“I think I’m being followed."

“I think I’m being followed,” Aor admits to me when I press her on what’s been happening.

“What? By who?” I ask suddenly worried.

“I don’t know who but I keep seeing this black van all around the place,” she tells me.

“Have you got their number plate or anything like that?” If I have the plate number, I might be able to get Barry to run a trace on it and find out what’s been going on.

“No, I hadn’t thought of that. I just ignore it mostly and pretend they’re not there.”

“That’s not good Aor. When did you first notice it following you?”

“It doesn’t really follow me, just sort of turns up wherever I am. First time I saw it was when I was here, come to think of it.”

A little pit of worry opens up in my stomach. Still, I tell Aor not to think too much about it and to make sure she gets the plate number next time she sees it, letting me know immediately. We kiss goodbye inside my closed front door before I make extra sure no vehicles are parked nearby that shouldn’t be. Then I let Aor out and off to see her child.

For the rest of the working week, I’m left largely to my own devices. As it’s said, “the Devil finds work for idle hands” I’m kept from getting up to any mischief by the inordinate number of things I have juggling at the moment. I attend each of my classes leading up to my final exams in a matter of weeks plus all the study, assignments and projects that go along with that. I fill Yui in over the phone about the offer her Dad made to me about The Loft and Holly, Jessica and I taking ownership and management of it. Yui is delighted at the offer, doubly so when the two girls get back to me their overwhelming interest in going ahead with the deal. A meeting is set for Monday next week with Mr Pat and the three of us.

The bulk of my time is taken up with negotiating on behalf of Piya and the **** manufacturers for the rights to her compounds. I discovered early on that individual companies are **** to buy the rights to a single chemical in case they turn out to be a dud despite the promising research Piya has already done. When I package two of them together, **** A&C and **** B&D, the offers are much firmer. Piya is still insistent of being entirely hands-off with the negotiating leaving the whole process to me.

In the end, I close the deal with a French company for the first of the two lots at $351,000 paid over 4 years with a trailing royalty of 1.65% of gross sales. Again, Piya and I are invited to visit their facilities in France at any time over the next year. My eyes near watering at the size of the numbers involved. It’s the number on the second lot that does bring a tear to my eye though. Three companies end up in a bidding war over the rights which are eventually won by a German **** manufacturer. Seems Piya and I might have a second stop to make in Europe coming up. The final amount promised $404,000 over 3 years with a 2.70% royalty.

For where Piya would be working I was able to come up with a compromise that would see me not losing her to working overseas entirely. The Japanese IVF clinic was where I knew Piya’s true professional aspirations could be reached but would mean her living and working in Tokyo. Through Candace at her hospital, I was able to establish a joint placement where Piya would split her time between Japan and here. Unfortunately, she would be spending the first few months in Tokyo getting up to speed before returning to Australia to set up a sister program here in Australia. I was also able to get both the clinic and the hospital to agree to pay 65% of the original offer made to Piya who would be making near $230,000 right from the very start before any other bonuses came into consideration.

The negotiations over, I wanted to deliver the news to Piya in person, laying out everything I had set up for her. I book us a table at one of the best restaurants in our city for next Tuesday, the first day our hectic upcoming schedules will allow. The place, a revolving rooftop restaurant that I’d heard served the most delicious food. I told Piya my plan and she couldn’t wait to hear the surprise.

With such a mentally draining week done, it was actually nice to be getting dressed and ready for a hopefully normal shift Bouncer shift at The Loft on Friday night. At this stage, I didn't know how many I would likely have left before making the switch over to management.