Chanyeol flinched, flustered.

“Then,” Namjoo started, “should we talk?”

“I have nothing to say.” Averting his eyes.

“We won’t be done until you tell me why the heir of SJ Group is living like a bum.” Namjoo called out when he turned his back on her. From over his shoulder she noticed Yeorum’s eyes go wide. Maybe she’d hit something. Perhaps, Chanyeol was living under a ruse. That he’d come from nowhere, belonged nowhere, was always poor. Sorry Yeorum didn’t know Chanyeol had attended one of Seoul’s most prestigious high school or had been adopted into a wealthy family with everything to own and everything to lose.

“Why are you doing this?” Chanyeol growled turning around. His eyes flickered with dismay.

Namjoo simply tilted her head back. “I’m sure I don’t need to repeat myself.” Shooting her eyes Yeorum’s way, “Or do I?”

Chanyeol hissed a breath before grabbing her elbow and pulled her away from his front door. He finally released her down by the road. “Screw you, so why don’t you just leave me alone?”

“Do you think I’m doing this because I feel sorry for you?” Namjoo asked.

“No, it’s about you! It’s always been about you!” Chanyeol let his voice go a top notch louder. “If you think for even a second that I’ll go back just to stop Pyeonghwa from stealing your family’s entire fortune, then step over my dead . I’d rather let that mother ing fool shovel through your family’s business before I reclaim what’s mine!”

Namjoo slapped him before she even thought about doing it. Next, the palm of her hand burned. And following, she couldn’t even bring herself to do what was right. Apologize.

His cheek flared red. Eyes glazed with animosity. “Satisfied?” Turning, he walked away. In the following seconds, she heard his front gates slam shut.

ǂǂǂǂǂ

“You’re the heir of SJ Group?” Yeorum asked wide eyed when he stepped back in.

Pulling the gates shut harder than intended, he found he couldn’t look her in the eyes. Staring at a patch of dry grass he muttered, “No. It’s nothing.”

He stepped forward but Yeorum quickly blocked his way. “She’s not lying, is she? Then why can’t you go back? That company is yours!” her eyes gleamed but with more dollar signs than care for him.

Chanyeol sighed. “I’ve nothing to do with it.”

“What happened after you went to the orphanage?” Yeorum interrogated. “What are you lying to me about?”

“I’m lying?” he burst. “So all of a sudden, I’m lying?!” he his hand back to the house, “And you?! What about you! All the secret stash of drugs you have hidden, when you tell me you always need money for more? I purposely sit out so you can get high by yourself, because you don’t like me seeing you do it. I know you do your trade, you have your money hidden somewhere, but you always come for mine. And you’re calling me a liar?”

“So we’re arguing about money?”

“Hasn’t it always been?!” Chanyeol argued. “You leave me repeatedly and then you come back.”

“I didn’t ask you to steal for me,” Yeorum glared. “You put yourself in this situation for me. I never asked you to.”

Chanyeol gritted down on his teeth. “Well, we’re in the same boat, aren’t we?”

Yeorum’s growing anger seeped into his eyes. “She wasn’t lying, was she?”

His gaze grew unexpectedly soft before hardening again. He didn’t want to hesitate when it came to Namjoo, but his feelings were too easily swept up in motion.

“Then I’ll have to find out myself,” Yeorum declared before moving past him.

“Yeorum!” he shouted after her but she had already disappeared. The gate was slowly swinging from her impact before coming to a slow halt. Groaning, he kicked at the asphalt. What the hell had Namjoo just started?

ǂǂǂǂǂ

“You can’t force someone against their will,” Junmyeon told her the following day after picking her up for her suiting. The board was holding a meeting at two in the afternoon and Namjoo needed to attend, no excuses. If she was going to take the company back into her hands the thing needed to be done sooner rather than later, as per Junmyeon’s words.

Namjoo silently sulked. “I can’t even be considered SJ Group’s competition. Daehan won’t survive even with me.”

