I sat back in my seat. “And you all really think these people that’ll be working for me are gonna respect me as their boss when they find out what my qualifications are? When they find out what my last name is and who my father is? After all, that is the only reason I’m even being offered an executive position so soon, right?”
My father sighed. “Son, you were groomed to run this company. I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into creating all of this,” he said, gesturing around him. Mr. Tanaka, although he now owned a majority of my father’s brainchild, didn’t even flinch or jump to deny my father bragging rights. He simply sat there and listened. “This is not charity,” my father added. “Believe me you’ll have to work to prove yourself ten times harder than the average man would because your last name is Hahn. However…it isn’t in you to run from adversity. So, no matter what apprehensions you’re having, I also know that you’re levelheaded. This is an opportunity to jump aboard the fast track to your future, son. You’re too intelligent to let it pass you by.”
I felt myself breathing at twice the normal rate, staring at the document from a distance. The details – salary, housing allowance, signing bonus – were already spelled out in black and white. The only thing missing was my signature at the bottom, which would determine whether this became reality or nothing more than a dream on a sheet of paper.
“There’s a housing allowance here,” I noted. “That won’t be necessary. Living in D.C. hasn’t been a problem – the commute to Fairfax is only half an hour, forty-five in moderate traffic.”
Mr. Tanaka smiled and pointed to a section of the paper that I’d overlooked. “Driving from D.C. to Fairfax might not be a problem, but driving from D.C. to New York City would be one hell of a commute.”
I thought I’d misheard him. “New York? The Eastern Division is stationed right here in Fairfax, though. That doesn’t make sense.”
The smile on my father’s face grew. “Correct. However, we’re moving the facility to a more…lucrative milieu. Like we said before, it’s all about strategic planning. Proximity to your target can make all the difference in the world.” He stared at me while I deliberated.
Move?
“But Kira and I – we just bought the house and –“
“We’d take that off your hands, give you what you paid for it with a 10% increase for the trouble,” Mr. Tanaka chimed in.
“Kira’s job is here, though. I can’t just expect her to pick up everything and follow me. I’ll have to talk this over with her before I sign anything.” My head was spinning.
“Take all the time you need,” Mr. Tanaka replied, and then laughed. “Well…take 24-hours. As much as we hate to rush your decision, we’re looking to move things along fairly quickly. Time is indeed money.”
“Quickly? How quickly?” I inquired.
“Today is Monday, and we’d like to have you there this time next week,” my father responded.
I sat back and ran both hands through my hair, blowing all the air from my lungs. “Next week?”
“Of course there will still be loose ends to tie up here that may require you to be in town on occasion, but…yes, a week,” he reiterated.
I imagined the conversation in my head that I’d have with Kira. How would she feel about leaving her job as an editor of the popular women’s magazine she’d dreamed about working for all through college, only to abandon her post to follow me to the crowded city? She was even on the fence about D.C. being too congested, but compared to New York? D.C. looked like a ghost town.
“I’m gonna have to give it some thought,” I stated again, subconsciously hearing the 24-hour stopwatch ticking inside my head.
I stood from my seat and noted the exasperated look on my father’s face. From the expression that he wore, I realized that he expected me to take the job without question. However, I wasn’t only making this decision for myself. I now had a fiancé who I had to take into consideration too.
*****
The television lulled quietly from the living room when I walked in the house at around noon.