. Albert who sent you this homemade Baked cookies." Bridget added, pointing at the basket on the table. “She seems really nice.”

"Thank you so much Brid, I really appreciate your help."

"Oh stop it. Besides you'd do the same for me." Bridget smiled.

"Of course I would, and you are certainly having your honeymoon in LA." Amanda promised walking to the basket and helping herself with a cookie.

"How can I refuse, especially when all expenses are on you." Bridget replied and they both burst out laughing.

"Want some?" Amanda inquired, offering Bridget a cookie.

"Thanks dear but I'm good." Bridget declined politely.

"Ok, more for me then."

"Now that you are here you are assisting me in planning my wedding and I have a list of things to do”

Amanda smiled as she listened to her friend go on about her wedding. "Your wedding is in four months from now." Amanda cut in

"I'm aware still; it's not too late to plan."

"Yeah, you are right and I'm all yours for the wedding planning." Amanda said with a courtesy bow.

"Good, cause next week we are going to Elena's."

Amanda countenance changed after hearing Elena's name. She felt guilty for not even trying to get in touch with her after a very long time. "How is she?" she asked.

"She's doing ok. You need to see her boutique Amanda; it's like a Fashion palace. She is in charge of the dresses, jewelries, shoes and every other thing I and my bride's maids will wear." Bridget informed in true excitement.

"I hope she won't be mad at me" Amanda sounded quite unhappy.

Amanda's job had taken much of her time, no doubt. But she still managed to keep in touch with family and Bridget but that wasn't the case for Elena. On three different occasions, Amanda missed Elena's calls. Although it wasn't intentional because she was in a middle of a shoot but, when she tried calling back each time to apologize, Elena's phone was unreachable. When she called Bridget to send a message on her behalf to her, it was then Bridget told her about the birthday party she missed and she couldn't send the message because Elena had traveled. Amanda felt bad, she didn't only missed the party, she also forgot to send her own friend a birthday card or gift.

"No honey, I'm sure she'll understand." Bridget statement sounded uncertain but she patted Amanda's shoulder gently to assure her. "I have to run." She said as she glanced at her watch "I'll come again tomorrow." With a wide grin, Bridget threw arms around Amanda in a hug.

"Send my love to Louis and tell him I'll see him soon." Amanda voiced releasing herself from the warm hug. "I need to call my dad and also my Manager. I'll be inviting her here soon and I know you'll like her when you see her." she added, walking with her friend out of the house.

"Well, as far as she's cool with you and you like her then, I love her already. I can't wait to meet her." Bridget gave her a gentle smile while heading to her car. "Take care of you." She gave one last farewell hug to her friend.

"You too love." Amanda replied. She watched her friend step into her car and drove off.