One week had passed since Kyrah's visit to Linfao University Hospital.
Since then, she had tried to find a balance between work and taking care of herself.
It wasn't easy.
The Haneul project had become the biggest thing on her desk, and every day brought a new problem to solve. There were reports to review, data to analyze, revisions to make, meetings to attend, and questions she needed to anticipate before anyone else could ask them.
But this time, she wasn't ignoring herself.
At least, she was trying not to.
Every morning, she took her prenatal vitamins.
She ate when she was supposed to eat.
She drank more water.
And whenever she felt tired, she reminded herself that resting wasn't weakness.
Still, there was one thought that stayed at the back of her mind.
She was three months pregnant.
Her stomach hadn't started showing yet.
Because of her slim frame and the way her body carried the pregnancy, there was barely any visible difference. If someone didn't know she was pregnant, they would never suspect anything.
But Kyrah knew that wouldn't last forever.
Soon, her stomach would begin to show.
Soon, people would start asking questions.
And that was exactly why she wanted to give everything she had to her career while she still could.
She didn't want her pregnancy to become the reason people questioned her abilities.
She didn't want her baby to become a weakness others could use against her.
She wanted her baby to be her strength.
I can do this.
She had repeated those words to herself more times than she could count.
And strangely enough, the past week had proven something to her.
She could.
The Haneul project had given her plenty of headaches, but it had also given her confidence.
She was beginning to understand that she didn't have to be the most experienced person in the room to belong there.
She simply had to know her work.
And she did.
That morning, Kyrah stood in front of her mirror, adjusting the collar of her white blouse beneath a dark fitted blazer.
She looked professional.
Confident.
Almost like someone who had been doing this for years.
She reached for her bag and checked the contents one more time.
Presentation files.
Printed reports.
Data analysis.
Pilot proposal.
Risk assessment.
Backup presentation drive.
She checked everything twice.
"Okay."
She took a breath.
"Let's do this."
She picked up her laptop and headed downstairs.
The company car was already waiting.
Director Liu Yuning was seated inside, reviewing a file on his tablet.
Xiumin sat beside him.
Kyrah climbed in.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," Xiumin replied.
Liu Yuning looked up from his tablet.
"Everything ready?"
Kyrah lifted her laptop bag.
"Everything."
"Good."
The car pulled away from Jun Chao Group.
Kyrah looked out the window.
Today was different.
The preliminary presentation had been one thing.
This was Haneul Technologies.
The actual client.
The company everyone at Jun Chao had warned her about.
The company known for rejecting proposals after weeks of work.
The company that could find a problem in a perfectly good solution.
Kyrah took a slow breath.
Don't be intimidated.
She had prepared.
She knew the project.
She believed in it.
And she had promised herself that she wasn't going to run away just because the people sitting across from her were difficult.
---
Haneul Technologies
The Haneul Technologies headquarters was impressive.
Glass walls.
Polished marble floors.
Employees moving through the lobby with the efficiency of people who knew exactly where they were going.
A receptionist greeted them warmly.
"Good morning. Jun Chao Group?"
"Yes," Liu Yuning replied.
"I'm sorry for the wait. I'll take you to the boardroom."
The staff member smiled and led them through the building.
Kyrah followed beside Xiumin, holding the presentation files tightly against her chest.
They eventually reached a large boardroom.
"Please have a seat. Mr. Zhang and the others will be with you shortly."
"Thank you," Liu Yuning said.
The woman bowed slightly and left.
Kyrah sat down.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
She glanced at the clock.
Xiumin shifted in his seat.
Liu Yuning didn't seem bothered.
He simply continued reading his tablet.
Kyrah admired that.
She wished she could borrow some of his calm.
Finally, the doors opened.
Two men entered.
The older man walked in first.
He was in his late fifties, dressed in an immaculate dark suit, his expression unreadable.
Behind him was a younger man who looked to be in his early thirties.
The older man was Zhang Weihao, CEO of Haneul Technologies.
The younger man was his son, Zhang Rui, the company's vice president.
They walked in as though they had all the time in the world.
