CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

Nate and Scarlet spend the day together in his office.

She puffed when noticing he would actually sit at his desk for the whole time and do nothing. She wanted to be a CEO too, in the future. It meant she could watch the clothes on the magazines for the whole time, while being paid for it!

Oh, it would be so better if her mommy got that job instead of having to study and sweat to sustain their daddy.

The little girl spend the whole morning in her corner, eating and playing video games. When she was tired, she would switch to a cartoon channel and take a nap on the armchair. It was her favourite place for sleeping, in there.

She didn't disturb her daddy until she couldn't resist anymore. He had ignored her for hours, not even complaining about how many cookies she ate. Continue your journey on empire

She pouted turning her back to him and getting ready for yet another nap. However, she couldn't sleep. It was boring.

«Daddy...» she called him, peeking from the corner of her eye.

Nate didn't even move his eyes away from the paper.

«Yes, Scarlet? What's up?»

«I'm boring.»

«You're not boring,» he defended her, still reading a document of capital importance. It was time the company returned working full-regime, which meant signing deals and joint projects, accepting big orders, and financing promising start-ups.

«How do you know?» Scarlet asked, blinking confused.

How could her daddy know?

«Because one can't ever lower their guard with you. That's all but boring,» Nate explained. «It can be annoying, though. You could say that.»

Scarlet was more confused than ever, and she slipped down from her place and strolled to him. How could he know she wasn't boring? And what had that to do with her wreaking havoc?

«But daddy, I don't know what to do now. I'm boring. Aren't you also boring without nothing to do?»

«Oh,» Nate realised. «You're not boring but bored. Why don't you watch some cartoon.»

«I don't like that one,» she said, pointing at the TV.

«Oh, then the cartoon is boring. Not you.»

Nate picked her up, made her sit on his lap, and poked her nose when she started understanding. She frowned but didn't push his hand away. She was still thinking.

«What do we do now?» she asked, throwing away her concerns. Bored or boring, she had eaten and slept. It was time to play, wasn't it?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

«We wait for your mommy and Jaden to find the picture they're looking for. Then, we can have lunch together.»

Scarlet's eyes moved on the papers in front of them, and she pointed at a coloured image. She didn't even try reading the words - something in her heart told her that her mommy's name wouldn't be there - and just observed the columns.

«What is this?» she asked.

«It's a graph with the costs and the expected revenue of a project I might invest in.»

«Why is this red smaller?»

«Because no one will invest in a project with higher costs than income. The red one is cost; the blue columns represent the expected revenue.»

«And costs are bad, right?»

«They are necessary. But one needs to keep them under control.»

«Why are they red?»

«Because... Oh, red means danger I guess? It attracts attention? I'm not sure.»

«It's unfair, daddy,» Scarlet said. «Red is a nice colour. Couldn't they make it brown? Or grey? Or purple?»

«Wait, don't you like purple?»

«Only when my mommy chooses it.»

«Oh, and here I was thinking of buying you a purple gem for your birthday. I would have made a mistake.»

«Is it pretty?»

«I haven't found it yet. I'll change my present now.»

«No, it's okay,» Scarlet said. «If it's shining and pretty, it's okay if it's purple.»

«Well, you see... Colours sometime have meanings. Just like flowers and gems.»

«Meanings?» Scarlet said, widening her eyes as wide as possible. «Do they really have meanings and not just names?»

Nate nodded, chuckling lightly.

«Why didn't no one tell me before?» she whined. «Grandpa Luther gave me a flower and I don't know what it means!»

«He just wanted to be kind.»

«But... Why does everything need to be complicated?» she asked, grabbing the end of the table and still staring at the paper. «Why do colours have meanings? Why?»

It meant she had to learn a lot of things if she wanted to become like her daddy. Maybe, being the CEO wasn't such a great idea.

«What about gems?» she wondered.

«What about them? Oh, I wanted to buy you an amethyst. It's said to help mental clarity and cure insomnia. So that you won't ever have problems sleeping.»

«What is that?» Scarlet muttered, feeling that a big revelation was behind the corner. Her world was going to change again after just a few days.

«What?»

«Aestestist.»

«Oh, amethyst? It's just the name of the gemstone.»

Scarlet opened her mouth wide.

«Gems have names?» she whispered before shutting in her inner world. Not just flowers, also stones.

Nate observed her focused expression as if seeing it for the first time. So, his daughter could make that kind of face, too.

«And is my small stone a boy or a girl?» she inquired. She had already made a mistake with Lily. This time, she would be more careful.

«Uh... Ehm...»

Nate didn't know what kind of answer she was expecting from him.

«I guess a boy,» Nate tried.

«Does he have a name already or can I give him one?»

«What? You want to name the sapphire?»

«Saf-what?»

«Sapphire. It's the blue stone you have at home.»

«Oh,» she hummed. «His name is Sapphire?»

«No, it's a name for all the stones like yours.»

«So I can still call him Jimmy?»

«I guess you can, sure,» Nate said, dumbfounded. At least, gemstones were more accessible to maintain than pets. If Scarlet wanted to give name and love to those, he had nothing against it.

Better than rabbits: less work and fewer problems during Bright Moons.

«The flower grandpa Luther gave me had a name already. She was called Lily, so I couldn't call her Jimmy,» Scarlet said, which reminded Nate to inquire about grandpa Luther with her as well.