Chapter 4

Lee's father, Cuzon Sun Hong was a tedious, dedicated and respectable man who was working for a reputable company as its assistant Manager, his monthly salary was a bit more than enough for he and his family and they lived off it for a long time having no sort of trouble financially or any other way. Until, three years before his demise, Lee's father, Mr. Cuzon had a tragic accident along with some members of his workplace while they were returning from an office training seminar. Everyone present on the bus that day died except for Mr. Cuzon, his family was happy to know he survived, but the price of survival was quite a heavy one, he never came out of that accident as a whole and free man as he was before, the accident claimed one of his legs and led to his use of crutches. After he recovered, he walked out the hospital gate and his head was buried in thought as he knew there was a new life waiting for him, but little did he know about how rough and painful it would be for him and his family.

After resuming work, he headed straight for the thirteenth floor which was the highest floor of the building and also where his office was situated along with the CEO's office as well. As he was about to enter his office, a junior officer walked up to him and told in an almost pitiful manner that the CEO would like to see him, Mr Cuzon frowned a bit as he looked down at the crutches which were slowing down his movement, with a heavy sigh, he changed his direction and headed for the office. As he entered, the man in a grey suit offered him a seat across the table which was neatly arranged with documents and files, the man asked about his health and family and he answered everything with ease, he and the CEO had never talked about things like this before and it made Cuzon feel a bit uncomfortable as he sensed that something was definitely wrong. After answering the series of questions, the CEO buried his head and silence filled the room for a little while, then he looked up with sincerity and sadness in his eyes, Cuzon felt wierd as he still could not comprehend what was going on, the man felt his confusion and raised his voice;

"it is with heavy heart that we inform you that you are no longer fit to carry out your present position a the assistant manager of this company in such condition you are in. But, considering your dedication to this company, we have provided three options for you. Option A is for you to tender your resignation letter and leave the office premises with immediate effect, Option B is for you to get sacked and be thrown out forcefully but will also be given the salary of this month as compensation, the man paused a bit as he looked at Cuzon, and Option C is for you to get demoted to a junior level and your salary would also be decreased in accordance to the level you are acquired with. Which would you like to pick?"

Cuzon was dumbstruck, he wasn't sure if he heard the man correctly but he was sure that those three options were no joke, looking up at him with his eyes already swollen with tears, he asked the CEO in a sheepish tone; "why?". Not knowing what to do, the man looked down and said it was the decision of the board.

"Decision of the board?, I have put everything I have got into this company and I even lost my leg because of this company and you still have the heart to tell me that the board sent this? have you no emotions?".

The CEO whose head had been buried suddenly raised his head up and Cuzon could see that he was also crying although he didn't know why;

"No emotions!!! do you have any idea what I had to go through to convince those bastards of giving you a third option, they wanted to throw you out like dog with no family, I had to beg them for your sake but they wouldn't listen, he relaxed a bit and said in a lower voice, eventually they did agree but then I would have to back down as the CEO starting from next month".

Cuzon could not believe his ears, this company had just lost a number of employees in an accident and they were still willing to demote two of their high officials, he couldn't comprehend why the board he thought were so creative suddenly seemed idiotic and thoughtless. As if reading his mind, the CEO looked at him and continued with his explanation, Cuzon stared blankly at the man who just explained everything to him, the families of the dead employees were sueing the company's board and their lawyers had told them that there was no way they could win since the amount of people died were more than five, going to court would only mean putting the directors in prison and also shutting down the company for good, their only option was to sell the company to another party and reach a decisive agreement with them to keep their company but the buyer was a cunning and greedy man, once they all signed the necessary documents, the new buyer immediately sued them as well for the contest of ownership which they won easily and lead to the new board of directors, now they were determined to change the entire staff especially the CEO's position which the buyer wanted for his son, then the issue of Cuzon came up an they saw it as the perfect opportunity to blackmail the present CEO and get rid of him. Cuzon stared at the man and asked him what he recommended for him, the man thought for and said; "we don't have a choice, do we?". On hearing this, Cuzon stood up to leave, then he stopped at the door and said; "then you know my answer, sir". The CEO stared at him as he hopped away with his crutches and he signed the new position of Mr Cuzon Sun Hong.