Daniel glanced at him through the rearview mirror as Gray shut the car door behind him.
"Everything alright, Sir?"
Gray settled back into the seat and let out a breath. "Yeah. Just... had lunch."
Daniel didn’t comnt. He simply gave a short nod and started the car.
As the engine humd quietly beneath them, Gray leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a mont. The conversation with Selina lingered longer in his thoughts than he expected.
Her voice, her laugh, and the way she carried herself all replayed in the back of his mind.
One lunch, huh?
He couldn’t help but let out a quiet chuckle.
But it didn’t last long.
The mont the car made a turn and he spotted the city skyline again, his eyes snapped open.
Right. This wasn’t the ti to be thinking about a girl.
Gray sat up straighter and reached for the folder sitting beside him on the seat. He flipped through the pages—purchase reports, competitor pricing, sales forecast. Everything he needed for this eting was here.
Gray tapped his finger lightly against the folder.
"No distractions," he muttered under his breath. "Focus up."
Ti to lock in.
"Daniel," Gray uttered after a minute. He sat upright, his tone more grounded now. "Let’s head to the restaurant this early. I want a minute to review things before we get there."
"Understood, Sir." Daniel adjusted the turn signal and shifted lanes smoothly.
As the city passed by outside the window, Gray opened the file and started scanning through the highlighted notes again. Numbers, nas, contract clauses. He took them all in, page by page.
Surprisingly, the restaurant where the eting was scheduled wasn’t far. It was just fifteen minutes away from Coastal Cafe. Daniel pulled up in front of the restaurant, and a high-end place with glass walls greeted them.
Gray stepped out with the folder tucked under his arm, he took one last deep breath and straightened his blazer. It was just quarter to 1, so he still had a few minutes left before the eting starts,
Still, it was better to be early so he could get comfortable around.
"Hello Sir, do you have any reservation?" A young woman in a red uniform greeted him.
"For Gray Adams." Gray kindly answered.
As if the na rang a bell to her, the waitress bowed her head imdiately.
"Mr. Adams? This way please."
Gray followed her through the quiet restaurant until they reached a private conference room labeled 2B. The staff held the door open for him.
Inside, the room was clean and neat. A long table stretched across the space, with a pitcher of water and neatly placed glasses in the middle. The view of the street could be seen through the wall of windows behind them.
There, two n were already seated at the far end of the table.
The first was soone Gray recognized from the file. It was Mr. John Smith, the branch Manager of the Westle California supplier company. The one he was supposed to et.
John looked to be in his early forties. He had grayish hair, thick glasses, and a well-fitted gray suit. He had a calm and calculating expression on his face that beca evident as he glanced up from his tablet.
The second was a younger man, probably in his late twenties. His ID tag on the side of his clothes read Aaron Li – Procurent Assistant. He was busy adjusting so docunts, looking a little nervous.
’It’s probably his first ti too,’ Gray uttered.
John stood up the mont Gray entered.
"Mr. Adams," he said, extending a hand. His voice was polite as he greeted Gray. "It’s a pleasure to et you."
Gray shook it firmly. "Thank you for eting with , John. I’ve heard good things about you."
No, he didn’t.
Gray didn’t even know the man except when he searched his na on the internet.
"That’s always good to hear." John gestured to the seat across from him. "Shall we?"
"Sure." Gray sat down and pulled out his file, sliding it onto the table.
Aaron gave a small smile and a nod, still avoiding eye contact. anwhile, John leaned back slightly in his seat, folding his hands over his tablet.
"I’ll admit," John started, "we were a little surprised when the eting was requested so suddenly. But if your branch has seen the kind of growth Marcus hinted at, then I can understand why."
"Yes," Gray nodded once.
"Riverside’s numbers have changed. We’ve had a solid increase in custor flow these past few months and our weekly inventory turnover is up by almost twenty percent compared to last quarter."
John raised an eyebrow. "That’s a lot in a short amount of ti."
Gray didn’t flinch. "It is. Which is why we’re looking to revise our current terms. I’ve brought so numbers to support the request."
He opened the file and slid the Purchase Volu Report across the table.
John took it and scanned it quickly. His eyes didn’t show much emotion, but his fingers did pause briefly at one point.
"And these are verified by your internal tracking system?"
"Yes. Everything’s backed up through our sales logs. I’ve included data from the last six months, along with a projection for the next two quarters."
John flipped to the next page. It was the projected Sales Forecast. His expression remained unreadable, but he nodded slightly as he went through it.
"And your price adjustnt proposal?" he asked.
Gray handed him the Proposed Terms Sheet, and for the next minute, no one spoke. The only sounds were the faint rustling of papers and the soft hum of the air conditioner.
It seed like John was reading everything to make sure. After a few minutes, John leaned back in his chair finally. He glanced up and frowned, his brows eting together.
"You’re asking for a 4% drop in base unit price for essentials, and a 2% discount on bundled goods."
"Yes," Gray nodded. "We also want to order more products. It’s good for you, too."
"And you’ve done a competitor pricing check?"
Gray slid forward the third docunt. It was a Competitor Pricing Analysis.
John skimd through it, then passed it to Aaron without a word.
"And finally..." Gray tapped the final docunt still in his folder. "An internal evaluation of your service so far. It’s good. You’ve been reliable, but there were a few flagged issues like deliveries and mislabeled shipnts. I didn’t want to bring them up, but I’m prepared if needed."
John looked up at him, his eyes sharper now. He looked like a man in a battlefield.
"I see Marcus wasn’t bluffing when he said you’d co prepared."
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