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“Yes.” I wasn’t sure if I was convincing him or myself. “I wanted to send an apology email later, but now I can do it in person. It won’t get us the investor but maybe he won’t try to kill our business if I’m nice enough. I’ll send his receptionist an email and I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”
“And if you happen to wander into his office while you’re there?”
“It would be the perfect opportunity to apologize.”
“Perfect.”
“If it’s alright with you, I think we should go to the park some other day. I feel energized, I want to get working.”
“I love when you get like this Lydia. As long as you order something to eat once we get there, let’s head back to the office.I have to look over what we’re working with for Pre-Fall anyway. I swear if it’s tie dye again I will scream.”
“Michael, you’re the greatest. Ever.”
That night we started planning for the next season, and I had sent out so many emails to new investors my eyeballs still stung when I finally closed my eyes that night to go to sleep.
Tomorrow, I just had to apologize, get my briefcase, and then I could be officially done with Hirano Enterprises.
Chapter 2
Taylor
I scrolled through my voicemails on my phone, deleting each without listening to them. I’d left the office early that day, after that mess of a meeting. I was sitting on a bar stool by the marble kitchen counter, my laptop sitting in front of me with my email pulled up. I was still working despite my departure. I just didn’t want to be there anymore.
I kept thinking back to that woman. Did she honestly think calling my family’s company outdated was going to work in her favor? I rolled my eyes with no one there to see it. I had wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, after what she said about being late. A dog? I laughed thinking about it. I wanted to see where she was going after that, only someone interesting would own up to something like that. Too bad she ended up being boring after all.
I sighed, like I was trying to push the thoughts of the meeting out of my head so I could get back to my work. I was about to, when the doorbell chimed throughout the house. I looked less professional now that I was home, whoever it was would have to deal with it. My jacket and tie were thrown over the banister in the hall, shoes abandoned at the front door, my cuffs unbuttoned, sleeves wrinkling at my elbows, and the top three buttons undone so I could breathe. That Ms. Maxwell was right about needing a new wardrobe. My last stylist seemed to screw up the sizes on all of my professional wear: everything was just a little too small. I’d also been working out more recently. But not too much.Overworking yourself at the gym is just another way of harming yourself. I could hear my therapist’s even, but high-pitched, voice float through my thoughts. Either way, I was gaining the muscles of my twenties back not that I am that old, I’m thirty, and I needed new clothes to accommodatethat. I wondered if Ms. Maxwell’s tailors were better than my old one.
Why was I still thinking about her?Well, a meeting that bad was bound to leave an impression, I guessed.
I headed to the door and looked at my security cameras facing the door on my way. Outside was my grandfather, and CEO of Hirano Enterprises, Ikari Hirano.
“Jiji,” I greeted him with a bow of my head and stepped aside to let him into my home.
My grandfather emigrated from Japan in 1950 when he was in his twenties and built up Hirano Enterprises from the ground up. He was a stout man, with dark tan skin, and wrinkles folding his face. I got my brown eyes from him. I idolized him when I was a child and I had worked for him since I graduated college. Still, he was very traditional, and it was rare to receive affection from him. When he stepped into my hall he looked around and in greeting said, “Still no doorman?”
“I have a housecleaner who’s here every weekdayJiji,” I reminded him.
“You could have many workers here Taylor,” he reminded me as he headed into one of my living rooms. “Your house is too big to be so empty. Buy an apartment if you are not going to use it.”
I struggled to keep pace with him. I kept my face neutral as I responded, “I told you before, I like my privacy.”
He waved his hand around in a way I knew meant he found my answer ridiculous. He changed the subject regardless, “How was your meeting today?”
“I don’t foresee us pursuing any further communication with that fashion company,” I explained.
“Hm.” He continued on through my house, like he was touring it with me following him around. Finally, he stopped inthe kitchen glancing around like he was looking for something. His eyes finally landed on me. “When are you getting married?”
I am not often caught off guard, yet at that question I stopped breathing. He kept looking at me and I coughed trying to get air back into my lungs. “Excuse me?”
“You are almost thirty-one,” he stated as if that explained it.
“I know you got married when you were eighteen, but that’s because you metSoboin high school.” I reminded him, keeping my deep voice steady despite my heart pounding in my chest.
“And I have respected your decision this long.” He said like he was being the reasonable one. “But you are going to become CEO.”
“Not for a while though.”
“No.” He said firmly. “You will become CEO at the end of this year.”
