door and sat down in the car.

"Good morning Ms. Malhotra." Anthony greeted her with a smile.

"Morning," she replied taking a sip of her jasmine tea.

Newspaper in hand, she began scanning the document for anything interesting that was happening in the world. Reading the newspaper was important because things that happened around the world could impact the industry and thus her business. She skipped over the sports section and began diverting her attention to the stock prices instead.

Pen in hand, she began circling the companies she thought would be most profitable. When she got time, she would make a few calls and look into them. She loved investing, there was a thrill in being right and watching your money grow but there were also high stakes—and that is what made it worthwhile.

Her phone rang, and she absentmindedly pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Nyla?" Marcus' voice greeted her from the other side of the line.

There was a bump on the road and Nyla almost spilled tea on her ivory blouse. She shot Anthony a look who gave her an apologetic smile.

Returning to the phone Nyla replied yes.

"I've been trying to get into contact with you for a couple of days, but your business phone wasn't working?"

Nyla wanted to throw the newspapers in frustration. Marcus wasn't the first client to complain about nobody picking up the company phone. Her intern had screwed up more than anyone else had previously but thank God Hyeon was retuning today.

"Sorry about that, we've been recently trying to get IT to update the line, but I'm guessing that it's not working?"

Marcus chuckled on the other line. "No, it's not."

Nyla set down the tea in the place holder. "So why were you calling?"

Marcus' tone became more somber. "It's about the investment. I was hoping we could talk in person."

His tone didn't give anything away, so Nyla didn't know if wanting to meet was a good thing or bad. She quickly checked her calendar to see if she had any meetings.

"I'm free for the next two hours if your available." She responded.

There was shuffling on the other line for a bit and Nyla waited for his response anxiously. Normally she was a calm and collected person but something about this innovation really pushed her. Maybe because it was the first decision she'd decided to make that really didn't follow Raymond's recipe.

"Are you able to swing by right now actually?" Marcus asked. "I'm free but I have a coffee chat with a grad student in a bit."

Nyla glanced at her watch. She had time. "Yeah, right now's fine."

"Perfect. I'll send you the address."

She hung up the call and a few seconds later her phone buzzed with the address.

"Anthony, we have a new destination." She rattled off the address.

Her driver typed the address into the GPS before swerving the car the other way. Honks filled the air around them and this time, Nyla mock-glared at him.

"You do know that if I die, you're going to be out of employment?"

"Thank God for that." Anthony muttered but Nyla heard him.

He then gave her a wink. Nyla shook her head and relaxed further into the backseat. In the next twenty minutes, she needed to know the investment like the back of her hand. Glancing once more at the watch adorning her wrist, she smiled, she had time.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Anthony dropped her off at a Marcus' firm before leaving to do whatever he did when Nyla didn't need him. A security guard was posted outside the door and he smiled before opening the door for Nyla.

She stepped in and took a look around. The ground floor was very impressive. Marble lined the floors and the walls while a few white couches were placed elegantly in the corner. Green plotted plants were placed behind the desk, giving the place more colour.

There was a security desk at the front and Nyla approached the women who was seated behind it. She was on the phone and she gave Nyla the 'please wait one moment' finger. Nyla nodded but shifted on her feet. It was getting closer to the time of her meeting with Marcus and if she didn't get access to the building right now, she could be late. There were a very few things she hated more than being late.

When a person was late, it immediately transformed your perspective of them subconsciously. It also made it difficult to get on the right foot afterwards.

Finally, the phone was down. "Hi, how many I help you today?"

"I'm here for a meeting with Marcus Reed?"

The women's eyes lit up. "Ah yes, he just called that you would be arriving soon."

She passed Nyla a visitor pass before gesturing towards the elevator. "Please go right up, it's the top floor."

Nyla thanked her before following her directions. People were continuously walking in and out of the building and Nyla was pretty crammed in the elevator. She also noticed that most of the people didn't talk to each other but were busying typing away on their phones or reading the newspaper. It clearly didn't look like a very social business.

As the elevator went higher, more and more people got off, until finally it was only Nyla left inside. The door pinged, and she got off on the fifteenth floor. To her utter surprise, Marcus was already their waiting for her.

"It's good to see you." he said smiling, before shaking her hand.

"Likewise."

She followed behind him as he explained the layout of the building and some of the people that were located on the floor. Large computer screens were present on many of the employee desks and Nyla was sure that many of them would be staring at the stock market and getting ready to make a move.

Marcus ushered her into a relatively plain office. She was surprised. After spending the day with him on the golf course, she expected more customization of his office.

As if noticing her gaze on the bare room Marcus smiled tightly. "Company policy, we don't do much to change the office. People come in and go all the time."

Nyla raised her eyebrow at his comment but didn't say anything. She supposed it made sense if they had employees revolving through the doors. Why incur costs when it was more effective to simply leave the offices feeling boring and bland. But another idea struck her. Maybe people didn't feel like they could stay at the company since they weren't allowed to transform the place into one of their own. It was a possibility.

"Would you like a drink?"

Nyla was shaken from her thoughts with Marcus' voice.

She shook her head and pointed towards the now lukewarm tea in her hands. "Thank you, but I'm good."

She settled down across from him as he pulled up some files from his laptop.

"Your proposal was good." He began, "it highlighted the benefits that would be provided and seems promising."

Nyla nodded but didn't say anything. Of course, her proposal was good. She'd checked it about three times after getting her COO George to check it and a couple of other senior executives.

"I had some concerns regarding the profitability of building a new factory for this type of production though..."

