“And how’s the merger with Samsung moving along?” 

Heiran’s eyes darted up, the only indicator of her surprise. She rocked her ankle back and forth; her choice of heels this time were a pair of fabulous YSL red velvet pumps with gold-tipped heels. Red was her power colour. “I’m surprised you’ve kept up with the news. I imagine the co-owner of a successful tech start-up was too busy to notice.”

She looked across the conference room table at the young woman with thin silver-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. Aside from the back and forth negotiations that came with ensuring that an exploding business doesn’t decide to jump ship, she really enjoyed meeting with the young woman.

Someone so driven and accomplished in an industry that was never built for women to succeed in. Heiran liked picking the brain of the young innovator.

Yuna smiled, “What happens to your firm, happens to me. I like to know what allies my investors are making.”

“You have nothing to worry about, SmartLogic is my gem, I’m not looking to replace it. Samsung is just our way of leveraging into the tech industry. You know better than anyone how competitive it is and trying to invest in good start-ups always ends up a bidding war where the deepest pocket wins.  We want our pockets to be the Marianas Trench.” Heiran said with a slow smile.

Yuna sighed and took a sip from a glass of water, “We’re not looking to be bought out by a monopolizing giant. Our technology is incredibly valuable.”

Heiran felt a little guilty knowing that the end game is and would always be for SmartLogic to be bought out. But she learned early on in her life that a good lie was the strongest anesthetic. “We would never ask that of you or the company. Our goal is for you to become a monopolizing giant.”

“I’m trusting you, Heiran, just as much as you’re trusting me. You’ve continuously invested in us and we’ve been good paying out equity and shares. We’ve demonstrated solid profit-making abilities. I want that relationship to continue.” Yuna pressed.

Heiran leaned back in her chair, her eyes pinned on hers even as an email popped up on her laptop from an executive from Samsung who was looking into SmartLogic’s business plan for the take over that very moment. At the end of the day, everyone has a price, no matter their morals or values. She’d find Yuna’s when the time was right.

And she’d present her an offer she couldn’t refuse.

She smiled, knowing everything was going as planned, the merger would be smooth, and she’d get a phenomenal bonus this quarter.

Maybe she’d take Lucy on a trip. 

“Don’t worry Yuna, your business is completely safe with me.”

-----

“I’m going to fling myself into the ocean. I swear to frick, Heiran.”

She strolled out of the conference room with a grin as she wedged her phone between her ear and her shoulder, “Don’t be so dramatic, Yugyeom, and saying ‘frick’ is worse than just saying ‘’, you know.”

“I was supposed to be on a flight right now to Seoul, to you, to my friends, to my job and most importantly, to little Lucy and now I’m here for another month. I’m going to scream.” He muttered.

She grinned, “Lucy hasn’t mentioned you once, by the way.”

“You’re a ing monster.” He hissed as she laughed.

She leaned against the railing of the elevator and stared out the glass walls at the glorious city skyline, “Why do you want to come back so badly, anyway? I thought you were planning on settling down in the States for good.”

“Things changed, I realized I missed home, I missed being around people I cared about.” He said quietly.

Her lips turned down at that. She had met Yugyeom during her undergrad. He was a few years younger than her and in a completely different faculty. Somehow they ended up at the same party and even more bizarre, they both ended up drunk as hell, sitting in the grass swapping alien conspiracy stories until he passed out and she had to drag him up two flights of stairs by the ankle.

Some would say they became friends that day.

“People you care about? Yuggie, what about h—”

“Anyways, I’ll be back in a month, loud and more annoying than ever, spoiling your daughter so much that she forgets about you. Get ready, I’m going to ruin your life.” 

-----

Heiran strolled onto her floor in a good mood and planned on inviting Eun to lunch to discuss her future when she noticed her office door.

“Why is my door open? I thought I told you no one is allowed in there when I’m not around.” She said with a frown.

Eun’s voice was disturbingly soft, “I know, I’m sorry.”

