_____________________________________________________________________________________

“It always hurts more to have and lose, than to not have it in the first place” – Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

_____________________________________________________________________________________

MINJUN

The construction manager, Hosung and Jinyoung met us at the entrance of the construction site. Jinyoung flipped through some papers as they discussed about something. I was almost going to hold Junho’s hand as we came out of the car.

The construction manager gave us a tour of the whole building and Jinyoung briefed us on how they were planning the interiors.

And then there was an introduction between the workers and the Interior Design team.

“Shall we start the work now?” Junho asked as the introduction was over.

The construction manager divided the workers into 4 groups. Each group was under the 4 interior designers.

Junho had assigned 5 floors to each designer to take care of. He took charge of the first 5 floors because it involved the reception, dining hall and the game room. He laid down the floor of the first floor as the workers circled around him and paid attention to what he was explaining.

Again, I couldn’t stop looking at him as he explained. The way he moved his hands as he spoke. The way he smiled slightly at some points. The way he looked into everyone’s eyes as he spoke. The way he made sure everyone understood what he was saying.

I looked around and saw that Jinyoung, Jackson and Suzy do the same had also laid down floor plans and were explaining the interiors to the workers assigned under them.

“Do you think this will get over in two months?” Hosung asked me. He was also observing everything.

“It looks like it” I said.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a call from my secretary.

“Yeah?” I said as I picked the call.

“Sir, there’s someone here to meet you” she said.

“But there was no appointment” I said.

“Yes sir, but he says he wants to meet you”

“Who is it?”

“One second sir”

And then I heard some murmering and whispers. A minute later, she spoke again.

“It’s Mr. Jang Jae Yong, CEO of JY Industries”

I froze.

“Hello?”

“Yeah. Tell him I’ll be there soon” I said and cut the call.

I looked over at Junho who looked like he was done explaining to the others. I pulled him aside in an empty room and told him I had to leave urgently.

“Will you be okay alone?” I asked.

“Yeah. But is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“Yeah. I will”

“I’ll come back in some time. We’ll go home together”

“Don’t worry. Just take care” he said.

I looked around to see if anyone was there. And then I leaned in and pressed my lips tightly on his soft cheek. He widened his eyes and looked around with a flushed expression. He playfully punched my arm as I smiled.

It took me 20 minutes to reach the office. What did that man want from me? He didn’t even know me. At least that’s what I thought.

As I entered my floor, I saw him sitting at the sofa right outside my cabin. He was reading a magazine with his secretary standing next to him. As I expected, he had a stern face on and looked like a person who would only talk business with everyone and nothing else.

I walked up to him.

His eyes raised to me as my secretary introduced him to me.

“Please come in” I said as I opened the door for him.

“Would you like to have something?” I asked out of pure courtesy. I didn’t like the idea of him being comfortable around me.

He shook his head and said, “No thanks. I’d like to finish my work quickly here”

Same here.

“I’m here to talk to you about one of your employees” he said

I already lost my cool.

“I don’t think he’s such a disgrace that you can’t acknowledge him as your son” I snapped.

“How do you know I’m Wooyoung’s father?”

“Aren’t you here to ask me to remove him from his job?”

“So you know everything. I don’t have to beat around the bush”

“Why are you doing this to him?” I asked. I could see that he sensed the disgust in my voice.

“Do you know him personally? Are you his boyfr-”

“I’m his close friend”

“He probably doesn’t even know the difference between a friend and someone he can hook up with”

“How can you think that way of your son? He’s not even a kid anymore. He’s big enough to know what he’s doing with his life”

“You look like you know everything about him. Then you must also know that I need him back with me to run my business. I had left him all this while thinking he’d get back on track. But seems like he still hasn’t got his brains straight”

I glared at him. How was this man so hell bent on torturing Wooyoung?

“And if I say I won’t remove him from his job?”

“You’ll suffer a major loss