Bae left her apartment to meet with her lawyer in court concerning the bullies. Luckily school cameras and eye witnesses saw the harassment and the lawyer had a solid self-defense case. The bullies were fined and expelled and were each filed a restraining order. They were all crying in court as the judge cast the verdict. Apparently, they were part of a dance crew and Meiqi was the standout and they ostracized her out of jealousy and it has been going on since middle school. Meiqi must've had a hard time... I wish I could've snapped a picture to show her how pathetic they looked.

But she didn’t have time to savor the moment. Her afternoon appointment was approaching. With the Kim group rep. Jennie Kim. As she walked to her designated table she was greeted with a familiar figure.

"Bae Bear! I missed you! You didn’t call me I was waiting for the call you know!" Jennie said almost sarcastically. But Bae didn’t catch on.

"I cant call you if you didn’t give me your number. Also please don’t force yourself Irene isn’t here. Jay told me about your little deal" Bae not matching the older woman's energy said flat out. She sat down and took out the papers she brought with her.

"he did? That idiot! Sigh… don’t be upset with me okay? If it makes you feel better that Irene girl hates my guts now hehe"

you didn’t even apologize for stealing my first kiss…

"nonetheless. We're here for business. I would prefer to keep it that way"

"me too kiddo. You're not even my type" Jennie snickered. And it got Bae's nerves so much how much it reminded her of Meiqi's comment the night before.

But why did Meiqi's comment bother her? it's not like she liked Meiqi that way…

"… the Kim and Hwang partnership is very important to us at this crucial time. With your company being a lifelong partner. their support would be vital to the rehabilitation of The Hwang enterprises" Bae was very serious about her work and she wasn’t going to let Jennie try to undermine her because of her age.

"spoken so well kiddo. Say won't you join The Kim Group?" Jennie rested her face on her hands staring at Bae reviewing the contract. Her smile gone but it was replaced with intrigue.

"you humble me miss kim. But I have already dedicated myself to the Hwang group" Bae tapped the papers to organize them and gave Jennie her best business smile. Bae didn’t want Jennie to mess with her anymore.

"woo~ I might seriously fall for you if you're this serious" Jennie said mockingly. As if she took Bae as a child.

"so what will it be miss kim?" Bae knew that people would think she's a child. She had to be able to deal with that kind of treatment. For now.

"here's the contract… read it well and let me know" Jennie pulled the contract out of her purse and handed it to Bae.

"40% stock share for the kim group… the agreed amount was 35% and that’s already too much. If we agree to this you'll basically own us" said with a monotone. Does she think I am that much of a pushover?

"such a smart kid~ if only you were a bit older. I'd have eaten you up~. This is our deal" Jennie picked her purse up" take it or leave it. Tell Jay I said hi~"

"will do"

Jennie thought Bae would argue more.

"that’s all the fighting spirit you have?" Jennie tried to get Bae to argue more.

"we don’t exactly need the kim group but they would be a big help and make the rehabilitation go by faster. Why would I bargain for a bad deal? Good doing business with you. Check please" Bae waved at the waiter and didn’t waste time getting up to leave.

"okay~ good day Bae Bear~" Jennie grabbed her bag but hesitated for a second.

"Bae beeeaarr~" Jennie pulls another contract from her purse "this is the actual contract. Let's sign it hmm?" Jennie anxiously played with a stand of her hair and looked like she found something interesting to stare at on the floor.

"….35%, still too high. Since you felt like rising it. I feel like lowering it. The Kim group will have the same value as a lifelong partner has with 10% of shares"

"what?! That's even less than the original share value we had before the company went bankrupt!" Jennie's gaze shot up in protest.

"that's how much value your help is statistically. I heard that the Kim group has had a few stores close up and they're in dire pinch"

"where did you hear that?!- wait." Jennie quickly covered . knew none could have known about it so soon.

"you just told me lol. Stock prices dropping isn’t luck. It's math. hardware stores are your stock influencer so stock going down=stores closing down. Potentially. But thank you for conforming it" Jennie cursed under her breath. To fall for such a trick. It's unlike her.

"10%" Bae repeated

"15%" Jennie couldn’t accept such low stock value.

"12%" Bae deadpanned. Her face saying "that's all you're going to get"

"… Deal…"

"pleasure doing business with you miss Kim. I would appreciate it if you treated me as an equal and didn’t try to play tricks. Till next time" Jennie looked stunned at Bae. completely out of words to say.

"oh, one last thing… you have too many stores… here. I hope this helps" Bae gave Jennie a detailed business plan. Jennie managed to snap out of it and took what Bae handed her.

"Woah this is so detailed… even what color our banners should be… thanks kid" Jennie looked over the business plan. Dumbfounded by the amount of detail it contains.

"no problem. Treat us well" Bae bowed and left after paying the check. Leaving a confused Jennie behind.

Bae called jay to tell him the good news. He invited her to dinner to celebrate. Bae was reluctant but agreed eventually.

"I am eating out with jay don’t wait up and go ahead and eat"

Meiqi stared at her screen "don’t wait up huh… guess I'll have Tiffany over" Meiqi couldn't possibly eat all the food she made alone. So she texted Tiffany to come over. But she couldn’t help but feel a bit bumed out 

Bae got a call from Tiffany what could possibly be wrong... Ugh its probably the picture I sent to Taeyeon. Bae carefully picked up.

"BAE SOOJUNG WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SEND TO TAEYEON. SHE KEEPS MAKING AN UGLY FACE AT ME AND SAID IT WAS ME!" Bae took her headphones out to avoid Tiffany's deafening screech

"that’s what you get for trying to create a misunderstanding with Meiqi!"

"speaking of Meiqi she's really upset. She asked me to come over. Whats wrong? Are you home?"

"I am having dinner with jay today an-"

"JAY CAN EAT DO YOU CELEBRATE AFTER EVERY TINY VICTORY?! GO HOME AND EAT MY MEIQI"

"her food. Eat her food" Tiffany corrected almost right away.

"I got it Tiffany… I'll call the dinner off with jay"

Bae called the dinner off turns out jay forgot about it and went clubbing anyways. Bae drove home and found Meiqi in the living room reading the same book again.

"you really like that book huh?" Bae took her coat off and dropped her keys on the coffee table and sat across from Meiqi.

"I thought you had dinner plans