“Worrying is still a thing tomorrow away,” Junmyeon wisely advised. “Right now, you need to find something appropriate to wear. You’ll be examined as closely tomorrow as if you were on the operating table. Looking decent comes first.”

Junmyeon pulled up into the parking lot of a high-class clothing store. He went through with her briefly about what blazer she needed, sharp black dress pants, and a blouse to match. Junmyeon shook his head two or three times when she made her selection forcing her to go back to the racks. When they finally made it to the counter he pulled out a card from his wallet.

“Whoa…” she called, “you’re really paying for these?” Grabbing the price tags, she estimated that the one outfit suit costed nearly a thousand dollars.

Junmyeon grinned as he handed over the card to the clerk, “It’s your card.”

Namjoo’s jaw dropped when he retrieved the card from the clerk and swiftly turned to head outside. With no choice, she let the clerk take the outfit from her, bag it up, and quickly followed the lawyer outside. He was already in the car with engine running.

“What the hell?!” Namjoo exclaimed sliding into her seat and tossed the bag into the backseat. “My card?! Do you know how much money I have?!”

“A hundred-fifty,” Junmyeon replied. “But that was a card connected to your trust fund.”

“My…my what?” Namjoo stammered.

“So don’t worry, lunch is on me,” Junmyeon reversed out of spot. “You’re going to need to listen really well if you want to survive tomorrow’s meeting.”

ǂǂǂǂǂ

It was insanely nerve wrecking, even worse than being on the operating table. Namjoo felt like she was a carcass some hyenas had surrounded, like she had been stripped of her clothes and put on display for men to admire. Their eyes probed, their words stabbing her guts like the sharp beak of some bird. She was being teared apart, tasted, bitten into.

In all honesty, it probably wasn’t that bad. The men were boring, all aged and old and wrinkly. No one special, no one handsome but all held some level of authority in Daehan Corp., which Namjoo had yet to understand. Right now, she just knew that if she did not present herself well they would not trust her to run the company that was in charge of over 1,000 other souls. And if she could not climb into her father’s seat, Min Jaehyung would flush her father’s dear company down the drain.

So she sat in her stiff seat, listening to the board members give their opinions about Kim Hyunseok’s daughter, who obviously had no business experience. On her side, Lawyer Kim, Junmyeon’s elderly father, more likely represented her backbone than stood as her support reminded the board of her father’s will. It was more under law than Heaven’s will that Namjoo take over the company. Period.

More “hrumphs” and coughs went around before the board maintained they would accept her into her father’s position, but under the compromise they would monitor her every schedule and move. Namjoo understood that as she was under house arrest.

She could have said “ that” and walk out. She would not be told whether to do option A or option B. She just wanted her company out of Min Jaehyung’s hands, but Junmyeon touched her shoulder reminding her what they had talked about the previous afternoon. Namjoo would comply. She would heed the board’s decision, because they were the overall body that helped the company succeed. They were men that worked with her father for years, so she would have to trust them as much as they had believed in her father.

More groaning from Namjoo when she’d heard that, but there was no going back now. She was already close enough to firing Min Jaehyung than she had been before when her mother died. One more small sin righted on her part, but that was not what Namjoo was intending to do.

Namjoo didn’t care about business. She wanted to trample on Pyeonghwa’s pride. That was what she most wanted to do, because right now her father’s company was already more than half in her hands.

Pyeonghwa…

Yoon Pyeonghwa…

The meeting was finally adjourned two and a half long hellish hours later. Namjoo stayed behind to bow to and thank the board. The family lawyer and Junmyeon, her now lawyer, stayed with her. They would talk further about the company situation, which Namjoo no longer wanted to hear about. It was like a pest she needed pesticide to kill, only it wasn’t a pest. It was a weed that kept sprouting back after being stepped on.

“You will have to move back home soon,” Junmyeon’s father reminded over dinner that evening. They had stopped at a casual restaurant that served Italian food. Not exactly her cravings tonight because all she wanted was a cold bucket of ice cream to freeze her brain.

