❝chapter08;
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                                   "My son's missing."

 

“Park Ji Ae!” Hana squealed the moment she entered Ji Ae’s office, showing no trouble balancing in her 3 inches tall heels as she ran to her bestfriend, “I’ve been dying to speak to you!”

 

 

“Hey Hana,” Ji Ae smiled at her, looking up from her work, “Welcome back to work. How long has it been? A week?”

 

 

Ji Ae’s sarcastic tone made Hana rolled her eyes dramatically.

 

 

“Come on, don’t make it sound so bad! Seems like the company’s doing great anyway. Oppa can manage without my help.”

 

 

“That’s because he’s working really hard these days! I’m surprised Yixing hasn’t even fired you.”

 

 

“Oppa can’t, and I’m sure he won’t.” She shrugged nonchalantly, “Surely he won’t be that heartless to fire his own sister right?”

 

 

Ji Ae chuckled and raised an eyebrow, “Says the heartless one who leaves all the work to him. Why don’t you just settle down here?”

 

 

“Oh puh-lease,” Hana groaned, “You know I hate office work, Ji. Its sooo boring. I don’t even understand how you’re okay being cooped up in here for 8 hours a day.”

 

 

“When you have a son to feed and bills to pay for, you’ll eventually understand the need for this, Hana.” She laughed.

 

 

“Every girl still needs time for some fun. What time do you knock off today? It’s already 6pm, how about we go grab some food together?”

 

 

“Sorry I can’t. I’m expecting a client to come in really soon.”

 

 

“By chance, is that client Kai? Why is he coming here at such a late hour?!” Hana stared at her friend with an expression of disbelief, “I heard from Yixing Oppa that you’ll be assisting him in this new contract? Are you crazy, Ji?”

 

 

“I think I am, unfortunately.” Ji Ae said with a sigh.

 

 

“Look, I know you’re doing this for the sake of Oppa. I know this contract will greatly benefit our company, but you don’t have to do it if you really don’t want to.” Hana placed her hands on top of Ji Ae’s, and spoke gently, “He’s your ex, Ji Ae. Are you really sure about this?”

 

 

Ji Ae looked to her friend with a reassuring smile, “It’s fine. We’ll just be discussing about work stuff anyway. What can happen?”

 

 

“Ha ha. Working with ex-es can never be a pleasant experience, trust me. I speak from past experiences, girlfriend.” Hana crossed her arms against her chest and said with a sigh, “It’s gonna be hell awkward, no?”

 

 

“Don’t worry. It’s just for a few months anyway. It’ll be over in no time.”

 

 

Hana frowned. It wasn’t that she was entirely against her bestfriend working with this Kai guy. It was Ji Ae’s own choice, after all. But recalling the times when Ji Ae went through labour by herself, she could already imagine herself giving this Kim Jongin guy a punch if she were to ever see him.

 

 

“Okay, but if you ever want to stop working with him, it’s perfectly fine. Yeah? And why did he even arrange to meet you so late huh? That guy better not-”

 

 

Before Hana could continue, there was a knock on the door before it swung open.

 

 

“Speak of the devil,” Hana raised her brows, and let her eyes scan up and down Kai who just entered the room, whispering to Ji Ae beside her, “Can I at least give him a punch before I leave?”

 

 

“I really don’t want to see my bestfriend end up in jail.” Ji Ae replied her softly, chuckling.

 

 

“Who’s going to jail?” Kai’s voice shocked the two female.

 

 

“Oh nice meeting you, you must be Kai.” Hana adverted her eyes to the man, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

 

 

Kai raised a brow, “And you’re..?”

 

 

“Hana Zhang. She’s Yixing’s sister.” Ji Ae introduced, noticing the glare her bestfriend was sending Kai.

 

 

“I guess I’ll get going now that we’ve got our basic introductions done,” Hana smiled at Ji Ae, “I’ll go see Oppa now. See you in a bit, Ji.”

 

 

With that, the room door clicked close. Ji Ae heaved a small sigh of relief before walking back to her table, she was actually really afraid of what her best friend was going to do.

 

 

"Hey, pretty." Kai smiled as he approached her desk, plopping himself down onto the chair, "You don't look surprised to see me?"

 

 

"Yixing already told me you were coming." Ji Ae replied him with a straight face.

 

 

“Very helpful of him.” Kai said bitterly. Now that he knows where Ji Ae works, he instinctively wants to see her everyday. Deperate huh? Not that he can help it too, so he would make up any small excuse just to come see her.

 

 

"As you know, this is a 3 months long project and all you need to do is speak to our marketing team at the end of the 3 months." Ji Ae ran through the contents of the notepad with her pen as her eyes focused on the wordings, "If you have any other questions, you can always-“

 

 

Kai's eyes were only focused on Ji Ae as she blabbered on and on about the project. Heck it, he wasn't even interested in whatever project he was here to discuss about. He wasn’t going to bear to look away from the lady when she's the one he has been dying to see for the past 4 years. He would gladly take any chances he was given. Kai’s lips curled into a smile upon seeing her so concentrated as she continued talking.

 

 

Her concentrated face always made him smile. She looked adorable whenever she was so focused. One of the things he loved about her.

 

 

"Mr Kim," Ji Ae looked straight into his eyes, "Were you even listening?"

 

 

"Don't call me that." Kai frowned.

 

 

"I prefer for us to stick to formal terms," Ji Ae straightened her skirt before standing up, "If you have any other questions, please approach the front desk."

 

 

Kai grabbed onto her wrist, "Are you really going to continue being like this?"

 

 

Ji Ae kept quiet. Okay, maybe Hana was right after all. Working with ex-es will never be a pleasant experience. She had been hoping that Kai would think maturely enough to settle this contract well, without any personal feelings involved, obviously. Oh, she was certainly wrong about how this was going to turn out. Well, too late to regret, since the day she watched Kai sign above the dotted line on the piece of paper.

 

 

"Hey," Kai spoke with a sigh, "I just.. Please don't treat me like that, Ji Ae. Look, I know whatever happened, it was all my fault. I'm sorry. But please, just.. Don't act as though we are complete strangers."

 

 

Ji Ae looked at him, “I-“

 

 

Just then, Ji Ae’s phone rang and Kai almost cursed out loud. He watched as Ji Ae pulled her wrist away from his grasp and fumbled with her phone before answering it in a totally different tone from how she had been speaking to him earlier. Who the heck would call and ruin their conversation? If it was going to be that Lay dude again, Kai swore he was going to-

 

 

“What? Missing?” Ji Ae raised her voice, causing Kai to look at her with a puzzled expression.

 

 

Kai saw Ji Ae’s face went paler as she listened to the phonecall, and he frowned. What in the world was happening?

 

 

“O-Okay, I’ll reach there as soon as I can. Please keep me posted, t-thank you.”

 

 

As soon as Ji Ae ended the phone call, Kai immediately asked her carefully, “What’s going on?”

 

 

Looking up at him with teary eyes, Ji Ae voice wobbled as she spoke, “Eun J-I mean, my son..”

 

 

Kai waited for her to reply him, his hands carefully reaching out to hold her wobbling ones.

 

 

“My son’s missing.”

 

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oh0rats x.