Zhang Rui didn't even acknowledge them as he took his seat.
Zhang Weihao sat down and glanced at his watch.
"Sorry for the delay."
His tone didn't sound particularly apologetic.
He opened a folder.
"We've had several companies come in to pitch projects to us recently."
He looked across the table.
"So you can imagine we don't have much time to waste."
Kyrah felt her fingers tighten around her pen.
Liu Yuning remained calm.
"Of course."
Zhang Weihao leaned back.
"You may begin."
Liu Yuning nodded.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhang."
He turned toward the two Haneul executives.
"I'm Liu Yuning, Director of the AI Division at Jun Chao Group. This is Xiumin, the team leader overseeing the development team assigned to this project."
He paused.
"And this is Kyrah. She is the lead developer and the person in charge of this proposal."
Kyrah stood.
"Good morning."
Zhang Rui finally looked at her.
His eyes moved briefly over her before returning to the documents in front of him.
Kyrah ignored it.
She walked to the presentation screen.
"Thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our proposal."
The first slide appeared.
"Our proposal is built around an AI-powered smart-home ecosystem designed to learn and adapt to individual household patterns while giving users greater control over energy consumption, security, comfort, and daily automation."
She continued.
The room remained still.
Kyrah moved through the presentation.
Adaptive lighting.
Intelligent temperature control.
Personalized household automation.
Security preferences.
Individual user profiles.
An AI system that could recognize patterns and adjust the home environment accordingly.
She explained the pilot program.
She explained the projected commercial value.
She explained how the system could detect unusual behavior and alert homeowners.
She explained the privacy architecture and how users would retain control over their data.
She didn't rush.
She didn't apologize.
And she didn't allow the intimidating faces across the table to distract her.
For almost twenty minutes, she presented.
Then she reached the final slide.
"Ultimately, our goal isn't to create a home that simply obeys commands."
She looked at them.
"We want to create a home that understands the people living inside it."
She clicked the remote.
The final slide appeared.
"Thank you."
Silence.
Kyrah lowered the remote.
Zhang Rui looked at the presentation.
Then at her.
"I have a question."
"Of course."
"You call this an intelligent home."
"Yes."
"But what happens when your intelligence makes a wrong decision?"
Kyrah answered immediately.
"Then the system must be designed to correct itself."
"That's an optimistic answer."
"It's a practical one."
Zhang Rui raised an eyebrow.
"Explain."
"The AI won't be perfect. No AI system is. That's why we've included user override controls, feedback loops, and behavioral correction."
"So you're admitting the system can fail."
"Of course."
Zhang Rui leaned forward.
"Then why should we trust it?"
Kyrah smiled slightly.
"Because we're not asking you to trust it blindly."
That made him pause.
"We're asking you to test it."
Kyrah pointed toward the proposal.
"That's why we've recommended a controlled pilot before full deployment. If the system fails during testing, we learn from the failure before millions of users ever encounter it."
Zhang Rui said nothing.
Zhang Weihao picked up the proposal.
"Your projected return on investment."
He tapped the document.
"I don't believe it."
Kyrah's stomach tightened.
"But the numbers are based on—"
"Projected numbers."
He interrupted.
"You're estimating adoption rates based on consumer behavior that hasn't happened yet."
Kyrah nodded.
"Yes."
"So your ROI is speculative."
"Partially."
Zhang Weihao looked up.
"Partially?"
"Every new technology carries an element of uncertainty."
Kyrah's voice remained steady.
"But our proposal reduces that uncertainty through phased implementation."
He stared at her.
"And if adoption is lower than expected?"
"We revise the strategy."
"And if operating costs are higher?"
"We optimize the architecture."
"And if customers don't want an AI system watching their behavior?"
"We give them control over what the system learns."
Zhang Rui folded his arms.
"You're very confident."
Kyrah smiled.
"I've spent a week preparing for this meeting."
"I can tell."
Then he flipped through another page.
"But I found a problem."
Kyrah's heart sank slightly.
Here it comes.
Zhang Rui tapped one section of the proposal.
"Your system has three major functions in the pilot: lighting, temperature, and household automation."
