Chapter 53 : Encountered with Darrel Part 1

***—First meeting with Darrel—***

Aishleen returned to the house she grew up in after a long time away, bringing with her neither the joy nor the longing to return home. She never felt it when she first returned after years of studying abroad in college, and she still couldn't feel it when she returned after several years away to pursue her dreams.

Aishleen still loves the city, for the many memories she has of being born and spending years growing up there. But going back there meant that she had to face her family, her parents, and most of all, the obligations that had been written for her since the day she was born.

There seems to be no other option but to wake up from this beautiful dream of freedom, Aishleen thought with a regretful sigh as she left the arrival gate at the airport. Her plane had just landed, bringing her back to the city in less than a week, after her father had called to request her presence and assistance in his company.

"I'll send someone to pick you up," was the last thing her father said to her in his last phone call, just before she boarded the plane. Another thing she wasn't looking forward to, since he also added—

"Give yourself time to get to know him. It might be beneficial for everyone before you start working."

Her father's words only made Aishleen more anxious to discover who this person was, knowing that her father's elaborate message only meant that he had something up his sleeve, something he had planned for her. Still, Aishleen paused in front of the gate and took her time to scan the line of people who were waiting to enter the gate.

Until she found him. Yes, the person her father had mentioned on the phone earlier.

He was wearing a long black coat over an unbuttoned suit, a white shirt and dark jeans underneath, holding a sign with her name on it. Clucking her tongue as she tried her best to study how he looked, Aishleen kept her eyes on his smiling face as she walked up to him.

"Welcome, Miss Aishleen Valega. It's good to have you back with us," he greeted Aishleen politely.

"And you? I don't think I know you," the woman asked, to which he replied with a friendly smile.

"My name is Darrel Stone. I currently work as your father's personal assistant," he explained to the woman, holding out his hand and waiting for Aishleen to accept it as a proper greeting. However, he immediately lowered it with a slight smile on his face when she only looked at him suspiciously.

"I've never heard your name before," Aishleen told him.

Though her tone was cold, the man in front of her only responded with a warm smile. "Your father once told me that you were never interested in following what was going on in the office, so perhaps it never occurred to him to mention my name in any kind of conversation."

Amused by the stranger's calm demeanor, Aishleen raised her eyebrows as the woman studied him more closely. The man seemed to be a good conversationalist. Or maybe he was trained to keep his cool. Aishleen thought that she would soon find out what kind of person he really was if Aishleen continued to follow him.

"Then you have the whole trip to explain to me exactly what you have done for my father," the woman said as she handed him the handle of her suitcase so he could take it from her hand.

"Of course," he nodded before leading them to his car.

****

Aishleen met her father as soon as she arrived at the family home around noon.

"What are you up to, Father?" Aishleen asked her father calmly, a little suspiciously. Knowing the type of man he was, Aishleen knew he would never do anything without a hidden agenda.

"Welcome home," her father said to her, greeting her by raising the glass of scotch in his hand without moving from his seat.

Aishleen joined him, sitting next to his high-backed chair, both facing the window overlooking the back garden where her mother was tending to her flowering plants. It had always been one of her hobbies, something she did to ease her mind.

"No kiss for your dear father?" her father asked Aishleen again without answering her question, mockingly, as if she were a little girl who had just come home from school.

Aishleen just scoffed. "Come on, Dad. What are you doing?"

The man smiled briefly before tilting his head and beginning to act nonchalant. "I'm not sure I know what you mean," he said as he lifted his drink and took a slow sip to tease Aishleen.

"Of course you do," Aishleen chuckled in a sarcastic tone. "Sending me a man to be your new right-hand man after specifically telling me to 'get to know him well'. You're up to something, Father. It's very obvious."

Suddenly, the middle-aged man burst out laughing and leaned back proudly in his chair. "Just what I expected from my daughter. Always so meticulous, never letting anything slip through your fingers," he said in a tone of voice that expressed his classic demeanor, "I did a good job raising you."

Aishleen just rolled her eyes lazily, expecting her father to play his mind games with her - as he had done many times since she was a little girl. It was his way of training and challenging Aishleen as the daughter of a business leader. He wanted to train her well and prepare her to one day join the ranks of his competitors. And he has been doing that for years, even today, when Aishleen is supposed to be in the middle of her journey to start her own career.

So Aishleen was used to it. Used to her father's attitude and his game.

"If you expect me to prepare you as a life companion, then—"

"Then you will run a very conservative company instead of one that produces high-tech inventions and advanced products, and you will lead your employees and partners in the most conservative way instead of using a modern outlook in business development. Like using old Mr. Lawrence, who can barely organize an efficient management plan just because he's an older man, instead of hiring the talented Miss White as your marketing manager," Aishleen smiled as she looked at him.

The proud look in his eyes never wavered as Aishleen continued to speak. "I know you, Father. You are not a conservative who believes that a woman is destined to marry and bear children only after she has completed her studies. You've always expected me to do more, to treat your female employees as well as your male employees, even better. So I know this was not your intention at all."

"*Touche,*" he chuckled, raising his glass in the air with a clear tone of humor.

"No, of course that's not what I was looking for," he scoffed. "It's good to know you're not underestimating this old man."

"You're not old, Dad. And I still know you must have a plan. Everything you do is always planned."

Ignoring Aishleen's exclamation, he continued. "I had expected you to replace me in the company when I retired, but I didn't want to keep you from doing what you really wanted to do. So I have been trying to find someone suitable to replace me. Either to run the whole company as my replacement or to be your partner so you can still focus on your, um, winery," he paused to look at her playfully before clearing his throat. "Well, Darrel is one of the most promising candidates. If he is indeed worthy of the title—"

"That is, if–" she muttered. " –and if he's trustworthy enough to be given the responsibility of running the company–"

"One more thing," she murmured under her breath.

"I want you to be able to trust him completely and get to know him better so that you can work together for a better future for the company," her father said as he turned the glass in his hand, shaking it until Aishleen could hear the sound of ice crunching inside. "But first, of course, you have to help me save this company and get it back on its feet."

Aishleen kept looking at her father to see if he had anything else to say, but he just turned to her and gave her a smile.

"Do you really believe in this man?" Aishleen finally asked him.

The middle-aged man smacked his lips before taking a sip of his cold scotch. "I trust him—" he paused for a moment and shrugged, "–at least for now."

"Hmmm—" Aishleen looked away from him, trying to process everything in her head. She had just returned home and already had a lot to do. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"First," he replied a little too eagerly, probably knowing that Aishleen would agree to whatever his plan was, which made him feel quite relieved. "Try to understand her work ethic, get into her head, get to know each other. See if you can find a work rhythm that suits both of you, so you can practice working side by side from now on. And see how far that takes you."

Aishleen bit her lip and sat in silence. For a few moments she thought about things, trying to figure out how she was going to do all the tasks that were going to fall on her shoulders and trying to remember all the things Darrel had said on the way from the airport.

"There's one problem," she spoke in a low tone, "I don't trust him."

Aishleen looked up at her father just in time to see his understanding smile. "That would be the second part of the plan, my daughter. You have become a much better judge of character than I am," his smile faded and his expression changed to the usual one he showed when he made a promising deal with his clients or partners.

"Up to this point, I haven't found any reason not to trust this person, but I still haven't found anything to show that I can trust him either. Find out if he really can be trusted. And find the flaws."