"Apparently, there is some competition going on between the siblings." Yang Mi said.
"Hmm." Lily nodded in response. "It is normal for siblings to compete. Some compete for their parent's attention and some for influence and wealth. In a society where the strong are revered, this is something normal inside the household of influential families. " As expected, the siblings were indeed competing on who could gain their father's favor. She turned her attention to Yang Mi. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, President."
"The bags under your eyes say otherwise." Lily shifted her gaze towards the files in front of her. She knew that Yang Mi was never the type to easily open up to someone. She was not as emotional and would always think things thoroughly before doing something. "Can you fix it?"
"President?"
"Whatever it is that made you lose your sleep." She continued, her gaze still on the file. "Can you fix it?"
��I— "
"If the answer is no. Then… let it go." Lily uttered. "What are you waiting for?" She chuckled. Slowly, her head turned towards the beautiful woman standing next her. "But if the answer is yes…. Then, what's stopping you from fixing it?" Lily gave a gentle smile. "Fix it before it's too late."
Ignoring the changes in Yang Mi's face, Lily started reading the file in her hand. Human relationships were complicated. While Lily was aware that she was in no position to give advice, she also knew that sometimes, Yang Mi could be a little stupid.
Pride was a difficult thing to handle. And when pride was coupled with stupidity, it could easily ruin someone's happiness. Lily straightened her back. It was normal for someone to fall in love. What is not normal was to keep on running from it.
Emotions can be complicated at times and Lily was aware of that. She was also aware that Yang Mi's sense of duty might be greater than what she felt inside. However, she could not stay with Lily forever. She needed to have a life. A man that would take care of her, as family.
If Lily was right, this was something that had been weighing on Yang Mi's mind. The line between duty and emotion. The line between her responsibility to the person that she vowed to protect and the person who she might spend her life with.
Lily pursed her lips. As much as she wanted to give life-changing advice to Yang Mi, she chose to maintain her silence. She knew Yang Mi was smart enough to figure it out on her own. A smile dangled on Lily's lips as she felt Yang Mi stare at her side profile.
"Thank you," Yang Mi uttered in a low voice. Lily responded with a nod.
"So…" Lily started breaking the silence inside the room. "Veron and Veronica are favored because their mother absolutely loves them. However, the two are not really interested in business." She stated. "Veron loves sports, archery, surfing, skydiving. Just like his twin sister. Interesting."
If they don't like handling a business then…. Why were they here in the first place?
"Their mother." Yang Mi stated. "Mrs. Corneel is a socialite in Europe. She is close friends with some famous singers and prestigious families in both the US and Europe."
Lily nodded in response. According to the reports, their father must have let them do whatever they wanted. Travel, parties, shopping. Everything. However, their mother was different. She was a bit strict and wanted all her children to learn everything about business. In fact, all six of their children, including her two stepchildren studied business management.
Growing up under the pressure of society must have been hard. She thought. "Call Leon Corneel. Tell him I am very grateful that he sent someone as knowledgeable as the twins." Lily uttered, a sly smile plastered on her face.
In fact, the presentation that the twins did was not that good. The information presented at the meeting was something Lily and everyone else in that room were aware of. How could they enjoy such a presentation? It was a good thing that Lily's executives were extremely polite and still pretended to show interest in the topic. However, that report already created an unfavorable impression towards the Corneels Oils and Co.
The fact that they sent someone inexperienced was enough to leave a bad taste in the mouth of those executives. Were they not worth it? Why would they send someone who just graduated from the university to handle a multi-million dollar deal? Were they underestimating them?
Lily smiled at the thought of the scheme. Unlike her executives, it was very clear in her eyes, it was almost blinding. She could instantly guess that someone in that family wanted the deal to fail. They wanted to use the twins to represent the company and make the executives think that they were disrespecting them. This would also give some negative results to the twins.
However, Lily was not stupid. She could already smell something like this from a mile away. What she did not expect is for someone to boldly try to use her in the politics inside the Corneel Family.
"Tell him, I would love to meet for a coffee. Perhaps we could schedule one during one of his trips to Asia." Lily added. Leon Corneel— a name that was famous in the oil industry. A businessman, a husband, and a father.
Lily immediately wondered what dark secrets this man was hiding. Chuckling at her own thoughts, Lily instantly thought of the possibility that it was Leon himself who wanted to compromise the deal. But why?
He and his associates were the ones that proposed the acquisition of the company. Why would he use this method to back out now? Was someone forcing him to do this?
Someone might be trying to use his company to gain access to Facci Group. But why?
Questions upon questions started piling up inside Lily's head. A smile soon hung on her lips. It seemed that she had been out of the limelight for so long, people were starting to forget who she was.
Proofreader: Dragon777