Jackie Imperial was thoroughly sick of coffee. Not drinking it, he'd stopped that habit a few years back to better take care of his health once he'd passed his seventieth birthday.

Even drinking decaff had made his heart pound in his chest, and on the advice of his health providers, the board of Directors and those few people who were actually close time he'd stopped.

He considered it was a funny fact that the CEO of one of the most popular coffee companies on the entire planet no longer touched the stuff and stuck to mineral and vitamin infused water.

He presently stood within his personal office, a large wall mounted mirror and walk-in wardrobe in front of him and a large variety of differing styles and fashions discarded on the floor or thrown strewn about.

He'd asked his personal secretary Daphne to order him whatever the younger generation in their fifties wore these days.

I should have asked for formal wear. Not this..whatever this is meant to be. Who wears this stuff? Wild animal-men?

He'd picked up an orange t-shirt with tiger stripes made from faux leather and a furry collar attachment and promptly shaken his head and tossed it into a growing pile of similar style t-shirts.

Facing the mirror was a man with tanned skin, bright blue eyes and short grey cropped hair wearing a pair of baggy skinny jeans and a thin muscular chest.

‘Look at you old man, who’d have thought that you’d end up loving coffee so much that you reached this point.’ said Jackie.

On his home world of Terrus, he’d managed to turn simple coffee beans from a crunchy sour snack into a vast array of drinks and foodstuffs. They’d passed laws restricting the consumption of it to certain ages and the amount of caffeine contained in the products but it had ultimately become the most popular drink of choice on the entire planet.

At the very least, it took people’s mind off the situation going on with the oceans of the planet. There had been a press briefing by an attractive young scientist turned entrepreneur with her business-minded husband barely out of her twenties who had found a solution which was going to be directly marketed to major business and private enterprise.

Jackie chose that moment to stare at himself a little more. If he had any weaknesses, his would be his own vanity. He liked to look good, both physically and in how he dressed and groomed himself.

‘Those treatments to fully remove facial hair worked a treat. Worth the pain for a lifetime of no longer having to shave. Wearing that mustache which kept drooping into my coffee cup wasn’t worth it just to try and look good.’ said Jackie as he held up another animal themed t-shirt, this one had thicker grey markings and felt rough to his fingers as he threw it aside.

There was a reason that formal business wear had remained largely unchanged over the fifty years he had been working in the coffee bean and production industry. The style simply worked.

After taking off the baggy skinny jeans, all Jackie saw in the mirror was an old man who was work out, physically, mentally and emotionally he’d given as much as he could. Not only to the business but to those he’d worked with and supported.

He had a strong reputation for valuing innate talent and loyalty above all else and it’d paid off. Time for him to retire from the world of coffee and hand over the reigns to the younger generation. ‘

‘If that female scientist was so clever with her technology and solution to fixing the oceans of the planet, perhaps she can invent better tasting coffee without all the side effects that we’ve come to love and be addicted to. What was her name again...Cassie? No. I’m getting old.’ said Jackie as he grabbed one of many mobile phones, let it access his DNA recognition and opened it to scroll down the latest business news.

Decades of practice had taught him to find specific details. From what he could tell, the young woman and her matching youthful husband Liam stood to become incredibly wealthy and influencial people on Terrus.

If he’d wanted he could have even met them in person if he wanted. The man who turned coffee into the most popular consumer product on the planet meeting the woman who turned the tide on the oceans as it was.

Too old. Too old to have thoughts of that.

In truth, he’d grown tired of the lack of competion and the sheer lack of challengers. His Empire had grown since he had been a pre-teen picking ripened cherries on his family homestead back in his home country.

From packaging to experimentation, to serving drinks, working as a barissta, managing coffee houses to running an international company he’d done it all.

Still standing there he received an alert on the phone he was casually holding as he gazed into the mirror. Checking the message he saw a message from Daphne, many messages, missed phone calls and even voicemail which all reminded him of the final briefing and meeting with the board of directors who wanted to discuss his final farewell payment packaage and dissolution of his shares and ownership in the company.

Let the next generation have their turn.

Jackie still held hopes and dreams but they were so wild that he doubted they would come true. Building up a series of coffee chains on the various space stations around the orbit of Terrus, working out how to grow the same taste and breed of coffee on exo-planets or even discover some ancient and long extinct breed of coffee plants were a few on his bucket list but none of them were realistic.

Continuing to look at himself in the mirror, he knew that could pass for a younger man if it wasn’t his near total lack of energy. By this point in his life, spending his time in a swimming pool, or even the oceans if he decided to purchase his own stakes in them with the retirement package was a more viable option.

