Chapter 5

“Arrant nonsense!”, Ms Ann exclaimed, facing Clinton, who was shocked as well, he had been listening to the conversation and was short of words at first.

“Can you believe that old man, he is so callous, I’m sure his youngest daughter and I will be agemates, how could he propose such a thing!”, Ms  Ann said, clearly frustrated by now.

“You have no idea how hard I’ve worked just to get this contract, I put in so much effort you know, only God knows how much I need this contract”. she said dejectedly.

“Can you imagine him telling me to meet up with him??, I can’t even bring myself to hug him, not to talk of sleeping with him, he’s so old and cunning , he has crossed the line, I don’t know what he is going to gain by doing this”. She said angrily.

Joden Enterprises was a company that dealt with both manufacturing of clothes and designing them. So MsAnn’s company job was to clean them and pack appropriately.

It was a huge contract, the money that will be gotten from them working together would help Ann upgrade the laundromat because Joden Enterprises is one of the biggest fashion industry in the country.

This was what made Ms Ann devastated, and she had ordered for new materials and machines with the deposit that was paid earlier. Now she had no idea how she was going to pay them back.

“Oh Lord!, I’m going to be in so much debt, I even borrowed some money from the bank and I planned on paying them off with the money we receive after the job”. Ms Ann said sadly.

Looking at Ann who was already frustrated, Clinton felt pity for her and was thinking of ways to calm her down. He couldn’t watch her go through something like this.

He didn’t believe that such people still existed, how could a CEO propose such a thing, well, Ann was a pretty young lady with attractive features, she was a beautiful woman with an amazing personality”, 

He glanced at her and saw her pretty face already sqeezed out of frustration, then he suddenly thought of something.

“Ms Ann, how much is this contract you’re so worried about??”,he asked*,  Ann looked at him with tears welled up in her eyes, “it’s 300 million dollars in total Clinton, can you see that it’s a huge amount of money??.

“I have to work for like 20 years more to get such an amount!”, she exclaimed.

“Okay then, I will give you 500 million dollars ”, He said seriously. Ann looked at him for a while and grinned, “I know you’re trying to cheer me up Clinton, but this isn’t a time to joke around, this matter is not one to joke about.

“I’m serious Ann, I’m willing to give you 500 million dollars, but on one condition”, he said, still staring at her and waiting for her response.

“And where do you intend on getting the money Clinton, you and I know you don’t have such money”, she said and narrowed her eyes looking at him suspiciously

“I’m your boss, I know how much I pay you, you can’t even save such money even in twenty years with your paycheck”.

“I hope you’re not planning on collecting a loan or doing something illegal to get the money??,she said, still giving him a questioning look.

I’m sure you haven’t seen even a million dollars SSC before, how can you give me 500 million dollars, if you’re joking, please stop, okay!, she said angrily.

“Ms Ann, do you want the money or not”, he said, ignoring her questions and looks. 

Ms Ann was at a crossroad, she didn’t know what to do, she threw Clinton suspicious glances as she thought about it.

“You know I do Clinton, i really do, i just don’t know how you plan on getting that kind of  money, i mean, look at you!”, she said furrowing her brows.

“Don’t worry about that Ms Ann, i just wanna know if you’re interested  or not”.

“Fine, if I were interested, what is your condition??”, she asked.

“The condition is, after I give you the money, you have to make me your partner, I get 50% profit share on whatever you make”.

“You don’t have to sleep with that wrinkled old man for such small money, you’re a good person Ms Ann and you don’t deserve to be treated in that manner, that’s why I’m trying to help, I can help you grow your company and make you the best in the country”. he continued while Ann was pondering.

“I really do not believe you Clinton, I really appreciate you trying to cheer me up but if this is a joke, it is an expensive one, so stop”. Ms Ann was getting a bit annoyed by now, she thought that he was trying to make fun of her.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but 500 million dollars is nothing but peanuts to me, you can’t understand but you have to trust me Ann”. Clinton said seriously.

Bewildered and curious,Ms  Ann asked,

“If 500 million dollars is just “peanuts” to you, why are you here??, why are you working as a delivery man, if you have so much money as you claim, why are you working under me??,

I’ve seen your house, it sure is a mansion”, she said sarcastically.

Clinton smiled at her words, and faced her, “I’m being serious Ms Ann, I’m going to propose this to you for the last time, I don’t have much time, I really want to help you, but if you’re not interested, I won’t force you, it’s your choice”.

Ms Ann was still thinking about it, she knew Clinton could not afford such amount ,she had seen the way he lived, she even found out about his divorce and knew it was money issues that led to it.

She couldn’t help but wonder when he made such proposition, “See, I know you’re a good man,an hardworking one too, I’ve always admired your diligence and perseverance , I respect you a lot and you know it”.

“But, if you continue saying such nonsense, I might have to ask you to leave, I’m not in the mood for this right now”.she said matter of factly.

She wore her glasses back, moved her chair forward and started sorting out some of the files on her desk.

“Ann, if you don’t want this, it’s fine but know this, if you don’t accept my help and your company crashes, you would have no one but yourself to blame”. he said

“You know why?, because you had the chance to save it but you didn’t because you didn’t accept help from me and are you sure you want to live with that for the rest of your life??”.

“I’m just trying to save your company, I know you’re nothing without it, you can’t survive without it, I know you need my help. But if you’re still bent on not accepting help from me, then it’s on you if anything bad happens”. Clinton concluded.

Ms Ann stopped what she was doing and looked at him in disbelief, wondering if he had gone crazy.

“Fine then”, she stood up swiftly and went towards the shelf in her office, she searched for some papers for a while then she typed somethings on her laptop, printed them and came back to her seat. 

She arranged the papers properly, opened her drawer and brought out a stapler, she stapled them together and applied a spiral binder.

She then faced him , “I don’t trust you yet Clinton but if it’ll make you stop joking around, then fine.

She wrote something on the first page and threw the document towards him, “There, that is the contract”. She said out of annoyance.