GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

RECRUITMENT

“Yeah, I will go home after this one,” Denton replied to Dennis who called him to ask whether Denton will eat at home or not. Dennis said that his two nieces want their father to go home and eat with them for dinner. Denton, as the father of the two, wanted to pursue what his daughters wanted him to do, so he immediately gave an answer. Denton, everytime his daughters request anything, he immediately abides by it. He wants everything his daughters want to happen, to anyhow make them feel that they are not alone. “I think I will stop by the company first before I go home. I promise I’ll be there at dinner.”

The phone call ended. “Who was it?” the resigned game head asked as he approached Denton who was having a call with someone. Denton was surprised to see the game head behind him but immediately smiled awkwardly after seeing the guy. Fortunately, the conversation was not really controversial but the resigned game head did not really hear it. “I approached you to ask if everything’s fine for you, about the schedule of the recruitment and everything else. I also am sorry to take things before asking your permission, I was just used to doing it. However, any adjustments you want to make, just tell them. They will listen.”

“It was my brother, asking me if I will go home for dinner,” he answered the first question given to him by the resigned game head. “Also, I don’t really have a problem about the schedule for the recruitment. I actually think that the schedule is better when it’s wide, so they would not have any problem about the recruitment. The process is long and not everyone who receives the invitation does not really want to enter and join the game. Now, I think they are relieved to have more time in recruiting players.” The resigned game head just nodded, agreeing with Denton. “About you leading the talk, it’s not really a big deal for me. I do think that you are more experienced than me, so it might be more effective that they’ll listen to you. Also, I watched how you talk and it kind of gave me ideas on what to do whenever I started doing the actual job. I don’t know a lot of things and just by observing you, I slowly learn, so it’s really helpful and you don’t have to ask for an apology.”

“I am glad that you are understanding my sentiment, Mr. Mayfly,” the resigned game head replied. “Let me be honest to you,” he said, leaving Denton and his curiosity to fall out. “I am actually worried about leaving the position. As you know, one of the reasons I left was because I don’t want it already… but I felt attached to it, now that I am doing my last work under this position. Maybe I despised the idea of working under the company who helped me succeed in life, but later on, I realized that I actually like working here.” Denton nodded. “Also, I am worried about you. It looks like your time with your kids is being grabbed by your work, and I added another burden to you. It may not look sincere but I feel bad for you. I feel bad that I gave you all the burden that I chose to give up on…”

“It’s not necessarily a burden, sir. For me, it’s like a responsibility that I am destined to commit,” Denton replied. “I already have my own company, so I know how hard it is to manage my time. Adding to the schedule is this new job that you offered me. I chose to do this, sir, although I don’t really have a lot of choices.” Denton looked at the resigned game head who was smoking his cigarette, looking unbothered. “I actually thought that you can’t give a damn but here you are, being apologetic for giving me this job. That is serious character development, sir.”

“You know, I am not really an unbothered person. I care for people a lot, but then, the game happened. It is a secret that I don’t want to disclose to anyone but let me tell you. When I entered the game, I was not alone. I was there with my long-time girlfriend. Both of us are financially struggling, so we thought of risking our chances together inside the game. Little did we know, only one person can make it through. She was mercilessly killed after failing the fifth round,” he replied. “Even the coldest person once cared too much, they say. I won the game because I promised her that I would win the game. Months after the game ended, I couldn’t help but to think about her a lot. The sight of her being killed was the nightmare I don’t want to dream of every night that I close my eyes.” The resigned game head looked at him. “I know you know that feeling, Mr. Mayfly, although different scenarios.”

“My wife died due to chronic kidney disease, and I was there when she breathed her last breath,” Denton replied. “I was there but I couldn’t do anything. You knew that too, right?” The game head was looking somewhere as he nodded. “Inside the game, you saw your girlfriend die but you have no choice but to watch her since you have no authority of stopping them do that to her, while I watched my wife die slowly, I was unmoved since I know that it is already her time, and I am of no authority to stop that to happen. Yeah, and that must be why I care about a lot of people around me, especially my daughters.”

The former game head threw the cigarette. “You are lucky that you still have your brother, your daughters and your supportive friends. You should always take care of them since we do not know what will happen tomorrow,” he said. “I heard you say that you will eat dinner with your kids, so you should go already. I’ll be the one to tell them that you left already. Thank you for your active participation in today’s meeting.”

After that, Denton left without having to talk to the recruiters for the last time. He trusted the resigned game head’s remark that he will be the only one telling the recruiters that he has already left the venue, so he really left. The spokesperson also saw Denton leaving and bid his farewell to the now-game head. “Thank you for your participation in this meeting, sir. I don’t know if my boss already told you this but you can officially sit in your position as soon as possible. My boss is doing a lot of errands, so that it will never bother you after you officially sit in the position. Please drive safely.”

Denton smiled as he nodded to the spokesperson as his response. He got inside the car and drove somewhere else but not the way to his house. “It’s just five in the afternoon, I think I should stop by the company first,” he said to himself as he drove quickly on his way to the company. His company was placed somewhere near the center of his city, so it’s kind of far from his house which is on the west. As he arrived at his company, he immediately parked his car in the parking lot and entered the company using the back entrance. “Good evening,” he replied back at the employees who were greeting him. He nodded and smiled at them as he quickly walked his way towards his own office to not interrupt their works.

“Denton,” said Sandra, who was fixing his table. He smiled at her as he sat on the sofa inside his office. “I did not know that you would be coming here,” she continued. “If you had told me that you were coming here, I should have fixed your office beforehand. Don’t you have a meeting with the resigned game head and his spokesperson? Did you go to the game hall? Why did you go to the office? You should have gone home and rested already.”

“I felt the urge to ask how my company is doing at times like this,” Denton replied. He looked outside of his office, since his office’s wall is tinted, only he can see what they are doing and not the otherwise. “Since I have been busy with the game, I have not looked back at my own company. As a boss, I still should know what the company is doing. Is the company doing well? Are there any errors or problems, both in the office and the factory?”

“I am glad that you asked, actually,” Sandra replied. As the assistant of the boss, Sandra is the one managing all the documents the boss needs to see, so if there is any problem inside the company, she will know it first before Denton does. She gave the bundle of documents and gave it to Denton. “That is the pile of all the errors that happened inside the company while you are gone, Denton. Do not worry because three-fourths of them have already been resolved and were just minor errors. On the last parts of the papers are the remaining unresolved ones. Also, there is one factory worker who hurt his hand while working, they say it was because of the paper-cutting machine. Do not worry about this, Denton, since the human resources department has already sent him a help. We also agreed to give benefits to those who are victims of work-related accidents.”

“I am glad that you took an immediate action before the issue came out of the company,” Denton replied. “I am worried about his condition but I am also worried about the image of the company. If there is anything he asks for, as long as it’s not that much, give him. I’ll assign you this issue, Sandra. Be sure to finish this issue before we focus ourselves in the game.”

“I will, for sure,” Sandra replied. He wandered around the table and stopped in front of the table. “Now that you already know the well-being of your company, you should go home already and rest. Who knows those two get you again tomorrow and you haven’t rested well. We are also going home soon, Paul and I.”

Paul entered the office and was surprised to see Denton on the couch. “Oh, you’re here?” he asked the owner of the company. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting with the former game head and his gang?”

“It ended early,” Denton’s only response. He stood up and led the two outside. “Donna and Denise are asking for me to eat dinner with them. I stopped by the company to fetch you two. Let’s go home together. I want Donna and Denise to eat with the complete family.”