I Made that Choice

By Andrew Travis

Michael is the type of guy who has been living through the same routine ever since he got a job, until one day things begin to change; a new employee is hired to work for the company and Michael falls head over heels for this new stranger. However this new employee does not really seem to care who Michael is because although he finds Michael to be attractive, he is only here to work.

Michael pursues Mr. Unknown and thinks that this might actually work out for him. But things lead in a different direction as this new unknown employee has plans of his own when he meets Michael’s ex. We then see how all three characters play a love game to see who will end up on top and who will end up alone.

This is seen when all three characters coincidentally bump into eachother here and there as Michael tries to start a relationship with his ex-boyfriend. Will Michael have happy ending? Or will this new man succeed in his own plans instead?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrew Travis
• Release date: Feb 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005918729

Book preview

I made that choice

Andrew Travis

Copyright © 2021 Andrew Travis

First edition 2021

Published by Andrew Travis publishing at Smashwords

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

ISBN 978-1-928497-02-8

Published by Andrew Travis using Reach Publishers’ services,

Edited by Susan Hall for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

Unexpected

What Happened?

Ex-boyfriend

Secrets About Eric

An Unusual Encounter

New Beginnings

Finding Eric

The Truth Revealed

Uncovered Secrets

Unknown Intentions

A Week Away

A Hotel Surprise

Let’s Party

Discovering the Truth

Finding Michael

Truth Revealed

Post-mortems

Finding Michael

I Made That Choice

ONE

Unexpected

It was neither the worst nor the best of times in New York. Michael’s life had seemed to be standing still for years. Get up, get dressed, go to work, go home, have dinner, watch TV and then sleep. Nothing in his life seemed to be going forward or changing. Michael had now heard that the business he worked for was going to gain a new employee who had excellent qualifications in marketing and accountancy. But how would that make life any better or any worse for him or anyone else? The company might gain more money because of this new guy’s skills or less because he had to get paid more.

Finally, the day had arrived when the new guy had to make his first appearance in the business and start working for the production company’s accounts department.

Apparently, people said, his office would be next to Michael’s office as he was going to help Michael with all the debts that the business had to pay because most of the time there was so much paperwork that had to be checked and dealt with. Michael thought the new guy might need help as he was told that this was the first time the new guy had worked for such a big international business, so maybe Michael could pull a few smooth moves on him as they worked together because he would be considered as a new guy who lacked work experience at an international level. He obviously had to report to Michael as Michael was in charge of all the company’s accounts, finances and debts.

Good luck with the new PA, Michael, Paul said to Michael as he walked past Michael and through the big and tall doors of Star Screen Productions. Oh, and I hear that Stanley might be giving you a promotion today, Paul shouted as he walked ahead of Michael.

Michael glanced at Paul who had just walked past him. Doing what?! he shouted back in a rather shrill voice, but Paul did not hear him as he had already entered the lifts and was ascending to his office.

How does Paul find out such things before me as we don’t even work in the same department of the business? Michael thought to himself. Now Michael had something to think about as he walked towards the elevator doors so that he could also ascend to the second floor.

When Michael got to his office, he found Stanley Nielson, his boss, sitting in the chair behind the desk where Michael usually sat. When Michael walked in, his boss lifted his head to look up and examine him.

Morning, Michael, your new office is now on the first floor, second door to the right, where my office used to be because as of today I am promoting you, Stanley announced happily.

What am I being promoted to and why am I only being told about this now? Michael asked in a curious and thoughtful manner.

Well, I have decided to move on with my life to other ambitions and that is why I am going to leave this business in your competent hands as the new chief executive officer or CEO, chief operating officer or COO, head producer and head editor, Stanley said, walking up to Michael and then walking past him to lead the way to his new office.

But what happened to Dylan, as the job was meant to go to him after you left? Michael asked, confused. Michael had always known that being a qualified producer of film and media and having an accounting degree as well as both a TV and film-production degree and a production-design degree would open doors for him, but he had not expected such a rapid change as he had only been working in the company’s accounts department for three-and-a-half years.

Stanley opened his mouth and said, He quit yesterday and it was just as the day ended that he told me this. He wants to spend more time with his family and he wants to start working for a family business.

Stanley walked to his briefcase, which was leaning against Michael’s new desk, picked it up and walked past Michael, who was standing in the doorway. Looking over his shoulder at Michael, he said, Good luck. Then he walked past him and disappeared down the corridor.

Once it was just Michael standing there by himself, he stood there in the doorway quite overwhelmed. He knew that Stanley’s family was worth a lot of money, so this was probably why he was retiring, as his family owned a gold mine somewhere in Africa. He knew that Stanley had been thinking of leaving the business, but he had expected it would happen only within the next three to five years.

Now Michael had just realised that the new guy would be in the office next to this office. Michael went to sit behind his desk and only observed now how well furnished, neat and tidy his office looked. Stanley had liked to have his office looking very prim and proper when he was working there, and it would now be his well-furnished office.

Jade, Stanley’s assistant, walked into Michael’s office. She had also been promoted and she would now be in charge of all the administrative work. She greeted Michael, saying, Good morning, Michael, I have two movies and five television series that need your approval as they are some of the new productions that need your permission before the producers can start working on them.

