Just as Zula feared, they came out of the bedroom late. The chairs and tables already arrived, and the two of them had late breakfast without the time to sit and eat. But Ron and Zula have no regrets. Their first half of the morning was well spent.
They finished the final fitting of their outfits for the event, when Sarah and Aiden landed with a silent helicopter. Ade, Hande, Jamari, Imani, Tejan, and Rosa arrived with them.
Kitty, Vega, Atlas, Hero, Bella, and Luna hopped out of the helicopter and walked behind their parents in a straight line, panthers behind their mommy (aka Sarah) and dogs behind their daddy (aka Aiden).
"Hey, I thought we agreed on no presents…" Ron complained when he saw that they are carrying neatly packed boxes.
"You said that, we didn't agree." Tejan responded and pushed a box in Ron's hand. "Happy birthday. We came to eat and then we will help you set up this place."
"Happy birthday from us!" Jamari and Imani said in unison, and Jamari put a large box on top of the one from Tejan.
Ron smiled and gave two boxes to a maid who was nearby.
"Lunch will be in about half an hour." Zula informed the newcomers.
"Perfect. By then, the others will arrive. They are about ten minutes behind us." Ade said and put the box on top of the ones which were in the maid's hands.
Ade and Hande wished Ron a happy birthday and then it was Sarah's turn...
"Happy birthday, Ron…" Sarah almost-sang while spreading her arms for a hug. She gave Ron three smacking kisses on cheeks and then she pulled his ears up.
"Is that necessary?" Ron whined.
Sarah nodded and gave the same answer as when any of her kids complain about the ear-pulling ritual. "I was raised to believe that for a birthday, your ears need to be pulled up so that you grow tall and straight."
"I am tall enough." Ron grumbled.
She didn't need to pull that hard, it made him go up on his toes!
Sarah laughed. "You are a man. You can never be too tall."
Ron looked at Aiden, expecting help, but he looked at the wrong man.
"What my wife said… Happy birthday!" Aiden said with a straight face while pulling Ron's ears up.
Ron was about to complain, but Aiden hooked his arm around Ron's neck and tugged him toward the helicopter. "Come here to get your present from us…"
Aiden moved his fingers in the air and then he gestured toward the helicopter. "Happy birthday."
Ron looked at the aircraft and then at Sarah and Aiden. "For me?"
Sarah smiled and hugged Aiden around his waist. "As a director at the White corp. you will mostly work from Los Angeles, but since the heart of your production is here, you will need to travel occasionally, and we can't allow our kids to travel without a class. With this bird, you need about two hours for one way trip. Aiden set it up so that from now onward, only you can fly it. Of course, you can add more pilots, at your discretion."
Ron's eyes widened and he observed the helicopter carefully. "This is the latest model. Are you sure?"
Zula pinched Ron's arm, and reminded him: "You should say 'thank you'."
Ron exhaled. "Thank you. Since when are you planning for this? Is this the reason you insisted that I add an underground garage with helicopter landings to this property? And you even paid for those upgrades…"
Aiden lifted his hand, indicating to Ron to stop talking. "We are a family. Don't get hung up on details… we didn't do any of this so that you count how much it costs. We are doing what we believe will be useful."
Ron nodded in defeat while warm and fuzzy emotions filled his chest. "Thank you. I would not be standing where I am today if the two of you didn't guide me for the last three years. I hope that you know how everything I have is yours to use, anytime."
Sarah pinched Ron's cheeks. "Look at you, talking like a grownup man…"
Ron could not believe that Sarah first pulled his ears and now is pinching his cheeks. At this rate, not much of him will be left by the end of the day.
Ron was happy to see three more helicopters approaching. Everyone from the Cliffside Villa arrived in time for lunch.
The event starts officially at 4 PM, and the whole town was overwhelmed by the number of luxury cars that drove down the streets while making their way to the party.
Many business partners of Heinelurgy and White corp. will be in attendance, and most of them came through Springfield's airport and drove to the Heine family villa.
Mr. Heine (Ron's father) arrived about twenty minutes before the event started. He gave his car key to one of the valets present before glancing at the villa with a gaze full of emotions. This was his home for more than four decades and now he is coming as a guest. He got an invitation to attend the event as a company employee, with information that the new director will be appointed who will be in charge of Heinelurgy going forward. Mr. Heine wondered if the new director is also the owner of this villa. He never found out the name of the person who purchased it.
When he lost his partners, Mr. Heine was forced to let go of his company, and he was happy that White corp. took it under its wing with a verbal promise that there will be no layoffs and that the deal included that Mr. Heine can keep working within the company.
Unfortunately, Mr. Heine had to sign off all of his shares and he was demoted from the CEO to a manager of the production in the factory. He lost his company and was reduced to manager's salary and with that, he was unable to afford ownership of the Heine family villa. How can he cover the expenses of the maintenance and staff? However, he still chose to stick to it while he could. Mr. Heine grew up in that villa, and he could not make himself part from it. But eventually, his savings were depleted, and he had to put the villa on sale.
Since then, Mr. Heine rents an apartment in Springfield and he drives to the factory daily in order to do his work as a manager of the production.
In the last two and a half years, Mr. Heine saw Ron with several executives from White corp. when they visited the factory, usually once a month. However, other than production-related updates, Mr. Heine didn't get a chance to talk to Ron. He wondered if Ron will be present at this event.
When Mr. Heine put the villa for sale, Jeff asked Ron if he wants it, but Ron refused. Other than the memories of his mother, he has nothing good tying him to that place, and he didn't have enough money to buy it, anyway. The villa was sold to the mystery buyer.
The identity of the mystery buyer was revealed on Ron's previous birthday when Jasper and Ellie showed up with the deed for the Heine family villa.
"This is our present for your twentieth birthday. As an advance present for twenty-first, we will cover all the expenses related to the villa for the next year…" Jasper said to Ron who stared at him without blinking.
Ron said that it's too much and that he can't accept it, but Jasper didn't want to hear about it. "You are the kid of my best man (aka Aiden), and my wife's maid of honor (aka Sarah), and I am the best man to your mentor (aka Jeff). Don't say that this is too much…"
Shortly after Ron accepted the villa as his, Felix made a trip with Nico and Beck and the three of them set it up with the latest security.
Ron wanted to invite everyone to his new place, but there was not enough room to accommodate a sleepover. Aiden and Sarah suggested to Ron that he lets them look into it, to what Ron said that they can do whatever they want with the place.
That is how Ron ended up with a second villa at the back of the property that has two levels above and three levels under the ground. They also added an expansion to the current villa which includes more bedrooms, a gym, and a massive basement, and there is underground parking that can accommodate two helicopters, ten vehicles and it has storage.
Renovations done under Sarah's and Aiden's guidance can't go without extensive underground facilities.
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