Tiffany POV

It was him. It was really him.

Those same deep dark brown eyes... His tanned skin... And that smirk of his. Definitely, I am not mistaken.

"Miss Stephanie." he called.

I felt like I've been muted. I opened my mouth a little to force myself to respond. Yet, not a single word came out. Instead, my breathing became uneven. My heart was pounding ridiculously fast.

He smirked, "Are we just going to exchange stares here, Miss Hwang?"

"..."

"Anyway, I guess you already heard of my name from Taeyeon. Nevertheless, for formalities sake..." He went near and forwarded his hand, signaling for a handshake, "I'm George Nicholas Kwon. If I'm not mistaken, we have met and somewhat dated seven years ago, am I correct? Miss Stephanie?"

"..."

He chuckled as he withdrew his hand, "I guess you're not into handshakes, huh?"

I avoided his gaze.

"Alright. Just in case you're still not aware of who I am, perhaps you could remember me by my Korean name. Yuri? Kwon Yuri? Yuri Kwon? Yul? Yuwree-yah? Do they ring a bell?"

"..."

"If you prefer it the classic way then, you can just call me Yuri. You know, for old times' sake."

No. I can't take this. I can no longer take this.

"Excuse me, I... I have to go the restroom." I snapped as I stood and rashly stormed out of the conference room.

I rushed to the nearest comfort room and locked it tightly. I tried to catch up with my breathing. I rested my back at the door and closed my eyes to calm myself down.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, are you okay?" I heard Hyomin snapped from the other side of the door.

No, no. This can't be real.

I could no longer control my emotions. I fell on the floor and hugged my knees. I broke down in tears and cried.

How could he be alive?

How could he not tell me?

How could he do this to me?

"Ma'am. Please. Open the door."

For four long years... How could he lie to me?

Why? Why did he have to lie to me?

I couldn't calm myself down. Tears continued to fall from my eyes. As much as I want to hold my emotions, my body and heart wouldn't cooperate with me.

"Ma'am, I will force open this door, okay?"

"No." I answered weakly. I closed my eyes again and breathed deeply. I uttered in the most casual way I could, "I'm okay, Hyomin. Please return to the conference room. Offer beverages to our visitors, if you must."

"Okay, ma'am. B-but, a-are you okay in there?"

"I just need to-- fix something in my clothes. I'll be back in few minutes."

"Oh... okay, ma'am..."

I stood up and went in front of the mirror. No. I should not go back there wearing a face like this. Tiff, you better pull yourself together. You're inside HGC. You're not just anywhere. You cannot break down in here. You must look strong. Pretend, if you must. Don't let anyone see you like this. Kill your emotion. That's it. Yes.

I took a deep breath again. I closed my eyes for a moment then stared at my reflection again.

Right. This is nothing.

I successfully calmed myself down and fixed my face and hair. I need to go back as if this absurdity is nothing to me. Kill your emotion. Feel nothing.

As I went back, I hesitated firstly before coming inside the conference room again. I stood behind the door and peeked. I saw him casually talking to Taeyeon who was looking nervous, though. He smiled again then laughed. Yet, he stopped as he noticed Taeyeon's not responding to his laughter nor listening to what he's been sharing. He sighed silently and wandered his eyes around. Then... he noticed me.

"Oh, Miss Stephanie!" he shouted excitedly and stood up. "Welcome back!"

I went inside and didn't respond to his greeting. I sat on my chair and focused on the hard copy material and browsed. "I don't have the luxury to wait any longer for your proposal, Mister--" I paused then looked at him briefly then immediately looked back to the material.

He uttered, "Mister Kwon. I still have the same surname, just a heads up."

I continued, "--Mister Kwon. You may proceed, please."

"Hmm. Alright." He redirected to Taeyeon, "So, I should pick up from where you stopped. It's what part of the presentation now, Taeyeon?"

Taeyeon answered, "Actually, I'm already done on explaining and presenting everything, uhmm--- boss."

"Uhuh. And then???"

"..."

"Miss Stephanie?"

I looked at him boringly. "No. I am declining your proposal, Mister Kwon."

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at me, "Are you sure about your decision, Miss Hwang?"

"Like boss, like subordinate. I get it." I smiled at him. "You're belittling me like how your executive did earlier, aren't you?"

He chuckled, "I am not. Come on. Why would I belittle someone as highly successful, sophisticated and brilliant woman like you?"

I gritted my teeth and balled my fists. "My decision's final. If you have something more to say then, you better start now. I still have a client meeting after this."

"Oh. Okay, okay. But, please. Hear the whole proposal from me. I swear to you, this time, you can never say no." He chuckled. "Taeyeon's not yet much experienced in presenting proposals so I deeply apologize for that. But, with me, trust me. You'll never get bored and doze off."

