A few minutes later, one of the meeting room doors swung open with the triumphant energy of prisoners being released from corporate purgatory. A small procession of sharply dressed individuals emerged, their faces bearing the weary satisfaction of people who'd just survived a PowerPoint presentation that could've been an email.
Among them was Jeremy, looking marginally less dead inside than usual—a miraculous achievement that suggested the meeting had actually gone well.
He'd successfully navigated the treacherous waters of corporate negotiation in under an hour, securing satisfactory results that would probably earn him a congratulatory message from his father containing exactly three words and full emotion.
With practiced efficiency, he left the two Shen Company representatives to engage in the ritualistic post-meeting small talk with their Luo Corporation counterparts—a social obligation he had absolutely zero interest in participating in.
