CHAPTER XI:

“Jongup, hand me the reviewed copies for the meeting with Blanco Inc. by lunch.” She said distractedly, eyes shifting from her laptop screen to the papers in her hand.

Her assistant scribbled her command hastily on his notepad, “Anything else ma’am?”

She thought for a while before snapping her fingers, remembering something. “Ask Gayoung and Jay to hand in their reports when you pass them later. After that, don’t forget to schedule a brunch tomorrow with my lawyer and Mr. Hak to renew the contract. We need to at least finalise it within this week. Wait- push the brunch to 12 o’clock- I forgot that I’d have to run to the Busan branch in the morning to arrange the grand opening... Does that mean it’d be lunch instead of brunch then?”

Jongup’s notes were full of scratches and ink blots. At least his writing was still legible... in a way.

“Wait, ma’am...” his eyes went over the schedule he’d written, “there seems to be a clash.”

Rahyun turned her head to look at him, “What’s clashing?”

“The lunch with Mr. Hak and your... uh... special schedule...” his voice became smaller and smaller along the sentence. She could see him breaking down into cold sweat.

“We’ll push that back then,” she gave a dismissive wave, “Heck- cancel it.”

Jongup looked like he was a double spy (which he was) that was torn between choosing from two sides. He sent her a pleading look which she ignored; it was his own fault for helping her bubby in the first place.

“But ma’am... the special schedules are-“

“They are not more important than renewing a mutually beneficial contract with a business partner who’s been with us for twelve years.” Rahyun’s tone was firm and clear, “We can’t afford to give that up just because I have to go on a little date.”

Her assistant flinched visibly at the last word she’d used. Figuring that she was never going to change her mind, he accepted his fate and bowed to announce his leave.

“Oh. Wait, Moon.” His boss blurted out before he left, “One more thing.”

He pulled out his notepad quickly from his pocket, “Y-yes ma’am?”

“Please be an angel and get me coffee.”

Sipping on the vanilla latte that the dear assistant had gotten her, Rahyun thought back to the chaos that happened the night before. It left her completely sleepless- which was why she was holding onto the cup of caffeine like her life depended on it.

When she called her friends to tell them that she’d found Luhan, they quickly gathered in her house to make sure he was okay despite how late it was already.

Luhan thanked the family doctor, Dr. Zhang, before apologizing to his girlfriend repeatedly even though she was in deep sleep. He asked if he could bring her back home but the doctor advised for him not to disturb her from her rest.

But that didn’t stop Luhan from dragging a chair over to sit next to the bed. He’d asked Rahyun if they could spend the night there.

Kris arrived first, looking like he’d ran a marathon when he slammed open the doors shouting “What happened to the baby?!” causing the entire household preventing him from running into the rooms and sitting him down to slowly explain that the baby wasn’t born yet.

When Miji and Daehyun showed up, the awkwardness in the room could freeze hell over. Kris’ eyes kept on shifting from the girl and the man next to her before giving Rahyun a confused look. She felt sorry for him but couldn’t tell him anything because she knew nothing about what was going on.

After making sure that Luhan and his girlfriend was okay, Kris left early.

The new couple stayed back for a while to talk to Rahyun. She tried putting on a casual smile on her face but would occasionally give Miji the ‘why didn’t you tell me’ glare when her boyfriend wasn’t looking.

God. Miji actually has a boyfriend now.

“What bubby doesn’t know wouldn’t hurt her...” she sighed before checking over the pages of paperwork she was handling. The last thing she needed was for bubby to compare her to Miji.

She already had an earful this morning about how ‘successful’ Luhan and his girlfriend are.

Rahyun smiled at the memory of Luhan’s face turning scarlet from her bubby’s shameless praising.

“Ma’am,” Jongup’s head peeked through the opened door, “The Blanco Inc. meeting is about to start in fifteen minutes.”

She groaned before downing the rest of her latte, “Alright, did you print out all the reviewed hand-outs?”

Her assistant nodded, “I-I’ll set them around the table before you arrive.”

“Are the representatives for Blanco here already?” she readied all her notes and tossed Jongup a USB containing her presentation. He caught it over his head.

“Not yet ma’am. Their team is still on the way as we speak.”

Once Jongup excused himself out the door, Rahyun’s mind wandered back to yesterday. The shocking turn of events had haunted her.