Sorry Sir I Don’t Want You Back by Little Angelic Devil

Julian didn’t answer her question until they got into the car.

“Are you nervous?” he asked as he glanced at his sister.

Cherise shook her head. She was never nervous about meeting potential partners of clients. “I'm just curious because of the secrecy of it all," she replied.

Julian took his sister's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “You'll find out soon enough." Cherise knew she wouldn't get any answer, so she didn’t press on. She trusted her brother and grandpa and was confident she'd do well during the meeting. That was all that mattered.

The car stopped, and Cherise alighted when the chauffeur opened the door for her, only to see one of the hotels they owned; she knew her grandpa and Julian would only invite important clients to the restaurant in this particular hotel.

“Were you or the client who booked the place in the restaurant?” Cherise asked Julian. “Grandpa was the one who suggested it," Julian replied, taking Cherise’s hand and tucking it in the crook of his arm, further confirming Cherise’s suspicion that whoever they were meeting was indeed someone important or from an important company.

Julian, Cherise, and Neil rode the elevator to the highest floor where the restaurant is located. It was the only restaurant in the whole of Country B that had a 360-degree view of the entire country, with some private rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows to enjoy the view privately.

As the owner, Julian had naturally booked the private room with the best view. When the waiter opened the door for them and they stepped inside, Cherise found their clients were already waiting for them-one of them was seated while the other was standing ramrod next to him. The seated man stood up gracefully, and the first thing Cherise noticed about him was how handsome he was-nearly as attractive as Hudson, Julian, and Logan.

But she was used to being surrounded by handsome men, and that this was about future cooperation between them, she knew how to remain professional and did not ogle him.

The man moved and shook Julian's hand, greeting him, “Julian.”

“Kingston,” Julian grinned, and Cherise wondered how close they were for them to call each other by their names.

“I apologize for being late,” Julian said.

“You don’t have to apologize." The man, Kingston, laughed. “We've just arrived ourselves.” “Cherise.” Julian turned to her with one of his hands at the small of her back and the other gestured at their client. “This is Theodore Kingston, the CEO of the Kingston Group, and that's his PA, James.

“Theodore, this is my sister, Cherise, who you will be in contact with if we decide to have a business venture together, seeing how she’s the CEO of the Alster Group now, and that's my-" Julian laughed and continued, “actually I've assigned him to Cherise, so he’s technically hers. He's Neil, her PA"

Neil felt himself blushing when Julian mentioned him being Cherise’s but kept his professional expression on. He nodded toward Theodore Kingston's PA, who had the same expression as him, and returned his greeting in the same manner while waiting for their bosses to exchange greetings.

“Mr. Kingston, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Cherise extended her hand to shake his.

Theodore shook her hand, and Cherise felt how warm his hand was. “The pleasure is all mine, Miss Alster,” he said with a gentle smile.

“Alright, let's get seated, and we can start our meeting," Julian said. Theodore sat on one side of the table with his PA, while Cherise sat on the other side facing him, with Julian on her right and Neil on her left.

James, Theodore’s PA, fired up his laptop and handed Cherise, Julian, and even Neil their business plan while waiting for the laptop screen to show their presentation.

Cherise thought of where she had heard of the Kingston Group while waiting.

The only Kingston Group or family she had ever heard of came from her homeland - Country A. And from what she knew, they were one of those fallen families.

They used to be nearly as powerful as the Alster, and considered as old-money, their influential ancestry going as far back as her family, but because of terrible internal conflicts within the family, they went bankrupt.

But she had also heard they were on the rise again after more than ten years. She wondered why her grandpa and Julian held them in great esteem, seeing how they were still not that influential in the business world to be treated with such importance.

It wasn't that she was looking down on the Kingston Group; she just found the situation strange.

Mr. Kingston suddenly spoke, breaking her train of thought. “As you can see, we are interested in going into the gaming industry, especially virtual reality games.”

Those words piqued Cherise's interest, as the Alster Group had never delved into the gaming industry, virtual reality or otherwise. But as Q, coding and everything else naturally interested her.

It turned out the Kingston Group was already in the gaming industry, and Cherise recognized the popular games they had developed under their gaming sub-company.

With Theodore Kingston's gentle voice explaining to the Alster siblings and James helping with the presentation slides on the laptop, Cherise became more excited.

She thought this might give the Alster Group a chance to break into yet another industry, and she could already visualize herself leading the team herself if Julian and her grandpa would allow it.

Once Theodore Kingston stopped speaking and finished his presentation, everyone looked at Cherise.