She looked over at the now ashen-faced girl, “Eun? Is everything alright? You look sick.”

Her eyes were wide as she shook her head, “I told him that he wasn’t allowed in because he didn’t have an appointment but he said that you were expecting him and I said that you would’ve told me if you were expecting someone and then he sort of raised his voice and I tried to stop him b-but he was big and looked terrifying a-and—”

”Who is he?” Heiran asked. 

Eun shook her head, “I don’t know. He doesn’t look familiar.” 

“Is he in there now?” Heiran asked, her eyes darting to the door.

Eun nodded, her hands shaking and Heiran frowned at the sight. “Okay, I’ll deal with it. Go for lunch now, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Eun whispered, panicked. “He didn’t seem normal.”

Heiran gave her a tense smile, “It’ll be okay, probably just a meeting I forgot to tell you about.”

Eun knew it was a lie, Heiran never forgot meetings, but she took the opportunity to grab her purse and run out of the room. Heiran took a deep breath, bracing herself before taking slow steps towards her office door, gingerly pushing it open with the tips of her fingers.

She stood by the door, narrowing her eyes at her chair which was turned away from her and the tuft of black hair peeking out from behind it. She didn’t have a meeting and she certainly didn’t have it with someone who would dare to sit in her chair.

“Didn’t anyone tell you it’s rude to show up in someone’s office uninvited?” Her words were clear and sharp as she stepped into her office. Her eyes were so focused on her chair that she didn’t notice the other man standing by the corner of her office, watching her with narrowed, practiced, eyes.

The minute her chair turned, it was like every last bit of sanity and composure drained from her body.

“Dad?”

A word she never thought she’d ever have to utter.

A man she never thought she’d ever see again.

“Hi, pumpkin.”

Maybe he wasn’t real, maybe she was so overworked that her mind was conjuring up her worst nightmare.

“No.” She said, as if it would make him vanish before her eyes.

He smiled carefully before sitting up, “I guess after so long, I kind of deserved that.”

She felt her files slip out of her hands, “No.”

He stood slowly, “I wish it was under better circumstances.”

This was actually happening.

“Why are you here?” She hissed; her steps wobbly. She wore heels every day of her life and now it felt like she was too high up, teetering over her soul, “After 15 ing years why the hell are you here?”

Mark's brows soared upwards at her tone. In the tight pencil skirt, draped in designer brands and fancy stilts that could take a man’s eyes out, he didn’t expect so much bite out of her. He watched her shake in rage as she faced her father, his Boss. He didn’t even know he had a daughter until a few days ago.

Never mind that she would look like that.

“Pump—”

“Stop.” She growled, closing her eyes, “Just tell me why you’re here and leave.”

“You’ve done well for yourself here. A big fancy corner office, an executive title, a personal ing assistant. I’m proud of you.”

“A criminal's pride doesn't mean a whole lot to me.” She spat, “I got here because I worked my off. Clean, honestly, unlike you.”

His smile was sad and came off more like a grimace and it made her sick. “That’s not necessarily true, pumpkin, it’s actually why I’m here. Something…something happened. Something I’ve done and it affects you. We need to talk about it.”

Her demeanor changed, her face crumbling into a look of utter dread. This was a man who married her mother under false pretenses, had kids with her and then abandoned her to live a life of crime. Good news didn’t follow him around, “What did you do?”

He walked around her table, standing closer to her and it took every ounce of courage for her not to step away. He slowly held out a file that she eyed cautiously. “Take it.”

She flipped it open, her eyes skimming over documents on SmartLogic, “This is one of our biggest clients, I’m in charge of this account. So?”

“That isn’t a real tech start-up.”

Her heart stalled a second as she looked up at him, incredulous, “What are you talking about?”

“That account, the entire business, it’s mine. I own it and it’s not real. It’s a front.” 

“You—what?” Her voice came out in a deadly whisper.

He looked remorseful as if that would make her feel better, “It’s me. I started that a