Every drop adds to sea

Mr. Henry stood near the window of his office room, located at the 20th floor of his 60 story empire. Centralized AC vents, indirect lights and ambiance by a french interior lights designer, furniture made of rare teak wood, granites and wallpapers imported from Italy, and a very rare painting of American Revolution, fell in his background.

With his hands in his pockets, he looked out at the horizon, stretched across the concrete forest. And his mind struggled to perform simple math.
The door creaked open behind him and he heard a voice.
"Sir, you have some papers to sign. Regarding the acquisition of B&B constructions"
said Mr.Richard, his financial adviser.

With the eyes still fixed on the horizon, Henry spoke "920 millions, Richard! hard to sum up; but, exactly I own 920 million worth property!" as he turned to smile and look at Richard.
Richard walked forward and said "True sir! If you could sign these documents, we can make it 925; sir" with a smile, and showed the folder to Henry.
Henry took out his pen and started signing the page briskly.
"Recently I've started noticing that you don't read the documents at all, sir" Richard spoke.
"How long its been, you are working here Richard?" asked Henry, while he flipped through pages.
"3 years sir, 3 years 2 months precisely" Richard replied.
"Well, It took that long for me to trust you to this extent" Henry said with a smile.
"Thanks sir" replied Richard and started walking towards the door.

"You know Richard!, My dad always used to say this thing, about life and business; you wanna comment?"
Richard stopped, turned and said " Sure sir, whats that?"
"He always used to say, save whenever you can, If you think something is expensive; it is so. Be a business man in your daily decisions too!, what do you think Richard? should the holder of 920, sorry 925 million dollars property, should consider something like this?" asked Henry with crunched eyebrows.
"He was right sir! He is true in all sense. Very logical indeed" confirmed Richard.
"Then prove it Richard"
"What ? But how sir?" Questioned Richard, as confusion climbed up his face.
Henry walked towards his bar, poured himself a little red wine and he took a sip and spoke again.
"5 million!, prove it to me and I'll give you 5 million Richard, its a bet. Convince me! What do you say?"
"Good enough sir, I will consider giving it a try" said Richard and closed the door behind him.

For the next five years, the company kept growing consistently. Henry acquired 20 more companies, and also entered consumer market with cosmetic products as his main line. Being the entrepreneur of month, year, and being the cover man of various business magazine, he was unstoppable, and he became worth 2.1 billion.

But very next year, an accidental chemical leak in his main factory ended up with hundred and odd deaths, right then on, his shares fell in market, questions arose against the machinery quality and many

investigations were filed. The company was forced to liquidate few properties and save itself from legal attacks, both on the record, and off the record, illegally.
In the next four years, the company lost even more assets, closed its production lines, resold the companies for cheaper tags, as many of their products were rendered useless by their rival companies, and Henry didn't have enough left to open and furnish new R&Ds for research.
In the next 3 years, the company boiled down to a mere 'company acquisition and outsourcing'. Many economists called it the fall of the decade, and many predicted that the company will soon come up in near future.

And the headlines were " From 2.1 billion to 35 million: Mr. Henry"
Henry reclined on the chair in an old office room as the newspaper lay on the table.
Richard walked in with few papers " Hey Henry, few more tax issues, sign these" he said as he sat down in front of him and pushed the papers to Henry.
Henry flipped through the pages blindly and finished signing them, and pushed it back to Richard.
"You still don't read them Henry!"
"I trust you Richard! STILL" Henry said.
"You do!"
"Richard! , I can't do this anymore, Its been 7 years since we've had any considerable profit! Thanks for always being with me man. Huh! Today I sit in this old office and hope and pray everyday that I do not lose anymore money" yelled Henry with his fist on table and a tear in his eye.
"Not your fault Henry, things will get alright"
"My dad was right! I understand it today, Richard he was always right! Be a businessman in daily decisions! How could I not save a single penny! He was right!" Henry folded himself in his arms and started weeping on his table.
After a moment of silence
"Why did you take this long to say this? Why would it take for anyone to say it, this long ?, why Henry? why?" Richard held Henry's hand firmly and shook it.
"What do you mean?"
"Huh! I.. I won at last! I did win, Ha!" Richard stood up, and he couldn't stop his tears.
"What are you speaking for God's sake!" Henry was getting impatient.
"Richard bent down on table and kept his hands on it, "Everyday Henry! everyday since the day you posed me that bet, I've been secretly saving your money!"
"What! I do remember that bet, but how could you..."
"Your blind eye signing of documents my friend! since that day, in every deal I hiked the buying price by 3 to 5 percent, and selling lowered by same amount, and I diverted that extra money to that Swiss account of yours which I later informed to you as cancelled.
"How come no one complained of missing money? diversion?"
"I got your signature on the circular regarding the same and convinced Board that you don't want to discuss about it to anyone, I misused or may be.. used your trust on me, and as of now the balance stands 146 millions" Richard said with a smile and tears in his eyes.
"You took that seriously! what... how.. and why you took so long to tell me this?"
"How long have we been losing our property?"
"7 years"
"Henry! It took me that long to teach you this little thing", Richard spoke in a low voice, as his eye brimmed with tears.
"Thanks, Thank you"
"You owe me 5 million"cried Richard.
Henry hugged Richard and they shared tears for next few minutes.
Richard's savings did not have much impact on business, but Henry learnt, that anything was possible, and found a new ray of hope in his life. Henry and Richard became partners and started working together for a bigger fortune future.

After a few years, the business magazines read
"Rise of the phoenix"