Finding Balance!

vii

"Hello again Riverson, Lina how nice of you to join us, how was your study break?", "It was good Chef Young, how are you?", i asked as we walked in his office, it was huge with black and white patterns. "Please call me Cheng you make me feel old", he said and smiled at me causing a blush to appear in my face. We had a seat in a meeting table that was in his office. "Apologies my Vice President is on the way, please feel at home as we wait for her", i looked around and the guy had a like thirty trophies on the wall, he was just waoh. I was getting nervous, i kept rehearsing my pitch in my head as he was telling my dad about his high school days. our eyes kept running into each other making me even more nervous. For a guy who was twelve years older than me he looked young and healthy, he was surrounded by food so i was just amazed. A door was opened and a light brown skinned woman walked in, she had so much sass that i could not stop drooling at her, she was just flawless. "Hi Roman, am sorry i kept you guys waiting, there was a crisis that could not wait". She offered her hand to Dad who accepted with a smile on his face, she turned to me and her eyes were wide as saucers. "You must be Lina, you are as beautiful as i was told", she smiled and i had no idea what to say so i just smiled back. "Good, now that we are all here, Lina, the floor is yours", he said with a deep voice that did things to me. I cleared my throat, stood up and walked toward the screen.

"We all know what Riverson International can do, and that is grow a brand. I know you had the proposal that Mr. Riverson shared to you earlier and i would like for you to dismiss it", my Dad was getting uncomfortable, i knew that he wanted me to follow his script but if i did we were going to loose Cheng's interest so i continued. "Chef Young is already a brand, the only problem is what you communicate through that brand. We believe that we can diversify what you stand for as a Chef as well as a business person. As much as you believe that people come to you for your creativity, they are coming to you for comfort, top notch customer service and new experiences. When you seat in your office and create a dish to add in your restaurants you are not just creating new means of revenue, you are creating adventures, you are planting a seed of inspiration to people that love cooking and i believe that is an angle that is worth exploring", i distributed pictorial pamphlets that had a collection of feedback that i got when i did a survey of people's perception towards Cheng. There was a smile on Kelly's face, she liked the idea, i could feel it but i needed Cheng to be onboard too.

"This is impressive, so what is your plan because i have a feeling you already have one", he said with a straight face. "It's simple, i know you are more of an introvert, so we can go at your pace but all that we are asking is for you to be open minded and allow us to fortify your legacy, through what you do the most which is cooking, you don't need to do anything in the beginning just show up and do you, but please be open minded". He asked for a few minutes to have a private discussion with Kelly. We waited outside his office. I was busy browsing on my phone when i felt like someone was watching me, i looked up and was eye to eye with Dad. "You did good back there, i never though of that angle before, must be why he was not quick to make the decision", "Thank you Sir", I replied and went back to my phone. I could not afford to forget the real purpose of me being back at Riverson International. "Lina i-", "We are ready, please come in", Kelly called us with a huge smile. "Lina, you have yourself a deal, but not just for the restaurants, we want you to handle The Goo Young Group, Kelly will tell you more about it, is that ok with you?", "Absolutely, You wont regret it", "I know i wont", he said his eyes becoming darker, i could have sworn his answer had a double meaning otherwise Kelly wouldn't have giggled. We updated the contracts which Dad signed and so did Cheng. "Lets have dinner to celebrate", "Oh i have an online meeting in an hour so Lina will be joining you on my behalf", Dad said and apologised. Cheng didn't seem to mind. Yes we were given accommodations at Luxury Corner which was also a hotel that he owned. "Not a problem Riverson", he shook Dad's hand and mine held on to mine longer than necessary. "I will see you at eight then?", he asked still holding on to my hand. "Y-y-yes", did i just stutter? I have never done that even with Tyler. I pulled my hand away and went back to my room. I took a cold shower and got ready for the so called celebration dinner.