The Story of Us (Hiatus)

3

Wang Yibo decided to give Xiao Zhan a few days to think things over. He actually called Xuan Lu if she could convince Zhan to have lunch with Yibo and Haikuan to talk things through more smoothly. Zhan agreed to go meet with them. He wanted to really convince the two that he cannot give up the property. When he arrived to the restaurant, Zhan was nervous about this meeting. He sighed and went inside.

"Hello," the hostess said as Zhan walked inside.

"Hi, I am here to meet with some people, I am Xiao Zhan."

"Ah, of course," the hostess says, "follow me," Zhan followed the hostess to a private room, "your company is not here yet so please be patient. Would you like a drink while you wait?"

"Ugh, water is fine," Zhan said.

"I'll have one of our servers get that for you," The hostess said.

Zhan nodded and went into the room. He then sat down and contemplated some of his life choices, "why did I actually come here? I don't want to give up on my family's shop."

As Zhan was thinking, a waitress came in with water for him. She then left saying the others would arrive shortly. Zhan checked his watch and he found that they were a few minutes late. He said to himself that if they don't arrive in the next twenty minutes he would leave. Zhan sighed and walked over to the nearby window.

"I must be losing my mind for being here," he said to himself.

Literary Time Capsule. It was named that because of its history. The artifacts inside, and the fact that Zhan's bookshop was one of very little that sold first editions and rare editions as well as modern works of course. Many have come just to find that one special limited edition they have longed to add to their collection. Zhan remembered growing up and he was always enjoying the place. After school he would grab a book and read at one of the reading nooks. He'd put the book back and make sure it was in the same condition it was in when he first started reading it.

Zhan smiled remembering the happy memories he had of his mother and grandparents. His grandparents put the bookshop in Zhan's name within their will. Zhan was to make sure that their family memories wouldn't be forgotten. Zhan's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a knock. He turned and saw the two Wang brothers standing there at the door.

"Are you coming in or do I smell bad and you are keeping distance because you are trying to be polite?" Zhan asked playfully.

The two brothers laughed a little, "you do not smell," Haikuan said and walked over to Zhan, "I realized we never properly introduced ourselves, I am Wang Haikuan, and this is my brother Wang Yibo."

"Pleasure to meet you," Zhan said shaking Haikuan's hand, "Xiao Zhan."

"Shall we sit?" Haikuan asked. Zhan nodded and sat down at his spot at the table. Yibo and Haikuan sat across from him.

"So it was Xuan Lu who convinced me to be here," Zhan told them.

"You seem to have a close relationship with her," Haikuan said.

"She is my cousin from my father's side but she is like an older sister to me," Zhan told him, "I go to her a lot when I need advice."

"She seems very kind," Haikuan said, "and all we want to do today is talk. We can answer questions that you may have and we can ask you questions too. All we want is for you to be honest with us."

"I want you to know right away, that I made a promise to my family that this store will remain in the family. It was very important to my grandparents and I loved growing up with them. My father died when I was young so it was just my mother and me with her parents. They are the ones who owned the shop before me. My mother and grandparents died only a few years ago and if I lose the bookshop, I basically lost the only thing I have left of them," Xiao Zhan explained.

Wang Yibo was now feeling that it was best not to invest into this project. If this bookshop was that important to Xiao Zhan, who was he to take it away from him. He didn't want that to begin with. The bookshop was a little old and warm down but it gave off a comforting and homely feeling whenever you stepped inside.

"Honestly, I understand," Haikuan said before Yibo could get a word in, "we mostly had the idea to help invest into your bookshop and help make it more modern. If we did that it takes away the history of the place. If you want we can keep it rustic as it is but help by building a bigger space. You have a lot of books and even artifacts. Those artifacts, we can get them authenticated for you and they can have a permanent place at the shop. We wouldn't be taking away your ownership of the place but we would just be helping you manage it. Our company usually helps others grow and thrive."

"We will obviously respond your decision if you decline," Yibo said, "we would work with you on making a contract. Xuan Lu told us you have a degree in business management so you would know what you would be looking for if we drew something up."

Zhan sighed, "I am not going to make any rash decisions, but say I let you come in and draw up some plans, if I like the improvements and what you can do, then maybe I will consider but you have to know I can't afford any of this," he said.

"We understand and we wouldn't be taking advantage of you like that. It would be nice of you to let us show you some ideas to persuade you," Haikuan said, "how about in three months, we come back with a few ideas drawn up and even a digital rendered version of them to see what you think. As for money, it is no issue, we like doing these kind of projects. You would not have to worry. As we said, you would still have ownership and all we would do is help you advertise and grow, especially since you have a collaboration with the nearby university."

"It is only because there are some students from there who work at the bookshop," Zhan told them.

"We did notice you had a decent staff," Yibo said, "were they hired before the shop was handed to you?"

"There are two people who are still working at the bookshop that were there when my mother and grandparents were alive. The rest are either a couple extended family members looking to make a little extra money or students from the university," Zhan explained.

"Alright," Yibo said, "though we said we would have ideas ready in three months, would you mind if we had some people show up to take measurements and look around more thoroughly?"

"Sure," Zhan agreed.

"Great," Yibo said, "we will also make sure that either me or my brother is with the couple of staff we have there to supervise as we are not wanting to give you any problems."

"I appreciate it," Zhan said.

Xiao Zhan still wasn't sure of the offer but he agreed to let the Wangs draw up some plans. He can still decline in the end if he feels that he just doesn't want to go through with it. Zhan knows that it will be in his family, he will still have ownership and he will still have all the rights, he would just have more people to help him...he needed to really think this through. He didn't want to get screwed over or hurt. He really didn't want to lose the bookshop.