Kristen’s appearance early in the morning made Sophia’s mood, which had just turned better, become worse again. Fortunately, Sophia had nothing to attend to that day, so she did not need to leave the house. After resting at home for one day, she became slightly busy the next day.
There was a director’s meeting in the morning. After that, she was going to meet the founder of a company in the afternoon. Sunshine Group was interested in investing in the company. Lastly, she had an appointment with Lukas in the evening.
Sunshine Group had its eyes on a company that made an application for planning travel itineraries. There were many travel-related apps in the country. However, almost none of them focused on planning itineraries.
The advantage of the app Travel Easy was that it had access to a huge database and the user’s preferences to plan a perfect trip. Sophia thought that it was a good idea, and the other shareholders were interested.
The director’s meeting in the morning was to discuss the investment. The outcome of the discussion was that Sunshine Group would first invest three million to obtain fifteen percent of the shareholding.
However, the founder of Travel Easy, Finn Penley, wanted five million for twenty percent of the shares.
Sophia had a habit of not revealing any emotions during negotiations. As a result, even after Finn shared his bottom line, she did not agree or disagree and only asked him a few questions about his proposal.
Finn had been in the travel business for ten years before starting his own.
He was better at keeping his composure than Magic Sense’s Robert and answered all of Sophia’s questions.
After half an hour, both parties did not bring up the topic of the investment.
Sophia took a sip of her coffee, lowered her head to look at the time, and realized it was already past four in the afternoon.
Her dinner with Lukas was at six-thirty, so she still had plenty of time.
“Thank you for taking time out of your schedule. I have another appointment later. Shall we end our discussion here for today?” asked Sophia.
Yvonne had been by Sophia’s side for many years. Upon hearing the request, she knew that Sophia was not happy with the price of five million.
Travel Easy had been around for over a year. At its peak, it had more than ten thousand daily users, which was quite an impressive feat.
However, everyone in the tourism industry wanted a piece of the pie. Even before Travel Easy came along, many apps had already taken market share. The road ahead was only going to be tough, and there was no guarantee that it would be successful.
Three million was not a hefty sum, but it was not an insignificant sum either.
Finn was pushing his luck by asking for five million.
Although Finn was momentarily startled when he heard Sophia’s request, he did not panic. “You’re too kind, Ms. Yarrow. Since you have something to attend to, I shall not hold you back.”
While speaking, he nodded at Yvonne, kept the proposal, and got up to settle the bill.
Sophia looked at his retreating figure and raised an eyebrow. “It is a good project, but I can’t say for sure that it has a good founder.”
It was not the first time that she had encountered someone like Finn.
Travel Easy would be impressive if it took off and was successful. However, she was afraid that it would not even reach that stage.
She decided not to dwell on it since Sunshine Group was not short of this particular project.
After retracting her gaze, she looked at Yvonne and commented, “You can head back first.”
Yvonne nodded. “Do you want me to arrange for a car to pick you up after your dinner with Mr. Dawson?”
Sophia smiled. “There’s no need.”
“All right, Ms. Yarrow,” responded Yvonne, who then proceeded to leave.
Sophia was all alone in the café.
She decided to stay there as it did not make sense to drive back to the mansion. It would be five o’clock by the time she reached. She would have to head out again after resting for a short half an hour.
She recalled that Joshua’s birthday was next month. Since she had some free time, she decided to head to the nearby mall to see if she could purchase a birthday present.
Joshua’s ties and watches were all gifted by Katherine. She wanted to visit the perfume shop on the fourth floor, but she was distracted by a new bag in a shop along the way.
She realized she had not purchased a bag for herself for some time.
She immediately entered the shop after getting off the escalator. The staff came forth to serve her enthusiastically after seeing the expensive watch on her wrist. “Miss, how may I help you?”
Sophia pointed at the new bag that she saw. “I’d like to take a look at that bag.”
The staff glanced at the bag and was instantly all smiles. “Miss, you have such a good eye. This bag is our store’s latest design for this season. It just arrived from overseas this month, and it’s the only one in the whole of Jadeborough.”
Sophia raised an eyebrow and followed after the staff.
The bag was indeed not bad. The wine color was classy and elegant, and the design was simple yet outstanding in its own ways.
Sophia liked it quite a bit and was about to ask the staff to wrap it up when she heard someone beside her say, “I want this bag. I’ll pay by card.”
The voice was familiar. Sophia cocked her head and realized that it was someone she knew very well.
After their last encounter, Bethany apologized and stayed out of her way by keeping a low profile. She did not expect Bethany to snatch a bag from her the very moment that they met again.
She flashed Bethany a half-smile and said, “Ms. White, it’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s been a while, Ms. Yarrow.”
Bethany’s smile did not reach her eyes. After she apologized publicly on the internet the last time, everything was a mess. The company tried to market a few times after that, but it was only met with scant remarks.
She had seen Sophia in the shop when she was far away. As Sophia was the reason for her current situation, she rushed to the shop to purposely snatch the bag and annoy the other.
She was considered famous in Jadeborough, and the staff recognized her. However, Sophia also came across as someone influential. The watch on her wrist alone cost six hundred thousand.
The staff felt she was stuck between a rock and a hard place and ventured carefully, “Ms. White, this lady saw the bag first.”
Bethany pretended to be shocked. “Oh, Ms. Yarrow, you also took a liking to this bag?”
Sophia smiled faintly. “Well, it is a nice bag.”
As she said that, she paused momentarily and pointed at another bag while noticing Bethany’s smug expression. “However, I like that bag better.”
The staff and Bethany instinctively turned to look in the direction Sophia pointed.
It was a bag that was in a locked display. The staff was shocked for a moment, but she recovered quickly. “Would you like me to retrieve the bag so that you can take a look?”
Sophia glanced at Bethany briefly and replied, “Yes.”
Upon hearing her response, the staff hurriedly unlocked the cabinet and took out the bag.
She then walked up to where the scarves were displayed and said, “Wrap these two scarves for me.”
Her secretary, Yvonne, had been working hard recently, so she decided to get them as a present.
After saying that, she turned around and picked a pair of simple yet elegant earrings. “I’ll get these too.”
“Miss, you need to purchase items that cost the same as the bag. Would you like to choose something else?” the staff explained.
Sophia nodded. “How much more?”
“About a hundred thousand.”
Sophia chose some more accessories, which added up to a hundred thousand, and went to the counter to make payment.
She never looked at Bethany again throughout the entire process.
It was as though the latter was invisible. After Sophia purchased the bag, she smiled at Bethany and commented, “Ms. White, don’t forget to make payment. This bag is the only one available in the whole of Jadeborough.”
She then left with her new bag after that.
Bethany’s face was red from anger. “Swipe my card!” she declared.
It’s only a lousy bag. Why wouldn’t I be able to afford it?
However, the truth of the matter was that she really could not afford it. The staff looked at Bethany embarrassedly while holding the card in her hands. “Ms. White, there’s an issue with your card. The payment can’t be processed.”
“How can that be? I just paid for my meal using the card!” she retorted.
The staff smiled apologetically. “The display shows that you have insufficient funds.”
“How much is the bag?” she asked.
“One hundred twenty thousand.”
Bethany’s face became redder still. In the past, one hundred twenty thousand was considered nothing to her. However, the family business was not doing well, and she had to resort to entering the entertainment industry to make some cash.
As she was silent for some time, the staff reminded kindly, “Ms. White, would you still like the bag?”
Bethany gritted her teeth and uttered, “No!”
She then left the store as though she was escaping for her life.