Sighing to himself, Jackie turned his attention to the various racks, draws and shelves which held his usual custom-made and designed business wear and after selected his standard black briefs and socks he began to dress himself in the same style formal suit, tie and polished shoes he’d worn for the last fifty years since he’d entered the corporate world of coffee.

Old, cold and tired.

Except he wasn’t cold or tired, just bored. Tired of coffee and everything to do with it.

Giving himself a once over in the mirror he decided to lose the tie and allowed himself to enjoy a little bit of freedom in his last few hours within his soon to be former corporate headquarters.

He grabbed the phone which was ringing in his hand and answered it.

‘Daphne. I know you’re outside, I need to change myself after that final farewell party. Yes, yes, the food fight was all my idea. No. The board won’t care about it. Just pay the cleaners extra and give them a warm drink from my private stash. No, the actual aged beans, the ones that were soaked for a decade. What? No, I’m coming out right this second.’ said Jackie as he pulled open the walk-in wardrobe door to see a women with green eyes, brown hair and matching business attire holding a red briefcase with both hands which trembled slightly.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Her appearance was rather bland in his eyes, mid-fifties at most, brunette with a build that was kept slim and eyes full of a frantic energy.

Quite the talent. She fully deserves everything she’s got coming to her. I’ll make sure that she gets it full on.

The old eyes of Jackie still held the strength of his leadership position which had worked for decades to earn and further decades to keep.

She spoke to him when he’d stared at her for half a minute without speaking.

‘Excuse me? Mr Imperial?’ said the woman.

‘Mmm?’ said Jackie.

I am getting old at least. There was a time when every single employee would wait for me to talk before talking. Poor thing. She probably thinks I’m in a bad mood after taking so long to get changed. I likely fit the powerful old man vibe inside her mind.

‘Sir, you’re expected to be in front of the board of directors within fifteen minutes. You did ask me to remind you firmly. I mean, I tried to call but you just didn’t pick up or respond and...well..please don’t fire me.’ said the woman as she shrank back a little.

Jackie was upset. Not at the fact that he assumed that he would even consider firing her, he did develop another reputation of a lack of tolerance for those who weren’t willing to either listen or work with him but he didn’t want the poor woman feeling scared like this.

‘Daphne. I’m sorry for taking so long. I didn’t realise how old that I became. Forget it, that’s an entirely personal matter. You know what you were doing?’ said Jackie as he made his face stern.

‘Mr Imperial? No, I..it’s your last day and I wanted to pass you something as thanks. I mean it’s not a lot but you always said red was your favourite colour after fresh coffee berries and I..I mean I got you this.’ said Daphne as she held up up the briefcase with two slightly trembling hands.

Jackie wasn’t exactly a people person. He liked people, loved having relationships close to family with those he trusted but he’d never been physically attracted to anyone. Not for any gender. Although, it had made for a decent number of funny times when his competitors in business had tried various blackmail events and honeytraps. All those young men, women and in-between had found themselves politely send back.

This time Jackie thought that he’d upset the poor woman enough. Forgetting the situation and pushing down his own sense of physical repulsion he took a step forward, calmly took the briefcase from her hands and let it fall before he gave her a deep hug, using a little of his strength.

Daphne was surprised as first before she returned the hug in turn and then stepped back as Jackie loosely released his arms before gently bending his knees and picking up the briefcase with one hand.

‘My dear.I’m not a monster. I’ve already arrived your full retirement package including golden parachute and added in six months paid holiday. Daphne. Trulty I respect hard work and you’ve certainly worked hard for the last decade alone. At least. You can’t be fired if you get to retire with a generous severance package. This briefcase? This gesture means the world to me. Oh, by the way, feel free to report me to Human Resources before you leave for physical harrassment if you prefer. I won’t hold it against you. Even the rich and powerful should be held accountable. You just looked to me like you needed it. No hard feelings?’ said Jackie as he gave his brighest smile, straightened his posture upright and holding the briefcase with one hand at his side held out the other in an open handshake gesture.

The women held the folder that she had been holding slightly closer to her chest. Not quite sure how to respond to his words.

Jackie hesitated before he waved a hand in front of her eyes and spoke again.

‘Daphne. Earth to Daphne. You’re guaranteed to retire a rich woman. Now, take the rest of the day off and leave this job and this old man alone. I can surely deal with a few board members without my hand being held. I’ve lasted this long. Go.’

Jackie tried not to make the last word he spoke seem like a command but there was still a strong trace of the CEO that he’d been for the last fifteen years. His old habits were going to be pretty hard to shake he soon realised, even if he was planning to become another rich old man who wanted to leave the industry to go back to his original roots back on his old family farm.

