Chapter 64
VIA Metropolis might not have been the obvious first choice, but it had a long- standing reputation and everyone knew the management was solid. People who liked shopping there were either a little nostalgic or the kind who didn’t blink at a price tag. Most of the stores inside were big-name international brands.
Sure, the new malls popping up all over the city were impressive in their own ways, but SUNNY wasn’t interested in being everywhere at once.
Claire had just hung up when Edison’s phone started ringing again. Jenny’s name flashed on the screen.
“Sorry for making you wait, Edison.” Jenny sounded a lot friendlier than before, which caught Edison off guard. He had no idea what had changed, but he quickly shifted into business mode to deal with her.
“It’s fine,” he replied, trying to sound relaxed.
“Well, I’ve got some good news for you,” Jenny teased, letting the anticipation build.
Edison couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me your boss changed her mind again p>
Jenny laughed, sounding genuinely impressed. “You really are sharp. The boss decided to go with VIA Metropolis p>
“But we’ll have to come by for a site visit before we decide exactly how many stores we’ll open p>
Edison hadn’t expected things to turn around so quickly.
“No problem at all He could barely keep the excitement out of his voice as he invited SUNNY’s team to come check out Solenia in person.
They agreed on a time, and only then did Edison put down his phone.
In recent years, VIA Metropolis had been losing ground. With all the new malls springing up, business wasn’t what it used to be. Landing SUNNY as a tenant could change everything. It might just put them back in the spotlight.
Either way, for Edison, this was huge. He was so keyed up he couldn’t sleep. He wandered into the living room to pour himself a glass of cold water and ran into Claire, who hadn’t gone to her room yet.
“Claire, you’re still up p>
Claire didn’t point out that he was awake too. She just smiled and said, “I was exhausted today. I sat down in the massage chair and almost dozed off right there p>
Edison smiled at that and told her she should get some real sleep.
Claire looked him over. “Something good happen? You look like you’re in a great mood p>
He grinned. “Yeah, actually. We were up against a bunch of other malls, all trying to get SUNNY to move in. This afternoon, we thought we lost the deal p>
He gave her a quick rundown, explaining, Honestly, if SUNNY had picked one mall and turned down the rest, it would have been the end of the world for us. At worst, we’d just miss out on the opportunity p>
“But we almost got rejected first. If that had happened, VIA Metropolis would have
been the laughingstock of the whole industry p>
Edison figured Claire didn’t care much for business details, so he didn’t get into it. But she already understood everything. Her single decision had nearly embarrassed VIA Metropolis on a big scale Still, she didn’t blame herself—the real problem was management.
“Edison, if VIA Metropolis wants to avoid things like this in the future, you really need to tighten up the management,” Claire said. “If something like what happened with Aaron happens again, you never know who you might offend next time.” té
Her point was clear.
Edison’s face grew serious. “You’re right, Claire. SUNNY probably rejected us so quickly because someone spread the news around. Aaron really hurt VIA Metropolis’s reputation p>
They’d gotten lucky this time. Next time, who knew?
He knew what he needed to do. Management needed to be better, and the people
running the place needed to be held accountable.