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

The leading representative of the board of tourism appeared on the giant TV screen, where he and the others had been watching Hudson and Chrise giving out their presentations.

“Mr. Amery and Miss Alster, our tourism ministry loves the ideas of both of your plans and proposals,” the representative said politely and authoritatively.

Cherise frowned and suddenly had a foreboding feeling. Usually, they just told them directly who they chose, so why the mysterious words?

“In lieu of that, we think it's best not to choose any, but instead, the minister would like for the Amery Group and the Alster Group to work together on this project,” the representative said, and Cherise groaned inwardly. There it was the source of her foreboding feeling.

“The ministry will discuss it within the next few days, and when we have decided how to go about it, we will let you know.”

“From then, we expect you to work out the plans between the two groups,” the representative continued. “We will give you at most two months as it will be just about combining your designs.”

“When the two months are up,” he paused before continuing, “We do prefer for it to get done before two months, but two months will be the maximum. We would expect you to come here and lead the projects yourselves for a month until everyone involved is sure of how the resort will turn out”

Cherise’s eyebrows shot up. Did they expect Hudson and her to go to the country to oversee the project personally? But that would mean spending time with her ex-husband! Couldn't this get any worse? But she couldn't withdraw from the project as it would bring significant profit and name for the Alster Group.

“Within these two months, you will be working with our representative at Country B - Mr. Phillip, and he will be the one reporting to us."

The said representative stood up and nodded toward Hudson and Cherise so they knew who they would be working with.

Hudson and Cherise nodded toward him as a sign of respect, though Cherise wanted to vomit at the idea of spending the next three months working closely with Hudson.

“If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Mr Phillip,” the board of tourism ministry said. “We wish you a successful partnership, Mr. Amery and Miss Alster”

Then the huge screen turned black, signaling the end of the direct discussion between the Amery Group and the Alster Group with the board of tourism of Country F.

Everyone present began surrounding them, forcing Hudson and Cherise to stand up from their seats and stand side by side to shake hands and graciously accept their congratulations. Miles and Neil stood at one corner of the room, watching everything unfold.

“This is not how I thought it would turn out to be," Miles whispered to Neil. “But I guess this is a sign from God that Mr. Hudson might have another chance with Young Madam Cherise,” Miles added happily.

Neil looked at Hudson's happy personal assistant, who at the moment looked more like a gossiper rather than a professional PA, and shook his head.

He also did not expect this turn of events, but as the minister of tourism of Country F and its board of tourism had explicitly asked the two of them to lead the project personally, they would have to do it, or they'd lose the tender, and it would make the Alster Group look bad if they did not go through with it.

The only thing Neil could do was to report this to Julian as usual and let the sister and brother talk about it.

As Miss Cherise’s PA, who always worked closely with her and knew more company secrets than the rest of the employees, and even sometimes was asked for opinions, Neil still knew his place and boundaries.

When he had judgment and reservations about his boss’ life, he would keep it to himself, unlike Miles, he thought as he glanced at the happy PA again.

Once everyone had congratulated Hudson and Cherise, they left, leaving only the ex-spouses, Mr. Phillip and the two PAS.

“Shall we have dinner?” Hudson offered.

The meeting took so long that it stretched from just after lunch until dinner time, and of course, as a good host, Hudson would offer it, especially since Mr. Phillip was with them. Cherise would rather not have dinner with him, but her upbringing would not let her to say so. It was partly a business dinner, after all.

Mr. Phillip agreed, and Hudson told them he would take his car while he whispered to Cherise, “Our PAs must be starving too. Would it be alright if Neil drove your car and for him and Miles to join us? I'm sure Mr. Phillip still has some pointers for us during dinner, and it would be better if they were present, too."

Cherise was surprised that Hudson even asked for her opinion. That was so unlike him, but she nodded, agreeing with him.

Suddenly, she remembered that she was to have dinner with Theo, so she told them she would meet them downstairs in the lobby to give Neil some instructions.

Mr. Phillip didn’t mind it, but Hudson's eyes narrowed slightly. He knew what Cherise was about to do, and for one moment, he wanted to tell Cherise they could all go down together just to rub it in Theo's face, but he knew better than to do it.

That was the old him, he thought. The new him would not force her or do something so lowly. He instead asked Miles to go with them as he would ride with Neil to follow them.

Cherise quickly went to the elevator while Hudson gave her time to deal with Theo by asking Mr. Phillip what he would like to eat and making the reservation for a private room himself. Once downstairs, Cherise saw Theo already waiting for her, leaning against his car. She asked Neil to wait inside the lobby and went out to meet Theo.

“Hey,” Theo greeted her softly. “It took you long enough to appear”

“Theo, I'm sorry, but I can't have dinner with you tonight," Cherise quickly told him.

“What's the matter?” Theo asked with concern. “Did the meeting not go as planned?”

“You can say that” “Cherise sighed. “I was ready to win or even lose, but apparently, the tourism minister of Country F loves both of our plans so much that he wants us to combine our projects, and now I need to have dinner with them.”

“Combine your projects?” Theo asked in surprise.

“Yeah,” Cherise groaned. “Now I need to work closely with Hudson and a representative from Country F

“Are you sure it wasn't a part of Hudson's plan to spend time with you?"

For the first time since she had reconnected with Theo, she felt irritated by him.

“This is a huge business transaction, Theo. I don't think he would use it as a means to get closer to me” Cherise’s voice sounded colder than she had intended it to be.

Cherise knew her ex-husband, and she knew he wouldn't use such a lowly means to get closer to her. She and Hudson treated their groups’ business with great importance.

There was no way Hudson would use it as a pawn to spend more time with her. They would never do something as lowly as bribing someone to get what they want. They might offer a higher price, but it wasn't the same as a bribe.

Theo had just insinuated that Hudson had somehow bribed the tourism minister of Country F, and it irked her. She and Hudson were above it.

Theo knew he had said the wrong thing and quickly apologized, “You right, Cherise. The Amery Group has always been upstanding. I'm sorry for saying otherwise. We can have dinner any other time.’

“Thank you,” Cherise replied.

“I'd better get going, then," Theo said. “I'll message you later”

Cherise nodded and apologized to him before he drove away.

She went back into the lobby and joined Neil and Miles. Neil already had her car key as he was the one driving her there.

“Are we ready to go?” Hudson asked when he and Mr. Phillip joined them.

“Lead the way,” Cherise told him.