I sighed. I focused back to the papers I'm holding and uttered, "Proceed."

"Okay. So, you see... the reason I'm here is to ask if you want to formulate a joint partnership with me. That's it. That's the very heart of this proposal. I'm sure you know what's the normal terms of having this kind of business venture, right?"

"Yes. Just sum it up, Mister Kwon. What will be my benefit from joining forces with you?"

"Wait. You have to listen as to why I decided to proceed with this kind of strategy instead."

I sighed again. "Suit yourself."

"Okay. So, you see... I've been thinking of returning permanently here in South Korea. And, my fiancé wanted us to settle down here permanently. Of course, to make her completely happy, I must go under her terms. So, I have to bring my business here. And with that, I need to enter the Korean market smoothly."

"Why collaborating with another company then? With an established international company like yours, you can easily expand your business here as you want it to, no strings attached, no tie-ups with another company."

"Yes, you're right. But, remember my last word. SMOOTHLY."

"So, you're just going to use my company? That's basically the summary of this proposal, right?"

"This is a give-and-take proposal, Miss Hwang. Haven't you scanned to the benefits section of forming this venture with me?"

"I did. Perhaps, I don't even need to browse it again." I sighed again. "Mister Kwon, I'm going to get straight to the point. I don't see any significant benefit that my company can attain in this joint venture. Increased, almost-guaranteed profits, yes, but I'm sorry, I'm not hungry for such thing. I can sure generate profit on my own. Perhaps, I can even earn it in a snap without the help from your company."

"But, Miss Stephanie. Haven't you felt it? Haven't you felt the connection our companies have?"

I raised my eyebrow. "What the actual nonsense are you talking about?"

He chuckled and continued, "You see... my conglomerate's focus industries are gaming, airline, banking, super-malls, construction, cosmetic lines, and even recording. While yours? Real-estate, hotels, resorts, cosmetics, salons, spas, jewelry, shopping malls, land transportation, amusement parks... What else? Shipping, and you even have travel and tours agency. Do you see where I'm getting at, Miss Hwang? Except for cosmetics and mall industries, both of our companies surely go together. It's like jigsaw puzzle pieces forming just one picture!" He stated firmly and excitedly. "We complement each other! It's like we're meant to be!" He then laughed and corrected, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I meant, it's like our companies are meant to be!"

He stood up and wandered around the conference room, stared at the ceiling in such dreamy manner, "Think about it. We can build a whole city just with our businesses alone. Perhaps, if we join forces like for good, we can even form a country." He went closer to me. "Don't you see how much we're going to gain from this? With this, we can dominate our own respective markets. With this, we can easily trash our direct competitors."

"..."

He placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. "So, what do you say?"

It gave chills down to my spine. I quickly requested, "Please take off your hand from me."

He chuckled again as he removed his hand, "Oops. Sorry." He went back to his seat and asked again, "So, what do you say?"

"No."

"Still a no?" He laughed, "Man, you sure are so hard to please."

"I am still not convinced. I'm not threatening you or anything but, I have plans to expand my business to some of the industries your conglomerate has already entered. I don't want to lose that opportunity because of this. Besides, I'm sure enough you're thinking of the same thing. Tie up with me, you'll lose the opportunity to enter the industries I currently cover."

"Well, yes. I can sure do that. But, like I said, smoothly. With that, I want everything to be done fast and profitably. You see, Miss Hwang, for over the years, I have realized something. Life is so short. So, why would I choose the hard and long way when I can go to the much easier and faster way? Rather not stress yourself from going against potential competitors, why not just collaborate with them? It will be a win-win situation, anyway."

"..."

"Let me clarify, Miss Hwang. I am not just going to enter the market here in this country. I am planning to rule it, expand my business if I must, through the best shortcut I could ever think of." He chuckled. "Don't get this wrong. I have no intention of using your company's influence. I am just merely searching for a potential partner for this future success. If you will still say no, I am just gonna go find another company to say yes to me."

"..."

He smirked, "I am sure enough you don't want that to happen, right? If I happened to collaborate with a direct competitor of yours, what do you think will happen, Stephanie? Your place in the market will surely be affected tremendously. Do you prefer it that way?"

"..."

"Alright. I will give you an ample time to think. Perhaps, you can give me your answer by Wednesday?"

"Friday."

"Hmm. Fair enough." He stood up. "So, I guess we're done here?"

"..."

His subordinates along with Taeyeon bowed at me first then started heading out of the room. Hyomin excused herself and, also, left to lead them to the exit.

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