"Yes."
"You've made the pilot too broad."
Kyrah blinked.
"We believe the three functions are interconnected—"
"That's precisely the problem."
He leaned back.
"If one function fails, it affects the others. Your pilot isn't testing one solution. It's testing an ecosystem."
Kyrah looked at the screen.
He was right.
It was the weakness she had been warned about.
The same issue Seo Jun had pointed out when she first developed the proposal.
She had fixed it once.
But Haneul had found another angle.
Kyrah didn't panic.
She nodded.
"That's a fair point."
Zhang Rui looked slightly surprised.
"So you agree?"
"I agree that the pilot can be made more precise."
Zhang Weihao watched her.
Kyrah continued.
"We can separate the pilot into phases. Begin with adaptive lighting and intelligent temperature control. Once the system demonstrates stability and user acceptance, we introduce personalized household automation."
She paused.
"That would also give Haneul Technologies clearer performance data at every stage."
Zhang Rui looked at his father.
Then back at Kyrah.
"How long would the revision take?"
Kyrah answered honestly.
"Three to five working days."
Zhang Weihao closed the folder.
"We've heard impressive presentations before."
Kyrah nodded.
"I understand."
"We've also heard promises."
"I don't want to give you a promise."
That caught their attention.
Kyrah looked directly at him.
"I want to give you a revised proposal."
The room went still.
"If you find another problem, we'll address it. If you don't believe our numbers, we'll provide better data. If you don't like our approach, we'll improve it."
She smiled.
"But if you're going to reject us, I'd rather you reject the work after we've had the chance to fix the weaknesses than reject it because we were too proud to admit they existed."
For the first time, Zhang Weihao's expression changed.
Not a smile.
But something close to approval.
"Very well."
He stood.
"Revise it."
Kyrah nodded.
"We will."
"And come back."
"We will."
The meeting was over.
---
The moment they stepped outside, Kyrah released a breath.
She hadn't realized she'd been holding it.
Xiumin looked at her.
"That could have gone worse."
Kyrah stared at him.
"That is your definition of worse?"
He laughed.
Liu Yuning shook his head.
"Come on."
They returned to the company car.
Kyrah sat in the back seat beside Xiumin.
For most of the drive, she stared down at the files resting on her lap.
She had been so close.
So close.
The proposal had been good enough to get them interested.
Good enough to get them to ask for revisions.
But not good enough to secure the deal.
Not yet.
Liu Yuning looked at her through the rearview mirror.
"You never expected this to be easy, did you?"
Kyrah looked up.
"No."
She thought about it for a moment.
"I never expected it to be easy."
"Good."
Liu Yuning turned his attention back to the road.
"Then go do your work and come back."
Kyrah listened.
"You gave them your word that you're going to make revisions and come back."
He continued.
"We're the ones who need something from them. So we strive for it."
Kyrah looked at him.
There was no criticism in his voice.
Only expectation.
She nodded.
"Yes."
Then she smiled.
"I'm not giving up that easily."
Xiumin nodded approvingly.
"That's the spirit."
Kyrah reached into her handbag.
Her fingers found the small bottle of prenatal vitamins.
She paused.
Then pulled it out.
She unscrewed the cap and reached for her water bottle.
Two tablets.
She placed them in her palm.
Xiumin glanced over.
"What are those?"
Kyrah froze.
For half a second, her heart stopped.
"Are you sick?"
"No!"
The answer came too quickly.
Xiumin looked at her.
Kyrah cleared her throat.
"No. No, I'm fine."
She forced a smile.
"Just vitamins. For general well-being."
Liu Yuning glanced back at her through the mirror.
Then he laughed.
"You take care of yourself pretty well."
Kyrah smiled nervously.
"Yes."
She swallowed the vitamins with water.
"I do."
She quickly put the bottle back into her handbag.
Her heart was still beating faster than it should.
One question.
One little question.
And she had almost exposed everything.
Kyrah leaned back in her seat.
She rested her hand over her stomach.
You almost gave Mommy away, little one.
She smiled.
The Haneul project was still alive.
Her secret was still safe.
But only barely.