RIVALS

Allman Bloom looked at his phone the smile he had on while he was talking to his daughter still plastered on his face as he returned the phone to his suit pocket. He took in the bustling city in front of him from the balcony of the 27th floor of the company where he had been meeting with investors from China. They were planning to invest in Hillwood and he had traveled there to convince them on why the Blooms Group Company would be their best choice.

Normally he would let Richmond, his daughter's fiancé and vice president of the company take care of this but he decide against it this time. The man needed to prepare for his wedding and by the way, he didn't want the guy who he knew was also a workaholic to abandon his daughter during the honeymoon in his attempt to secure investors.

He had started giving out investment proposals to other employees and had been making sure they took care of it for the past two weeks to reduce Richmond's work load and it had worked out successfully. More successfully than he planned actually and that was why he was here.

he had taken the five minutes break to call his bubbly daughter and reduce his stress as he had also found out that his company's one and only rival, Noosa Inc. was also here bidding for the investment and had presented a proposal as amazing as that of his team.

"That was your daughter?" he heard someone say behind him and turned around to stare into the grey eyes of Steve Noosa. The CEO of Noosa Inc. the said rival.

Steve was a shorter man when compared to Allman, he also had streaks of grey hair that showed he wasn't as young as one would think. Even though Allman beat him in looks, with his sandy blond hair which his daughter inherited, chiseled-shaped jaws and muscles which he had maintained despite his age, which made women drooling over him, that wasn't a surprise as the media always tried to create an imaginary relationship between him and every lady he walked with publicly. Not that he minded since he had abandoned his romantic life to care for what was more important, his daughter and his company.

Steve despite not matching up to Allman in looks had a Killer smile that made every woman want to have his number. His dimples showed when he smiled and made whosoever he was smiling at feel like they were the most important person in the world. His wife, however, didn't think so but he still kept his smile and he was flashing that smiling at Allman now.

"Yeah. Just checking on her wellbeing." Allman replied as Steve walked up to him to rest on the railing, a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Do you always do that?" Steve asked Allman giving him a surprised look.

"Yeah. She's my daughter."

"She's an adult."

"Yeah right. So was my wife." Allman deadpanned.

"What?" Steve asked surprised he didn't expect Allman's answer. He knew that Allman had lost his wife years ago but he didn't know how, he had never met her either. From the way, Allman never dated any other women he knew he must have really loved her.

"My wife. I said she was an adult too. I mean she died an adult. Thousands of adults die every day." Allman said bitterly making Steve feel guilty.

Yes they were rivals in business and if he had a chance he would overthrow the Blooms business without thinking twice about it but he had always admired Allman in many ways. He thought the man was amazing, being a father and the CEO of the vast bloom's wealth at the same time wasn't a joke.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to...."

"No! It's okay. I loved her. I still do." Allman said suddenly as he turned around resting on the railing and looking at the bustling city again, but at nothing in particular as he continued, "I never told her or showed her. When she called, it was always my secretary on the phone, my private number was always busy…... I was so happy that we were having a baby." Allman said again with a faraway look on his face.

"But I was never there in those six months. I think I saw her twice or so, at that time I was chasing the project for the state house road in California. I abandoned all my workers and felt I had to be there myself to supervise it, after all, it was the president's contract."

"That was the right thing to do. That is what earns us our reputation as CEOs and helps us build empires." Steve said patting Allman's shoulders to console him, as he continued, "I mean we can't mingle work with family, we have to work hard to help them maintain the life they have."

"You're wrong Steve, it was not." Allman said as he turned to look at Steve, the look of a broken man was still in his eyes and Steve knew that he hadn't gotten over his wife's death by even a day.

"It was the worse decision I have ever made," Allman said again.

"Jane wanted to have our baby in Hawaii, she loved her privacy. When she was ready to go, she couldn't reach me. I don't know, I think I was in Paris, planning to land another contract. She traveled alone. I didn't even know that the house help who was to go with her had her visa denied and that it would take a few days to sort out. So she went alone. My pregnant wife." Allman shook his head.

"The last message she sent to me was 'help me All,' I heard she had tripped while walking down the stairs of our house two days after her arrival. She was lying there unconscious and bleeding the next morning when the maid that was supposed to come with her arrived." Allman let the tears fall from his eyes now, while Steve looked at him shocked.

"She even tried to reach out to me in her moment of pain and I didn't mind her like I always did. By the time I got to the hospital, all I had left was a newborn baby. My wife was gone." he smiled sadly and cleaned his eyes before turning to Steve.

"You know the funniest thing, Steve? When I sent my team to Paris instead, so I could have her burial and take care of my daughter. They won the contract within two days. The company didn't change one bit. I had competent men there, but it cost me my wife for me to finally realize how wrong I was. I'm not going to repeat the same mistake with Nancy, Steve. I'm not." Allman said as he patted Steve's back before leaving the balcony.

Steve looked at the retreating figure of Allman and let his mind drift to his own family. His wife, Sharon hated him because she never thought he loved her when he was so sure he did. His daughter Evelyn made his life a living hell growing up, she had involved herself in all kinds of rebellious acts to get his attention but ever since involved with the company had been a little more responsible.

He remembered how his wife started rejecting the gifts he bought her on her birthdays, especially the ones he couldn't attend. Hell, he didn't even remember when last he attended or celebrated the birthday of his loved ones. He never even remembered. His secretary was the one who did the remembering, sent the greeting card and gifts only reminding him after doing that.

His son hated him and had left home choosing to be a photographer instead of following in his footsteps and he had blamed his wife for it. He knew now how wrong he was. He was a fool who knew only how to make money, but he didn't think he could survive experiencing the grief Allman experienced

knowing what he needed to do, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hello, cancel all my meetings. Have someone else from the company take up the contract proposal and book me the next available flight. I'm going home."