4 The first meeting

Ashley rushed over from work to the restaurant as the time for her meeting was nearing time. One should always be punctual the first meeting in order to be polite but she had so much on her plate lately that she lost sense of time. She refreshed herself while her driver took her over to the restaurant. By the time she reached the restaurant's front door, she straightened out her outfit and walked in 5 minutes late. She told the hostess that she was meeting with Alan Li and shortly after she was led to the table.

As Alan watched from the table a lady being led over, he was not expecting what he saw. Although she was quite pretty, her face showed signs of fatigue but she still worked up a killer smile to show to everyone that she was great, nothing was going to phase her. She was wearing business attire, which he assumed was because she was coming straight from work, which was different from the few blind dates he was set up on. It was a first that he was meeting someone that could be his significant other for a business matter rather than personal. He quite like that. At 28, being a successful self-made business man made him the target of many people looking to take advantage of him and that annoyed him. At his prime, he just wants to focus on furthering his business and establishing the roots for his future generations to be able to live comfortably without worries. Affairs of the heart, at the time, is useless and a waste of time.

"I'm sorry, I know it is really rude of me to arrive late but I lost track of time."

He stood up as she approached the table. He looked towards his watch and smiled. "Ten minutes. No worries, I will add it to a list of what you will owe me and slowly collect back."

She lightly laughed. "Hi, my name is Ashley." She reached her hand out to shake his. He liked this. He reached out to her outstretch hands and shook it. They both sat down.

"Hello, my name is Alan. I hope you are okay with this place. My secretary made all the arrangements but if you don't like it, i will have him adjust next time according to your preference." He slid over his business card as he introduced himself.

"These days i haven't been too picky. I actually just came here to listen to what you have to say. I doubt we will actually make it to dinner."

Alan laughed at her straightforward demeanor. He was starting to enjoy her company. They each ordered something to drink and Alan also ordered something for him to eat.

"So why did you ask to meet?"

"Wow. You waste no time getting to the point. I like that. I realize that you are struggling with having to adapt to everything new and I would like to help. I am willing to put in the capital and lend you a hand to stabilize your company."

"And in return you would like?"

"In return, I would like to be the major stakeholder of the company."

"That is not going to happen. I understand the situation your company is in now. Your profits are now stagnant and you want to have my company assist you with developing new technology in order to boost profits up higher. Being a shareholder or not isn't one of your main concerns - you just want access to the resources my company would be able to give, resources that would improve your company's outlook."

"You did your homework. I don't understand why people don't see you as capable or believe that you are just a rookie to the field."

"I am new, I wont deny that. But, its another story if people think they can take advantage of me because of it. I'm trying to keep my family's legacy alive and I wont allow others to stop me from doing that."

"I am only offering you a helping hand and I would like some help in return."

"Thank you for your offer but there is no way that I will give up my shares to the company. Even if you are able to get the small shareholders to sell to you, I will not be releasing any of mine so you can forget about it."

"Okay then, give me a counteroffer. I will take it into consideration."

"Thank you for your kindness but I am not looking for any partnership as of right now. I will contact you if that ever changes. I appreciate you treating me to this coffee and I will leave you so that you will be able to enjoy your meal. Good night."

He laughed. She surely wasn't wasting any time. "I look forward to hearing from you then. Good night."

When he came up with this idea, he didn't think it would be hard to get this little girl to give into him but after this short encounter, he was starting to think otherwise. He didn't expect that this young privilege girl to know so much or be such a hard worker. He admired her for the way she was handling everything given her situation. He heard that she had a deadline of half a year to improve the company so he will also give her half a year as he comes up with more backup plans for his own company.

Ashley went back to the company to read more reports and guidelines that were left to her from Secretary Qian. After she was finished for the day, it was a little past 3 a.m. her weariness was starting to catch up to her as she stared into her phone to see if Josh had contacted her. She was starting to get the feeling that she was not going to be hearing from him anytime soon and the thought of it pained her. She found comfort in the fact though that she would most likely not lose her company even if she were to collapse from pain and exhaustion today. Earlier, she was given a gift. She had just received the gift of hope. The meeting with Alan gave her hope that if she wasn't able to excel and give the board what they wanted, he would still be able to help her given the right negotiations. She just found her plan B. She smiled at the comfort she felt from that as she walked over to the couch and quickly dozed off.