Chapter 171: Agreement
But Ivan insisted on it, "But I think it would be better for you to get some shares. If you really feel that you shouldn't get any because you didn't invest anything in the store, then how about you just see it as a part of the signing bonus. Just work for the store and create new pills to make it better.
We can even ask Greg to help manage it and then we can try to make it work together."
Ivan had to persuade Serge a bit more before he agreed to accept 20% of the shares. But only on the condition that he would let the store use any recipes he developed for free. Normally stores would pay a fee for the recipes they used, even if the developer was an employee.
They had just finished their agreement and had also decided to ask Greg to help with management as soon as he was back to normal, when suddenly out of the corner of his eyes, Ivan saw someone storming towards them. It wasn't hard to see that whoever it was, the person was enraged, making him wonder who it was and who enraged him or her.
Part of the answer became clear when the person came closer. It was Pia who, without greeting the others, directly stomped over to Greg and grabbed him at his collar, lifting him up and then screaming angrily into his face.
"What the fuck are you thinking? When the fucking hell did I tell you that I want to break up with you? How about you get fucking back on track, so I don't have to worry this much about you."
While she shouted at him, she too started to shake him. Greg looked completely shocked at the sudden outburst. He hadn't even seen her coming over and now he was suddenly being grabbed by her.
Ignoring everything else, he hesitantly asked, "You don't want to break up with me?"
"Of course not, you idiot.", it seemed like Pia was truly angry at him since she continued to curse at him.
"But you said that I was a disappointment and that I am not worthy to be with you.", he weakly protested.
"Damn you, stupid idiot. I said that only because I wanted you to change. Do you remember how you were when we got together? You were full of drive. You desired to become something, to make something. Now? Now you just live every day as it comes. You hang around with friends, not that that is bad. But besides that? You are planning to take over your father's shop? Hah!", she was still angry but her tone had already become softer while explaining.
Greg became thoughtful. What she said was true. Back then he had dreamed of creating his own business. To become a successful merchant and a great member of the alliance. But the harsh reality had started to affect him. It had robbed him of his dreams. Back then when he had seen how his father struggled, when he understood that he would most likely never have the funds to start.
Slowly he had started to be satisfied with his current life while reducing his dreams until finally there was nothing left. Now that he understood this he also understood what his girlfriend had meant. He also understood that after they died, she had clearly understood the fact that he himself was unable to awake from his stupor. Thus she had tried to help him come out of it. But he had misunderstood it and had taken it as her trying to break up with him. Thankfully he had talked with his friends about it and he was sure that it was one of them who had told Pia about his thoughts, prompting her to come over.
"Thank you.", he sincerely told Pia while hugging her.
Seeing that he understood her meaning, Pia too calmed down and removed her hands from his collar to hug him back.
The others didn't interrupt them and when Celine arrived she too didn't do anything to shorten their sweet moment.
Finally, Pia let go of Greg. "That's enough, we are in public." Her sentence made the others think about what they would do if they were private. Ivan guessed that it might just be good old makeup sex.
"Thank you for telling me about this idiot's thoughts.", she then said to Celine and Ivan. This time the word 'idiot' was filled with sweetness instead of anger.
"Of course. The two of you are our friends after all.", Ivan easily replied.
"So have you calmed down and thought it through?", Serge asked Greg.
"Mm. First I will stop going into the dungeon with you. Sorry.", Greg told them. His complexion looked much better. It seemed like he had dropped a huge load. There was also an additional spark of liveliness in his eyes.
"So you are the same as Serge. Well, I guess we can stop this group then. After all three people are a bit too few.", Irena said. There wasn't any disappointment in her voice. She knew that her friends had made the decision because this was what they wanted and not because of a problem in the group. And since her friends wanted to do something else, then she surely would support them in that.
"Huh? You have decided to stop going into the dungeon as well?", Greg asked Serge in surprise.
"Yes, I'd rather fully focus on pill refining.", Serge answered him, before telling him about what he and Ivan had talked about just before Pia had come. "So what do you think?"
"I'd love to do it together with you guys. But since I don't bring anything into this partnership, I don't want any shares.", he then said exactly the same thing as Serge had before. Clearly displaying that the two of them were the same kind of honest person.
"Hm, I bring in the right for the store to use my pill recipes, Ivan has the starting capital, so we only need something for you."
"My family has the starting capital.", Ivan corrected them. After all, it wasn't his money, but money Lara had given him to spend. So it would be better to call it their families money.
"Whatever, stop bragging that you got a wive and a child.", Greg waved him away. It seemed like he had truly found back to his old lively behavior. Ivan wondered how someone could change this fast. It was truly astonishing.
"Anyway, I neither have the money like you nor the skill like Serge.", Greg continued speaking his thoughts out loud.
"How about your managing skill?", Ivan proposed.
"No.", the fatty rejected. "There are just too many people who, for a relatively small pay could manage it. And many could most likely do it better."
"How about you think about it? And we give you an option to get up to 20% as well if you find something?", Ivan proposed.
"Alright.", Greg could only agree since he couldn't think of anything at the moment.
"So you will manage the store?", Ivan asked again, just to make sure.
"Yes.", this time the answer came directly and was full of confidence. Although there was some nervousness in his expression this was much better than before. Ivan had the feeling that if they had asked him before Pia had talked to him, then he would have rejected them on the basis of not being experienced enough.
Just when they wanted to happily cheer at founding their new partnership two voices interrupted them. "You don't want to leave us out, do you?", both Irena and Pia asked at nearly the same time.
"Of course not. The question is only what you can add to our business.", Greg answered them, directly taking over the role of manager.
Ivan let them talk, while he stood beside Celine and took her hand. He then whispered, "I hope you aren't angry at me for not asking you, before offering Greg the job as manager." After all, he had asked her to do it before.
In response, she smiled at him warmly and answered, "Not at all. And besides, since I manage all your money and investments, I can still control them." When she said the last bit, she grinned.
It was the truth. He had asked her to take care of all this stuff since he himself had no interest in doing so. And it could improve the level of her management path. Of course, he didn't own much, so there wasn't much for her to do either.
"Then I'll hope you can help out if they run into a problem, that they can't solve alone.", he told her. She was much more experienced than them. Although he didn't want her to hold their hands since they had to learn how to do things themselves, having her as a fallback would be great.
"Of course. After all, they are our friends and it is our investment as well.", she instantly assured him.
Hearing her say 'our' made him happy since it showed that she had fully accepted their relationship, something he had always been just a bit unsure about.
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