Ice and Fire novel Chapter 84

Five years later...

The city had changed considerably. Stephen drove his car to the cemetery situated in the suburbs, with a bunch of flowers. As he got off the car, he saw John standing in front of Emily's tomb, with his assistant standing beside him.

Stephen walked up to them.

Seeing that Stephen had also come there to visit Emily, John turned to his assistant, "Wait for me in the car."

"Okay, sir." The assistant followed his instructions immediately, turned around and left.

Stephen approached Emily's tomb and placed the flowers he brought in front of her tombstone. Her photo had discoloured, turning yellow under the sun but Stephen did not care too much for that.

"You come here to visit her too", commented John.

"Yes", Stephen nodded and turned to John, "how you doing these days?"

"Fine, as always. How are you?" John replied politely, just the way he would to his best friend.

"Always the same, " Stephen answered monotonously.

John paused for a short while, and then continued to ask with concern, "My uncle... did he do anything to you recently?"

John clearly remembered that Jackson had been instigated against Stephen five years ago. For some unexplainable reasons, Jackson had been opposing Stephen, no matter what he did, giving him no chance to exhibit his abilities so much so that Stephen only managed to run a bar now, and in that too, the business was not doing good.

Taking a deep breath, Stephen questioned, "Who can stop him from doing whatever he wants?"

Stephen did not want to say too much to John. Though their relationship was not so frigid, John was still Jackson's nephew, and during the past years, Jackson had been doing all those things to him just out of spite for Cherry's leaving him. He had endured Jackson for a long time, only because he cared a lot for Cherry. He was willing to tolerate everything for her, regarding her as someone who made all the efforts worth it.

John couldn't help but tap Stephen on his shoulder, "That's what my uncle is like. You should have seen it long ago. Maybe, this will change when he looks back at what he has done."

Stephen knew that John comforted him out of kindness, so he made a wry smile towards John, "That's okay. How would I be called a man if I cannot deal with this kind of frustration?"

These words made both Stephen and John laugh together.

"Do you come here to visit Emily?" Stephen asked.

John nodded, turning his gaze to the Emily's paling photograph, "Yes, now that Cherry has left this city, I should take the responsibility of visiting Emily on her behalf. Their relationship, while they were together, was too good to describe in words. It is an honest truth that Emily holds a special place in Cherry's heart."

Stephen stared at the tombstone, said, "yeah, Emily was a dedicated person, I saw it when she worked for me."

After standing for a while in front of the tombstone, Stephen and John left together.

On the way, John asked Stephen suddenly, "Do you intend to take part in the Future Project this time?"

"Of course! Why would I miss such a good opportunity to earn money?" Stephen's answer was direct. The Future Project was the biggest business trade that ever happened in the city. And there was no doubt that the person who got the lead contract would rise to the highest position of the city.

"The competition is extremely fierce though, " John said. He had been merely planning the project on the side but it had already been a hot topic in the business world of the city. Everyone of the businessmen were preparing for the Future Project.

"Yes, even some small firms are competing for their share in this promising business trade. The result may be beyond our expectations", said Stephen. Although with no sign of success to speak for, Stephen still wanted to pitch for the opportunity. He would spare no efforts to score this chance.

Suddenly, something occurred to John, prompting him to say, "It seems that uncle is pitching for this project as well."

"Jackson?" Stephen was surprised.

John nodded, "Have you heard of the JS Group? Its chief executive is Selina."

"Derek's sister?" Stephen was shocked and at loss of words. It felt ridiculous that he did not even know who the chief executive of JS Group was.

In the last five years, the JS Group had grown to become one of the biggest enterprises in this city, with its subsidiaries spread all over the country. However, its chief executive had never ever showed up in public. That is why most people had heard of JS Group but knew nothing about the face that ran it.

It had obviously never occurred to Stephen that JS Group's CEO could be Derek's sister.

"When did she come back?" He vaguely remembered that Selina was not raised at the family residence and had lived overseas for many years.

"Five years ago, " John replied, "the original JS Group was established after she came back, has grown into the JS Group now."

Stephen did not say a word, engrossed in thinking something deep in his mind.

John continued, "Selina is the chief executive of the JS Group, but if I understand correctly, the controlling shareholder behind the group must be my uncle."

What John said astonished Stephen even more. "Why are you so sure about that?" asked Stephen.

