Elizabeth got up out of her seat and walked out of her class as the bell rang and all of the other children said goodbye to their friends. She glanced at the teacher who seemed to be doing some grading.
Elizabeth then looked away and exited the room, heading towards the parking lot. As she exited the building a car pulled up. Elizabeth entered. "School the same as usual?" Mark asked. Elizabeth nodded as she looked out the window.
'I still can't help but want to ask questions as to why I have these memories...' Elizabeth thought to herself.
...
Mark pulled into the driveway as he parked the car. "Alright, we're home. Let's go eat." Mark said.
"Okay." Elizabeth said blandly as she exited the car and walked into the house. "Hey, dad. How do you make business deals?" Elizabeth asked. Mark entered the house after Elizabeth.
"How about I tell you after dinner?" Mark recommended.
"Okay." Elizabeth said.
"Tell her what?" Lizbeth asked from another room.
"She's interested in how I make business deals." Mark responded.
"Oh, that sounds interesting, I want to listen too." Lizbeth said.
"Alright, but after we eat, okay?" Mark said.
"Okay, that's fine by me." Lizbeth responded lightly with a slight giggle.
'We've been eating pretty early as of late. Not quite sure why, but I'm fine with it.' Elizabeth thought to herself.
...
"Alright, so my business strategy. You start by figuring out what kind of person you're dealing with, that will completely change how you interact with them, but generally, this strategy works with most people. Ask for more than you want and work your way down to what you want." Mark said.
"Wait, that actually works?"Lizbeth asked. Mark nodded.
"Let's say I want to buy 60% of a company, but I know that if I ask for that immediately, they'll say no and aim for a lower percentage, so instead I ask for 78% so that by the time we get down to 60% they think they're getting a good deal and feel really good about their decision." Mark explained further.
"A big part of this is making the original offer seem reasonable by saying things such as, 'your company has recently been falling behind on your loans,' or, 'I noticed your stocks were bought up recently,' things like that." Mark added
"So it's basically a form of manipulation, right?" Lizbeth asked.
"Yes. Negotiations are entirely about manipulation and power. Let's say you're making a deal with a company that's about to go bankrupt, due to this fact you have more power over them and they are more willing to sell more of their company. It also winds up being easier to get them to do things." Mark expanded upon his previous explanation.
"This is because they want the deal more. Whoever shows the most interest in a deal loses. Furthermore, after the pitch is made whoever talks first also loses." Mark finished his current thought.
"What about the idea of corporate espionage?" Elizabeth asked.
"Where did you learn a term like that?" Mark asked.
"The internet..." Elizabeth responded. 'Really, it's just these dreams... They are rather strange.' Elizabeth thought to herself.
"Well, when I was planning on selling my company, what actually happened is we merged our companies because I took advantage of how much they wanted my company. Because of this, I managed to buy 19.87% of their company from under them." Mark said with a slight chuckle. "Just manipulate the circumstances and you'll come out on top." Mark added.
"Your father does commonly forget to consider the opponent's future, but that's fine, he's trying his best and that's what matters." Lizbeth added onto Mark's explanation.
"Well, when it comes to my family's future versus somebody else's, odds are I'll choose my family's future." Mark said.
"Yes, and I love that about you." Lizbeth said with a light smile.
'And my head is starting to swirl with information...' Elizabeth thought to herself as she became slightly lightheaded.
"One final note to add; Never, no matter what, show any sign of wanting anything in a negotiation, always let the other side make the first move and only react and try to get as much as possible from a deal." Mark added with a serious tone.
"R-right..." Elizabeth said as she tried to digest all the information she just obtained.
"Oh, Mark, I think we're forgetting that she is still quite young and doesn't quite have the appetite for information as we do." Lizbeth said as she looked caringly as Elizabeth.
"Ah, right. I mean, even when you teach me things I can barely keep up, so that makes sense." Mark stated.
"Well, I do process information differently from you." Lizbeth said.
(A few hours later)
"I'm glad that she can enjoy her time at home, lord knows that our childhoods were way different." Lizbeth said.
"Maybe we should introduce Elizabeth to her grandparents..." Mark stated.
"I'm not so sure about that... Remember what happened last we spoke to your parents?" Lizbeth asked. Mark nodded.
"They just don't like going against tradition and hate nonconformity... Then again, all of us are fairly nonconforming." Mark said lightly.
"My family is full of recluses, it's hard enough to track my siblings let alone my parents." Lizbeth said. "Maybe we can get your father over here to at least meet his granddaughter... Plus, you can go visit your mother in the hospital with your father when he goes back, we just need to time it." Lizbeth said.
"I think we are going to need to think about it... I love my mother and father to death and back, but I don't know if I can handle visiting them or them visiting us." Mark said.
"Well, just think about it. Elizabeth is still young, and children are emotional creatures, we need to be there to support her, and one way of doing that may be to introduce her to other family members, at the least maybe your sister can visit." Lizbeth proposed a compromise.
"Alright, I'll contact her and see if she wants to visit, but I'm not going to America with her." Mark compromised.
"Deal." Lizbeth said as she giggled.
"You just used the whole tactic of asking for more, didn't you?" Mark asked. Lizbeth nodded with a large smile. Mark sighed. "I'm gonna regret that." Mark stated with a slight laugh and broad smile.