"That's understandable. We went through the numbers and although we could produce the vitamins in our current factories, the conditions of vitamins are very different from those of makeup. Additionally, we were planning on expanding anyways and this would work perfectly."

Nyla pulled out a piece of paper to show him what they went through to decided what to do. Marcus looked at it for a few minutes before sighing.

"There is no good way to put it. I'm afraid I don't have permission from my boss to invest in the project. We've already taken many risky investments this year and he doesn't see the trend being long term and sustainable. I'm sorry, I can't offer you a deal."

Nyla sat in the chair feeling like a hundred bricks had been dropped on her shoulders. She was having a hard time comprehending the fact that she'd been rejected. Marcus continued saying a few more things but Nyla had zone out.

Her last hope of getting this project off the ground had been crushed. All because Marcus couldn't stand up to his boss. Well, it was incorrect for her to put the blame on him specifically. His hands were tied, there was nothing he could do.

"...it was still really nice to read what you have come up with. There might be other people who are willing to invest, I can ask at other companies. I really hope this doesn't put a burden on our relationship."

"No, thank you though." Nyla declined his offer in a polite tone before adding, "I hold no ill will."

Marcus nodded, indicating he understood. "If you are free, it would be wonderful to meet at the golf course again. It's hard to find good golfers."

Nyla smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

No, she didn't want to play golf with him. Her business idea, something she'd been working on day and night just collapsed. She was not in the mood to be playing golf. She wanted to throw something at his face.

She hadn't been prepared for the idea of rejection and this was her first real hit. Now she understood why many of the board members felt that she was incompetent. Raymond hadn't taught her one for the most important rules of business, how to deal with failure and to get past it. He'd given her the company, and taught her how to be successful, not how to lose.

"Mr. Reed, your next client is here."

Nyla moved into motion after the interruption. She picked up her purse and files before shaking hands with Marcus. "Thank you for your time, I'm sorry we couldn't get a deal done, but I appreciate everything you did."

Marcus nodded and smiled faintly. "If you need anything else, feel free to call me."

Nyla knew she wouldn't be taking that offer, but she still continued smiling and slipped out from the office.

♠♠♠♠♠♠

Nyla kicked the punching bag once again before launching her herself into a flurry of punches and kicks combo. She went at it again and again. It felt so good to hit something, to take out her frustrations.

Sweat dripped from her forehand but she didn't care. Her body was numb, and she was only focused on hitting the punching bag. She didn't know how long it had been, or that she might hurt herself if she kept going at the rate she was going on.

She went at it for a few more minutes more until a voice quietly said, "Enough."

Nyla swung around and was surprised to see Hyeon standing behind her.

"What are you doing here?"

Hyeon calmly handed her a towel. Nyla took off her gloves before throwing it around her neck. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, she felt extremely tired. She sat down on the bench beside Hyeon.

"I thought you'd be in the office."

"That's a lot harder to do when your boss is missing." Hyeon retorted.

Nyla took sip from the water bottle beside her. "How was your vacation?"

"Good." Hyeon replied. "But enough about me, lets talk about you."

Nyla snorted. "There is nothing to talk about."

"There is if my boss, a workaholic—and I mean that in the best way possible, decides to call in a personal day and the person that informs me is the COO of the company."

Nyla sighed. She didn't want to pour out her feelings to Hyeon or share about her failures with Marcus.

"I'm fine." She replied.

"You're not." Hyeon insisted.

"Why do you keep pushing it! I said I'm fine so drop the subject!" Nyla shouted.

There were stares from across the gym but the worse was the heartbreaking look on Hyeon's face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you." She said. "I just didn't have the best day today, alright?"

Hyeon stood up. "That's okay, but if you don't want to talk to me, talk to someone else. Because if you treat your employees like this tomorrow, you'll have one less."

Nyla watched as her assistant sashay out of the gym. She smiled faintly, at least Hyeon knew her worth—something that had taken her a while to learn herself. She was sure that her assistant would be achieving great things someday.

Packing up her bag, she stepped out of the gym and pulled out her phone before putting it back down. She knew what she needed to do, and it had to be done alone. Sighing, she held out her hand for a cab.

A few minutes later, she was in the backseat of one.

"Where to Miss?" The driver asked.

"Marble Hill Cemetery." She responded.

The man's eyes widened, as if not expecting her response but he nodded. Nyla plugged in her headphones and watched the people on the streets as they zipped by. It had been quite a while since she'd rode in a cab. Most days, Anthony would drive her whenever she needed to get somewhere.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize they'd arrived until the Cab lurched to a hard stop. "That will be fifty-two sixty."

Nyla passed him a hundred-dollar bill. "Keep the change," she said before walking out of the car.

Her feet hit the ground and she slowly walked through the entrance of the cemetery. She knew where the grave was and so she began walking towards the section until her fingers were tracing over the tombstone.

She hadn't thought to bring flowers, but she knelt in respect for a while.

"Today was a tough day Raymond." She began. "I lost a battle, something I foolishly thought I'd never do. I'm trying my hard to do right by the company, right by you—but its just so difficult. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do now. Sometimes I wonder what you saw in me that you trusted me to be your heir over everyone else."

Nyla paused and looked at the sky. "I miss you, so very much." She whispered the last words into the wind, hoping that somehow, they would make there was back to Raymond—her mentor, friend, and family.

Not everything in life goes as you plan, there will be times you fail and that's something Nyla needed to learn. Hope you guys are enjoying the story as much as I am writing it.