"Sir..." Blake called out as soon as he entered the office.
"What is it this time, Blake?" Damien questioned with a displeased expression on his face. "You always seem to show up when I'm in the middle of something important."
"I'm sorry, sir!" He quickly apologized and bowed his head slightly. "I thought it'll be better to tell you this before."
Blake trailed off, which made Damien furious. "Yes...?" He demanded as he hit his fist on the desk before him. "Go on, before what?"
"Mr. Sebastian has been here for almost half an hour ago and doesn't want to leave." Blake uttered, breathing out slowly. "He's demanding for an audience with you."
Damien's face was squeezed in a tight frown, lines visible on his forehead. "Why is he here?" His voice was sharp and stern. "Did I not ask him not to come back to my company ever again -he still has the shell too?"
"We've tried to make him leave quietly, but he's being persistent." Blake explained, unable to meet his boss gaze. "He seems like someone who's bent on letting hell loose if he fails to see you, that's why I'm here to inform you, sir."
Damien's frown tightened as he clenched his hands into a tight fist. "I don't want to see that man..."He said and paused his lips for a few seconds. "But it seems like he's leaving me with no other choice."
"You don't have to meet with him if you don't want to, sir." Blake uttered, trying to convince his boss as he realized the state he was in at the moment. "Just tell me if it's okay to drag him outside the firm, then I'll."
"No, I want to meet with him instead." Damien shook his head as he hastily gets up from the seat he's on. "He'll keep coming back and might taint the image of my Company if he goes on with his rash behavior."
"Very well then..."Blake sighed, obviously not liking the decision. "I'll have him brought to the conference room."
As Blake left to carry out his orders, Damien paced around his office, trying to figure out what Sebastian could possibly want. Does it have something to do with his latest business deal he manages to ruin without thinking twice about it?
Or he came back to beg for mercy -the one that Damien would never grant him. Whatever it was, Damien was not looking forward to finding out.
Mr. Sebastian is led into the conference room by Blake, and he is visibly nervous. Damien enters the room and takes a seat at the head of the table, and Mr. Sebastian stands awkwardly in front of him.
The tension in the room was thick enough to have a knife cut through it. "Mr. Sebastian." Damien begins in a plain tone. " I think you have some explaining to do, or am I wrong?"
Mr. Sebastian stammers, not sure where to begin with. "I -I'm sorry, Mr. Vizio." He says, his facial expression pitiful. "I don't know what to say."
Damien's eyes narrow at his words -why did he decide on seeing him, since he didn't know what to say? That was Damien's thought as Mr. Sebastian stands there, shaking like a leaf, while Damien looks at him with a stern expression.
"I'm going to be blunt with you, Mr. Sebastian." He lilted without his look softening. "I'm not happy with the way you've been handling things lately. You've been making some costly mistakes, and I'm uncertain if you're up to the task."
Mr. Sebastian gulps, feeling like a schoolboy being scolded by the principal. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Vizio," he stammers. "I'll do better, I promise."
"You will do better, eh? Is that all you have to say?" Damien scoffs in annoyance.
"Can your empty pleading fill in for the lapses your mistake cost me?"
Mr. Sebastian kept his mouth sealed, unsure of what to say -he knows better than anyone not to get Damien angry.
"You work here, yet you don't seem up to the task given to you." Damien blurted out angrily, glaring daggers at him. "-and all you can say is just a mere sorry?"
Mr. Sebastian's heart sinks as he realizes that his apology will not be enough. He feels his knees shaking as he stands there, trying to come up with something to say that will appease his boss.
"Mr. Vizio." He crackled. "I understand that my mistakes have been costly, but please give me another chance. I promise I won't let you down again."
Damien's expression softens ever so slightly, but he still looks skeptical. "I'll think about it." He uttered with an indifferent tone. "In the meantime, you're suspended from yourduties."
Mr. Sebastian's face falls. "Sir..." Mr. Sebastian had wanted to say something, but a quick glare from Damien made him go back on his words, swallowing whatever words might want to come out next.
"Being suspended gives you no chance to linger around or come here to cause a scene." Damien told him, his voice stern. "When next I heard you step your feet in here without my permission -trust me, you are going to pay for it in a hard way."
Mr. Sebastian feels like the ground has been pulled out from under him. He's been suspended, and now he's been threatened with something worse if he steps out of line. He nods, unable to speak, and quickly exits the conference room.
Outside, he leans against the wall, taking deep breaths to try to calm himself down. His mind is racing, wondering how he's going to explain this to his family. How is he going to pay the bills? What is he going to do now?
"Sir, I think you are being too hard on Mr. Sebastian." Blake said immediately he left the conference room. "You should have put him on a lighter punishment."
"That's the lightest punishment I can give anyone -that only shows how generous I am, Blake." Damien lilted. "You don't know how much it took me to refrain myself from sacking such an incompetent man like Sebastian."
Blake bit his tongue, not wanting to anger his boss any further. He knew that Damien had high standards and that he was a tough man to please. But he also knew that Mr. Sebastian was a good man, who had just made a few mistakes.
"I understand yourfrustration, sir." He uttered carefully. "But perhaps there is another way to deal with this situation? This will be too hard on him."
Damien raised an eyebrow, giving him a skeptical look. "What do you suggest, Blake?" He asked, his voice laced with a trail of mockery. "That my judgement is not good enough?"
Blake quickly bowed in apology. "I dare not say such to your face, Mr. Vizio." He muttered, taking back his advice. "I'm just... Never mind, I'm sorry if I've talked beyond what I'm expected to say."
Damien scoffs, rolling his eyeballs at him. He checked his wrist and realized it's almost noon, this made his face clouded with a smirk.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Blake asked cautiously, concern laced in his voice.
"Why...?" He asked with his left brow raised. "I'm only admiring my new catch in my head, is that big enough to be called a crime?"
Blake's brows etched with concern, unable to understand what his boss was trying to drive at. "What new catch, Mr. Vizio...？"