"Are you ready to stay fit?"
I was greeted by my enthuasiatic running buddy at the lobby. Laura and her boyfriend had been in Seoul for 5 years and they have stayed at the Loft for 3 years now.
"Don't tell me we are going for the Tapas place again after our run?" I smiled while joining them, stretching my legs and arms.
Carlos, her boyfriend is not the chatty type, so he would just smile at oiur conversation most of the time. It's not hard to start a new routine in this city. Although the language is a big challenge. The residents in the building are almost all expats, so the building's main language is English.
After the run, I made an appointment with the couple for lunch. I just noticed his message when I was done with my shower.
Straightforward message devoid of any greeting. I joined Laura and Carlos at the Spanish restaurant close to our place. It was a mouthwatering feast of tapas dishes. I might have enjoyed the food and wine that I forgot to answer his message.
I am thinking of a way to avoid the dinner but I can't seem to compose any message. That's when my phone rang.
"Hello, this is Ara…"
"Hi, Ate, how are you? It's Jay, I'm in Seoul," I'm surprise to hear from my brother . We call him Jay because he is junior from my father's name.
"Oh, when did you arrive and what are you doing here?"
"I just arrived late last night. I didn't know that you are here if Lisa didn't call the office, I would never know…"
"I have been here for 3 weeks now; you must have been so busy not to know what's going on. But what brought you to Seoul?"
"I'm going to meet someone for possible investment. You want to have dinner with me, later?"
"Investment? What kind of investment would that be?"
"No worries. I won't put the company's name on this. It's a personal investment I have been eyeing for a while. That's why I need to meet them first before totally entrusting my investment and their service…"
"Where are you staying and how long will you be staying here?"
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I have meeting Monday in the school, so I also need to go back…"
"Ok, I'll see you later, I'll come by the hotel…"
Finally, a valid reason to not meet him, right?< I'm sorry, something came up urgently, I'm afraid I'll have to cancel our dinner tonight. We can do it some other time.>
I met with my brother at Grand Hyatt The Terrace restaurant in Yongsan. Although, I got to see him every quarterly meeting of RTR, we have never really been close personally, to have this kind of meeting. So, I suspect that he must have some other business to talk about.
"How are you? I thought I would only be seeing you again next month, I didn't expect that we'll be seeing each other here…" I started.
"I haven't read the report last month, so I didn't know that you were here."
The company secretaries have a monthly report about our whereabouts in order to update what's going on with us. Since, we are scattered around the globe, we have to constantly update everyone about what's happening with our schedule.
"It seems that you are busy with your own ventures given that you are here for investment meeting…"
"I have been following this company for a while now, even before I started investing, I have been fascinated with their product. I met with the chairman. Can you imagine, sis? I'm meeting with the chairman of the company where my favorite games are created?" he is over the moon. My brother has been a computer whiz since he was in high school, but he never really reached his potential. He had been trying to expand his investment within IT, but he was too busy with the Learning Center and taking care of the IT related problems of RTR.
"So, it's all about games, huh? What company is that? Why do you have to come to Seoul?"
"They just started venturing overseas, I think they will start in China, so I might as well try my luck before they get bigger…"
"Good thinking…" I applaud him.
"I'll tell you all about it when it will push through for certain, for now, I talked with the chairman because he is going to China tomorrow."
"But why did you come here personally? You could have sent someone," I want to know what's his real intentions are.
"I told you this is my personal investment…" he is eating while we are talking. But I know he is trying to find a perfect timing to say what his real intentions are.
"In any case we needed to be ready, right? It's about time for you to start with a project that you really like."
"What do you think about investing in IT?" so finally, it came out. I knew it's just a matter of time before he will venture into this. IT is, after all, his real interest.
"If you have a business plan and proposal, we'll try to check it? Do you think we have a room for that in the company?"
"That's why I came here. I want to check personally the company, if I can make an investment or there's a possibility of collaboration afterwards."
"At least you have plan. Enough of the business talks…how's everyone at home?"
"I'll make sure to study properly on this…so, I might pop-up once in awhile in here…we'll see each other next month, right?"
"Next time you come here, no need to check into a hotel, you can come to my flat…" I offered.
When you are in the business world, investing, starting, expanding business and earning money is becoming addictive. This is what I'm scared about. That's why I really didn't put much pressure to my siblings about turning in high revenues and profits.
I checked my phone and I saw his message.