“Roto!”

Hina ran to her brother as soon as she spotted him in a crowded, but rather calm restaurant.

“Hey Hina, how are you doing?”, Roto stood up and gave Hina a hug

“Today was like - whoa - you know. I had to listen to Mr. Poob lecturing for the whole day”

“I hope you’ve been telling her the right things Poos, because - Poob in, Poob out”, Roto joked

“There is much she needs to learn. To be honest I’m not sure when any ‘real’ work can start at all”

“Hey, I already learned a lot today”

“Such as?”, Roto inquired

“That if Poos is anything to go by, it seems people in this industry have really, I mean really, roundabout way of saying things”

Roto knew what she meant and chuckled, then motioned her to take a seat as I pulled it out for her.

“Thank you” - I just bowed a little.

“You too sit down please Poos”

“I’m fine sir”

“Come on, we are in a restaurant and you are not a waiter”

I bowed my head and took a seat next to Hina.

While Hina was fiddling with her phone - the first time I saw her do this today so she must be catching up with all the messages and her SNS updates - Roto looked me in the eyes and said.

“You know, my father placed a lot of trusts, and now a big responsibility on you now”

“I will do my best sir”

“:sigh: even for me it was a shock. And to do this while Tolo is actually working in the company as a Director - you know that he is only a Director in the title. He is by any means the de facto President now. I don’t think anyone would be taking Hina seriously, let alone accept her as the new CEO now.”

“Ms. Biaz will have to earn her recognition”

“Of course. But you see, the moment the news came out father passed away, everyone expected Tolo to take over. He’s lived his whole life with this expectation from others. And to be fair, he has proved himself to be more than capable of leading the Biaz Group over the past ten years, yet.. and now this happened.”

“I cannot question the decision of Mr. Biaz sir. But I do agree that the director is a very capable man. Mr. Biaz would be proud”

“See, that’s where you are wrong. And you know it”

“Hey, cut it out already and let the poor guy put the food on our table”

Hina interrupted us pointing at the waiter patiently waiting for us to finish talking, a meter away from our table with our lunch on the trolley.

“Ms. Biaz. That was phrased very poorly..”

Hina shrugged and the waiter put the food on our table. Thank you, poor guy.

I have been to this restaurant many times with Mr. Biaz and also sat on this very table with Mr. Biaz and Roto before like this in more than a few occasions. This place was nothing too fancy or prohibitively expensive. Even a pleb like me could afford a dinner here if I wanted, for some special occasion. The reason why this restaurant had a reputation for being a go-to place for business lunch in this area was, well, just because it has been like that for decades. Conveniently situated between various government ministry buildings and corporate headquarters, it was an easy place for short meet-ups for work. However, because it was convenient, it was not easy to get a table here during lunchtime - and that somehow turned this place into some kind of prestige. Having lunch here was not about being able to afford the bill, it was about being able to get a table in prime time.

“Sorry I didn’t ask you, Poos. I just ordered what you’ve had last time”

“It’s okay sir. I always get the same anyway” - because I’m kind of a person who can eat his favourite dish every single day for a week. I looked down at my Fettuccine Carbonara - I do like such simple and good food. I looked over at Roto’s dish and he has ordered Linguine Vongole, and Hina was having...

“Ms. Biaz. What the heck is that?!”

Shit. That just came out of my mouth

“This is what I have here every time I come. I tell you, this is the best. You wanna try?”

I was so engrossed in looking at Hina’s dish that overhearing Roto’s laughter didn’t even bother me.

“Is this really what it looks like?”

“Yeah, Spaghetti Alfredo Toblerone”, Hina stressed with deliberate Italian pronunciation of Toblerone

“My God. Who puts chocolate in their pasta, and with cheese..”

“Chocolate and cheese is a thing you know, like a chocolate fountain with Parmesan cubes. And it goes well with certain seafood dishes too, like braised squid with chocolate syrup”

“Where do they even sell these things?”

“Er... Just about everywhere I go?”

Ok. So when you are blue blood, you can have bad taste and restaurants will make up a dish to accommodate your bad taste.

“Ma’am. I’ll respect your taste, but please, let’s not order such things when we have business lunches in the future”

“Ok boomer”, Hina cut me out with a halt gesture with her hand.

“Right Poos, she does have some... Creative ideas. I have been thinking over things ever since Dad’s will was read out and we learned that he chose Hina over everyone else to lead the company”

Roto seamlessly transitioned from light-hearted laughter to something between aloof and a serious tone.

“Maybe this is the reason why Dad picked Hina”

“Because she makes great chefs cook some abominations?”

“Hey! I’m eating it!”, let’s ignore this girl for now, although we are talking about her.

“As much of an astute businessman my dad was, he was always going to pass over the company to one of his children. It’s not because he had some petty greed to see his child follow in his footsteps or anything like that. We are the Biaz. This is our responsibility. This would sound outdated, but it is what it is. We have the duty to keep our family, and the company, on the right path. Maybe someone could come in and run the business better than us if we sold our company. But making more money sometimes does not equal staying on the path we believe in. And Biaz is an institution in our country’s history. We need to show that foreign investors come and go, but we are here and will stay here forever”.

“I understand sir. But I still don’t get why Mr. Biaz had to choose the young Miss to lead this... Legacy”

“Because Dad knows I can do it: zing!: ”, Hina winked and made the shooting gesture with her hands.

:sigh:

“So Poos, what I wanted to say is - give her a chance. You are experienced and have worked with my Dad for so long. Dad kept you closer to his side than Tolo in his daily work. But remember this - I don’t think Dad chose you because you knew him the best so you could mold Hina as closely to him as possible. You know he’s never been vain like that. Teach her, but don’t ‘correct’ her to be more like my Dad. Learn how she is different from Dad, and the rest of us sons, and see how we can use that difference to further develop ourselves. There could be many reasons Dad had that I cannot fathom, but I’m convinced that this is at least one of the main reasons why he chose Hina. I’m sorry to say, but you have a great duty in all this now. You are the one who can ensure some continuity in this transition from my Dad to Hina”

That made some sense. But I couldn’t help questioning in my head - what do I get out of all this though, for myself?