Start-Up

Insomnia

Ji-pyeong and In-jae lay side by side in bed, looking at the ceiling as moonlight streamed into the room.

"In-jae?" Ji-pyeong whispered softly, wondering if she was awake.

"Hmm?" she murmured in reply.

"I can't sleep," he said, turning on his side to look at her.

"Me too," she admitted, turning on her side to look at him too.

"What are you thinking of?" he asked, and watched as she sighed, "Just that the bidding is coming up soon."

He smiled at her, "Don't worry, you guys will do great. I've seen how hard you've worked and everything is perfect. You've got this."

She smiled at him gratefully, "Thanks. I'm still nervous, but thanks."

Then In-jae furrowed her eyebrows at him, "What about you, why can't you sleep?"

He sighed and rolled unto his back again, staring at the ceiling as he rested his arm behind his head. "I can't stop thinking of this business proposal that Park Dong-Chun put on my desk."

In-jae raised her eyebrow, "A business proposal is keeping you awake at night? What's it about?"

Ji-pyeong replied, "It's about orphans who've aged out of the orphanage."

In-jae softened at that, and understood now why he couldn't sleep.

"Is it not profitable?" she asked, and knew the answer when Ji-pyeong sighed in frustration.

"Right now, it feels like a Big Brother program where they pair the orphans with a sponsor who will help them stand on their own feet." He shook his head, "I mean, I'm thinking of investing on my own and donating to their cause, but that's just it, it's a cause. I feel like it should be more than that."

"Do you have the business plan with you?" In-jae asked, and Ji-pyeong nodded, "It's in my bag."

She sat up then, and Ji-pyeong looked at her in surprise as she got out of bed. "Where are you going?" he asked, and she turned to him with a smirk. "Since we both can't sleep anyway, we might as well get productive."

He smiled and got out of bed too, and they made their way out of the bedroom. In-jae went into the kitchen to make them both some tea, while Ji-pyeong took out the business plan and set up their laptops at the table.

Once they settled in, he handed In-jae the business plan and watched as she looked it over while sipping her tea.

Finally, she looked up at him. "It's not worth an investment yet, but I think it's promising," she said, tapping the business plan thoughtfully. "What if instead of pairing the orphans with a sponsor, we turned this into an internship program for orphans?"

He looked at her in surprise, "What do you mean?"

She chewed on her lip as she flipped through the proposal again, "Well, right now, it feels very passive. The sponsors help the orphans financially, like a handout to tide them over until they become adults."

Ji-pyeong shook his head, "And that's the worst thing you can have an orphan feel, that they're being given a handout."

She nodded, "But what if these sponsors gave the orphans a work opportunity instead? Intern at their company, learn the ropes, give them an allowance throughout the internship. Then the orphan becomes trained by their company from the ground-up, and the sponsor's return of investment would come in the form of the orphan working for them full time once he is an adult."

She turned to him and said, "It's a very rough idea and obviously there aren't any numbers in that idea yet, but it gives the company more value than it currently has."

Ji-pyeong took the proposal from her and looked through it, "But I don't know that their CEO has enough business acumen to pull that off."

"He could be our first test subject," she said, and his eyes widened as she continued, "I can take him in as an intern and mentor him on this at the same time."

In-jae smirked at him, "You, Han Ji-pyeong, are a great mentor, but you're all about the numbers. You can't help it because you're an investor. But I'm an entrepreneur, so I think differently than you. I think he needs me more than he needs you at this point in his business."

He studied her carefully. "You're serious about this?" he asked, and In-jae nodded. "I think that having him at Injae Company will also open his eyes to seeing first-hand how a business is run, and he'll see what kinds of decisions I have to make as a CEO. Then he and I can sit down and process how to apply his learnings to his own business and how he can turn this into something profitable. Then, when his business gets to a point where we can talk numbers, that's when you and I can mentor him together."

Ji-pyeong stared at In-jae so intensely that it made her blush. "What?" she asked, covering her cheeks. He shook his head. "I'm just wondering what I did to deserve you," he said seriously, and she smiled.

"So, Han In-jae," he said, and she opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off, "You're going to become my wife so get used to it!"

She blushed at the word "wife" but shut her mouth and gestured for him to continue. "Han In-jae, you're willing to invest time and effort into this business, just for me?"

She smirked, "Well, if it's important to my husband, it should be important to me too."

His heart practically melted at the word "husband" and he broke out into a wide grin. He reached out for her and she smiled as she stood up and settled into his lap. He hugged her tight and said, "Thank you. This really means a lot to me."

She gave him a quick kiss and looked into his eyes, "I know it does. And I'm actually excited to see where this goes. We're actually going to get to work together."

He laughed, "This should be interesting. Do you think he'll be able to handle both of us together? This CEO seems really young."

She smiled. "If he can handle working under us both, then he'll turn out to be pretty amazing. Because you and I together," she dipped her head down to capture his lips in a kiss, "We're unstoppable."