His parents had long since passed but he’d hired a managed decades ago to make sure the old place kept turning a profit and was sufficiently taken care of.

‘Go. And thanks for putting up with me for so many years. All the other PA’s get a similar deal. I’ve arranged it all according to company policy. Tomorrow I’ll be just another ordinary person.’

‘…Mr Imperial. No, Sir, you’ll never be an ordinary person in our eyes. You’re a legend in the coffee world.’

Jackie inwardly sighed. Building up an image took a lifetime so it was only to be expected that his staff would still treat him with his stupid last name. He had no real clue about why his parents had saddled him with their last name of Imperial aside from some forgotten tale about one of his ancestors had been an Emperor once.

‘Please don’t call me Mr Imperial. I’m going to get enough of that at the board meeting and my farewell speech later today. At this rate I’ll die of stress before I can finally retire. And Daphne, on a more serious note do you consider my actions reportable to Human Resources? You may not be aware but I prefer not to be touched myself. The money is due to your hard work, not a bribe or a means to keep you quiet. Even in the last few hours I’m in charge here we’re going to stick to it by the book.’ said Jackie as he folded his arms with the red busines briefcase dangling from his fingers

One of his many faults Jackie knew, when was he should keep his mouth shut and be aware of the situation. He was half-joking, half-serious when he said it but as soon as the words came out of his mouth the face on his personal assistant Daphne turned white.

‘Sir? You should never say that. Never! You’re going to live for a good long time yet! After everything that you’ve done for this company you-you….Sir? Can I be honest with you?’

Holding a manicured and tanned hand that become wrinkled with age despite the use of daily moisturer, Jackie let out the breath that he had been holding in.

‘Sure, I do appreciate the gift though. Personally, I’d report myself but I’m getting a little bit tired now and the board of directors always like to take their time. I need to save my energy for those gentlemen and ladies to question me sufficiently.’ said Jackie.

Daphne put her both of her fidgeting hands behind her back and stood as though to attention as she fixed her green eyes on Jackie’s blue ones.

‘You’ve always been an inspiration but...well, aren’t you lonely? Hugging isn’t an issue if it’s accepted by both parties and I accept that you think I needed it. I think my husband may get a little jealous when I tell him tonight and he finds out that we’re both wealthy and can retire but...you’ve never had anyone in your life have you Mr Imperial? Don’t you ever regret that? Love can always be found even at any age...Sir.’ said Daphne.

Jackie was lost in words for a moment. Even after he’d worked so hard to reach and establish his company as the best in the entire world of Terrus, this was how he’d been approached by a woman who had worked for him for fifteen years and never raised it before.

A laugh built up in his stomach as he began to cough and shake a little before it came out of his throat before he swallowed it down and calmed himself. He’d always been good at being in control of his emotions and not letting them dominate him.

He’d been called heartless, an ice man, even a sociopath by those wanted to insult him directly but only those who had worked with him for long enough found his true nature to be stern but fair and understanding in almost all cases.

‘Daphne. I misspoke. I’m just a little bit tired and a little bit old now. I’m fine, now please take the rest of the day off. I’m sure everything has been arranged brilliantly. You always do a good job and it’s truly been a pleasure to have worked with you. Thank you for putting up with me all these years. To answer your question, I’ve found relationships in those who work with me. There are men and women in this company who I’ve become an almost father surrogate to, we share good and bad times and they know my feelings. I ask for nothing from them and only provide guidance, no financial or illegal activities. Even promotions come from their own hard work. But I’ve needed to keep it private, do you see? Otherwise rumours would ruin their careers and sully my own. Please, I’ll make my own way to the board of directors. You’re effectively independently wealthy as of this morning. Leave this place and find your own happiness, or you can carry on working here with my blessing. Either way, this old man Imperial is done with Empire Strikker Coffee.’ said Jackie.

Daphne looked at him as a guant of emotions ran through her eyes and she blinked back tears. Then she shook his hand firmly and left the entrance to his private office, not taking a single look back.

‘Go Daphne. Go and tell your husband that you can find your own life. I will as well. I’ve had a better life than most but retirement beckons.’ said Jackie softly as he watched her leave.

He decided to return back to his walk in wardrobe to wear a business tie after all. For him being fully dressed and well-presented had always given him dutch courage. He’d never been a fan of alcohol as coffee and water had been his drink of choice.

I’m going to need a drink of mineral water as well to wash down my emotions a little.

As Jackie walked back to find a new tie he failed to notice how the space around his private office began to dim and turn into absolute darkness.