3 Five years ago...

Ashley was still feeling depressed at the fact that Josh was not around and that he didn't even notify her in any way. She had no idea on where he went or how long he would be gone for. Although this was not the first time, she understood that a lot of the times that he left was not by his choice. He would normally contact her when he was able to but it has already been two weeks and she hasn't heard anything. The longest that he went out of contact with her before was just two days and that was mostly because of travel time but what kind of travel would take longer than two weeks?

"Miss, we need to head to the hospital to go check on your father." Secretary Qian was her father's personal secretary and he rarely ever came to her unless it was something urgent so she felt uncomfortable when she heard father and hospital in the same sentence.

"My dad? Whats wrong? Has there been an accident?"

"He will tell you everything you need to know when you get there."

Although the response didn't help ease much of her uneasiness, she was happy to know that her father was well enough to be able to converse with her so she quietly got into the car with Secretary Qian.

He lead the way for Ashley to her father's room up on the VIP floor. As the door opened, she looked at the bed and saw that her father did not seem to be in such a bad condition; he looked a little more tired than usual, but nothing majorly different. She rushed to her father's side and he offered her a smile.

"My precious daughter."

"Dad, whats wrong? Secretary Qian said i needed to go to the hospital to see you!" She whined towards her father as she was startled by the Secretary's request.

"My good daughter. There are a few things I cannot keep from you anymore... My health, it is not improving. The doctor says that I have at most another year."

Ashley looked at her father puzzled. "What are you talking about? One year? But, nothing is wrong with you!"

"I do not have much energy so just listen to what I have to say. I have brain cancer, but it is in an inoperable location. So I want to spend the last of my time making sure that you are cared for. Once news of my illness gets out, the company will surely take a hit financially and the board will make things difficult for you. Secretary Qian has been with me for a long time and he will help guide you where you need help. I know that it is a lot for you to take in right now but we do not have time to waste. If you take over the company, things will be hard for a while but it will get better. Once you take over, this company will have been in our family for three-generations. Forgive me for not wanting the company to end with me and having to ask so much of you at such a young age."

Tears started to slowly fall down her eyes. "Dad, you shouldn't say that. I am also part of the Chen family, I cant let anything happen to our family business. Do not worry, I am your daughter after all. Everything will be fine. You just have to take care of your health, okay? I am going to go and work on things right away. I will be back to visit you tomorrow."

She walked outside and down the hospital's corridor. She sat down on one of the chairs and rethought everything over. At the age of 24, all of this was happening too sudden. From birth until now, all she knew how to do was enjoy herself. She was always under the protection and guidance of her father. He provided everything for her but all of that was soon about to change. Her world...was going to change in a very drastic way. From having nothing to worry about, now she had to worry about the welfare of a whole company and all its employees. Would she be able to do well? And her father...she didn't want to think too much about his situation. It hurt...just the idea of not having the person closest to her anymore. She didn't like it and she knew that if she dwelled on the fact that she would not be able to do anything.

In the coming days, she went to and from home, the company, and the hospital. She was introduced to the company as interim CEO but talks around the company has already started on the CEO's current absence. Due to all the rumors spreading around, the company slowly became unstable with the employees worrying about what bringing a "baby" in as CEO meant. And as her father predicted the board slowly called for an emergency meeting to be held the following week to discuss the current situation.

As Alan settled into their company's new building, he sat down and read the quarterly financial reports. Their progress has now become stagnant and he would soon have to find ways to increase profitability again. He thought about the rumors going around that Chen Technology was soon to hit an unstable position. Also, that the current CEO in charge was a young inexperienced girl. If he could get in and buy a good portion of their shares, he would be able to have a good resource in his hands that would help him with his company's current situation. He began thinking and pondering for the rest of the day. Before the work day was about to end, he called his secretary and asked him to get in contact with the CEO over at Chen Technology to request a meeting. Since this would be their first time meeting, he wanted to keep it casual and asked for his secretary to set up the appointment at a restaurant so they can eat while they converse.

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of trying to catch up on the company's current situation, structure and operation, Ashley did not have much time for anything else. She slept for 4 hours every day in order to keep up her stamina and the other 20 hours went into taking care of her father who was released to home care, going to the company and reading reports as well as partaking as a bystander on a few meetings. The board of directors voted to give her half a years time to show signs of improvement to the company or they would elect someone else to take over as CEO. With all the stress she was receiving, she had to hide all her feelings from people who were aiming to remove the Chen family as the most influential shareholder in the company as well as from her dad in fear that his condition would worsen. She also had little time to think about why Josh was not contacting her which was her biggest worry before this. She tried contacting him twice every week, partially in hopes of having someone just to say calming words to her and partially in hopes that his family would be able to lend her a temporary helping hand...

She was a little taken aback when she received a message that the rising company in social media, Liao Liao's CEO and founder wanted to meet with her over dinner. She didn't have much time to think of what motives the young CEO had for meeting but she knew as she was just starting out in the business world, the more connections she had, the better it would be.