The passer bys that passed by the huge billboard that sat on the streets of New York barely gave face or attention to the boy who was standing in front of the billboard staring at it while holding a girl not less than five with his left hand.
The boy who looked less than eighteen stared at the older female woman who was acting in the billboard with sparklingly eyes and even though the movie lasted for about one hour, he stood there and watched till the movie finished before he turned to go.
“Zane, my legs are weak, can’t walk home” the little girl beside him complained as she wiped her face with her dirty hands. The older boy smiled and carried his younger sister in his arms. After all if he hadn’t made her stand for so long, she would still be able to walk home.
Adjusting the younger girl in his arms, the seventeen-year-old began his journey home with a smile on his face. He stopped at a shop and brought out the squeezed money in his pockets and used it to buy hamburger before giving it to his younger sister.
“Zane, you don’t want hamburger?” the girl asked as she stared eating and Zane shook his head. He knew the hamburger wouldn’t satisfy her talk less of him, why bother eating. Not that he was hungry though.
He adjusted the smaller girl in his arms again and continued walking. He hadn’t had anything all day but he wasn’t hungry. By just watching her movies or advertisement; Zane would get full. He loved watching her, he never missed her movies or her advertisements. He knew almost everyone singe one of her movies by heart.
Suddenly he felt that the weight of his sister had increased drastically and he glanced at her only to see her sleeping already. He let out a soft chuckle as he hastened his steps before he arrived at a large storey building with more than thirty floors. The surroundings of the building was smelly and dirty but the people walked past, in and out as if they didn’t have noses.
And like them, Zane wasn’t bothered by the smell at all. After living there for so many years, his least of his concern was the smell. He hurried into the building and seeing tried using the elevator as he heard murmurings of the residents complaining that the elevator had gone berserk again and wasn’t walking.
Zane’s lips twitched as he stared at the stairs before she started climbing taking one step at a time till he got to the fifteenth floor. He immediately pressed his hand on the wall for support so that he wouldn’t fall. He immediately dug his hands into his pockets looking for the key of the room as he brought it out and inserted the key into the keyhole before turning the doorknob.
A small room came into view and Zane walked inside and quickly placed his sister on the small bed. He walked towards the window and opened it giving room for ventilation and he put on the lights. The room was extremely small for two people as two boxes laid on top of each other at a corner while a reading table and chair was placed beside it. Despite the stuffiness, the room was kept clean and tidy.
Zane slumped on the chair as he slowly removed his sneakers and placed them beside him. He sighed as he stared at the smaller girl who had cured up on the bed and wore a soft smile highlighting his features as the moon also illuminated the room.
He turned and grabbed the frame on the table and brought it to his face. Looking at her or watching her had always had a way to take his sorrows, pains and worries away. Zane’s lips pulled into a smile as he traced his hands over the picture before he hugged it.
TWELVE YEARS LATER
“This is your schedule for today sir” Dylan said as he dropped a file in front of the slightly younger man. The younger man stopped what he was doing and swirled his chair to face Dylan revealing an extremely fair, handsome face. His blue eyes scrolled through the schedule as he suddenly turned to Dylan raising one of his eyebrows.
“I though her talk show was at 11am” He said as Dylan nodded his head.
“President Zane, it was actually at 11am but just to be sure, I gave a call to the broadcasting station and they said that due to some inconveniences, it had been moved to 12pm” Dylan replied as the latter nodded.
“Miss Shaila wants to have dinner with you” Dylan added as he closed the file.
“Cancel it” the man replied without batting an eyelash.
“You have a meeting with the shareholders today as well” Dylan added as the younger man turned to him.
“What meeting?” he asked as Dylan sighed.
“What are those old men bantering about again?” he asked as Dylan opened another file and dropped it in front of him.
“They strongly oppose your decision to start an entertainment company” Dylan replied as the younger man grabbed the file in his hands and went through it flipping through the pages without a change of expression.
“What’s their reason?” he asked as Dylan placed his hands behind his back.
“That the entertainment company might not bring profits as it is supposed to. To start an entertainment company requires a lot of resources. We’ll have to employ a lot of people from makeup artists to managers and then sig on singers, actors and actresses and we’ll have to pay them all. Their biggest concerns are the type of actors and actresses we are going to be signing” Dylan added as a small smile appeared on the lips on the younger man.
“That’s all?’ he asked as he dropped the file and turned to Dylan.
“You might as well hear from their mouths” Dylan said as Zane stood up.
“Call a meeting of all shareholders now” he said as he adjusted his tie and walked out of the office in long elegant strides. Dylan shook his head as he grabbed the telephone in the office and started making calls.
Dylan watched the shareholders conference room fill up and he whispered to Zane as soon as the room was filled up.
“Is everybody here?” Zane asked as his swirled his face to face the shareholders that were still whispering among themselves.
“Everyone is here. That’s good. I want to hear your opinions about the new entertainment company we are starting” Zane said as he reclined into his seat. One of them coughed lightly as he faced Zane trying to wear a straight face.
“President Wilson, in the past six years, a lot of companies has been created under your jurisdiction and we have watched how these companies have excelled. From a fashion apparel company to a food and even a business and finance company we have touched almost every sector but for the entertainment sector; we cannot go there because you have no idea what the entertainment sector looks like” the older man said as some of the other shareholders started nodding.
“President Wilson, do you listen to songs? Watch movies or maybe watch Tv. I don’t mean the news and all I mean, advertisements and all. Do you know the most popular singer or actor or anything at all about the entrainment industry?” another woman asked as some of them laughed.
“President Wilson we know that maybe you just wanted to try this for fun but it takes more than being successful to start an entertainment company. We cannot waste our resources on something that is not going to give us any profits” another one of them said and Zane finally placed his hands on the table as he chuckled and glanced at the shareholders.
“Do you all agree with Director Sebas, Director Miles and Director Ahtwell?” Zane asked as the shareholders started nodding one after the other.
“Well if that is the case well I don’t think there’s any need to worry. Your concerns aren’t actually concerns at all. Now let me ask you a question Director Sebas. When I wanted to start a fashion apparel company, you also were the first to say no. You also claimed I knew nothing about it. I heard you even tried to gather together some of the shareholders to remove me as the CEO” Zane started as Director Ahtwell who was the first director to speak face paled in fright.
“But now, Wilson Apparel is one of the most popular apparel and clothing materials not just in New York in the whole world. Millions of people come from all over the world to purchase it” Zane said as he shrugged.
“Director Miles, still coming over to you but now to Director Sebas, you think that I am doing this for fun? Fun? Of course I know it takes more than being successful to start an entertainment company and don’t you know who I am. I am Zane Wilson, the youngest CEO in the world. Do you think it took me just been successful to acquire that title?”.
