YOUNG LOVE || 𝐉𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐀 ✔︎

fifteen

“So what do you think, sis?”

Lisa followed Bambam through the dusty parking lot. The new shopping center was being built on the southwest side of town, where most of the new subdivisions were going up. Daegu was expanding yet again and this seemed a perfect location for their store.

“How much leeway would we have on the design?” she asked.

“This whole section on the north side is not rented yet. We could take as much as we like.” He grinned at her. “This could be our largest store. We could take four or five units, really expand our inventory.”
Their first three stores, while not exactly tiny, were not big enough to be compared to the large grocery stores found in most subdivisions. If they rented five sections of this shopping center, it would be huge compared to their others.

“That’s a big investment,” she said cautiously. “If it bombs, then—”

“It’s not going to bomb. We’ve done our research, like always. And if it’s a success, then we’ve set a new standard.”

She trusted his business sense, she always had. But he was usually the practical one, the conservative one. She’d wanted to make a big splash with their first store, and he’d talked her down, keeping it in a range they could afford. It was a model that had worked three times so far. This, this would be huge for them. Not only the inventory, but finishing the construction on the inside as well.

“And the bank? This would be a larger loan than before.”

“I’ve already got it approved, sis.”

She stared at him, then glanced to the construction going on around them, knowing she would go with his instincts. “Okay.” She nodded. “Then let’s do it.
Another Manoban's Natural Foods Market.”

He stuck his hand out and they shook, as if sealing a business deal. Which, in a sense, it was. Bambam managed the business side of things and the day-to-day running of the stores. Lisa designed the layout of the stores and managed their inventories. Both were involved in the hiring as they each had standards they wanted. They paid more than other grocery stores, but they demanded more.

That was something she’d learned from her early days of working at Whole Foods.
As they walked back to Bambam's truck, she bumped his arm. “What about Mina and the kids? Has she decided yet?”

“After school is out, they’re going to move here for the summer, see how the kids like it. If it goes well, then we’ll enroll them in school here.”

“Wow. You’d really move back to Daegu permanently?”

“Mom needs us,” he reminded her. “I feel like I missed out on so much, spending twenty years in the military. You were left to take care of things for so long.”

“It’s not like she needed taking care of back then,” she said. She felt a stab of guilt. She, too, had been away, but for very different reasons.

“What about you? Have you decided what you’re going to do while this project is going on? You want to go in together and rent a house?”

“I think I’ll move in with Mom. When Mina and the kids come on weekends, well, you need your time with them. And it’ll be good to be around to help Mom. I know she’ll love the company.”

****

Jennie stopped in her tracks when she saw her. Lisa was as tall and lean as ever, her hair still cut stylishly shoulder length. But the tank she was wearing left little to the imagination. Jennie's hungry eyes roamed over her, the muscles in her arms and back straining with the weight of the desk she and Bambam were unloading.