Chapter 7: Curiosity
The laughter slowly settled.
Employees returned to their seats.
The delivery staff handed out pizzas, cakes, and fries across the auditorium.
Even the Board of Directors were smiling.
Kiefer adjusted his tie.
"Now..."
He looked at Rose.
"No more surprises."
Rose raised both hands.
"I promise."
Lily leaned toward Kiefer.
"Don't believe her."
"I heard that."
"I wanted you to."
The audience laughed one last time before the meeting became serious again.
For the next two hours...
Kiefer presented LKR's future.
New technology.
Healthcare innovations.
Scholarship programs.
Green energy projects.
Employee welfare initiatives.
He spoke with confidence, answering every question from investors and board members without looking at a single note.
The entire auditorium listened in complete silence.
In the VIP section...
Jay Mariano couldn't take her eyes off the stage.
When she first arrived...
She expected to meet three arrogant billionaires.
People who looked down on everyone else.
People who only cared about profits.
Instead...
She had witnessed something completely different.
Three CEOs who embarrassed each other in front of the whole company.
Three founders who shared pizza with their employees.
Three best friends who laughed more than they argued.
And somehow...
Their employees loved them even more because of it.
Jay quietly smiled.
"They're... strange."
One of her executives beside her whispered,
"In a good way?"
Jay nodded.
"In the best way."
Her eyes drifted back to Kiefer.
He was explaining a complicated business strategy.
Confident.
Calm.
Professional.
Completely different from the man who had chased Rose across the stage just an hour earlier.
Jay couldn't help but laugh softly.
"How can one person be so serious..."
"...and so childish at the same time?"
Then she looked toward Lily.
The genius who rarely smiled...
Yet somehow tolerated every bit of Rose's chaos.
And finally...
Rose.
The energetic girl who could turn a trillion-dollar meeting into a comedy show...
Yet every employee greeted her with genuine affection.
Jay leaned back in her chair.
For the first time in years...
She was curious.
Not about LKR Corporation.
But about the three people who had built it.
Who were they before they became billionaires?
How did three twenty-year-olds create the biggest company in the world?
Why did every employee call them family instead of "boss"?
And most importantly...
What kind of friendship could survive all of this chaos?
As the meeting ended...
The audience stood for a standing ovation.
Thunderous applause echoed throughout the auditorium.
Kiefer, Lily, and Rose bowed together.
Three founders.
Three childhood best friends.
Three legends.
Jay watched them leave the stage.
A small smile appeared on her face.
"This collaboration..."
She whispered to herself.
"...might become far more interesting than I expected."
She didn't know their story.
She didn't know their past.
She didn't even know their names beyond what was written in the meeting agenda.
But one thing was certain.
For the first time in her life...
Jay Mariano wanted to know the people behind the legend known as LKR Corporation.