Cherise tapped her finger against the exquisite wooden dining table and said, “In all honesty, Mr Kingston, I found your idea very intriguing. Though I am not sure if the Alster could help since we do not have any experience in the gaming industry, nor do we have the team to do it" Even though Cherise wanted the project, she still needed to think of their capabilities and all the risks involved.

“We can always hire professionals for the team, Cherise," Julian reminded her. Of course, she knew that, but she wanted to see Mr Kingston's reaction after she said those words.

Theodore Kingston smiled and replied, “As Julian said, the Alster could start hiring people to be on the team. I'd rather prefer the team to consist of fresh graduates as they are more passionate and more in the loop of modern technology than us, but professionals certainly can be useful too."

Cherise was not offended when she heard him use the words “like us’ as if they were old, as he had a point. If she weren't Q, she might feel the same way as him, as he had an excellent point. Fresh graduates were very passionate, especially now that virtual reality was all the rage and to be employed with the Alster Group to unleash their creativity and talents could be their dream. “Go on," Cherise prompted, wanting to know how Theodore Kingston would try to convince her even more to be in partnership with them. That could give her a glimpse of his negotiation skills.

Still with that same gentle smile, Theodore Kingston continued, “If the Alster is interested in cooperating with us, then it would be an exclusive partnership.”

Cherise loved the sound of that. The fewer companies in a partnership meant more profits for the Alster Group.

She was the CEO of the Alster Group now, and making as much profit as possible for the group would naturally be one of her main goals if she wanted the Alster Group to flourish even more under her leadership.

“And I will be leading the project personally as I always did to ensure the end result would be as perfect as it could be without any flaw," Theodore Kingston added.

That surprised Cherise. She had never heard of a CEO being on hand for all their projects. From what she knew and saw from Hudson, Julian, and Logan, CEOs might lead a few projects but not all.

“Mr Kingston is good at the gaming industry, creating games, and he would always be involved to ensure perfection and success of each game,” James aided in speaking highly of his boss. It was a fact and he thought the CEO and the President of the Alster Group should know about it. “I have years of experience. I will guide the Alster’s team and with me being involved directly, there will not be such a thing as failures,” Mr Kingston said, his confidence which had not an ounce of arrogance in it impressed Cherise.

Cherise turned to look at Julian, who seemed to think the same as her-that this could be an excellent opportunity for the Alster Group to enter the gaming and virtual reality industry. “This does seem like a great project for the Alster Group,” Cherise didn’t try to deny it. “But we will have to talk about this with our shareholders.”

“Of course,” Theodore said smoothly. He himself was a CEO and understood Cherise’s decision. He knew how cooperation between two companies worked, especially if one of the companies was venturing into an uncharted industry.

Cherise saw the door to their private room open, and Neil entered with a waiter bringing a bottle of wine, surprising her. She was so captivated by Mr Kingston's presentation that she had no idea Neil had left the room while they were talking.

Neil leaned close to Julian and whispered something in his ear only for the two of them.

Then Julian checked his watch and smiled at Theodore. “I'm afraid I need to leave, or I'll be late for my next meeting. I hope you don’t mind that I've asked Neil to order the dishes for your lunch. Cherise will be here to accompany you."

Oh, so that was the reason Neil left the room, Cherise thought. Having been told she would need to entertain their client, Cherise stood up to hug her brother while Theodore and Julian shook hands again before Julian and Neil left.

Theodore whispered to his PA, and James started tidying up his laptop and everything they had brought for their presentation before leaving him alone with Cherise.

Cherise was used to this. PAs sometimes did not stay with their bosses after meetings. They mostly would have lunch in the same restaurant, but not in the private room. It was a pretty standard situation, so Cherise didn't think too much of it. She didn’t mind being alone with Mr. Kingston.

Cherise picked up her wine glass and took a sip, savoring the flavors of oak and a bit of tannins.

“Forgive my frankness, Mr. Kingston, but are you from Country A?" Cherise asked.

“Yes, I am,” Theodore replied gently. “You must have heard of my family, how it had fallen into nothingness.”

“I have.” Cherise nodded and saw that he wasn't looking the least bit uncomfortable talking about it.

“But then I must say how I admire your hard work in reviving the Kingston Group,” Cherise added with a smile.

Theodore laughed softly. “You think too highly of me, Miss Alster”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Mr. Kingston,” Cherise said in all seriousness because she knew how difficult it must be for him to revive the Kingston Group from a fallen group to one of the most successful companies in the gaming industry.

She was sure that if he kept being this hard-working, the Kingston Group would dominate the gaming industry in no time. Maybe their partnership, if she could convince the shareholders, would help push them in that direction.

Theodore cocked his head and looked at Cherise, asking her softly, “You don’t remember me, do you, Cherise?”