North negotiated with South to provide some accounting services to South's businesses. Over the course of 24 hours they texted back and forth a few times and finally North summarized where the negotiations were at in an email. In the email North requested that South confirm if the understanding was correct by replying to the email and indicating South's agreement. North did not hear back from South immediately. However, 10 days later South emailed back confirming the last text was acceptable and asked North to start the work within the next 48 hours. In the meantime, North had committed to another project and could not immediately take on South's work.

Assuming they could not compromise, what argument might North make to avoid the legal obligations? What could North have done to protect themselves from this occurring?