Sweet Revenge: Jace & Emerald

Emerald and Ace should have gone to the zoo at the weekend, but something came up, forcing Young Morgan to cancel it. She went to the company but brought her son with her.

“What happened?” I asked Emerald when they were all seated. Then, I let Ace sit in her office chair and play on his cell phone.

“There have been a lot of complaints in our Mobile Ace Clash,” Daryl replied. Mobile Clash, or MAC, is the very first online game that gives them a fortune. It’s their lucky strike project that led them to become famous.

“Like what?” Emerald asked.

“Purchases of items. They said they purchased a certain armor but didn’t receive it.” Daryl replied.

“Bugs, too,” Creep added.

“Why did it happen so early?” Young Morgan asked.

“Are you expecting this?” Creep asked.

“Not this early, but I already made an optimization plan. The more users the game has, the more congested it will become. That’s why it needs to be updated regularly.”

“I take it that you’re ready, right?” Daryl asked.

“Of course. And since it’s started, I need to work on it now.” Emerald replied. “Creep, see to it that we settle everything with our gamers’ lost items. We can’t ignore that either.”

“Copy that.” And Emerald nodded.

“Uhm, M,” Daryl said hesitantly, making Emerald’s brow furrowed. “There’s this bank that wants to talk to us.”

“For a security system?” she asked, and her assistant nodded. You know, when it comes to that, you need to ask Creep’s opinion.”

“He did, and I agreed.” Creep chimed in,

“So, what’s the problem?”

“It’s Higginson’s bank,” Daryl replied, so Emerald was taken aback.

“Higginson?” She asked, and the two nodded.

“One of our clients in Europe recommended us to them. Lately, their database has been attacked, so they wanted to add some security to protect their business and client’s personal information.”

“What’s your take on this?” She asked Creep.

“If you ask me, I want to accept the project. It’s huge. I mean, you know what JHBank is.” Emerald nodded in agreement. She knew very well how big the bank was and was sure it would bring them fortune plus their connection. “But I still want to know your side.”

Young Morgan was quiet for a few minutes. She realized that she had somehow been a stumbling block to their growth because Creep and the others always thought about her and her feelings and considered whether their decision would affect her personal life.

“I’m sorry; from here onwards, you don’t need to consider my feelings about certain projects.”

“It’s nothing like that,” Elise said, but Emerald cut her words off and said, with a smile on her face.

“I sincerely say this, no hard feelings or whatever. I am a mother; I should grow not just by age, and clinging to my past is not a sign of maturity. Do what’s best for the company and for the people who also work for us.”

“Thank you, M.” they all replied, smiling. After their small meeting, Emerald went to her table and turned on her computer to start working on her update with the game. She promised herself that she would never let complaints appear on their apps, but for personal reasons, she failed to do what she usually does for the past three years. And that is to check and update all their games.

Ace was on the couch with his tablet. When Emerald looked at him, she realized that her son was just like her and was happy about it. ‘He may have his father’s look, but we have the same interest.’ she thought before she continued working. She wanted to finish it before the day ended and hoped she would so she could go on with another work and have fun with the boy the next weekend as promised.

***

“Are you ready, Jace?” Kyle asked; they were on their way to ACEGame for their meeting.

“Yeah, of course,” Jace replied. He had been thinking about their meeting for a week, and he was pissed knowing that ACEGame didn’t change their minds about their condition.

“Are you going to agree to their terms?” Kyle asked again.

“On others, yes. But not when it comes to profit distribution and expenses,” he replied. He thought that the boss of the game developer company didn’t want to collaborate with them, so they made that ridiculous condition, and he wanted to find out why.

Again, Daryl welcomed them as soon as the elevator opened. He was smiling as though he wasn’t going to reject their proposal, but Jace was ready to argue and discuss his terms not with him but with his boss.

“Good day, Mr. Higginson,” Daryl said, motioning them to the meeting room. They all sat down, and a little later, Creep came in.

“Hello, Mr. Higginson.” He said, offering him a handshake, which Jace took. “I believe we have informed you about our terms, and I want to know if you think about it,” he started.

“Can I discuss this with your boss?” Young Higginson asked, and Creep smiled,

“I’m afraid M has a guest, and they were, uhm, talking.”

“Is it more important than our collaboration?” Kyle asked, getting impatient that he, too, thought the company had been toying with them.

“It’s nothing like that. The guest visited for personal reasons.” Daryl replied.

“Whatever we discuss is as good as M’s decision. M and I, along with my wife, started this business.” Creep informed them.

“So, I was correct when I thought you liked my proposal. That’s why you discuss this with your boss?” Kyle asked.

“Of course.”

“And your boss didn’t like it?” Jace asked.

“No. M agreed. But as you already know, we have our terms. We wanted every game we developed to be on top of the market. This collaboration will be risky since it will consume most of M’s time.”

“Because you wanted to do all the work. I am offering you help, but you insisted on your terms.” Jace replied.

“We are protecting our workers and our work. We didn’t want all our efforts to go to waste.”

“And you think I don’t?”

“I’m not saying that. As a businessman and a CEO, you should understand that it’s natural for us to be protective of our assets.” Creep replied. “And back to our terms, it didn’t change. So, if you disagree with it, I’m sorry to say that no matter how much we want to collaborate with you, it will not materialize.”

“Let me talk to your boss.” Jace insisted.

“As I’ve already said, M is with a guest.” Jace held on to his anger and didn’t show it. But deep inside, he was furious as he balled his fist under the table.

“We won’t have a better understanding of our conditions if we continue doing this,” he said as he got up from his seat, and Kyle followed. “Thank you for your time,” he said, offering his hand to Creep. They shook hands before they walked their way to the door. Daryl and Creep looked at each other before they followed the two out of the meeting room. But before they could stop Jace, he walked faster to the CEO’s office.

Meanwhile, Emerald was talking to Liam in her office. She just finished all her optimization and had updated all their apps that needed to be updated. They were talking about Ace until they ended up kissing.

Liam carried Emerald and had her sit on her office table before she wrapped her legs around his waist and clung her arms around his neck while they kissed. They are unaware of the commotion in the meeting room and outside the office.

Emerald was confident that Jace would never ask for her anymore since she had already been given the authority to Creep to make decisions for the betterment of the company and their employees. She didn’t want to block the company’s growth because of her personal dilemma, and she knew that collaborating with Jace would be a big step in achieving more for their company.

Just as their body started to heat up because of the torrid kiss Liam and Emerald were sharing, the door swung open, making them look at it and find a stunned Jace looking at them.