Namjoo stabbed her bowl of spaghetti that the cook had fancily plated with some vegetables and colored spices. “Or I could just bring my wardrobe to where I live.”

“Namjoo,” Junmyeon quietly warned.

“I would like you to be where you’re most comfortable, but seeing your current condition, I don’t feel it’s appropriate,” Lawyer Kim advised. “There will be many times you’ll have to host dinners of your own. And as Junmyeon told me, your place isn’t what we can consider convenient.”

Namjoo shot Junmyeon a glance, but the young lawyer had picked up his glass of wine and was drinking. “I haven’t been officially instated.”

“The board will arrange a formal dinner,” Lawyer Kim told. “Song Kwangho, a good friend of your father’s on the board, will want to officially invite you with a dinner and speech. Everything you need to and plan to do can follow. He especially supported you today.”

Fifty something year old guy with a shiny bald head with gray hair sprouting around randomly as if he was a walking plotted plant. Right. Namjoo remembered.

“Once Min Jaehyung steps down, you can remove him, but he’ll surely already have plan B ready.”

“Yoon Pyeonghwa will have already taken him in,” Junmyeon explained.

“I still want to fire him,” Namjoo threw her napkin onto the table, “just for the satisfaction of it.”

ǂǂǂǂǂ

The days following Namjoo turned in her resignation letter to the police station. Working two places at once did not follow her schedule. The company did not permit her enough time to be freely cruising around Seoul and pulling drivers over for speeding. The one thing she did not work on was packing. To leave her small sanctuary since she’d left home made her feel sick with regret.

After work, she’d sit alone and drink, look around and dwell on nostalgia. Here, she’d been most at peace, the furthest away from her past. When she returned to the home too big for her, Namjoo could already instantly foresee the upcoming days. Constantly remembering each night what she’d once done to her friend, how she’d lost that friend. How she would never be able to apologize, because getting on her knees would not be enough.

Naïve then had been too much.

Blindsided by her one-sided feelings. And it had caused her to lose everything that made her life something.

She didn’t want to go back to the house full of memories.

Still, the day came one day closer at a time. And yet, Namjoo could not bring herself to visit her father at the hospital. On the day of the inauguration, Namjoo was even more silently ashamed. Her parents would have been dying for this day – when her mother was still alive at least. They would have patted her on the shoulders, hugged her to let her know how proud they were. She was finally accomplished, she could imagine, that she was finally taking over the company as she’d been destined to. Yet, she had veered off path because of one mistake that cost her everything. And still, she had been brought back. To take back the company out of wrong hands.

Her father would have liked this conclusion, too she imagined.

Destiny was a hateful thing to regard.

“Are you sure you don’t need a ride?” Junmyeon asked over the phone.

Namjoo tugged on the dress she’d bought a few blocks down, because she at least needed to make herself presentable. She had not been in the mood to go high end shopping during the week, so she imagined this lame blue dress would cover the night.

“No,” Namjoo replied. She was determined to drive to the venue in her beat-up car just to show off how well off she was without the company’s money. Look at me, she wanted to show them, I’m doing as well as you all rich as mongrels. Namjoo silently laughed to herself.

“You sure?”

“Don’t make me unsure,” Namjoo turned away from the mirror. Back in the days she had spent hours in her room putting makeup on, wiping away any smudges from her eyeliners or lipstick. Using all her tools to perfectly curl her hair until they were bouncy, so that she looked as fine as a doll. Tonight, she’d only combed her hair straight once and tossed her comb aside. And that was all.

The knock at her door had her turning. Surely, Junmyeon wasn’t here to double check on her? Frowning, she wheeled around to the front of her place and opened the door. Definitely not Junmyeon.

“I’ll call you later,” Namjoo said hanging up then lowered her phone. “Well, what a surprise.”

Chanyeol stared back at her with a flat gaze, but obviously appeared agitated.

“Would you like to come with? I’ll be seeing your brother in a few,” Namjoo greeted.

“What did you do?” Chanyeol unkindly returned the greeting. “Where is she?”