He was surprised that Jade knew about his promotion but she then told him she had already been told about it late the previous day when Stanley had made his decision. From what Jade had said, Michael was just beginning to realise that he had the power to mould and shape a percentage of the entertainment that was being shown worldwide.

Thank you, Jade. Please notify all those producers that from now on they will have to book a meeting with me to discuss such matters rather than walking into my office unannounced, Michael said. Tell me when they are ready to pitch their screen ideas to me, and then I will approve whether they can take their cast and crew forward to investors, he added and then waited to see what Jade’s reaction and response would be.

I will notify them immediately, Michael, Jade said in a cold manner. She seemed a bit annoyed and Michael sensed this was because he had got the job rather than Brent. Everybody knew Brent would have just kept everything the same and would not have bothered to change anything. Brent was not the type of guy to form his own path and allow himself to stand out; he always seemed to want to live in the shadow of another person as he liked living a life that was safe and was not keen on taking risks.

Jade wrote down a few notes in her diary and then exited Michael’s office, while he turned on his laptop after he had unzipped his briefcase, taken out the laptop and placed it on his desk. Now was the time for him to run this business his way and change things in the way that he thought would be the most appropriate for the entertainment industry.

He told Jade that he would like her to be in charge of all his appointments and that she would be running errands for him as she had run errands for Stanley but would now not be in charge of any of his personal accounts as she had been for Stanley when Stanley was her boss. When Stanley had run the business, Jade had been his second assistant until the business did away with a second assistant job. Michael only wanted one assistant. The man who was the first assistant had unfortunately lost his job a week ago so there would be no competition between the two jobs, although both jobs had different responsibilities. Even though Michael had only been promoted on this day, Stanley knew that Michael would only want one assistant when he took over the business, as Stanley had often asked him how he would run a business. So, before he left, Stanley had decided to get rid of the second assistant job just to make Michael’s life easier. Even though Stanley had only left the business today, he had already thought of leaving it in Michael’s good hands. He had considered Brent but while Brent was a good employee, he did not work well under pressure, and being the head of this business, or any business, came with a lot of pressure. Michael’s accounts would be managed by himself, as he liked knowing what came into and went out of his accounts.

Michael’s first day in his new job went quite slowly as he first went through all the cupboards where Stanley had kept all his production files, and then he re-arranged all the furniture in the room with Jade’s help (the desk, cupboards and the one-seater couches) so that it would suit the way he felt the room should look. Michael had always felt this office needed new furniture and an interior designer’s touch as, while the room did look nice, it needed to have a more up-to-date and modern look. He started sketching ideas of what he wanted the office to look like in the end because of the spare time he had gained this morning.

He had gained spare time because he had been planning to deal with the company’s costumes department’s accounts but as he had been promoted that work would now be the responsibility of the new guy. Stanley had given him only an hour to move all his stuff in and start doing things the way he thought would be adequate for the business as well as for himself. But Michael did not struggle at all, as one hour was more than enough time for him to start working and getting things done the way he wanted them to be done. Michael had been doing production design for quite a few years in his life, so he was more than sure that he knew how to give his office the look and feel he wanted it to have.

There was not a lot for him to do on his first day of work (as the new head of the company) because most of the work had been done by Stanley. All the producers he would have to talk to had to get their casts and crews together so that they could inform them about how Michael had taken over the business and that there would be a few changes in the way they would have to work now. Michael would only be able to talk with them the next day or sometime during the week.

His workday had slowly been coming to an end. Michael finished work at five o’clock and realised that he had not even met the new guy who had taken his old job. Clearly Stanley had been planning to promote him for some time now, as he had heard about this new guy about one month back. Even though Dylan had quit, he and Stanley had never really gotten along and Stanley had actually planned to fire him just before he quit. Dylan’s decision to pursue other ambitions had made things easier for Stanley.

Michael was about to get up from his chair and pack his briefcase to leave the office after the day’s work, when he heard a knock at the door and looked up from his laptop, which was shutting down. He then gazed up at a man of about 5.9 foot tall, who looked extremely attractive. He looked as if he had been moulded by angels, with deep green eyes, long thick black hair and flawless fair skin. Michael just sat there and admired the way this guy looked as he also had a lean build but was not buff – just muscular and built.

Um, hi, I’m Eric, the guy said as he looked at Michael with a blank expression. There was a seven second silence between him and Michael after he had announced who he was. Michael then gained focus and noticed where he was after he had admired Eric for those blissful few seconds.

Oh, oh, um, hi, I’m Michael Williams, pleased to meet you and I assume that you are the new man who has taken the job as our head of accounts, Michael said as he started engaging in conversation with him.

Yes, that’s me, Eric said as a small smile appeared on his face, although he looked a bit confused as if he thought the head of this business would know who he was.

I’m the new CEO, COO and head editor and producer of this company," Michael said, feeling very proud of himself and wondering why Eric had only come to introduce himself now. Maybe he had been a bit nervous or shy about meeting Michael as he was the head of the business. From Eric’s side, he now realised that Michael did not know him because of all of these rapid changes in the business.

Michael then thought he should have gone to meet Eric as he would now gain a lot of responsibility being the head of the business and therefore should have gone to meet his