Booking Glory-Chapter 81: A Call For Help

Meanwhile, At Mr. Gibson’s Office...

Mr. Gibson frowned looking at Rob’s retreating form through the door. As much as he wanted to believe Rob, something deep within him that had turned cynical after being in the industry for a long time refused to do so.

He knew that Rob was really a genius. He had turned around the women’s division which was actually a dead weight to the company into a profit-making one. He had done it within just a few months. Not many people were capable of accomplishing such a thing.

After all, the LWC women’s division didn’t have much popularity with the masses. It didn’t have any notable stars, even Diana had been only average in terms of pulling power before Rob took charge.

With no stars to prop it up, the division was merely existing to showcase variety, if he was being honest with himself. That was the reason the number of female wrestlers under contract was pitifully low in LWC. LWC wasn’t getting anything substantial out of the division.

But, Rob had changed it within two to three months of taking charge. Now, the women’s division was red hot and there were a lot of fans who were eager to see them. Whether it be Diana’s increased popularity or Dacey, Evelyn, and Selena’s emergence into the radar, everything was planned by Rob.

That was the reason he refused to believe Rob. After all, who wouldn’t want such a starmaker in their company? Especially, if they were going head-to-head with a behemoth like AWF. Then, it was even more important to rope in someone like Rob who not only had a lot of potential, but was also young to boot.

He had always known that Steven had a good opinion of Rob. The people who Steven personally recommended to others were really few in number. And every one of them had gone on to create an impact in this industry. That was the level of vision Steven had.

The reason he had given Rob the chance to book the women’s division was also because of that. And Rob had proved his worth within a few months by turning a useless division into a profit-making one. That was how scary Steven’s vision in the industry was.

Was he supposed to believe that Steven, who has such a scary vision, wouldn’t invite someone like Rob who is full of potential? Was he supposed to believe that Steven, who endorsed Rob in the first place, would not look to rope him in for this new venture?

It was ridiculous.

If he thought in that manner, he should hang up his boots and leave the industry for good. While he may not be politically savvy, it didn’t mean that he doesn’t know how these things worked. Politics was always an inherent part of this business. Where there is power, there will always be a struggle as well.

He had seen several wrestlers in his career who always said that they wouldn’t jump ship from the promotion and would suddenly change their mind and leave for better promotion. It was a pretty common thing in this industry.

He didn’t begrudge Rob if he was going to move away to better opportunities. How could he? Even he had done it several times in his career. It was human nature to do that.

Was he a little disappointed? Sure. Was he a little angry? Obviously. But, that didn’t mean he would harbor ill feelings for a promising young man moving up the ladder. It was just the way the business worked. He would grumble a little, rage a bit, throw a tantrum, call names and stuff, but in the end, he would understand why they did it.

Especially, if they were starting out in their career like Rob. People who were just starting out always yearned to move up the ladder fast. Only with experience and wisdom would they realize that moving up too fast might not be the best solution for them.

If that were the case, he would advise Rob sincerely and tell him to hone his craft here for a bit more before moving away from his promotion. He knew that every talented person yearned to be at the top, competing with the best in the world out there. He also knew that LWC could never become a platform like that and it was never meant to be that way as well. So, he wouldn’t be offended if that was the case.

But, Rob’s actions were as if he was taking him for a fool.

If Rob had straight out come out and agreed to the fact that he had received an offer, he would have been angered a bit but would have appreciated the honesty. However, he didn’t expect Rob to be such a duplicitous human being. He had a good opinion of him before this.

Now, he had to be careful about his approach in regard to him. Until now, he had given way too much power for an untested rookie like Rob. He hadn’t paid much attention to the women’s division after giving control to Rob.

Looks like it was time to rectify that.

If Rob suddenly left one day, then the division would obviously be in chaos with no one knowing what the overall plan was. It would be a disaster. So, it is better to keep an eye on things from now on.

He also knew that sometimes talks between people and promotions fell through at the last minute due to some differences. But, stuff like that rarely happened when someone was moving up the ladder.

If Rob didn’t leave, then keeping an extra eye on his actions wouldn’t impact much. But, if Rob did leave, then his actions might just save a lot of chaos. Likewise, he should also not give Rob any more power from now on. It would be better to maintain the status quo until things settled down a bit.

*****

"Rob, is it true that you are moving out of LWC?"

Dacey asked sharply when they met up for coffee after work. Rob and Dacey had made it a habit to get off work and meet up for coffee in their ongoing effort to get to know each other for the past week. And this was the first question he was greeted with when he met up with Dacey today.

Rob felt like banging his head on the table in front of him. It was not just Dacey that was asking him this today. A lot of people, with whom he was on good terms, asked the same question throughout the day.

And Rob couldn’t fault them either. It was natural to think so. The article made it sound like he was in active talks with Steven and Mr.Wagner. So, it was only natural for people to think that it was true. It had also given birth to a lot of rumors in LWC.

Everyone was trying to dig a bit to see if there was any truth to the rumors. Some even went as far as to ask him to recommend them as well. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to work for a top promotion that is poised to go head-to-head with AWF?

So, it had been a tiring day for Rob.

"No, I am not going anywhere," Rob let out a sigh taking a seat opposite Dacey. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I met up with Steven out of respect. He was the one who introduced me to Mr. Gibson. He invited me for a drink yesterday. Didn’t I tell you this while canceling our meeting yesterday?"

"Yeah, but I didn’t know what you were really doing there, right? All I know was that you ditched me to meet up with Steven yesterday. And today I am reading that you are in talks with him to jump to a new promotion," Dacey groused looking at him suspiciously.

"Look, Dacey," Rob said a little exhaustedly. "I am going to tell you this only once. I am not going to repeat myself. As of now, I have no plans to move away from LWC. Got it?"

