“They know, about Kiko. Someone leaked the news,” Jieun eyes widen as she takes in the information, the press know? How? And why is it that bad?

“What!?” Daesung shouts in surprise and Jieun jumps at his loud voice, he drags a hand through his hair, “how?” he questions more calmly and Taeyang sighs while Seunghyun sinks down in a chair and refuses to look up.

“Jieun,” Taeyang speaks and she’s surprised that he knows of her name, “yes,” she answers timidly but it strikes her only seconds later that he wasn’t asking her a question, “wait, you think I did it?” she gives them an offended look and turns to her boss who isn’t sparing her a glance. “Why do you think I did it?” she asks shakily and only then does Jiyong look up at her and göares.

“Because you’ve been spending time with that damn SM representative,” he hisses and she recoils at his tone, he’s been mad before but is on another level. This is terrifying and Jieun gets the urge to run away.

“He’s right,” Taeyang speaks, “you have been spending time with him, and if any information regarding Mr. Kwon has been shared between you two there will be legal action taken,” he says and Jieun feels her mind slowly descend into the pits of hell. Her perfect night going from a solid nine to a minus four. “I-” she speechless as she looks at the people in the room, but the only person who doesn’t seem to be against her is Seunghyun, although he doesn’t dare to look at her.

“I swear, I haven’t told him anything, I’ve barely spoken to him,” she begs and Jiyong takes long strides until he’s standing right in front of her with blazing eyes, “why would you do it?” he hisses and Jieun tries to take a step back but his hand on her back stops her, “I didn’t,” she answers but he’s having none of it.

“Why would you do it?” he shouts at her and Jieun feels tears of frustration threaten to spill down her cheeks, “I didn’t do it-”

“You’re fired, leave, now!” Jiyong exclaims harshly and goes turn away from her but Jieun can’t let him leave, she can’t lose this job or the opportunities that will come with it. So she does what she has to do.

“No! Please!” she grabs a hold of his arm and lowers herself onto her knees, “what are you doing?” he quickly questions but she only bends down into a deep bow, “I didn’t do it I swear, but please, I can’t lose this job, I can’t, please, let me stay,” she begs and she hears a few gasps from the rest of the people in the room.

Jiyong tries to shake her grip on his arm off but she only hold onto him tighter, “please sir, I’ll do anything!” she’s crying now and there’s no hiding it, she thinks of her brother who needs the money to go to the college he’s been wanting to attend since he turned ten, and she thinks about her mother who’d be proud of her for getting a job at such a high-end place, and she thinks about herself, who was so happy when she was hired and although she’s been pranked with extra work, forced to stay late and work til her knees wanted to give out, she’s been happy, and she can’t lose that.

“Please,” she begs quietly and this time Jiyong really does shake out of her grip and take a few steps back. She stays on her knees, crying for him to let her stay and she’s so far gone that she barely notices when a pair of arms grab her and help her stand again, when she looks up through her tears she sees Seunghyun, and his eyes are full of pity and she hates the look, hates the emotion she’s gotten so used to over the years.

He leads her to one of the couches unoccupied by the others and helps her sit down, he kneels in front of her. “You didn’t do it,” he says and it doesn't sound like a question but Jieun nods nonetheless as an answer, “I didn’t do it, just because he’s been mean to me doesn’t mean that I want him to lose his entire company over some romantic scandal,” she says and wipes away a few tears, her voice no longer wobbly and her attitude back on track.

“I need this job,” she directs her words at Jiyong who’s avoiding her eyes, “so why would I want to sabotage it?” he continues and only then does Jiyong really look at her.

“If not you then who did it?” he asks but she’s thankful that he isn’t yelling at her anymore, “I don’t know, but you have a mole in your company and it isn’t me,” he answers fiercely and mentally claps herself on the back for sounding so strong, Jiyong see