The CEO's Painted Skin

John fueled by renewed energy that Catherine still want to marry him in spite of her mother's blatant refusal of their union, called Romeo to come to his office.

He was smiling, the epitome of an excited groom waiting for his wedding to finally come true with the woman he loves so much.

Romeo marveled at his best friend's happy countenance. "You looked happy today bro! The wedding is this coming, Friday? Right?"

John grinned. "Yes. You and Sandra are invited of course. It's just a small gathering, just us, my three boys and Catherine's family."

He paused for a moment, thinking of something...

"Romeo, I want to ask your wife a favor. Did she know of a private restaurant, I mean a venue that can accommodate more or less 30 people? I want to hold a dinner wedding party celebration after we are done with the wedding ceremony rites. If she can recommend me one, I will be grateful for her help," he added.

"No problem bro. My wife's favorite caterer had a dining restaurant, they have several venues there that can hold from 20, 30, 50....and up to 100 people, for any event and any occasion. We can book them at any time. I will call her later and instruct her to book a 30 seater function room for this Friday's wedding party celebration."

"Thank you, bro," said John.

"Hmm, about the dishes I mean the menu for the occasion? Is there any specific dishes you want to be prepared or want to request?" asked Romeo.

John was thinking of how many dishes to be prepared. "Maximum of ten dishes and one whole pork Lechon. Just tell your wife I trust her taste and choices when it comes to foods. Tell her I am expecting the best dishes for the occasion. Money is not a problem. After she settled everything in the caterer of her choice, inform me so that I can settle the bills as early as possible. Just tell Sandra to take her time am not imposing though, there still three days to go."

"Okay, bro. I might as well call Sandra right now," said Romeo.

He called her wife's number.

"Darlingggg...!" Sandra's silky voice echoed in Romeo's eardrum.

"Hello Darling, what are you doing?"

"I'm at the bathroom darling doing my thing? Why? What is it?" she asked.

"Lol, stop what you're doing for a minute. John wants your help with his upcoming wedding. He wants to find a venue that can accommodate more or less 20 to 30 people. If you can find one at this time, book it right away. He gives you free hand when choosing the dishes, maximum of 10 dishes desserts included, then order one whole pork Lechon. Money is not a problem. So after you're done with your showering, you can call that favorite caterer of yours and check at their side if there's still available venue this coming Friday, whole afternoon to evening usage, if there's is available, book it right away. Got it darling?"

Sandra shrieked with excitement. "Wow, I love parties! Of course, I will do everything you instructed, darling. I will call my caterer right away. And I will visit the venue myself this afternoon and see if I can manage to have some decoration done. I love pink and red motifs, more hearts and more roses in the tables, how about that? Do you think John and Catherine will like them?"

Romeo looked at John. "Bro, my wife says she wants to decorate the venue, she was waiting for your permission..."

John nodded. "That would be wonderful, bro. Yes, she can decorate the place, give her a go signal. Just forward me the expenses I will settle it myself."

"Did you hear that, darling? John said yes and he greatly appreciated your effort. Go ahead you can make some decoration but don't make it over the top, okay darling?"

Sandra screeched in glee again. "Yesss...leave it all to me, darling. I'm the boss when it comes to party planning. Okay, talk to you later....bye!"

Romeo put his cell phone back into the pocket of his trousers. "Everything about the catering services and the venue will be taken care of by my wife, bro."

"Good."

Romeo went to John's table and gave him a folder.

"By the way, I got some disturbing report regarding the coal mining business we have in Zamboanga Del Sur. The management there was not treating our miners in the proper way. Some reports pertaining to issues such as lack of health care support for employees, less to zero overtime pay, allowances and a lot more. The miners were also not given their proper protective gears like uniform such as loose fitting shirts, pants, strong mining boots, gloves, safety helmet and many more. Based on the reports we have gathered so far, it seemed the manager swindled money from the business coffers and left the miners to fend for themselves. Do you want me or anybody else to go there and check the severity of the problem?"

John had known about his problem way back before he went to visit the ancestral house in the village. The problem regarding their coal mining business was already presented to him way back. Meeting Catherine makes him forget about all of it, he sighed a bit.

"Nah. I will go there myself after my wedding with Catherine. I want to see for myself how severe the problem is. If I see that the problem cannot be rectified I have plans to stop and abolished the Coal mining business altogether. The problem with the coal mine is that it's too far away for me to manage. We can't visit the site quickly whenever there's a problem arising to the operation there. We might as will eventually give it up rather than continue making the business bleed financially and make the workers suffer for a long period of time lacking good management, support, and guidance. How many workers we have there including the management staff?"

"About 350 people, John."

John stared at the files in his hands. He can sell the heavy equipment used for mining and transfer the ownership to other interested parties so that they can absorb all the workers. Even if he doesn't gain any hefty profit from selling their coal mining business it doesn't matter to him, what important for him is that the workers will be taken good care of by the new management. This coal mining business was their family's oldest business. He was thinking to give up this type of business a long time ago, just that the opportunity hadn't presented itself yet. Maybe now is the time to give it up.

"All the reports are there in the files, bro."

"Okay. Hmmm... can you contact several interested parties there in Zamboanga Del Sur? Maybe we can find a suitable company that can absorb the mining business. Try to find a company that has been operating a coal mining business successfully for the last 10 years. I just want the best company to absorb our people. Send them emails or call them, find out if they are interested. For those companies who are interested encourage them to send me a proposal about why I would choose them. May the best company win!"

"No problem bro. I will take care of it right away. I will give you my report in a few days. Anything else bro?"

"I think that's all for now, Romeo," said John.

"Okay. I will go out now." Romeo exited John's office and went back to his own office.

John opened the folder file and began reading the full report including the financial status of their coal mining business for the last five years.

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Author's Note: 2 chapter for today! Stay tuned!