Dacey looked at him a little suspiciously. It was as if she was scrutinizing him for any falsehood in his statement. After a few moments, she nodded reluctantly and looked away.

To Rob, it didn’t feel like that Dacey completely believed him. As much as he wanted to make her understand that he wasn’t shifting company or hiding anything from her, he just wasn’t in the mood to do it.

His day prior to this had been bad. Rob was truly fed up with reassuring people that he wasn’t moving out of LWC and he didn’t want to do the same after work as well. So, he left it at that.

"So, do you have any plans for tomorrow?" Rob asked Dacey trying to shift the conversation away from that topic.

"Not much, I was planning to go and watch a movie with you, that is if you are free," Dacey said looking at Rob.

"My day is entirely free," Rob smiled back softly.

A movie date with Dacey sounded like the perfect thing to do to take his mind off this mess he had landed himself in. Usually, he dropped by Top Slam or came to LWC to catch up on some work, despite it being a Sunday.

But, with things as they are, he wasn’t feeling like doing any of those things. Even if he dropped by Top Slam, he would be roped into a conversation regarding his rumored departure from LWC. Rob wasn’t in the mood to do that.

He wanted to forget everything about wrestling for a day and relax. A movie date with Dacey sounded like the ideal way to do that to him. Rob relaxed a bit as he looked forward to getting some downtime over the weekend.

"Are you picking me up? Or should we meet somewhere?" Dacey asked a little enthusiastically.

"You know what, I have been meaning to get me some wheels for some time now. I think I will go pick up a car and then come by your place," Rob said thinking a bit.

His investment in IndiSoft had not gone as well as he imagined. While there were definitely some improvements in the stock price, it wasn’t anything significant yet. It had dampened his interest in buying their stocks anymore.

There was certainly some market for the UI-OS. But, without auxiliary programs like word and excel in it, the UI-OS was currently being looked at like a very expensive calculator by the masses. And until they came out with some significant auxiliary programs, it would be hard for UI-OS to take off as Windows did.

Just because they stumbled upon the idea of creating a graphic operating system, it didn’t mean that IndiSoft will follow Microsoft’s development trajectory in this world. So, Rob decided to wait and see how things panned out before investing more.

Meanwhile, he had decided to buy some essentials for his use like a car. Now that he wasn’t broke any longer, it was time that he upgraded his lifestyle a bit. While it wasn’t possible for him to buy a sports car or something new, he can get a second-hand car and drive around in it.

"Oh, have you decided what you want to buy?" Dacey asked eagerly.

"Not a clue, I am going to drop by a car shop and ask the person there to guide me a bit. Moreover, my budget isn’t big either. So, I guess the options I can go for is limited as well," Rob said shaking his head.

"How about you come to pick me up before going to the car shop?" Dacey suggested eagerly. "I can help you pick one out."

"Do you know about cars?" Rob asked surprised.

"My father owned a garage. I grew up around car parts," Dacey snorted.

"Huh, I didn’t know that. Sure, why not?" Rob agreed easily.

"Great, then we can make a day out of that. We can get you your wheels, go for a movie, and hang out later," Dacey said simply plotting out an outline for the next day.

"Hmmm, that sounds nice to me," Rob said smiling back. "Do you have a movie you wanna watch?"

"No, you pick this time," Dacey said shaking her head. "Choose something you would like. I can tell that you didn’t enjoy our last movie date."

Rob shuddered inwardly as he remembered that terrible experience. That was the first time in his two lives that an action movie had turned into a horror film. He wasn’t keen on experiencing such a thing again.

He desperately wished that Netflix became a thing soon in this world. That way he could just relax on his couch and watch whatever the heck he wanted.

Rob nodded to Dacey gratefully. Dacey chuckled seeing his face. Seeing her laugh at him happily lightened Rob’s mood a bit. Hearing her laughter was soothing to Rob as he let go of all the worries that have been plaguing him. He decided to not waste his time with Dacey by thinking about them and concentrating on enjoying her company more.

The waitress came with their coffee. Rob thanked her for her service and sent her away with a smile. Pretty soon, Dacey and Rob were talking about some dumb things that they did while growing up. Rob’s memory of this was sketchy, but he was able to scrap through a few things from his past life and made it look like it happened in this world.

Just as they exited the coffee shop, Rob’s phone rang. Rob looked at the number and frowned a bit. The call was from Lawyer Walker. He knew that Lawyer Walker wouldn’t call him unless it was important. But, he had just decided to put everything away while he was with Dacey. So, Rob wasn’t sure whether he should take the call now or call back later.

Seeing Rob frown at the number, Dacey gestured to him that she was fine with him taking the call. Rob nodded gratefully and picked up the call.

"Hey Rob, I didn’t disturb you right?" Lawyer Walker sounded a bit hesitant.

"It’s alright Mr. Walker. Can I know what this is about?" Rob cut straight to the chase intending to keep the conversation short.

"Well... how do I put it?" Lawyer Walker hedged a bit before asking him a question, "when was the last time you saw or spoke to Brent?"

Rob was confused. It was true that he hadn’t spoken to Brent ever since their disagreement after the IndiSoft product launch. But, he didn’t know why Lawyer Walker was asking about it.

"We haven’t spoken since our little... how do I say this... since our disagreement," Rob admitted. "I figured he needed some time to calm down."

"Oh," Lawyer Walker sounded a bit deflated.

"Is there something wrong?" Rob asked a little concerned.

"Well, Brent is not in a good place. I would be immensely grateful to you if you dropped by to check up on him. I think he needs a friend, right now," Lawyer Walker said in a subdued voice.

"Oh," Rob didn’t know how to reply.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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You can also check out my other book [Demon Immortal] and see if it is to your liking.

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