“Who?” Namjoo asked confused then it took her a second. Right. Girlfriend. “Why? She not back from one of her adventures?”

“Don’t joke with me,” Chanyeol hissed. “What kind of bribe did you make with her?”

“Bribe?” Namjoo repeated. Holding her arm out to wave it toward her small space, “You think I have enough to make a bribe?”

“Don’t kid me,” Chanyeol narrowed his eyes. “Why wouldn’t you have the money?”

Namjoo’s brows twitched. What did Chanyeol know?

“You’ve been reading about me?” Namjoo asked. She stayed away from the newspapers for a reason, but if Chanyeol had been snooping he’d know she was back to rich girl status. But then, what did that have to do with him?

“I asked about Yeorum.” His voice grew deeper with impatience.

“If she’s missing, it’s not my problem,” Namjoo flatly laid it out. “I haven’t seen her since she pulled out my hair. I have somewhere to be, if you’d excuse me.”

“If this is your antic to use me against Pyeonghwa, I’m going to make you sorry you tried.” Chanyeol warned then hot heels to walk away. Namjoo stared after him bewildered.

ǂǂǂǂǂ

As expected, the venue was filled with BMWs, Jaguars, people dressed to match. Imported cars lined the lot as many as there were bodies outside. Namjoo knew absolutely no one, was completely lost among the world of business which she had decided never to enter. But then, where was she?

It took her a long while to pass through to the interior of the building. Servers constantly stopped her offering drinks and food she was not interested in. Faces she did not know turned to gawk. Others made small talk. Most annoyingly gave their sympathy about her mother’s death and her father’s critical condition. Of course, of course, thank you very much Namjoo repeatedly said as if there was nothing else to say.

At long last, she found Junmyeon chatting it up with some other young lady. Were they a couple? Who knew? Namjoo lingered by the side eyeing them. Finally, she stopped a server and grabbed herself a glass of wine.

God, she was dying to get out of here. She was the dog wearing a sheep costume among them all. For a moment, she wondered what was the point being there. If she walked out, no one would notice. Especially since her lawyer was busy chatting it up with some lady. Like what, were they gonna grab some place to stay after this? Namjoo rolled her eyes, sipped her wine.

“Well,” a voice caught her attention. Namjoo turned to recognize Pyeonghwa coming her way. Stopping short of her he extended his hand, “Congratulations, President.”

Long ago, she had yearned to hold his hand. Right now, it just looked obnoxiously big. Yet, she shook it. For manners, she repeated to herself, for manners.

“Can’t say I didn’t expect to see you here,” Namjoo replied releasing his hand.

“You look lonely here. No friends?”

“Maybe soon I’ll have some.” Namjoo chirped.

Pyeonghwa simply grinned a grin she could not read. It bothered her. “Kim Namjoo always has friends.”

She felt her lips fall into a flat line.

“I see the Parks here,” Pyeonghwa noted, “but their daughter isn’t. You’re still in touch with her?”

Her empty hand turned into a tight fist. Pyeonghwa grinned again as if only he and Namjoo knew what he was talking about.

“Well, I hope you’ll tell Chorong I said hi,” he said. “We’ll be seeing more of each other soon, I expect. Lets keep our soon-to-be relationship on good terms.”

He dared to pat her shoulder before walking off. In Namjoo’s mind’s eye, she was throwing her wine glass into the back of his head.

***First of all, I am sorry for the lack of updates. I had two very busy weeks and no time on the laptop. My other excuse: I just find it hard to write nowadays. You can't write when you just can't write. I mainly update my blog or sometimes my instagram, and that's about it. I spend the rest of my time reading in hopes it'll help me generate more ideas, and yet I still can't write most days. 

***Anyway, here we have Yeorum who has gone missing *inserts drum rolls* and Namjoo is back in the rich world where she came from. No escaping Chanyeol's brother who she hates with all her guts now. We only need Chanyeol back into his rich world in order to get the ball rolling, but that won't be till later I think. Well hope you enjoyed the update cause I don't know when I'll be back