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It was July so I’d be CEO in less than six months. “ButJiji—”
“I will not hear it, Taylor. I am old.” He said it plainly, no hesitation in his voice. “You were always going to be my successor.” He put a hand on my shoulder, I flinched from the touch, I hadn’t expected it. “You are ready to take over. We will begin the transition now and by New Year’s you will be in charge.”
“Thank you.” I said looking down at the floor. I didn’t think I would hear this news for years yet. Even though I knew it was coming eventually, it didn’t feel real. Nevertheless, it was great news.
“I want my company to stay in good hands.”
“I promise.”
“But what about when you retire?”
“That’s so far in the future.” I looked back up at his serious expression, kept the emotion out of my words, but I had an inkling where this conversation was going.
“I want the company to stay in the family, for the Hirano name to live on.” I knew it. He continued, “I want you to have a son to take over after you.”
The memory of Ms. Maxwell saying,older, outdated company, flashed through my head. “You can’t be serious.” Even as I was saying it, I saw he was on his face.
“If you can’t entrust your business to your sons, why should I entrust mine with you?”
So that was his plan. He wasn’t going to give me the company unless I got married and produced heirs like it was medieval times. I knew he tended to be more traditional, but this? This was too much, even for him. I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell him how terrible that was to hold that over me. Especially with everything that happened to me.
“I’ll think about it.” I said. My jaw stayed stiff as I spoke.
“Good.” He smiled, which for him was a small uptick of the left corner of his mouth. He patted my shoulder once before letting go. I held back my flinch that time. “I’ll see you at the office tomorrow.”
I escorted him to the door without saying anything else. He bowed slightly before leaving, I almost forgot to bow in return.
I returned to the kitchen but stayed standing in the middle instead of getting back to work like my brain kept telling me to. I was breathing too heavily. I couldn’t move.What do we do first?My therapist joked that she sounded like a cartoon mouse: she did and at first it made it hard to concentrate but now I was used to her keeping me calm. “We breathe.” I said out loud, and it echoed against the cabinets.What do you feel?The firmness of the tiled floor under my feet, the air conditioning gently blowingagainst me.What do you hear?My house was an older one in the Glencoe suburb of Chicago, so I could hear it settling around me in the July heat. The refrigerator hummed nearby, and the fans of my laptop whirred for being left on.What do you see?I didn’t realize I had closed my eyes until I opened them to look around at the kitchen, exactly how I left it, although freshly cleaned from last night’s dinner by the housekeeper who I made sure to miss.
Now that I could breathe and move, I sat back down at my counter. I had to come up with a plan that kept me on my grandfather’s good side. There were plenty of available daughters of other CEOs who would jump on the chance of networking through marriage. If I didn’t come up with a plan my grandfather would certainly start matchmaking me with them, if he hadn’t started already. I considered perhaps just letting him, it obviously wasn’t up to me if I married or not. Why care who it was to on top of that? But, no, it wouldn’t work out. He would still expect heirs and I couldn’t stay married for long.
My thoughts jumped to hiring someone to be my wife until the company was mine early next year. My grandfather wouldn’t be suspicious of the lack of children until after he could no longer have any say. I would need to hire someone I could trust. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. I suddenly felt exhausted. That would be the hardest part. I didn’t have many close friends, especially none that I trusted. Really, Mrs. Tupp, my therapist was the only person I would trust, but I didn’t think Mr. Tupp would have approved. I also really didn’t want to hear what she was going to say to me about this plan. She’d probably say it was unhealthy.
I started to feel more and more tired. Between the meeting, the visit, and trying to figure out a plan, I needed to rest. I lazily moved the mouse so I could do one last email check before I slept until it was dark out. At the top was a forwardedmessage from my receptionist. It was from Ms. Maxwell. She’d left her briefcase behind and would be around tomorrow to pick it up.
That’s when the idea struck. Ms. Maxwell needed an investor, and I needed a wife. Perhaps we could help each other out. I would tell my grandfather that I had fallen in love at first sight during that meeting or something else as sappy. He had often told me stories of how he and mySobohad met walking home after school and catching sight of one another. Despite being traditional, he would believe in that kind of connection. It wouldn’t be too suspicious either: Ms. Maxwell was an attractive lady. She had a pretty face that complimented her smile and round, brown eyes. Her body certainly wasn’t bad to look at. If I had any interest in a romantic relationship, I couldmaybesee myself dating someone like her.
Could I trust her? That stopped my line of thinking. I pushed the thought around in my head for a while. Money could buy most anyone, which would help convince her to be trustworthy. But I had learned that it could only go so far. She would certainly need to be taught how to lie a little better. She couldn’t even come up with a convincing excuse as to why she was late. She had told the truth. I was stuck on that for a while longer. I slowly came to the realization that I could trust her enough to get the job done. She was honest to a fault. Who else could I trust to keep her end of the arrangement than someone like that?
I quickly typed up a response to my receptionist telling her to tell Ms. Maxwell the case was in my office and I would make sure to return it personally.
I headed up the grand staircase to the third floor and entered a room full of boxes. They were from when I had lived at home. With my mother. I tried not to think about her as I rummaged through my old belongings. Once I had moved hereafter joining the company, I used all my initial earnings to buy all new things. Even though I hadn’t opened these boxes since then, I quickly found what I was looking for. In a wrinkled, old plastic baggy was a pair of pearl earrings my mother had worn to her wedding to my father, and the ring he let her keep when they divorced. I found both in the bottom of some drawer in our kitchen. I don’t know why I kept them, but now I’m glad I did. It was a silver band with a pearl surrounded by small diamonds. My mother had always preferred pearls to gems. I slipped it into my pants pocket then headed to my room at the other end of the floor. I didn’t bother changing before lying down in my bed under unmade sheets and fell asleep quickly.
***
The next day I put on the nicest jacket I owned, a slim rusted orange suit jacket that had caught my eye a few months ago. I assumed she would probably appreciate a more fashionable look. Before I left and, in the car, as I drove, I checked my pocket several times to check for the ring.
As I sat in my office, I could feel my cool settle over me. When I got the buzz from the receptionist that Ms. Maxwell would be up in a moment, I fixed my tie.
I straightened up at the knock. “Come in.” I said loudly enough for her to hear through the door.
She stepped in, looking every which way throughout my office. “Hello Mr. Hirano.” She greeted me. She looked like she was considering offering a handshake by the way her right arm began to raise then stopped then moved again.
I decided to interrupt that. “Take a seat.”
She sat in front of the desk and I decided to look her over again. Today she was wearing a gray silk button up that had a loose bow tie instead of a collar. With her job, she’d be able to fit in at any event I needed to take her to when keeping up appearances.
“Thank you for meeting with me again.” She said. Her eyes were light brown, like a watercolor. Yes, she would be perfect.
