The Unveiled Rose

"But my friends have already agreed to invest in my project," Sasha objected in a small voice. "If I suddenly tell them I'm going to work at another company for a few months, they'll definitely be upset with me." She basically meant that she didn't want to do as I'd advised. At any rate, I didn't intend to force her to listen to me, either.

"If you aren't willing to delay the project's progress and wish to enter the industry immediately after obtaining your capital... Well, it's not undoable. However, once you encounter a problem, you'll have to gather your friends to discuss a solution together." That happened to be the greatest taboo in starting up a business-too many people were involved in decision-making, which led to an unclear division of power.

But I didn't intend to tell her all this directly. She would come to understand this when she inevitably got into conflict with her friends due to business matters in the future.

Looking as if she only half-understood what I had said, Sasha asked again, "Is that so?"

"That's right," I replied before proceeding to give her an example, "Just like now when you've come asking me for help after encountering a problem. I can of course help all of you with the problem, but would your friends acknowledge the solution I provide?" She answered uncertainly, "Probably?"

"Since you've said as much..."

I turned on my computer. My fingers tapped away at the keyboard, and very quickly, a clear proposal was drawn up. I printed it out and handed it to Sasha.

"You can pass this to your friends and have them take a look at it."

She glanced through the document.

The content wasn't lengthy, but it was enough to clearly define the direction of development, even going so far as to mention problems that would be encountered during the process and how they should be resolved. Everything was written out clearly.

Her eyes shone. "Aren't you just way too awesome?"

She hurriedly stood up, ran out without even remembering to excuse herself, and yelled over her shoulder, "I have to share this great news with my friends immediately!"

I looked away as the office door closed.

Zane approached me, asking, "Could you let me take a look at the proposal you wrote up for her?"

I let him have my seat at the computer, replying, "Feel free. It's not some top-secret document."

Zane sat down and scrolled to the top of the page, reading carefully.

After a good while, he finished reading and looked at me.

Feeling confused, I asked, "Is there a problem?"

"There isn't," he replied, a complicated expression on his face. "I just think that your proposal is more put-together than what most of the employees at our company can come up with." He asked in uncertainty, "Have you learned about this industry before?"

Sasha was still young and just wanted to have a good time, so the company she wanted to establish was a gaming company, with its main goal being to develop games that she and her friends liked to play.

"More or less," I answered honestly. "Steven's company has been in charge of similar projects before. Back then, I also looked up some relevant information in order to have some common topics of conversation with him." Zane sighed with feeling, commenting. "You really loved him back then."

I felt that I really no longer cared for Steven, as my heart didn't waver even when the topic of our past was brought up.

In fact, now I could even jokingly retort, "Who says I don't?"

Seeing as I remained completely unaffected, Zane decided it was safe to stick to the topic.

"But now that you've finally made a friend, you told her about all the problems she might encounter on the company side all at once. If her company does really begin to grow, she'll be really busy every day, and she'll have no time to spare for you. "But if you hadn't written things out in such detail or only explained some things... Well, then she might still come back to visit you now and then."

Zane gazed at me, seemingly wanting very much to know whether my actions were born out of a sincere desire to see my friend doing well or simply from temporarily failing to realize the consequences of wearing my heart on my sleeve. After all, many people these days would become jealous after seeing their friends thriving rather than sincerely feeling happy for their success.