"Because no one has the ability to build a brand and spread it all over the country in only five years; no one, except my uncle." Finishing his sentence, John realised he was still removed from the actual truth. So he added, "Actually, scratch that, he built it in three years. Because many subsidiaries of JS Group have been established only in the last two years."

Thinking it carefully, Stephen finally came round. During the five years, JS Group was getting more and more famous. So, John's conjecture was also reasonable.

Stephen enquired after a little bit of thinking, "So you are saying that the JS Group is competing for the Future Project too?"

"What a wonderful opportunity the Future Project is! Do you think he would let it go?" John had a knowing smile on his face.

Stephen agreed silently. How could Jackson give it up? That would be against his very nature...

The special area for chairman was situated at the top storey of JS building. In the plush office space, Selina was marking documents, as well as listening to work reports from the four secretaries who were standing in front of her.

After they finished their reports, Selina turned from the documents before her to these four secretaries, all sharply dressed, and remarked, "Now I know everything. What you should do next is to schedule the high-level meeting, go to the airport to receive the negotiator coming from the US and bring me the financial?sheet of last month before three o'clock today. And yes, clear my schedule for this afternoon, I have to go meet someone important."

"Got it, Miss Selina", the four young voices spoke in unison. Sharing a quick glance with each other, the four secretaries immediately assigning their respective tasks.

Watching them in action, Selina nodded in satisfaction. She needed her secretaries to be highly intelligent and efficient, just like this.

"Okay, get to work now, " came a curt order as Selina immersed herself back to marking the documents again.

This time, the four secretaries gave no response but bowed deftly, and then turned around to leave quietly, not daring to bother Selina.

In the afternoon, while Selina was still in the office room she heard her secretary knocking at the door and asked to come in.

Standing in front of her boss, the secretary spoke timidly, "Miss Selina, Mr Jackson and Mr Derek have just entered the elevator."

Selina, who knew that Jackson and Derek were coming, answered, "Okay, I know. Now you can get off of work. Tell the security?guards that no one is allowed to come up here."

"Okay", said the secretary and left promptly. She knew that the order was clear. No one could get into the chairman chamber, as per Selina's order.

Shortly after the secretary left, Selina saw Jackson and Derek enter.

With a bright smile on her face, Selina stood up comfortably to welcome Jackson and Derek.

"You are so punctual", she commented.

Jackson didn't say a word, just casually sat on the sofa next to him.

"Don't you know that our best quality is being punctual?" Derek joked.

"What makes you so smug? What happens to your punctuality on those blind dates?" Selina curled her lips into a sly smile.

"Stop right there" Derek got anxious. He couldn't believe the little girl could refer to such petty things while they were about to talk about something so serious!

Selina glared at Derek impatiently, and then turned to Jackson, "What do you want to drink?"

"Latte." Jackson only had one word to say.

Derek continued his silence, his thoughts always in sync with Jackson.

Selina also understood what they meant, went up to make two cups of coffee on the other side of her chamber and brought them back to Jackson and Derek sitting on the sofa.

"Are you done with today's work?" Jackson asked as he sipped his coffee.

"Yes, just waiting for you two to talk about the Future Project", said Selina.

Jackson and Derek was very quiet. After a while, Derek turned his gaze to Jackson, indicating for him talk first.

Jackson looked at Selina, and asked coolly, "What's your opinion?"

Selina spoke, thinking deliberately, "Assessing the current situation in the business arena, almost every enterprise is fighting fiercely for the Future Project. But it can't be seen as a bad thing for us because if we get the Future Project, we will get the chance to acquire a number of small companies. The Future Project will not only help us earn money but will also do good in promoting our brand. The acquisition of these small companies will bring in an unforeseen income as well."

Derek nodded, thinking how right Selina was in what she said. It looked like his sister's business acumen was growing comparable with that of Jackson.

"Amidst this fierce competition, is there an opponent for us?" Jackson asked.

Thinking about it for a minute, Selina shook her head, and said, "There is no opponent for us as of now. Even some of the biggest firms do not stand a chance in terms of qualifications in comparison to us. However..."

Selina seemed to be reminded of something, but she did not speak it out loud.

"What?" Derek asked impatiently.

Jackson looked at Selina, nudging her to continue with her words.

"The Shen Group may take part in the competition, and..." Selina turned her eyes towards Jackson, "it is the same with Stephen."